Episode 316 – Faithful Acceptance and Thorough Contemplation
>> Unsurpassed, wondrous principles can illuminate and reveal True Dharma. By earnestly intensifying our contemplation, we can attain understanding and views. But we just lack the opportunity and the right moment of faith and understanding. Thus, we must not overlook [the truths] before us by even a little bit.
>> “Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddha but does not want to hear or know the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path….”
>> “Are not the disciples of the Buddha, nor are they Arhats, nor are they Pratyekabuddhas.”
>> So, “furthermore, Sariputra, it should be known that those bhiksus and bhiksunis who claim to have attained Arhatship….”
>> “It should be known that those bhiksus and bhiksunis who have claimed to have attained Arhatship do not further seek to learn unsurpassed Bodhi.” They are “overbearingly arrogant” people.
Every day as I walk out of my study and down this corridor, I feel a sense of immense gratitude. I always say, “The key to the whole day is the morning.” Before the day dawns, everything is quiet, in a state of tranquility and clarity. As I walk along the corridor and look at the distant sky, I have this feeling [of tranquility]. Yesterday and today are different,
It was much brighter yesterday. The day has not dawned yet today even though. I walked out at the same time yesterday. This is the law of nature; as the seasons change, the fall will be different than summer.
I always feel so much gratitude. I am grateful to be born into this world, where the earth nurtures all things. All of the countless, infinite varieties of material things in the physical universe are carried and given life by the earth. When we see how the seasons are in harmony, how heaven and earth give life, how can we not be grateful? These are the underlying true principles of nature. If our minds can comprehend these truths, then what Dharma can we not comprehend?
Unsurpassed, wondrous principles can illuminate and reveal True Dharma. By earnestly intensifying our contemplation, we can attain understanding and views. But we just lack the opportunity and the right moment of faith and understanding. Thus, we must not overlook [the truths] before us by even a little bit.
There is so much that the Buddha wants to tell us, especially the many principles about people and all things in this world. Wondrous principles are infinite, limitless and countless and difficult to express in words. But the Buddha exercised His wisdom to help all of us reach self-understanding and self-realization, so we can thoroughly understand these principles. He wanted us to realize and see our true nature and understand this intrinsic True Suchness.
Therefore, “unsurpassed, wondrous principles can illuminate and reveal the True Dharma.” This is what the Buddha wanted to convey. But these “unsurpassed, wondrous principles” are truly fine and wondrous. When I walk along the corridor every morning, many thoughts come to mind. With all these countless, limitless principles, for the Buddha to teach us so that our minds can resonate with the principles of all things is indeed very difficult. But in talking about it, it is actually very simple. These principles are intrinsic to all of us; we can all comprehend them.
For instance, I looked up at the sky earlier and saw a very pale blue sky in the east, a blue sky that is still obscured by dark clouds. In that moment I realized that our intrinsic nature is like that pale blue sky. As nature dictates, the seasons change from spring, summer, fall to winter, but this pale blue is everlasting. Only the dark clouds floating in front of it are constantly changing. As I stood there for a while, my eyes did not move yet without realizing it, the clouds continued to change. However, behind the clouds, that pure blue sky was still “illuminating and revealing the True Dharma.” Amidst movement, it remained still and unmoving; only the natural world changed around it.
So, if we can mindfully listen to the Dharma and faithfully accept and diligently practice it, we will “earnestly intensify our contemplation.” By being more earnest, we can intensify this contemplation even more. We can contemplate how, as we all sit here and as I speak to you, the color of the sky I see now is different from what I saw before I walked in here. Not much time has passed. You are sitting there; I am sitting here. You are looking this way; I am looking that way. What we see is different. However, as natural phenomena change, within them is a truly wondrous state that is non-arising, non-ceasing and unmoving.
If we contemplate this more deeply, we realize these principles also apply to us. So, as long as we can be more earnest, be more mindful and intensify our contemplation, we will “attain understanding and views.” We will be able to comprehend the Buddha’s understanding and views.
We must understand all the Dharma that the Buddha understood. This is our goal. We follow in the Buddha’s footsteps to realize the truths of all things in the universe. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must remain unaffected by our own emotional ups and downs.
