Episode 329 – Prescribe Dharma Cures According to the Illness
>> “As a harmonious assembly, adjust your minds to be tranquil and still. Maintain clarity and be free of defilements. Uphold your resolve and vow to walk the Bodhi-path.”
>> “The thoughts in the minds of sentient beings, the various pathways they have walked, the nature of their various desires, their karma, good and bad, from former lives, the Buddha knows them all thoroughly.”
“As a harmonious assembly, adjust your minds to be tranquil and still. Maintain clarity and be free of defilements. Uphold your resolve and vow to walk the Bodhi-path.”
If we can adjust our minds to be tranquil and still, then everyone’s mind can be in this state. This tranquility and stillness is what we spiritual practitioners are seeking, because when our minds are in this state, we will naturally live in harmony.
A Sangha practicing in a monastery is described as a “harmonious assembly.” We are united by the same intent. This shared intent is to engage in spiritual practice. We are all on the same course to this tranquil and still state. This is the direction our minds move toward. We hope to be in an environment that allows our minds to be at peace. You have this mindset, she also has this mindset, and I also have this mindset. By sharing the same mindset, we are “united.” With “united” minds, we will naturally live in “harmony.” The place where a “harmonious assembly” gathers is called a monastery.
By expanding this environment to encompass the rest of society, everyone in our society will share this mindset of harmonizing and uniting their minds. Then this will be a most harmonious society. This is what I mean every day when I say. I hope we can be like a pure stream. The Buddha-Dharma is like water; it can wash away the defilements in our minds. This is the goal of our spiritual practice, to learn how to eliminate the ignorance and impurities in our minds. Therefore, we must have methods of maintaining clarity.
How can we purify our minds? This is very important [to do], so we must diligently practice the methods of keeping our minds free of defilements. After listening to a teaching, we must contemplate and practice it. This is the method. After listening, we must thoroughly contemplate. If a teaching makes sense and we can apply it, we must put it into practice. This is [how we can] accept the Buddha’s different teachings, the mindset we must use to accept the Dharma that washes away defilements from our minds. After cleansing our minds of defilements, we must then protect them, so our clear minds will not be defiled again.
Furthermore, we must “uphold our resolve and vow to walk the Bodhi-path.” We must uphold our resolve. Since we have formed aspirations, if we can sustain our initial aspiration, we will surely attain Buddhahood. If we can always maintain that aspiration, hold on to it and uphold it, then our vows and actions will never deviate from the Bodhi-path and we will certainly diligently advance upon it. We must draw near to and then walk this path. Think about it; we want to draw near the Buddha, but He is not far from us at all. We all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, and we all intrinsically have the Buddha-Dharma. We all have treasures in our minds and the Dharma in our hearts. Everything we reach for is a treasure; in everything we do there is Dharma. It is just that we have not demonstrated this.
While the Buddha was living at Jetavana Grove, one day a poor man suddenly arrived at the gates. He came before the Buddha and reverently prostrated. He looked up and said to the Buddha, “Venerable Buddha, I am suffering.” The Buddha looked upon him with compassion. “Where does your suffering come from?” He said, “I have nothing and lack everything. I see people making offerings to you. I have been poor all my life and when I hear others say that we must make offerings to the Three Treasures, I wonder what I could use to make offerings when I have nothing at all. I also hear from other people that to be rich, one must give. But I have nothing, so what can I give?”
The Buddha responded with a smile, “You do not need to be wealthy to give, nor does your contribution need to be monetary. Even if you are poor and have no material goods, you can still give.” This poor man asked the Buddha, “If I have nothing, what can I give?” The Buddha said, “I am going to teach you seven ways of giving that do not require money.”
The Buddha said, “First, you must smile and be pleasant whenever you see other people. Do not keep complaining about your suffering. If you do, you will feel resentful and your face will reflect your resentment of your suffering. Then people who see you will stay away from you or abandon you. Therefore, you must always be pleasant. When you see others, treat them warmly.”
“Second, when you see someone, regardless of what that person says to you, you must respond with kind words. Always speak kindly of people, whether they are present or not. Even when they are not there, say good things about them. When they are there, praise them with kind words.”
“Third, you must have a positive mindset. Whenever you see people, see them as kind, approachable people. Think of yourself as a kind person as well and proactively approach others.”
“Fourth, you must practice giving with good eyes. And how do you give with your eyes? When someone cannot see clearly, you must guide him and show him how to walk the path, what direction to go in.”
“Also, you must give with your body. Some people may not be physically strong. When they cannot carry or lift heavy things, or do certain kinds of heavy labor, you can use your physical strength to help them with these difficult tasks. This is giving with physical strength.”
“Next, you can give your respect. This is the sixth thing. Show your respect to everyone you see. Revere the elderly and be friendly and respectful to everyone.”
“Seventh is [giving your] love to everyone, from children, to the poor, to the disabled. You should always give your love. You must even give out of love to all living beings and all things in the world, These are all ways you can give. None of them require money, so you can do it.”
Hearing this, the poor man said, “[Can] such simple acts be considered giving?” The Buddha said, “Yes. Though they are very simple, do you think you can actually do them?” The poor man said, “How can I not do them? I do not need money do these good deeds. I now understand that, in the past, I have had all these flaws and I always complained about my life. So with my body, speech and mind and so on, I do not show people love or respect, or help them. I never said a single kind word and never helped others with my physical strength. Venerable Buddha, I now know [what I can do]. From now on, I will put these seven types of giving into practice.”
See, out of His compassion the Buddha taught us that [spiritual] abundance does not come from money. As long as we can cultivate these practices, there will be abundance in our lives.
