Episode 293 – All Things Arise from Causes and Conditions
>> “Analogies and expressions use one thing to refer to another, use the simple to help people see the profound, use the moving tree to help people see the wind, use the shape of a fan to depict the moon. These are expressions and analogies.”
>> “Sariputra, all Buddhas of the past, with infinite, countless skillful means, with various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings.”
>> Suitable means are skillful means. He applied various methods and used ultimate wisdom of suitable principles to skillfully draw analogies to the truth. These means are like water and “take the shape of their container to conveniently benefit and guide people.” This describes skillful means. To proclaim all teachings is to explain the appearance of all things according to the principles of the One Reality. All things arise through the convergence of causes and conditions. To proclaim all teachings is to “explain the appearance of all things according to the principles of the One Reality.”
>> “These teachings are all for the sake of the Buddha’s One Vehicle. All these sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, ultimately attained all-encompassing wisdom.”
“Analogies and expressions
use one thing to refer to another,
use the simple to help people see the profound,
use the moving tree to help people see the wind,
use the shape of a fan to depict the moon.
These are expressions and analogies.”
I may use various methods to explain a particular matter or teaching, but do you understand what I am saying? No? Then let me make a comparison for you. I will explain a teaching and some matter, then use this matter as an analogy for the Dharma. So, we “use one thing,” make use of something, to help others understand the underlying principle
of some other matter. Based on this example, we can actually understand all kinds of different matters because their underlying principles are the same. Sometimes, the principle is so profound that the more analogies we hear, the more confusing it becomes. What should we do with such profound principles? “Use the simple to help people see the profound.” Simple things can be used to explain profound principles. Out of His compassion, the Buddha uses analogies to explain principles and gives us simple examples to teach us the very profound, ultimate truths of the One Vehicle. So, He gives profound or simple [teachings] depending on our capabilities.
If we can see the trees swaying, we can infer that the wind is blowing. If the wind is blowing lightly, the trees will sway gently. If the wind is blowing strongly, the trees will bend; an even stronger wind will uproot the tree. So, we “use the moving tree to help people see the wind.” [Moving trees] enable us to determine the power of the wind. [Wind] is something we cannot see. Exactly how powerful is this force? We do not know. We always need to use another object to measure its strength.
How does this apply to the moon? What does the moon look like? “Use the shape of a fan to depict the moon.” The moon is round like two fully opened hand fans joined together. This describes roundness. After the 15th day of the lunar month, the moon gradually wanes and may take the shape of just one fan. So, we “use the shape of a fan to depict the moon” to help people know whether the moon is full, half, crescent-shaped or so on.
Again, making analogies is one of the various methods used by the Buddha to explain principles with matters or objects. Therefore, we must be very grateful and respect Him deeply. We have the potential to understand the Buddha’s teachings, so we must be mindful.
In the previous passage of the sutra text, the Buddha called to Sariputra and said,
“Sariputra, all Buddhas of the past, with infinite, countless skillful means, with various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings.”
The Buddha uses various methods to draw analogies with various causes and conditions. Sometimes we talk about causes and conditions; in our daily living, our every action [creates] causes and conditions.
During the time of the Buddha, there was a group of merchants in the Kingdom of Sravasti who stockpiled food to trade. As they took a break on their journey, a hungry dog saw these merchants resting. They were all tired and soundly fell asleep. When he saw the baskets of food on the ground, he bit down on something and pulled it out. It turned out to be a piece of meat. As he took the meat and began to eat it, suddenly one of the merchants woke up and saw something they worked so hard to acquire, this meat they were going to sell, being chewed up and eaten by this dog. He got really angry, picked up a bamboo pole and beat this dog until his legs were broken, and he lay on the ground, whining.
That day, Sariputra just happened to pass by with his alms bowel in hand. At that moment, he felt very sad, so he gave the dog the rice from his alms bowl. The dog ate the food, and afterwards, he looked at Sariputra with gratitude. He seemed to be very grateful, then he passed away.
Then over a year passed, nearly two, and Sariputra went to a certain village for alms. An elder opened the door in one of the houses, and when he saw Sariputra, he respectfully prostrated and greeted him. The elder asked Sariputra, “Honorable Sariputra, on your journeys, is there no young novice to accompany you?” Sariputra said, “No, but I hope there is a young novice that has such karmic affinity with me.” The elder said, “I have only one child, who is not even a year old.” Sariputra said, “If this is the case, when this young child is older, can you grant him to me?” The elder said, “When my child is older, I am willing to give him to you to follow you and become your novice.”
After another seven years passed, Sariputra passed through this place again. The elder opened the door, and when he saw Sariputra again, he very happily told him, “Venerable one, I still remember what I said seven years ago. Since I made that promise to you, I am willing to grant you my child. He is now over seven years old. If you are willing, I will give this child to you.” Sariputra happily accepted.
