Episode 300 – Teaching the Bodhisattva-path
>> “The Buddha compassionately opens, reveals and teaches the Bodhisattva-path. He greatly benefits sentient beings, so they can attain peace and happiness. By hearing, practicing, realizing and entering [the teachings,] we plant all roots of virtue.”
>> “Sariputra, presently in infinite, countless Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions, all Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, greatly benefit sentient beings and bring them peace and happiness.”
>> “All Buddhas, with infinite, countless skillful means, with various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings; these teachings are all for “the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.”
“The Buddha compassionately opens, reveals
and teaches the Bodhisattva-path.
He greatly benefits sentient beings,
so they can attain peace and happiness.
By hearing, practicing, realizing and entering
[the teachings,] we plant all roots of virtue.”
Do we understand this? The Buddha, out of His compassion, continuously “opens and reveals.” He hopes we sentient beings can realize all Buddhas’ minds, understanding and views. Yet sentient beings are attached and deluded. [Over time,] thousands and tens of thousands of analogies and expressions have been given, but how many can we actually comprehend? Perhaps various causes and conditions have already manifested before us thousands of times. Though we have learned from many sutras, we may not apply them to our daily living; we act as if the two are unrelated.
When people and matters trouble us, we do not promptly apply the teachings to the situation at hand. This is how we sentient beings act. Someone can remind us of something over and over again or express an intention again and again, but does that mean we understand it? We may still not understand.
How can we understand the Buddha’s understanding, views and intent? The only way is through the Buddha’s method of opening and revealing the Bodhisattva-teachings and teaching us to walk the Bodhisattva-path. Only by actually practicing this can we understand
what the Buddha-mind is. Typically, ordinary people assume others’ [suffering] has nothing to do with them. The Buddha began by teaching us, “You must exercise your love and see sentient beings’ suffering as your own. All sentient beings in this world share the same collective karma and coexist with each other and the world. By giving out of love, we are actually benefiting ourselves. Do you understand? Yes, we understand. Then go wherever there is hardship. Be with those who are facing difficulties and learn to help and understand them.”
When we truly connect with, help and understand others, we feel very good. Only when we face suffering sentient beings do we recognize the blessings in our peaceful lives. As we help others in need, we attain realizations, so we are grateful to each other. By teaching us to walk the Bodhisattva-path, the Buddha awakens our “unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion.” This way of treating others is called empathy in modern terms; this is the ability to understand others’ pain and put ourselves in their shoes.
Besides putting ourselves in others’ shoes, we also must form great aspirations and make great vows, not just limited to [helping] people in this world. We must vow that in infinite and countless worlds we will “greatly benefit all sentient beings so they can attain peace and happiness.” When sentient beings are suffering, how do we comfort them? How do we bring them peace of mind? We must spring into action and soothe their pain.
Bodhisattvas care for sentient beings the way we care for young children. “Oh! You made another mistake.” We lead them by the hand, so we can teach them. For even younger children, we pick them up. If they cry, we coax and comfort them until they calm down, then we teach them. So, to “greatly benefit sentient beings,” we must have this mindset. When it comes to their pain, we must “relieve their suffering.” We must help them achieve a state of peace, happiness and freedom. This is how we “greatly benefit sentient beings.” When we help them understand the value of the Buddha-Dharma, they will become joyful and happily listen to it. The more they listen, the more they understand and the more they gain.
Around the world, Tzu Chi volunteers promptly show up wherever people experience disasters. In many countries with different ethnic groups and religions, the people are happy to see these Living Bodhisattvas. When our volunteers put their palms together, these people also do the same. By guiding others with love, naturally we become their role models.
Look at Myanmar; they are still helping each other in the same way. Whenever there is threat of a flood, the locals will get together to make preparations in the exact same way Tzu Chi provided relief. The way they help people in disaster areas is exactly the same way that. Tzu Chi volunteers first helped them. This is how people teach and benefit each other and bring each other peace and happiness.
To do this, we must listen. After we listen to the Dharma, through engaging and interacting with others, we refine ourselves and become role models. We must practice and develop our understanding. Then, through the process of our practice, we cultivate virtue. Our inner cultivation will manifest in our actions. As we cultivate our minds, we will become a role model for others.
Thus, we constantly say that inwardly we cultivate the Four Great Vows, and outwardly we practice the Four Infinite Minds. Naturally we will manifest through action our inner cultivation, the Four Great Vows, “I vow to transform countless sentient beings” and the other great vows that we continuously cultivate in our hearts. Then as we [interact with others], “loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity” will manifest in our appearances. This model behavior is the outer manifestation of our inner cultivation. If we have this level of spiritual refinement, we express these virtues in our actions.
This is how we listen, contemplate and practice. So after we listen to teachings, we can cultivate them inwardly and express them outwardly. Then we will naturally “realize and enter”; we will be able to fully comprehend the Buddha’s compassionate intent. Then we can understand the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and take this Dharma-essence into our hearts. This is how we “realize and enter” and
“plant roots of virtue,” so the seed will be planted deep in our hearts. This is like giving our wisdom-life a bone marrow transplant, [revitalizing it with the Dharma-essence]. Only in this way can our wisdom-life grow.
