Episode 272 – Virtuous Dharma Is the Seed of Nirvana
>>”The Buddha was concerned that sentient beings would not understand the One Vehicle Dharma, and when they heard it, would give rise to overbearing arrogance, refuse to draw near virtuous friends, not respectfully listen to Right Dharma and reject the meaning and intent behind it.”
>> The countless beings assembled here can respect and believe this Dharma. For You have, life after life, taught and transformed ones such as these. With one mind, with palms together, we all want to receive Your words. There are 1200 of us, and more, seeking the Buddha’s teachings. For those assembled here, I pray You will bestow teachings in detail. Having heard this Dharma, we will give rise to great joy.
>>”At that time, the World-Honored One told Sariputra, ‘You have earnestly made this request three times How can I not expound it? Now you must listen for truths, ponder carefully and be mindful For your sake, I will now analyze and explain it in detail.'”
>> To listen for truths is to have wisdom of listening. To ponder carefully is to have wisdom of contemplating. To be mindful is to have wisdom of practicing.
>> Virtuous Dharma is the cause of Nirvana: 1. Draw near virtuous friends 2. Listen to and learn Right Dharma 3. Contemplate its meaning.
>> The Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds are virtuous Dharma for living in this world. The Three [Flawless] Studies and Six Paramitas are virtuous Dharma for transcending the world. Though they range from superficial to profound, they are all proper principles that benefit us. Therefore, they are virtuous Dharma.
“The Buddha was concerned that sentient beings
would not understand the One Vehicle Dharma,
and when they heard it, would give rise to overbearing arrogance,
refuse to draw near virtuous friends, not respectfully listen to Right Dharma
and reject the meaning and intent behind it.”
This is telling everyone that the Buddha was still concerned for sentient beings. His mind is always connected to the minds of sentient beings. He worried that they would not understand the One Vehicle Dharma. Their capabilities only allowed them to accept the “gradual Small Vehicle Dharma,” But time waits for no one. Since the Buddha came to the world, over 70 years had passed, so this One Vehicle Dharma had to be taught as soon as possible. But He saw that sentient beings still could not understand it, so He was worried.
They had listened to the Dharma for over 40 years, and a small number of people started to give rise to overbearing arrogance. They thought they knew everything, “I have been listening for so long, so I understand everything.” They felt a sense of overbearing arrogance. Take Devadatta for example. He followed the Buddha and listened to teachings and thought he understood everything. So, he gave rise to overbearing arrogance, slandered the Buddha and Dharma to other people and also established his own school of practice. This was not right.
So, “when they heard it, [they] would give rise to overbearing arrogance and refuse to draw near virtuous friends.” Those with right understanding, right views and Right Dharma are virtuous friends. But there are those who choose to avoid virtuous friends like these because they have lost respect for Right Dharma and “will not respectfully listen to Right Dharma.” They refuse to draw near virtuous friends and respect the Right Dharma, so they “reject the meaning and intent behind it.” To reject means they let go of their intent to learn Right Dharma.
Take Devadatta, whom we just mentioned. In addition to his own overbearing arrogance, he stirred up trouble in the Sangha and caused some people to distance themselves from the Buddha. They left the Sangha to follow Devadatta. This is what the Buddha worried about.
“The Buddha was concerned that sentient beings would not understand the One Vehicle Dharma.” This is something we have discussed for a long time; it is all about the Buddha’s mindset [at the time]. The Dharma He had guarded in His mind had to be taught at this time; but among the assembly, there was still a minority who “did not understand Right Dharma.” Concerned that they would commit slander, the Buddha still withheld the Dharma. But Sariputra repeatedly and earnestly asked the Buddha to teach the Dharma. This was already the third time he asked. The Buddha said, “Stop, stop, there is no need to speak further,” but Sariputra did not give up and persisted in requesting teachings.
Sariputra also said, “Venerable Buddha, please do not worry. The people here are like me, Sariputra, who has followed You for a long time. Here, over 1200 of us have been part of Your retinue. All of us can faithfully accept and practice Your teachings. In addition to people like us, there are countless others who have also been taught by You in the past. There are many of us, so Venerable Buddha, please do not worry. Please, out of Your compassion, explain the wondrous One Vehicle Dharma.” This was how Sariputra, on everyone’s behalf, requested teachings from the Buddha. He even vouched for them, saying, “When we hear this Dharma, we will feel joy and faithfully accept and practice it.” This showed Sariputra’s earnestness.
The countless beings assembled here can respect and believe this Dharma. For You have, life after life, taught and transformed ones such as these. With one mind, with palms together, we all want to receive Your words. There are 1200 of us, and more, seeking the Buddha’s teachings. For those assembled here, I pray You will bestow teachings in detail. Having heard this Dharma, we will give rise to great joy.
So, the Buddha had already heard Sariputra make this request again and again in this way.
“At that time, the World-Honored One told Sariputra, ‘You have earnestly made this request three times How can I not expound it? Now you must listen for truths, ponder carefully and be mindful For your sake, I will now analyze and explain it in detail.'”
Finally, the Buddha agreed to give the true and wondrous One Vehicle Dharma that He had guarded in His heart.
Before He gave this teaching, the Buddha reminded everyone to “ponder carefully and be mindful,” and to listen for truths.
To listen for truths is to use our “wisdom of listening.” Listening does not mean afterwards we just say, “I know, I know. Do you know? Yes, yes. Do you understand? I do, I do.” This is not the way to listen. We must not listen to the teachings with a discriminating mind. We must listen to the Dharma with wisdom, not [analyze it] with ordinary intelligence. So, the Buddha asked everyone to listen for “truths,” to listen for true principles. This way of listening is very attentive. We call this “listening for truths.” When we to focus on listening and on taking the Dharma to heart, we use the “wisdom of listening.”
