Episode 340 – Awaiting Conditions to Teach the Buddha’s Wisdom
>> We must keep advancing and going forward. We must recognize the beautiful state of mind within us. We must nourish our wisdom-life with Dharma to attain an everlasting state of tranquility and clarity.
>> I established these skillful means to enable all of you to enter the Buddha’s wisdom. But I have not yet told you all that all of you will certainly attain Buddhahood. I have not yet said that, because the time to speak has not come.
>> I established these skillful means: The Buddha established teachings with provisional wisdom. This is the wisdom that leads to true wisdom through skillful means. The small side street that leads to the great path is the wisdom of practicing skillful means.
>> Enable you to enter the Buddha’s wisdom: The Buddha must first, according to what is suitable, give Small [Vehicle] teachings. Gradually, through provisional teachings, He guides people onto the great path to enable all to enter the Buddha’s wisdom. All Buddhas have great universal wisdom, which is all-encompassing wisdom, supreme, perfect and universal enlightenment.
>> The Chapter on Skillful Means states, “The Tathagata appears in this world for the purpose of teaching the Buddha’s wisdom.”
>> I have not yet told you all: The time had not arrived; people’s capabilities had not matured. He waited for the right conditions and was about to proclaim the Dharma He had not taught before.
>> All of you will attain Buddhahood: There is no other way to attain Buddhahood; it is only possible through the One Vehicle Dharma. The varying capabilities and karmic conditions of every person are different, but only one teaching leads to Buddhahood.
>> “So, I have not said that.” For 40-plus years, the Buddha kept this wondrous Dharma in His mind. The timing and capabilities were not mature, so the time to speak had not arrived. “So, I have not said that.”
We must keep advancing and going forward.
We must recognize the beautiful state of mind within us.
We must nourish our wisdom-life with Dharma
to attain an everlasting state of tranquility and clarity.
In learning from the Buddha, we must practice diligently. “We must keep advancing and going forward.” We know that time waits for no one, so we must treasure every moment. We must seize every second to practice diligently. There is a common saying, “Only the person who drinks the water knows if it is hot or cold.” The way spiritual practice affects our minds is something only each of us knows for ourselves. Other people cannot comprehend our minds.
What are we thinking about? About listening, contemplating and practicing. About the teachings we heard yesterday. About the things we did yesterday. About whether our interactions yesterday made us happy or not. These various states of mind are known only to ourselves.
Whenever we think of something, it will have an appearance. A person’s image surfaces in our minds when we are thinking of that person. Is this a person who makes us happy? [If so,] then our state of mind is happy. This kind of thinking, this happy state of mind, comes from contemplating. By engaging in contemplation, we are cultivating the field in our minds; we are imprinting things onto our minds.
When we meticulously think about the things that happened yesterday, whether we were happy or not, our minds are focused on appearances. This is conditioned phenomena.
For some time, we have been listening to the Dharma every day. After listening to it, have we really analyzed the underlying principles? Have we mindfully cultivated the field in our minds? We must ask ourselves whether or not we have learned to clearly recognize the beauty of our state of mind. When we are in a clear state, we will very clearly understand everything. Our beautiful state of mind is known only to us. So, “Only the person who drinks the water knows if it is cold or warm.” We have listened to so much Dharma; have we taken any of it into our minds? Have we mindfully cultivated [our minds]? Have we discovered this beautiful state of mind in our spiritual cultivation?
[Spiritual practice] is like weeding a garden. When we look at one patch of grass after another, they are full of weeds we must clear. Do we know what kind of weeds they are? When we are weeding, we must be able to identify the weeds. Is it nut grass, creeping oxalis, or some other kind of weed? If we want to clear it but do not know its name, that is like trying to eliminate ignorance without knowing its source. Thus, “Farming is a form of meditation. The mind is the Buddha. The Buddha is the Dharma.” This all depends on our minds. “We must recognize the beautiful state of mind within us.” But whether we can or not depends on our minds being focused, not scattered, advancing, not regressing, as we diligently move forward. We must put effort into this.
Thus, we must “nourish our wisdom-life with the Dharma.” Spiritual practice develops our wisdom-life; it revives the wisdom-life in our minds. Otherwise, our wisdom-life is hibernating. For our wisdom-life to grow, we must nourish our minds with the Dharma.
Our minds must always be in a state of tranquility and clarity. We must seize every moment, every second. If we can constantly eliminate our afflictions while remaining tranquil and clear forever, [we can manifest] Buddha-nature.