Everyone, we must truly and deeply comprehend the Buddha’s compassion. He comes to this world solely to “open and reveal” the Bodhisattva-path to us. So, we must diligently accept His teachings.
As we said before,
“Sariputra, presently in infinite, countless Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions, all Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, greatly benefit sentient beings and bring them peace and happiness.”
“Presently in infinite, countless Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions….” Exactly how many Buddha-lands are there? Millions and billions. So, what is the analogy we use to describe this? The universe, which is vast and boundless, and contains countless worlds. Indeed, the Buddha comes to this world and out of His compassion, tells us that our spiritual state is equal to His. Based on this explanation, [we realize that] when we look at people with a Buddha-mind, everyone is a Buddha. In each of our minds there is a world. So presently, there are billions of such worlds. And in any of these countless worlds there are countless Buddhas who teach there. So within the present countless worlds, there are countless Buddhas.
The same principles are taught everywhere. Because sentient beings’ capabilities are dull, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas must also use various skillful means to teach them. We have seen Them “greatly benefit sentient beings and bring them peace and happiness.” Clearly, sentient beings have many different sufferings and afflictions, so all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, in countless billions of Buddha-lands, bring great benefits to these countless afflicted sentient beings.
If we were not so unsettled, these benefits would be unnecessary. Let us think about this sutra passage carefully. The Buddha “greatly benefited” sentient beings. If we had no afflictions, then we would not need the Buddha to find ways to greatly benefit us. The “great benefit” is geared toward those who are afflicted and flawed. Our wisdom is flawed, so afflictions flourish, and we become unsettled. Thus we need the Buddha to find ways to greatly benefit us by educating, comforting and inspiring us.
So although this section of the sutra seems plain and simple, we must mindfully comprehend how “[all Buddhas] greatly benefit sentient beings and bring them peace and happiness.” Indeed, we intrinsically have wisdom, but we have blemished it. Is that wisdom still there? Yes, only now it is covered by ignorance. This is why all Buddhas [come to help us]. So in countless, infinite Buddha-lands, all Buddhas greatly benefit sentient beings. I hope that, within the infinite Buddha-lands, we are not just receiving the Buddha’s benefits but greatly benefiting others as well as, bringing peace and happiness to them. This should be the process of our learning.
The next section states,
“All Buddhas, with infinite, countless skillful means, with various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings; these teachings are all for “the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.”
Haven’t we been listening to these words every day? Yes, every single day. As they are repeatedly mentioned, have we truly comprehended them? This is what we must constantly ask ourselves. In the Buddhist sutras, especially in the Lotus Sutra, there is a large amount of text that teaches similar concepts about our minds.
Look at, “all Buddhas, with infinite, countless skillful means,” In the ten directions, Buddhas in hundreds of billions of Buddha-lands teach with infinite, countless skillful means. Clearly, “All Buddhas share the same path.” The minds of sentient beings in all worlds are similarly covered by afflictions. With our minds covered by afflictions, understanding things is very difficult.
But the Buddha continuously utilizes various causes and conditions. Actually, all things in the world are teaching us the Dharma. The Dharma is not taught only when Sakyamuni Buddha comes before us and speaks to us. How do we break free of afflictions and ignorance to see the Buddha’s understanding and views manifest? We have to make this breakthrough ourselves.
Similarly, we must open our eyes to behold the state of our surroundings. If we close our eyes, we cannot see our external conditions. But those conditions are still there. Will they always be there? With our “ultimate wisdom,” if we close our eyes, we know these external conditions are around us. However, these conditions are always changing as infinitesimal changes accumulate.
This is just like how just now, as I was walking outside, I looked up. I saw gray clouds some distance away, but behind them there were hints of pink and orange light. That shade of pink was very pale, seemingly floating out from the dark gray clouds. The clouds closer to us seemed darker. Then the sky even closer to us was a pale blue. But as I was watching the sky, my focus shifted, and I looked at the trees that surrounded me, and I listened to the sound of the birds. That was all I did. Before I came inside, I looked up at the sky again. In such a short time, the gray clouds had turned white, and the patch of blue sky was now bigger.
As I turned around, a thought came to me. How amazing! This scenery is impermanent and changes so rapidly. How did it change that quickly? This is how external conditions give teachings. In an instant, I saw the impermanent and ever-changing nature of things. Depending on the mindset we use to observe the world around us, everything can teach us the Dharma.
So, “with various causes and conditions, with analogies and expressions, [Buddhas] have proclaimed all Dharma to sentient beings.” In infinite and countless Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas use everything in Their surroundings to constantly illustrate the Dharma. “These teachings are all for the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.”
Everyone, does this concept seem profound? Yes, it is very profound. Because it is very profound, we must always be mindful.