“To ponder carefully” is to have “wisdom of contemplating.” We must do more than just listen to the Dharma. We must also reflect on it. We often say, “Listen, contemplate and practice.” After listening to the Dharma, we must carefully contemplate the principles it contains. All Dharma originates from one mind, one thought. The One Dharma we are listening to right now is the one thought that gives rise to all Dharma. We must mindfully listen to the wisdom that came from the Buddha’s one thought and take it into our minds.
When we listen to teachings wholeheartedly, our minds can encompass all Dharma. So, we must contemplate [the Dharma]. After listening to a seemingly simple teaching from the Buddha, if we carefully contemplate it, we realize it already encompasses the truths of all things in the universe.
If we carefully contemplate it, we will see that each teaching encompasses extremely profound principles. As for this teachings, we must “ponder carefully and be mindful.” To be mindful is to have “wisdom of practicing.” We listen, contemplate and then practice. After we listen to and really contemplate it, we must put the teachings into practice.
To listen for truths is to have wisdom of listening. To ponder carefully is to have wisdom of contemplating. To be mindful is to have wisdom of practicing.
All Dharma expounded by the Buddha is virtuous. Virtuous Dharma is a cause for Nirvana. I often tell everyone that Nirvana is not death; Nirvana is a state of tranquility and stillness. Our minds are full of afflictions, so they are [never quiet]. Therefore, we engage in spiritual practice to eliminate these defilements and afflictions. One by one, we must remove our greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt, etc. Even after eliminating greed, anger and ignorance, there is still arrogance, like the overbearing arrogance we discussed before. Or, if we are unable to understand the Dharma, there may still be doubts in our minds. If we still have arrogance and doubt, we cannot take the Dharma into our minds, as these block the Buddha-Dharma from entering our minds. Thus we will never be able to enter the state of Nirvana.
Therefore, virtuous Dharma helps us enter the state of Nirvana, the state of tranquility and calm illumination. Then our minds will always be radiant, pure and undefiled. This is the state of Nirvana. “Tranquil and clear” also describe the state of Nirvana. For our minds to reach this state, we must already have realized the True Suchness of our intrinsic nature and returned to that state of mind. This is the state of Nirvana. Returning to True Suchness requires virtuous Dharma. The Dharma is like water that cleanses our minds. Obstacles such as afflictions, ignorance, arrogance, doubt and so on, cannot be eliminated without virtuous Dharma.
Virtuous Dharma is the cause of Nirvana: 1. Draw near virtuous friends 2. Listen to and learn Right Dharma 3. Contemplate its meaning.
How does one approach virtuous Dharma? All of the Buddha’s teachings are virtuous Dharma, but because of the many obstacles in our minds, we are still quite far away from those teachings. How can we [approach it]? First, by drawing near virtuous friends. We mentioned earlier that if we distance ourselves from virtuous friends, we obstruct ourselves. So, we must draw near virtuous friends. In addition to listening to the Buddha-Dharma, [we must draw near those with] right understanding and right view in the Sangha. Aren’t Sariputra, Maudgalyayana and Kasyapa virtuous friends? Now, over 2000 years later, the Sangha still exists, and we must draw near them with right understanding and right views. They can all be considered virtuous friends. To truly approach virtuous Dharma, we must draw near virtuous friends.
Second is learning the Right Dharma. We must constantly draw near virtuous friends and listen to the Right Dharma that they teach. Sometimes we hear fellow spiritual practitioners who, after listening to the Dharma, constantly remind everyone else to understand old teachings with new insight. The Dharma we have heard must be constantly shared with others. After listening to it, we must carefully contemplate it. Then we must share our thoughts with others. We must constantly pass on what we know now and keep people from straying from the path. This is Right Dharma.
The Dharma is meant to be applied. Each sutra is a path, a road for us to walk on. So, we must “draw near virtuous friends,” we must “listen to and learn Right Dharma,” and we must “contemplate its meaning.” After hearing something, we must carefully contemplate if this Dharma is suitable for the current era. Can we put it in practice? If we can, have we? We Buddhist practitioners must listen, contemplate and practice the virtuous Dharma.
Indeed, virtuous Dharma includes the Five Precepts and the Ten Good Deeds. These are methods provided by the Buddha to help sentient beings eliminate habitual tendencies. When people uphold the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds, they are practicing worldly virtuous Dharma. World-transcending virtuous Dharma is the Three [Flawless] Studies and Six Perfections. The Three [Flawless] Studies benefit us. They can protect our bodies and minds. What about the Six Perfections? They are used to benefit others. The Six Perfections are the Six Paramitas of giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence and so on; they are all virtuous Dharma.
The Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds are virtuous Dharma for living in this world. The Three [Flawless] Studies and Six Paramitas are virtuous Dharma for transcending the world. Though they range from superficial to profound, they are all proper principles that benefit us. Therefore, they are virtuous Dharma.
Fellow Bodhisattvas, we must really be mindful. The Buddha gave teachings over 2000 years ago. He applied His wisdom and compassion in. His interactions with all sentient beings. “The Buddha was concerned for sentient beings.” He is compassionate, so He is always worried that living beings will not be able to understand the wondrous One Vehicle Dharma. So, He tirelessly established the Three Vehicle Dharma, hoping that sentient beings will accept it. Though sentient beings had been listening to the Dharma for a long time, their lack of understanding might give rise to overbearing arrogance. Such is the case with Devadatta. This was the Buddha’s concerned. Not only with Devadatta, as we often say, “One gives rise to infinity,” the same applies to evil teachings. So, I hope everyone will have right faith and [follow] Right Dharma. Therefore, we must draw near virtuous friends so that we can listen to Right Dharma. Therefore, we must always be mindful.