One day, I met a child who had been tormented by illness since he was young. His illness turned out to be a very rare kind of cancer. But this child’s mind and his view of the world was very different from that of ordinary people. Whenever he spoke, he truly inspired the adults around him. Ever since he was young, doctors said he probably would not live past the age of five or seven. They said he could pass away at any time. However, his karmic conditions had not ended, so he could not leave. Among these groups of people, I saw him again and again.
When he was calm, he was able to control his emotions and had clear understanding of principles. At these times, his mother really cherished him; mother and son seemed very closely connected. But when he got emotional, his mother would feel very tormented. When many people were around, his mother was forgiving and lenient, but when the child became emotional, the mother also became emotional. This entanglement of karmic affinities looks like a lot of suffering to us.
His emotions grew stronger as he got older; he would become emotional more often. Sometimes when he talked to people, he would hurt them with his words. This is how our nature is originally clear, but as we spend time with people, we gradually accumulate habitual tendencies. When I saw him, I felt very sad. If he could maintain his innocent intrinsic nature, avoid accumulating worldly habitual tendencies, then end his karmic causes and conditions in this life, wouldn’t that be a very good thing? However, that is very difficult. In our relationships, we must try to completely eliminate our negative karmic causes and conditions in this lifetime, without creating any more for the next. This is not an easy task.
In summary, this a very subtle and wondrous principle; it is the law of karma. So, engaging in spiritual practice is very difficult because we are Tathagatas in Bonds. We are bound by ignorance, which entangles our [nature of] True Suchness. This is indeed the case for mother and son, and for fellow practitioners as well.
We do not know what method to use to get straight to the point. We do not know what method to use to help everyone understand the differences between “enlightened” and “deluded” beings so everyone can be completely clear about them. Clearly understanding them is indeed difficult,
because we lack the earnestness and diligence to intensify our contemplation and not let [the teachings] leak out. We constantly say that we must cultivate “flawless wisdom.” After we understand the teachings, we need to carefully prevent our elementary comprehension of the Dharma from disappearing, or else we will always just barely understand it. Once we understand something, it seems so clear and obvious. But we cannot fully understand things because we are still entangled by emotions. This is very sad and worrisome. This is what ordinary people are like.
With even a slight trace of ignorance or Leaks, we will lack the opportunity and the right moment of faith and understanding. When the Buddha was in this world, He gave many teachings. In later years, after His time, the collected sutras spread to China. In China, many esteemed monastics and sages contemplated and realized His principles, then they carefully compiled them. But, we still do not thoroughly understand them. The Dharma is always around us, but we lack faith and understanding. Because our faith is not deep-rooted, we constantly overlook it by just a little bit.
Indeed, the Dharma is always around us. All things in the world are constantly expounding the Dharma to us, but we constantly overlook these teachings. And when we overlook them just by a little bit, we will end up far off course and be very far away. Therefore, we overlook many teachings by just a little bit.
Everyone, I hope you thoroughly understand that the “unsurpassed, wondrous principles” can “illuminate and reveal the True Dharma.” Indeed, they are right in front of us. As long as we can “earnestly intensify our contemplation, we will attain understanding and views. We just lack the opportunity and the right moment of faith and understanding.” If we always have pure faith and understanding, we will constantly heighten our vigilance. “We must not overlook [the truths] before us by even a little bit.” This is telling us that our minds should never stray even a little. That slight deviation will cause us to overlook the True Dharma. So, we have to be meticulous and mindful.
I have said so many things, but do you understand them? These wondrous principles are truly very profound. We say it is simple because it suits our abilities. We say it is profound because it is as expansive as the universe, but ultimately it can be captured in our minds. It is that simple if we are mindful.
So, the Buddha said to Sariputra,
“Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddha but does not want to hear or know the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path….”
“Only” means there is just one. The Buddha gave so many teachings, but He only wanted to teach us to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
As I have told all of you, the Bodhi-path leads to the state of the Tathagata, back to our Tathagata-nature, our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. We must walk this Bodhi-path, which is the path of enlightened sentient beings called Bodhisattvas. We must care for many people, but not be defiled by their delusional affections. This is the Bodhisattva-path. This is the way we can go among people and not allow anyone to influence our hearts.
