Episode 324 – Eliminate Arrogance to Believe in the Buddha
>> “The Buddha created a great opportunity to reveal the great Dharma. But those of limited capabilities and wisdom retained nothing but arrogance. They were attached to listening, but not to seeking the truth. So, the Buddha gave great teachings [to lead them] back to the One Reality.”
>> Sariputra, you and the others should single-mindedly believe and understand, accept and uphold the words of the Buddha. In the words of all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, there is nothing false. There are no other vehicles; there is only the One Buddha Vehicle.
>> “At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke in verse.”
>> He said, “Bhiksus and bhiksunis may harbor overbearing arrogance. Upasakas may have self-arrogance and upasikas may lack faith.”
>> Those who “may harbor overbearing arrogance” claim to have attained what they have not. We all know about them. Furthermore, though they have not attained the teachings of the supreme vehicle, they believe that they have. They have not realized the principles of the supreme vehicle but claim that they have.
>> Upasakas may have self-arrogance: Those with self-arrogance see themselves as superior to others. They are conceited and egotistical and haughty toward others. Based on their belief in their own abilities, they bully and humiliate others.
>> Upasikas may lack faith: Those with deviant views have many doubts. Thus when they encounter the Right Dharma, they cannot give rise to faith in Right Views. So, they become distressed. This is the affliction of lacking faith.
I often think it is clear that true emptiness is unchanging and wondrous existence is ever-abiding, but for the Dharma to instill true emptiness and wondrous existence in people’s minds is not easy.
“The Buddha created a great opportunity to reveal the great Dharma. But those of limited capabilities and wisdom retained nothing but arrogance. They were attached to listening, but not to seeking the truth. So, the Buddha gave great teachings [to lead them] back to the One Reality.”
The Buddha did His best for sentient beings, hoping we can all perfect our spiritual practice. He [taught us] the principles of unchanging emptiness and everlasting existence so we could all experience and understand them. However, we are ordinary people with ordinary minds that constantly fluctuate. We quickly aspire to diligently practice, but soon after, we lose enthusiasm for moving forward and quickly regress. So, we sentient beings remain deluded. In the midst of our confusion, we remain foolish and unwise; we lack wisdom.
We clearly know that impermanence may strike at any time and that we must always feel the urgency we would if there was a fire burning on our head and we had to quickly put it out. However, we ordinary people, though aware that impermanence is all around us, that it is as if our hair were already on fire, still do not know we must do something quickly. If people do not even try to save themselves, what can be done? The Buddha really felt for us, but sadly, we sentient beings remained limited in our spiritual capabilities and wisdom. This means that we have short, temporary roots. Our roots of goodness are superficial and we have very little wisdom.
So, people with neither roots of goodness nor wisdom, “retain nothing but arrogance.” These people had retained nothing. The Buddha-Dharma they heard leaked out; none of it remained in their minds. Yet they were still very conceited. They were people with “overbearing arrogance” who claimed to have attained what they had not. These people had limited capabilities and wisdom. Even if they knew what to do, they could not move forward at all. Moreover, there are many people who do not know and cannot understand. They cannot understand the teachings they hear, but they think that they have attained much.
In the Buddha’s lifetime, one day, Kasyapa, after sitting in meditation, went to the lecture hall pay respect to the Buddha. The Buddha saw Kasyapa [enter] the lecture hall, so He said, “Kasyapa, for a very long time. I have given the Sangha many teachings. Now Kasyapa, you should teach them the Dharma in my place.” Venerable Kasyapa very reverently [faced] the Buddha with his palms together and said to Him, “Venerable Buddha, I cannot to do it.” The Buddha asked him, “Why? You already understand so much of my Dharma. You can take my place and give my teachings to everyone.” Venerable Kasyapa said, “I cannot, because these bhiksus are difficult to teach.”
When I read this story, I was shocked. During the Buddha’s lifetime, He taught the Dharma for a long time. And Kasyapa, was a senior disciple, a leader among the Sangha. But when the Buddha asked him to teach, Kasyapa already had no confidence in them.
When the Buddha asked him why, Venerable Kasyapa said, “Because these people often give rise to a mindset of indolence. When You teach, they may accept it temporarily. But soon after, they give rise to indolence, so they quickly [regress in their practice]. They quickly lose the virtuous Dharma, yet they feel no remorse. These foolish people without wisdom are hindered by sleep. Hindered by sleep” means that everyone is still asleep and cannot be awakened. “They are all asleep and cannot be awakened. Can they really not be awakened?”
