Episode 294 – Hearing the Dharma from All Buddhas
>> “Based on the principles of One Reality, He proclaims the True Dharma.”
>> So, “All things arise from the convergence of causes and conditions.”
>> “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.”
>> “These teachings were all for the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.”
>> “All these sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, ultimately attained all-encompassing wisdom.”
>> So, the One Buddha Vehicle is the only teaching for attaining Buddhahood.
>> “In the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, there is only the One Vehicle Dharma.”
>> Hearing the teachings from all Buddhas: This refers to how sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, can give rise to right faith. They contemplate the meanings and practice according to these teachings. These people are rare, like precious treasures in this world.
>> The ultimate: This refers to how the Buddha’s realization is the utmost pure and wondrous enlightenment, which is unsurpassed. Therefore, it is the ultimate stage.
>> All-encompassing wisdom: the Buddha fully understands all things, their universal and specific characteristics. The wisdom of knowing the path to transformation and eliminating delusions is the combination of wisdom of Hearers and wisdom of Bodhisattvas. So, this is all-encompassing wisdom.
“Based on the principles of One Reality,
He proclaims the True Dharma.”
The Buddha came to this world and awakened to the truths of the universe. So, when He speaks of principles of the world, they are all based on the principles of One Reality. He comes to the world and gives teachings in the hope that everyone can understand and accept them, then put them into practice.
So, “All things arise from the convergence of causes and conditions.”
In our daily living, we must live with this kind of awareness. We must realize that all things arise through the convergence of causes and conditions. Causes and conditions likewise all originate in our minds. We must always have the Dharma in our hearts and manifest it in our actions. When we are in line with the Dharma and principles, we are one with the Buddha. If we can do this, everything will be in harmony. The minds of the Buddha and sentient beings are no different. This is our “convergent understanding.” If our minds can converge with the Buddha’s understanding and views, we will be able to understand the world’s true principles of the One Reality. This is the Buddha’s goal in teaching the Dharma.
Previously, the Buddha said to Sariputra,
“Sariputra, all Buddhas of the past, with infinite, countless skillful means,”
that is, with many different methods,
“With various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings.”
I have already repeated this several times for all of you. Buddhist sutras do the same thing; they are always repeating concepts, so we can better understand them.
The next passage of the text continues to explain that.
“These teachings were all for the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.”
These methods all teach the One Buddha Vehicle.
“All these sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, ultimately attained all-encompassing wisdom.”
We must listen well to the teachings of all Buddhas, “hear the teachings from all Buddhas.” We sentient beings hear the Dharma from all Buddhas. Where did these Buddhas come from? They were also once sentient beings who diligently studied and practiced to attain Buddhahood, then in turn came back to teach sentient beings. This is so They could help everyone “ultimately attain all-encompassing wisdom.”
At one time, Ananda was thinking about something the Buddha had always said, that for countless billions of kalpas, He had listened to the teachings from countless Buddhas at Their practice centers and then diligently practiced them. This was what the Buddha said about Himself. Countless billions of kalpas translates into countless billions of lifetimes. Life after life, He diligently practiced at the practice centers of all Buddhas.
So one day, Ananda asked the Buddha, “Venerable Buddha, when exactly did you form your initial aspiration?” This was a good question. Though the Buddha said that. He diligently practiced at the countless practice centers of all Buddhas, His aspiration must have arisen at some point in time.
So, the Buddha began to talk about the past. He could not say exactly how long ago, but in one of His lifetimes He was born in hell. Even the Buddha has experienced hell. As He was suffering in hell, He saw yaksas punishing wrongdoers. Since they had committed wrongdoings, they were subject to extreme torment in hell. The cruelest [punishment] He saw was a fiery, hot iron cart used to punish two wrongdoers. The jailor, a yaksa, flayed their skin and stretched it out while a part of it was still attached to their bodies. One end remained stuck to their bodies and the other end was tied to the flaming iron cart. Then these two people had to drag the cart.
Their bodies were bloodied and in pain. The agony of having the skin still on their bodies used to pull the flaming iron cart was extremely painful. That excruciating pain was unbearable, hurting down to the bones; they wailed in pain. They did not have the strength to pull the cart, so the yaksa kept whipping them. One of them could not bear it anymore and fainted. For the other to pull the cart all by himself was impossible because the pain was unbearable.
Then one person, who was facing his own punishment, saw this situation and went up to the jailor and asked, “Can you let this person, who is being punished, rest a while? I am willing to take his place and pull this flaming iron cart.” The jailor was extremely enraged and said, “You yourself are being punished. You can’t even take care of yourself; how can you take care of anyone else?” So, he lifted his whip and struck him until he died and vanished from hell. In an instant, he was born in heaven.
In heaven, he enjoyed heavenly pleasures, but his heart was sad, and he felt sorry for the sentient beings in hell. He calmly thought, “Is hell the only place with suffering? There is also suffering in the hungry ghost and animal realms, as well as the human realm.” The source of all suffering is the various karma they created due to the workings of their minds. Thus, they must experience various suffering. At that moment, he developed an aspiration. He wanted to begin by teaching sentient beings and help them realize this principle in their hearts. Only by avoiding suffering can people attain peace and stability.
The Buddha stopped at this point and said, “Ananda, you wanted to know the moment I first developed my aspiration? I was that person in hell who could not bear to let sentient beings suffer. After my compassion was awakened, from then on, I aspired and vowed to work for all sentient beings, to take on their suffering until all sentient beings can accept [the Dharma] and return to their intrinsic, pure Buddha-nature.”