So, we all have treasures in our minds. We all intrinsically have a pure Tathagata-nature. We all share the same wisdom as the Buddha. These are things we intrinsically have, but we were not clear on how [to manifest them]. Now that we know all this, we must aspire to draw near to the Dharma, to listen, contemplate and practice. By putting the Dharma into practice, naturally, we will approach the Bodhi-path and draw near to our Buddha-nature.
So, the Buddha constantly reminds us that when we listen to sutras, we must pay attention. Didn’t we discuss this yesterday? The Buddha called to Sariputra and said, “Sariputra, listen well,” which means to listen carefully. If we want to listen to teachings, we must pay attention.
As for “the Dharma obtained by all Buddhas,” I said yesterday that [this line] refers to the process of the spiritual practice of all Buddhas and how. They must be very diligent. With the same diligence, They engaged in spiritual practice, so the Dharma They attained was the same, which is enlightenment. They awakened to the Buddha-nature we all have. All Buddhas went through the same journey of spiritual cultivation and obtained the same Dharma and enlightenment. In the same way, They realized all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. The way They give teachings is also the same. Because sentient beings are ignorant and seriously afflicted, every Buddha must utilize the power of skillful means to expound the Dharma.
But now this sutra passage states,
“The thoughts in the minds of sentient beings, the various pathways they have walked, the nature of their various desires, their karma, good and bad, from former lives, the Buddha knows them all thoroughly.”
Everyone, the Buddha wants to expound the Dharma for sentient beings. But what are the thoughts in the minds of sentient beings? They aspire to engage in spiritual cultivation but their practices [depend on] their capacities, which vary in depth. Some sentient beings have very strong desires. Some are content and have few desires. Some have endless desires. All this depends on their capabilities. Those with more and stronger desires will have more afflictions. Those who are content have fewer afflictions.
Though sentient beings want to engage in spiritual practice, “the nature of their various desires” [all differ]; some are serious, some mild. The more desires they have, the more afflictions they will have. We always say sentient beings have 84,000 kinds of afflictions, so the Buddha needs to open 84,000 Dharma-doors. In response to their mental ailments, the Buddha prescribes the spiritual medicine that sentient beings need for their treatment. This is all for the afflictions of sentient beings. Why are some afflictions mild and others more severe? Some people have fewer desires, while others have an endless number of desires. All this has to do with “[our] karma, good and bad, from former lives.” I often say we must break away from superstition, but we must believe in the law of karma. The world, the universe and relationships are all governed by the law of cause and effect. This is something we must believe.
Every one of us sentient beings, throughout cyclic existence in the Six Realms, is influenced by our surroundings to form habitual tendencies. Sometimes, when negative conditions manifest, we then create negative karma. These negative causes we create will then naturally yield negative conditions. These are the karmic retributions that we
bring with us into the world. If we come to the world with positive causes and effects, we will encounter positive conditions. With positive effects and retributions, we encounter and are guided by good karmic conditions. All this comes from good karma. In previous lives, we created positive causes and conditions, So in this life, everything we see will lead us on the course to do good. So, goodness is related to our previous lives.
What if we have negative [karma]? Then we will live in a terrible environment and will only encounter negative conditions, which lead us to create more negative causes. So because of negative conditions we create more negative causes, which lead us to create more negative conditions. When we are in this vicious cycle we continuously give rise to afflictions.
“[Our] karma, good and bad, from former lives” constantly entangles us. So, we must be mindful. The Buddha taught that poor man to always have a pleasant demeanor, to always speak kind words and to always see others as good people. If we can practice these seven ways [of giving], aren’t we creating good affinities with others? This is our method as Buddhist practitioners.
The Buddha already knows all this, so He gives teachings to sentient beings. All Buddhas also come to the world and do the same thing. If They did not really understand the capabilities of sentient beings, then how could They give suitable teachings? How could They open up the skillful means? [So, teaching] skillful means requires an understanding of sentient beings’ capabilities. So “the thoughts in the minds of sentient beings, the various pathways they have walked, the nature of their various desires, their karma, good and bad, from former lives, are fully known to the Buddha.” He knows all, because He first learned about sentient beings.
Dear Bodhisattvas, we must first learn about people. We must first understand what they need so we can give them something suitable. When people first see you, a sense of friendliness will draw them close to you. When we see someone, we want to feel like we have an affinity with them. We want people to feel, upon meeting us, that they have a close affinity with us. First, we must cultivate a pleasant demeanor and learn how to maintain it [by applying] the “Tzu Chi Facial Cream” (a smile). This is all about our [everyday] appearance.
We also must work on how to speak so that others are willing to listen. We must always speak kind words, have a positive mindset and show respect because every person is a good person. We should also constantly help others. If someone has poor eyesight and cannot see clearly, we must guide them onto a safe path. We must spare no effort in helping others. The strength we have must be dedicated to doing all we can to help others. When we interact with others, we must also treat them with respect. We must give to others out of selfless great love.
If so, our daily living will not center on the joy of material pleasures, but the joy of harmonious relationships. This happens in a monastery, a training ground for spiritual cultivation. Therefore, we should constantly. “In a harmonious assembly, we must adjust our minds to be tranquil and still.” We must be able to be in harmony with everyone; this is what we learn in our training ground.
We do the same in our spiritual training ground. We must “maintain clarity and be free of defilements.” We really must work on maintaining this. Since we aspire to engage in practice, we must change our habitual tendencies. Changing our habitual tendencies means we are eliminating our ignorance and will no longer be defiled. Since we have these spiritual aspirations, we must “uphold our resolve and vow to walk the Bodhi-path.”
All Buddhas come to the world for the sole purpose of teaching us. [They utilize] various methods and skillful means solely to give [teachings]. But the Buddha and all Buddhas must first understand sentient beings’ capabilities so they can teach them with the power of skillful means. So everybody, we must learn this to learn from the Buddha. Everyone, please always be mindful.