When the Buddha heard what Kasyapa said, He then asked, “Why can’t these people be awakened?” Kasyapa replied, “Because they are deeply attached to their view of self.” Each of them sticks to his own understanding. Practitioners must have a common understanding, which is to be mindful of impermanence and diligently move forward. Every person must always be mindful of impermanence and diligently move forward, but these people did neither. What they had in their minds were afflictions and defilements; their minds were full of ignorance and afflictions. The defilements of afflictions covered their minds. Though they stayed asleep and could not awaken and were further covered by afflictions,
the Buddha was still compassionate. So, He asked Kasyapa again, “If this is so, what can we do?” Kasyapa then said, “These people have such unwholesome practices. They do not have any roots of goodness at all.” I feel Venerable Kasyapa was very brave to give this response to the Buddha in front of everyone, saying that since they had no roots of goodness how could they possibly be diligent?
Because they had limited capabilities and wisdom, they retained nothing, yet had a lot of pride. These indolent people had no roots of goodness or faith, so how could they become diligent? Venerable Kasyapa said, “Only after feeling a sense of remorse can they desire to become diligent.” After the Buddha heard this, He replied, “Indeed, indeed.” The Buddha admitted this fact and said, “Indeed, Kasyapa you are not wrong. These people are very indolent, with very little roots of goodness and faith. People easily form aspirations but find it hard to persevere. I agree with your view that these people are unable to nurture their roots of goodness and faith. I agree sentient beings are hard to transform. But those who attained human form are precious, so, Kasyapa, you must still persevere in teaching all sentient beings.” Thus the Buddha taught Kasyapa with compassion.
I often think about why [this is so]. How long will it take for our minds to awaken, for us to become enlightened beings and awaken ourselves and others? If we cannot awaken ourselves, how can we awaken others? The Buddha faced myriad sentient beings and from this story alone, we realize that even in His lifetime, transforming sentient beings was very difficult. Even right before He was to teach the Lotus Sutra, Kasyapa still brought up their indolence and lack of remorse.
As the Buddha was about to enter Parinirvana, Ananda asked, “Venerable Buddha, after You enter Parinirvana, what do we do with the [evil-natured] bhiksus who are so hard to tame?” The Buddha sadly replied, “Be compassionate and counsel them often. If they cannot be taught, give up and let them be.” For those with limited capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha said to let them go. If they cannot accept compassionate teachings, let them be. Otherwise, what can be done? This is very sad.
In the Buddha’s time, there was a limit to how much He could do, to say nothing of what we can do now. So, “those of limited capabilities and wisdom have retained nothing but arrogance.” Everyone, think about this for a moment. “They are attached to listening but not seeking the truth.” Indeed, they listen to the teachings, but they need to listen, contemplate and practice. They have listened, but have they contemplated? Have they diligently put them into practice, or are they merely listening?
So, we must have faith in the Buddha. “The Buddha gave great teachings [to lead them] back to the One Reality.” These great teachings are the Lotus Sutra. He had given many provisional teachings over the past 40-plus years. Now, at this point, He returned to the One Vehicle. So, “The Buddha gave great teachings [to lead them] back to the One Reality.” This is the One True Vehicle.
Everyone, sometimes we may feel helpless and tired. But if we think of how hard the Buddha worked, we cannot feel tired. “For Buddha’s teachings, for sentient beings” [means] we still must diligently practice and fulfill our duty to help everyone understand the Dharma.
We already spoke of the previous sutra passage. To remind everyone again, the Buddha called on Sariputra, [saying], “You and others should single-mindedly believe and understand, accept and uphold the words of the Buddha.” He still very sincerely hoped that everyone could be awakened and “single-mindedly believe and understand, accept and uphold the words of the Buddha.”
Sariputra, you and the others should single-mindedly believe and understand, accept and uphold the words of the Buddha. In the words of all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, there is nothing false. There are no other vehicles; there is only the One Buddha Vehicle.
The Buddha said to everyone, “The words of all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, are without any falsehoods.” The words of all past Buddhas were True Dharma. There was nothing false in Their teachings. “There are no other vehicles; there is only the One Buddha Vehicle,” which teaches everyone the way to Buddhahood. They hoped everyone would return to their pure intrinsic nature. This teaching helped everyone understand that
the Dharma is in everything. It is intrinsic to us, but we are still covered by sleep, so we are indolent, ignorant and remorseless. If we seek understanding and awakening, we must learn to be remorseful. If everyone else is diligent, how can we be indolent? We must all have this sense of vigilance.
We must be earnest and diligent; we must not wish only to stay in bed. “Hearing the bell, afflictions are alleviated, wisdom grows and Bodhi arises.” When we hear the [morning] bell, it is time to awaken our wisdom. We must seek to develop wisdom.
