Episode 378 – The One and Only Vehicle
>> We, as Buddhist practitioners, must “uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, and establish faith, vows and practice. Thus our minds can be at peace and we can walk the path of the One Vehicle.”
>> [All Buddhas] teach the One Vehicle Path: The One Vehicle Dharma is what the Buddha originally intended to teach and is the ultimate teaching, which is today’s Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra.
>> The nine divisions of Dharma are also the nine divisions of teachings, generally called the nine kinds of sutras. They are: sutras, geyas, gathas, previous lives of disciples, or of Buddhas, things that have never been, causes and conditions, analogies, and upadesa.
>> Now all those assembled here. At the Vulture Peak assembly, all those listening to the sutras had utmost sincerity. They are those who faithfully accepted the Dharma they heard.
>> [They] should resolve all their questions: Those who did not plant good seeds in past lives will have doubts about the Buddha-Dharma and not enjoy listening to Right Dharma. Thus, they doubt the true principles and are confused, unable to discern right from wrong.
>> The World-Honored One reminded them: On Vulture Peak, the assembly listening to the Dharma must have deep faith and not give rise to doubt. If they have any remaining doubts or worries, they should resolve all their questions.
>> So, “the teachings of all Buddhas are the same; the path of all Buddhas are the same.” This is what the Buddha called the heart of the Tathagata-garbha.
>> So, the Diamond Sutra states, “the Tathagata is one who speaks the truth, who speaks the actual… who does not speak what is false, who does not speak what is not so.”
>> There is “only the One Vehicle Dharma,” which “is the true Bodhi-path.” So, the Two and Three Vehicles are just skillful, provisional teachings. “The Dharma of Buddhas of the ten directions is just the One Vehicle,” so the Two Vehicles are skillful means.
We, as Buddhist practitioners,
must “uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom,
and establish faith, vows and practice.
Thus our minds can be at peace
and we can walk the path of the One Vehicle.”
This is our goal. Once we have aspired to practice, we must stay on our course of cultivating precepts, Samadhi and wisdom.
Precepts prevent erroneous thoughts from arising and put an end to our erroneous behavior. Therefore, we must uphold precepts. Only precepts can bring us into a state of Samadhi. If we are not in Samadhi, we will waste time. Today, we may aspire to earnestly cultivate, but then suddenly, a discursive thought arises and causes our Samadhi to waver. This is how discursive thoughts give rise to afflictions. Because of this, the state of Samadhi we have been maintaining disappears in an instant. In an instant, we will have broken the firm vows we made.
It is due to one discursive thought that our minds will waver and lead us to act improperly. Thus, we must safeguard our Samadhi and the power of our vows. If our minds are not in a state of Samadhi, we will definitely not have wisdom. Wisdom comes from tranquility, the tranquility of Samadhi.
The Buddha teaches us in hopes that each of us will no longer make mistakes. We must remain firmly in a state of Samadhi. This is what the Buddha teaches us. We must establish faith and vows. We have the resolve to practice precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, so after we establish vows, we can move forward. Only then can we see how wonderful a mind in a state of Samadhi can be, how it is not swayed by people, matters and objects.
After something has happened, [we think,]. “Fortunately, my mind is in Samadhi. My pure and unwavering mind is so peaceful and free.” This state of peace and freedom comes from establishing faith, vows and practice. If we have faith, we will not be swayed. If we practice with resolve and move forward, and walk on the path diligently, during the process we will look back and say, “I am so fortunate this state of mind is wonderful.” Where can we attain this state of peace and stability? By walking the path of the One Vehicle.
Although the Buddha lived over 2000 years ago, He never actually left, because the Dharma is still with us now. This, the One Vehicle Dharma, is what the Buddha originally intended to teach.
Sakyamuni Buddha did not [only live] over 2000 years ago, but also throughout countless kalpas. Countless kalpas, to the Buddha, is not a very long time either. From the beginning, He had this mindset of helping us thoroughly understand true principles. True principles intrinsically abide in our minds; all of us intrinsically have Buddha-nature. This can be explained in a few simple sentences, but we sentient beings are ordinary people who have created much [karma] and been tainted by many habitual tendencies. The Buddha hopes all sentient beings can return to [their true nature] and take this simple principle to heart. This is His life’s teachings that He always intended to give.
[All Buddhas] teach the One Vehicle Path: The One Vehicle Dharma is what the Buddha originally intended to teach and is the ultimate teaching, which is today’s Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra.
This is His life’s teachings. At the Vulture Peak assembly, the Buddha opened His heart to completely and directly share all the teachings in His heart with everyone. What kind of teachings were they? He gave the ultimate teachings, which is the teachings we are now listening to and discussing, the Great Vehicle Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra.
In “teaching the One Vehicle Dharma,” this “teaching” was everything [He taught] for 40-plus years, despite the fact that the Buddha said that. He taught skillful means for the first 42 years. In fact, I have always emphasized that skillful means are wondrous provisional teachings. “Wondrous” means they contain principles. Though it is Small Vehicle Dharma, it is the foundation of the Dharma. Take a house for example; it must have a foundation. If we do not dig deep into the ground and lay down a solid foundation, how can we secure the columns and construct the house, story by story? If there are no columns, if there are no walls, then how can we consider this a house?