This child was very adorable, smart and with sharp capabilities. He followed Sariputra to [enter] the Sangha and engage in spiritual practice with everyone else. He attained realizations easily. One day, he suddenly wondered, “How did I come to be this blessed? How was I able to come with Sariputra to this Sangha to follow the Buddha and engage in spiritual practice?” He sat down to contemplate this carefully. He saw, in his past life, a dog who was about to pass away and the rice Sariputra offered him from his alms bowl. Based on this memory, he realized, “I was that dog. It turns out that Venerable Sariputra, at the moment of my greatest pain, comforted me and showed me kindness. I should aspire and vow to follow him for the rest of my life.”
Therefore, when he grew up, he told everyone, “I do not want to be ordained. I want to forever remain a novice and stay by Sariputra’s side.” When Ananda heard this, he found this strange. So, he asked the Buddha, “What exactly is the karmic affinity between this novice, Kunti, and Sariputra?” The Buddha then explained the karmic affinity between Kunti and Sariputra.
He said that during Kasyapa Buddha’s time, among a group of spiritual practitioners, there was an elderly bhiksu who was virtuous and esteemed and advanced in his spiritual practice. But because he was old, his voice was hoarse. A young bhiksu was very mischievous and loved to play pranks, so he often spoke carelessly. Every time he heard this elderly bhiksu chanting, he would laugh and say, “That sounds like a dog barking.” The elderly bhiksu was very compassionate, so he said to this young bhiksu, “Young bhiksu, your mocking does not anger me; on the contrary, I will always protect you.”
The Buddha explained at this point that the elderly bhiksu was now Sariputra and the young bhiksu back then was later the dog and was Kunti today. This was the karmic connection between them.
Though becoming a monastic at an early age, [that bhiksu] refused to refrain from committing karma of speech, mind and body. Thus, he was later born as a dog. Sariputra compassionately relieved his suffering, so it makes sense that he vowed to remain his novice forever and did not want to be ordained. This way, he could stay by Sariputra’s side.
This is an example of various causes, conditions. There are many kinds of causes and conditions. In our daily living, we are constantly either speaking or being silent, moving or being still. All interpersonal conflicts are created by the words we say, so we must constantly take good care of our minds.
Yet, we sentient beings are foolish and dull, so we cannot realize this. Even if we practiced in the past, we may not realize what happened back then, let alone understand the things happening now. So, the Buddha utilizes various causes and conditions, analogies and expressions. In all Dharma, in His many varied teachings, [the Buddha] employs analogies to help us understand.
Thus, “skillful” is another way of saying suitable.
Suitable means are skillful means. He applied various methods and used ultimate wisdom of suitable principles to skillfully draw analogies to the truth. These means are like water and “take the shape of their container to conveniently benefit and guide people.” This describes skillful means. To proclaim all teachings is to explain the appearance of all things according to the principles of the One Reality. All things arise through the convergence of causes and conditions. To proclaim all teachings is to “explain the appearance of all things according to the principles of the One Reality.”
The Buddha utilizes various causes and conditions as analogies and utilizes various expressions to teach the Dharma. All these [examples] must be based on something, on a core principle, the true principle of the One Vehicle. At the center of all things is the principle of the One Reality.
To “proclaim all teachings,” [the Buddha] utilizes very solid principles that will never change. But sentient beings have various capabilities, so He utilizes various methods to draw analogies, Originally, it is about the “one. All” means there are many. The Buddha utilizes many causes and conditions and various analogies to teach the One Reality.
So, “all things arise through the convergence of causes and conditions.” All things and objects etc. arise through the convergence of causes and conditions. In our daily living, no matter what environment we are in, everything arises from the convergence of causes and conditions. So, we must always cherish causes and conditions. I always say that we have to treat those around us with gratitude, respect and love because it is all of our causes and conditions converging that allow things to arise.
So, the following section of the text reiterates,
“These teachings are all for the sake of the Buddha’s One Vehicle. All these sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, ultimately attained all-encompassing wisdom.”
All things arise from the convergence of causes and conditions. The convergence of many factors gives rise to many matters, objects and principles. All these principles are combined into the true principle of the One Vehicle to help us all understand how we can return to the One Buddha Vehicle. This also depends on whether we are mindful. In our daily living, do we pay attention to the convergence of causes and conditions? Do we cherish the inconceivable convergence of these causes and conditions? Do we feel gratitude, respect and love?
Everyone, we must be mindful. It does not matter if the causes and conditions are positive or negative. When people around us create negative causes or create negative conditions, we must also be grateful to them and even respect them and respect the convergence of causes and conditions.
Thus, we must develop even greater respect. Regardless of how much certain people distress us, we must still respect them for honing our spiritual aspirations and [pushing us to be] broad-minded. If we can broaden our minds, we can still face those who pressure us with respect. The goal of having respect is to love. No matter what, we must love others.
We just heard about the karmic connection between Sariputra and Kunti during the time of Kasyapa Buddha. The elderly bhiksu was experienced in his practice. The young man did not show him respect. With comment after comment, he constantly mocked him. But the elderly bhiksu continued to have gratitude, respect and love for him. “Young man, though you behave this way, I still forgive you. You have created karma of speech, but I will always care for you.” Doesn’t this show gratitude, respect and love? Because of the law of karma, all of us really must be mindful and respect the various causes and conditions that guide us to the Buddha-Dharma of the One Vehicle. Everyone, please always be mindful.