Everyone, we must advance and not regress. Our minds must be focused and not scattered, so we can recognize our own beautiful state of mind. This is such a wonderful state, so we need the Dharma to nourish our wisdom-life. We must always keep our minds in this pure state forever. Only then can we live up to the Buddha’s one great cause. He established various skillful means, all to help us enter the Buddha’s wisdom.
I established these skillful means to enable all of you to enter the Buddha’s wisdom. But I have not yet told you all that all of you will certainly attain Buddhahood. I have not yet said that, because the time to speak has not come.
Yesterday, we discussed how the Buddha “established these skillful means.” He taught with various skillful means and various forms of provisional wisdom. “Provisional” leads to true [wisdom]. To better reveal the True Dharma and to help everyone understand it more easily, He used skillful means. This shows the Buddha’s meticulousness. If He did not want to help sentient beings experience and realize true wisdom, the Buddha would not need to work so hard.
So, He guides us through small side streets solely because He hopes we will eventually reach the main street. From the side streets, we reach the main road, which is the only path that leads to the Buddha’s wisdom. Otherwise, we will get lost among the side streets. They keep splitting off, so we need guidance to go from the side streets to the main road. We cannot stop on the side streets. If we go back that way, we will be lost and will not be able to reach the great path.
I established these skillful means: The Buddha established teachings with provisional wisdom. This is the wisdom that leads to true wisdom through skillful means. The small side street that leads to the great path is the wisdom of practicing skillful means.
The Buddha’s sole intention was to “enable us to enter the Buddha’s wisdom.” He guides us through small side streets in the hope that we will step onto the broad and direct Bodhisattva-path. This shows the Buddha’s meticulousness. He established skillful means to “enable [us] to enter the Buddha’s wisdom.”
Enable you to enter the Buddha’s wisdom: The Buddha must first, according to what is suitable, give Small [Vehicle] teachings. Gradually, through provisional teachings, He guides people onto the great path to enable all to enter the Buddha’s wisdom. All Buddhas have great universal wisdom, which is all-encompassing wisdom, supreme, perfect and universal enlightenment.
Although the Buddha established skillful means, He still hopes sentient beings will enter the Buddha’s wisdom. Thus, “the Buddha must first, according to what is suitable, give Small [Vehicle] teachings.” He gave teachings that suited their capabilities, so that sentient beings could accept them. Suitable teachings are more skillful and simple, so He could guide sentient beings to understanding with these skillful means. Thus, He gave Small [Vehicle] teachings.
“Gradually, through provisional teachings, He guides people onto the great path.” With “provisional” and skillful teachings, He guides everyone to the great path, so they can enter His wisdom. If we do not pass through the small side streets, we cannot reach the main road. Because we ordinary people have limited senses, capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha has to guide us through small streets to help us reach the main road, which is the great universal wisdom of all Buddhas.
The Buddha wants us to do the same. Don’t all of us, including me, have a state of mind filled with many afflictions and discursive thoughts? So, the Buddha uses various methods to help us eliminate discursive thoughts and afflictions. Then from discursive thoughts and afflictions we return to the great wisdom equal to the Buddha’s.
We keep saying that “the mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature].” This “unconditioned Dharma” is very natural; it is intrinsic to all of us. Yet we are affected by “conditioned phenomena.” We allow all kinds of appearances, all kinds of shapes and colors to enter our minds, and then we cling to those appearances. They disrupt our thinking and cause the weeds in our minds to flourish by continuously giving rise to discursive afflictions. So, it is from conditioned phenomena that all afflictions arise.
If we can all return to the great universal wisdom we intrinsically have, we will all be equal. The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings all have this great universal wisdom, which is supreme, perfect, universal enlightenment. If all of us can reach this state, we will have entered the state of unconditioned phenomena. The unconditioned Dharma is intrinsic to us all. It is our intrinsic nature of True Suchness.
Thus in the Lotus sutra, this passage in.
The Chapter on Skillful Means states, “The Tathagata appears in this world for the purpose of teaching the Buddha’s wisdom.”
The Tathagata appears in this world for the one great cause of teaching the Buddha’s wisdom. He wants to tell everyone that the mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature]; all have great universal wisdom. We often say we must have loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity and view all with equal compassion. We must teach these compassionate practices to sentient beings, so they treat all equally. There is no such thing as “a giver.” There is no such thing as “a receiver.” There is also no such thing as “a gift given.”