Two people alone, like the mother and son we spoke of, can endlessly entangle each other in suffering. Furthermore, as we walk the Bodhisattva-path, we must face myriads of sentient beings. Since we are engaging in spiritual practice, aren’t we supposed to deal with sentient beings without allowing their emotions to influence us? This is how we learn the Bodhisattva-path. The Buddha [only] teaches the Bodhisattva-path.
So, He said that. Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas may think they have already attained [enlightenment] and thus are unwilling to learn anything more or to “earnestly intensify their contemplation.” They were unwilling to do just a little more, to intensify their contemplation. They were not willing. Thus, they did not understand the Buddha’s intent, so how could He speak His understanding and views? If they could not realize the Buddha’s understanding and views, how could they truly develop an understanding equal to the Buddha’s?
So, the next section of the sutra discusses how they did not “want to hear or know.” The Buddha came to teach the Bodhisattva-path. Those that do not want to listen or realize this.
“Are not the disciples of the Buddha, nor are they Arhats, nor are they Pratyekabuddhas.”
These were not the disciples He wanted to teach. The disciples He wanted to teach must have open and broad minds and go among people without being defiled by them. Only those with pure minds can thoroughly understand the true principles of all things in the universe. Otherwise, they were not His disciples. The Buddha made this very stern statement, “Nor are they Arhats, nor are they Pratyekabuddhas.”
So, “furthermore, Sariputra, it should be known that those bhiksus and bhiksunis who claim to have attained Arhatship….”
If these disciples all believed they had already attained Arhatship, as the following texts states, they were those with “overbearing arrogance.”
Let us understand [this passage].
“It should be known that those bhiksus and bhiksunis who have claimed to have attained Arhatship do not further seek to learn unsurpassed Bodhi.” They are “overbearingly arrogant” people.
These people “have not attained Arhatship,” and. These people have not attained Arhatship, and
“do not further seek to learn unsurpassed Bodhi.” They were not willing to keep learning. They just stopped at this point. “I have heard and learned the Buddha-Dharma. I understand and have been practicing it.” They had reached this point but were unwilling to continue and “did not further seek to learn unsurpassed Bodhi.” They were not willing to progress further because they had overbearing arrogance. They surely must not have attained Arhatship because they still did not understand the Buddha’s intent. Although they knew they had to end samsara and that their suffering was caused by cyclic existence in the Six Realms, they only wanted to attain the benefits of ending samsara for themselves. So, these people were not really Arhats yet,
because although they were learning the Dharma, they “listened but did not faithfully accept.” They were just listening. “You are all listening; do you understand it? Yes. Can you do it? Eventually.” This response shows that they “listen but do not faithfully accept.” When we listen and understand, we should seize the opportunity to practice immediately in order to sustain [this resolve] forever.
Every sutra [ends with] “after listening to the Buddha’s teachings, everyone joyfully and faithfully accepted and practiced.” Have we really listened, then faithfully accepted and practiced? If not, how could we truly understand the Buddha’s understanding and views? We must have faith, we must accept [the Dharma], and we must put it into action. If we have not attained this state, no matter how much we hear, we will not comprehend. If we have attained this state, we can hear one thing and know ten things; if we have not reached this state, we can hear 1000 things but know nothing and end up wasting this time.
Thus when we “listen but do not faithfully accept” we cannot attain the Buddha’s understand nor comprehend His original intent. Thus, we are “not the disciples of the Buddha, nor Arhats, nor Pratyekabuddhas.”
Everyone, I really hope that all of us can truly comprehend these many principles. In reality, this begins with a single thought. Unsurpassed, wondrous principles in that instant are “illuminating and revealing True Dharma.” In our daily living, people, matters and objects are all inseparable from principles. As long as we are earnest, intensifying our contemplation every day, we will be able to comprehend the Buddha’s understanding and views.
We only lack a small thing, “the opportunity and the right moment of faith and understanding.” All of us have this problem. We hear what was said, and in that instant, we understand, so we have a tiny bit of faith and understanding. However, with just this tiny bit of faith and understanding, “we must not overlook [the truths] before us by even a little bit.” This was what [the Buddha] wanted to tell us with great sincerity. I hope all of us can mindfully comprehend these teachings and always be mindful.