So, He practiced for the sake of sentient beings. We must be grateful to Ananda for asking the Buddha about His initial aspiration and where that state of mind came from. It came from a place of the worst suffering. If He had not seen those sentient beings endure extreme suffering in hell, how would his compassion have been awakened? So, with His great compassion came inexhaustible strength of will. So, everything requires the convergence of causes and conditions, including the Buddha-Dharma.
We have been listening to teachings for so long, but the basics are found here. The Buddha uses various causes and conditions, analogies and [expressions] to continuously teach the One Reality, the Buddha Vehicle. He uses many methods to give this teaching. Just how much can we understand? The Buddha hopes we can realize and “ultimately attain all-encompassing wisdom.” If we attain ultimate, full understanding, we will no longer have habitual tendencies.
We are always transmigrating in the Six Realms. The habitual tendency of heavenly beings is to enjoy pleasures. The habitual tendency of asuras is to be quick tempered and arrogant. For humans, it is having many desires. The habitual tendency of animals is losing morality. The habitual tendency of hungry ghosts is to be hungry and in pain. The tendency of those in hell is to face unbearable suffering. Under such constant torment, they are very frightened. They do not dare to have faith in anything for fear that it will lead to suffering and so on. These are the reasons we sentient beings cannot attain ultimate all-encompassing wisdom.
The Buddha’s hope is that after we listen to the Dharma, we can understand it. Then after we understand it, He hopes we will have faith in it and put it into practice.
So, the One Buddha Vehicle is the only teaching for attaining Buddhahood.
Because the Buddha wants everyone to attain Buddhahood, He always teaches the One Buddha Vehicle. We hope everyone can accept the One Buddha Vehicle. In the Lotus Sutra, [later] in the Chapter on Skillful Means, it also states,
“In the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, there is only the One Vehicle Dharma.”
This comes from the Buddha’s vow, His hope that sentient beings can be His equal and awaken to the truths of the universe, “ultimately attaining all-encompassing wisdom.”
Hearing the teachings from all Buddhas: This refers to how sentient beings, having heard the teachings from all Buddhas, can give rise to right faith. They contemplate the meanings and practice according to these teachings. These people are rare, like precious treasures in this world.
“Hearing the teachings from all Buddhas.” This portion of the sutra states, “These sentient beings [have] heard the teachings from all Buddhas.” So, we have already listened to teachings from all Buddhas, not just Sakyamuni Buddha. It is likely that we have drawn near to Buddhas who were around long before Sakyamuni Buddha. In our previous lifetimes, we also listened to all Buddhas teach the Dharma.
So, here it states, “Sentient beings [have] heard the teachings from all Buddhas.” There were many sentient beings who listened to all Buddhas expound the Dharma. Those who have better capabilities “can give rise to right faith” after listening to teachings. Then “they contemplate the meanings.” We often say to “listen, contemplate and practice.” After listening to teachings, we must contemplate, then “practice according to these teachings. These people are rare.” There are so many sentient beings on Earth; exactly how many, after listening to the Buddha’s teachings, can give rise to right faith? How many? Furthermore, after listening to it, how many can contemplate it and then put it into practice? Very few, indeed. Indeed, this is very rare; they are “like precious [treasures] in this world.” So, spiritual practitioners are valuable. Their value comes from [their desire to] hear the Dharma, to diligently engage in listening, contemplating and practicing. This is what truly earns the respect of others.
The ultimate: This refers to how the Buddha’s realization is the utmost pure and wondrous enlightenment, which is unsurpassed. Therefore, it is the ultimate stage.
In “ultimately attain all-encompassing wisdom, ultimately” describes how “the Buddha’s realization is the utmost pure and wondrous enlightenment.” This is “the ultimate.” We engage in practice to reach the ultimate state. This “ultimate state” [is reached] after hearing the Dharma and diligently listening and actualizing it to experience it and thus attain realizations. This awakening comes when we put the Dharma into practice and attain realizations. This “utmost pure and wondrous enlightenment” is the nature of True Suchness, “which is unsurpassed.” There is no higher Dharma; this is the One Buddha Vehicle. Our goal is to [reach this state], “which is unsurpassed. Therefore, it is the ultimate stage.”
All-encompassing wisdom: the Buddha fully understands all things, their universal and specific characteristics. The wisdom of knowing the path to transformation and eliminating delusions is the combination of wisdom of Hearers and wisdom of Bodhisattvas. So, this is all-encompassing wisdom.
With all-encompassing wisdom, the Buddha fully understands all things, their universal and specific characteristics and the path to transformation, which can eliminate delusions. We already understand that this “path” is about awakening ourselves and others. We must have the wisdom to eliminate our various delusions and ignorance and enable others to do the same. The kind of wisdom that can awaken the self and others is “all-encompassing wisdom. It is the combination of [wisdom of Hearers] and [wisdom of Bodhisattvas].” The two combined are “all-encompassing wisdom.”
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners we really must be mindful. Aspirations come from extreme suffering. When we understand suffering, a path appears. This path of true principles leads us to dissolve suffering and turn it into supreme bliss; we can go from extreme suffering to supreme bliss. With supreme bliss, we abide steadily in the state I mentioned earlier, one of “ultimate, pure and wondrous enlightenment.” Every one of us can return to our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. That wisdom of wondrous enlightenment is the “ultimate all-encompassing wisdom.”
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, we must be mindful. Upon hearing the Dharma, we must listen, contemplate and practice it; we must put it into action. We must, with utmost reverence, always take the Dharma to heart and manifest it in our actions. This must be the goal we advance toward each day. Everyone, please always be mindful.