Indeed, all things in the world exist to be collectively used by all sentient beings. How do people lay claim to particular things? Because of their causes and conditions. Some of us lack these kinds of karmic conditions, while others have them in abundance. So, the Buddha came to teach us that those who have good karmic conditions must quickly fill the needs of those who lack them. Since we are taking things from the world, we must use them to meet the needs of others. This is conditioned phenomena.
However, we must manifest unconditioned Dharma. We inherently have this universal compassion. With great universal wisdom, we can lead sentient beings. We hope that they are replete with these karmic conditions and have an abundance of compassion and wisdom. This is intrinsic to all of us.
The Buddha gave many teachings in the past; there are countless scriptures. When He said, “I have not yet told you all, you all” referred to the initiators and adopters. We have mentioned four kinds of practitioners, initiators, adopters, [influencers] and associators. At a Dharma-assembly, whether they were associators or adopters, the Buddha spoke to them all. This was why the Buddha said, “you all.” Sakyamuni Buddha said at the assembly, “I have not yet told you all.” He had not yet told them. What hadn’t He told everyone? Why hadn’t He said it? Because “the time had not arrived”; “people’s capabilities had not matured.”
I have not yet told you all: The time had not arrived; people’s capabilities had not matured. He waited for the right conditions and was about to proclaim the Dharma He had not taught before.
Why couldn’t the Buddha simply tell everyone, “You can all attain Buddhahood. You can all be my equals. Everyone can be a Buddha.” He did not say this, because even if He did, they would not understand. So, “the time had not arrived”; “people’s capabilities had not matured.” If He said it then, no one would understand. So, the Buddha did not speak of it then. Thus, the Buddha kept waiting for His opportunity. For a very long time, He did not say this because He was waiting for the right time, the right karmic conditions.
“I have not told all of you this in the past.” He had not yet told “all of you.” What hadn’t he told “all of you”? The Buddha had not begun to speak, but He was getting ready to because the timing was right and the karmic conditions had matured. The Buddha had already entered old age, and it was about time for Him to enter Parinirvana. So, the timing was about right, and people’s capabilities were also almost mature. When everything was about to come together, the Buddha “was about to proclaim” [this teaching]. He was about to make a proclamation to the assembly. What was He going to proclaim? “The Dharma He had not taught before.” He had not taught this in the past.
What exactly was He going to tell them? “All of you will attain Buddhahood.” This was such great news. The Buddha was saying, “You can also attain Buddhahood. You are not just listening to the Dharma; [this Dharma] already exists within your hearts. This wondrous Dharma of universal wisdom is intrinsic to all of you. So, you can attain Buddhahood.”
All of you will attain Buddhahood: There is no other way to attain Buddhahood; it is only possible through the One Vehicle Dharma. The varying capabilities and karmic conditions of every person are different, but only one teaching leads to Buddhahood.
There is no other way to attain Buddhahood. There is not a second road, nor a second door. There is only one broad, direct path. The only way to achieve our mission is “through the One Vehicle Dharma.” The ultimate reality of the One Vehicle is the wondrous Dharma of True Suchness. “The varying capabilities and karmic conditions of every person are different.” Since sentient beings have different capabilities and karmic conditions, even when they listen to the same Dharma, each of them will understand it differently. So, “The varying capabilities and karmic conditions of every person are different, but only one teaching leads to Buddhahood.” No matter what our capabilities are, and what the karmic conditions are, there is only one True Dharma of the One Vehicle.
“So, I have not said that.” For 40-plus years, the Buddha kept this wondrous Dharma in His mind. The timing and capabilities were not mature, so the time to speak had not arrived. “So, I have not said that.”
This was because even if He did say it, [people] could not understand. It would be as if He had not spoken at all. So, the Buddha was compassionate. He always kept people company and guided them with various methods in the hope that they could, by penetrating the world’s conditioned phenomena, come to realize the unconditioned Dharma, the universal and true wondrous Dharma that is intrinsic to everyone.
So, dear Bodhisattvas, as Buddhist practitioners, the only thing to do is to diligently advance. We should not let such a beautiful state of mind slip away; otherwise, we will be lost among the side streets. Those small street are complicated; if we take a wrong turn and have to find our way back, that will delay us. Thus, we must “advance and keep going forward” on this broad path in order to experience our beautiful state of mind. So, everyone must always be mindful.