So, in this section of the sutra, the Buddha earnestly hopes that everyone will have faith and understanding. We really must read and recite, accept and uphold, and have faith and understanding that every word He taught is true. Indeed, impermanence is also true. That our lives will come to an end is also true, so why haven’t we all awakened? This is why the Buddha persisted. Not only did He teach the Dharma once in prose, but He also repeated it again in verse. Thus, the sutra again states,
“At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke in verse.”
After the Buddha spoke, He feared that people might forget it or not understand it, so He repeated the teachings in verse form.
He said, “Bhiksus and bhiksunis may harbor overbearing arrogance. Upasakas may have self-arrogance and upasikas may lack faith.”
These are the disciples of the fourfold assembly. These verses restated the teachings He gave earlier about sentient beings who did not know, understand, or have faith; they were overbearingly arrogant and 5000 of them even left [the assembly]. When we read this passage of the sutra, we should recall the meaning of the passage taught earlier.
First, let us read about how.
Those who “may harbor overbearing arrogance” claim to have attained what they have not. We all know about them. Furthermore, though they have not attained the teachings of the supreme vehicle, they believe that they have. They have not realized the principles of the supreme vehicle but claim that they have.
Indeed, when [listening] to the Buddha-Dharma, Hearers and Solitary Realizers stop before they even take a single step on the Bodhisattva-path. They think, “I do not need to go among people. I just want to awaken myself,” so they think they have already accomplished this. They “have not attained the teachings of the supreme vehicle,” have not gone on to the next stage, but they think they have already reached it. So, they “claim to have attained [it]. They have not realized the principles of the supreme vehicle but claim that they have.” They all thought they had realized it.
Some upasakas have self-arrogance. This kind of self-arrogance means that they “believe they have surpassed others.” This arrogance leads people to assume they know more than everyone else. Regarding worldly matters, they also think they are smarter than others. When listening to the Dharma, they think they understand more than anyone else. Believing this, they think they have surpassed others, so they are proud and arrogant. Conceited and egotistic, they are haughty toward others. These people have “self-arrogance.”
Upasakas may have self-arrogance: Those with self-arrogance see themselves as superior to others. They are conceited and egotistical and haughty toward others. Based on their belief in their own abilities, they bully and humiliate others.
These people, “based on their belief” that they can do and understand everything, bully and humiliate others. They think they understand many things, so they bully others. In their mundane lives, they think, “I have money, power and knowledge. I have so much.” People like this believe they possess everything. They think, “The Buddha-Dharma is so simple, I understand it as soon as I hear it.” So, they become more conceited and start pushing around other people.
We all must know that we study the Buddha’s teachings to broaden our minds, not to narrow them. Our minds must be broad and our thoughts must be pure. Then we can be accepting of more people. But lay practitioners are constantly competing with others, so their sense of ownership is very strong. Believing they possess everything, This is “self-arrogance.” [All kinds of] pride and arrogance are due to our ignorance.
“Upasikas may lack faith.” Among the female lay practitioners, [some had] deviant views and many doubts. Initially, during the Buddha’s lifetime, there were many heretical practices. Whatever these teachings were, they were unable to fully understand them, so they had many doubts. When they accepted the Buddha’s teachings, they could not fully forget those other practices so they could not focus on the Right Faith. “Those with deviant views have many doubts. Thus, when they encounter the Right Dharma,” they could not give rise to faith in Right Views. They could not believe in Right Views.
Upasikas may lack faith: Those with deviant views have many doubts. Thus when they encounter the Right Dharma, they cannot give rise to faith in Right Views. So, they become distressed. This is the affliction of lacking faith.
This is like how we are always promoting ways to eliminate superstitions, so people will have proper beliefs and not kill other beings as offerings to spirits or burn joss money as an offering. Some people are wise, so they hear this and think, “Indeed, we do not have to kill living beings.” Isn’t it very contradictory to kill in order to pray [for good fortune]? Is this a good thing to do? As for burning joss money, if doing so can bring blessings and peace, then the person who sells them could just stop selling them to people and burn them himself for great blessings and peace. Is this possible? Some people say, “If I do not burn joss money, I will be uneasy, but I will burn less.” [First burn] less, then later do not burn any. I do not know when people will finally believe that there is no need to burn joss money. If that happens, they have Right Faith. Because they are confused by deluded beliefs, they develop the affliction of lacking faith.
Previously, in the Water Repentance lectures, I mentioned many afflictions, including afflictions that arise from our daily living. Such afflictions are numerous.
Everyone, to truly learn from the Buddha, we must diligently make progress. We cannot be indolent or succumb to the hindrance of sleep again, nor can we lack remorse. We must always be vigilant of ourselves. In this impermanent life, the fragmentary samsara of our lifetimes, who knows how long we have to live. So, we must always be mindful.