By the same principle, for the Buddha to give the most complete teaching, He must first lay down a foundation. If we do not even understand the foundation, how can we have a complete understanding of principles? So, the skillful means taught by the Buddha are not lacking in principles; they are all based on principles. This is “[teaching] the One Vehicle Dharma.”
Even the Lotus Sutra we are discussing cannot be [understood] without the skillful means taught by the Buddha during the first 40-plus years. This is a complete teaching. Even the Lotus Sutra also uses analogies, expressions, causes and conditions and “the nine divisions of Dharma” to explain and create a complete sutra.
The nine divisions of Dharma are also the nine divisions of teachings, generally called the nine kinds of sutras. They are: sutras, geyas, gathas, previous lives of disciples, or of Buddhas, things that have never been, causes and conditions, analogies, and upadesa.
We have discussed “the Nine Divisions of Teachings” previously. All these methods are used to help people more easily understand and take the Dharma to heart. Thus this is considered a complete Dharma.
So, “Now all those assembled here.”
Now all those assembled here. At the Vulture Peak assembly, all those listening to the sutras had utmost sincerity. They are those who faithfully accepted the Dharma they heard.
In the past, [the Buddha] “[taught] the One Vehicle Dharma.” As for “Now all those assembled here,” when were these people assembled? During the Buddha’s lifetime, when He was about to expound the Lotus Sutra. Many people assembled to listen to teachings on Vulture Peak.
Do you still remember? As the Buddha began to teach the Lotus Sutra, He radiated light, manifested auspicious appearances and entered Samadhi for a very long time. People began to guess why exactly the Buddha’s appearance today was different from the past. They looked at each other until. Maitreya Bodhisattva asked Manjusri Bodhisattva. So, Manjusri Bodhisattva, during the time that the Buddha was in Samadhi, described the era of the 20,000 Sun-Moon Lamp Radiant Buddhas until the Buddha emerged from Samadhi. Then the Buddha endlessly praised the Dharma He was about to teach. Starting at this moment, He began to give teachings He never gave before. He fully set aside the skillful means of the past to directly teach True Dharma.
Some people did not have patience for this. “I understand most of the past teachings. The Buddha gave so many teachings and I understood them all. The True Dharma He is going to teach must be very similar to what He taught before.” So, they had no patience and lacked the sincerity and reverence to listen to the Dharma. So, 5000 people left the assembly. The Buddha saw these 5000 people leave and immediately calmed everyone’s minds. He said, “It is better that they left” because these people were all overbearingly arrogant.
We should all remember that after these people left the assembly, those who remained had utmost sincerity and had the great capabilities to accept the Great [Vehicle] Dharma. Thus, “now all those assembled here” were people like this. They were those who “faithfully accepted the Dharma they heard.” They were willing to wholeheartedly believe in the Buddha’s teachings. They accepted His teachings with great reverence and respect. Thus, they listened respectfully and accepted them respectfully.
So, the Buddha specifically told them, “Now all those assembled here” should “resolve their questions,” they must eliminate their doubts. “Since you have firmly resolved to stay and listen to the teachings, you must all be sincere. Your root of faith must grow deep. Any doubts must be immediately eliminated. Since you are staying to listen, you must not have doubts.” This was the Buddha’s compassionate reminder for everyone.
[They] should resolve all their questions: Those who did not plant good seeds in past lives will have doubts about the Buddha-Dharma and not enjoy listening to Right Dharma. Thus, they doubt the true principles and are confused, unable to discern right from wrong.
There were those “who did not plant good seeds in past lives. Past lives” refers to prior lifetimes. If their roots of goodness were not planted deep, they were those who “did not plant good seeds.” They “will have doubts about the Buddha-Dharma.” Because their roots of goodness and faith were not deeply planted, while they did listen to the Buddha-Dharma, they also doubted it. For people who half-believed and half-doubted, although they had listened to the Buddha-Dharma, their “faith” was not complete, so they “will have doubts.”
They “will have doubts about the Buddha-Dharma and not enjoy listening to Right Dharma.” They would not cherish or enjoy it. If they do “not enjoy listening to Right Dharma,” that would be very sad. Although they are immersed in the Dharma, they do not appreciate or cherish it, so whether they listen to it or not makes no difference. It may go in one ear and out the other. Right Dharma will not penetrate their minds. Then doubt about principles arises in them. If we begin to doubt, we will be very confused about principles. Then as we deal with people, matters and objects, we become confused.
Because our root of faith is not deep, our Root of Precepts will not be stable. So, we will not know how to protect ourselves and guard against improper thinking and views. By not guarding against them, we allow people, matters and objects that lead us astray to enter our minds. This causes us to waver in our Samadhi and lose our wisdom and be “unable to discern right from wrong.” If we doubt principles or are confused by matters, we cannot decide whether something is true or not, nor discern right from wrong; this is delusion. This would be very unfortunate.
So, the World-Honored One gave the assembly this reminder and instruction. He keeps reminding us of this.
The World-Honored One reminded them: On Vulture Peak, the assembly listening to the Dharma must have deep faith and not give rise to doubt. If they have any remaining doubts or worries, they should resolve all their questions.
“On Vulture Peak, the assembly listening to the Dharma….” The Buddha, the World-Honored One, earnestly reminded the assembly on Vulture Peak that they must “have deep faith and not give rise to doubt.” Everyone must have deep faith. At the Lotus Assembly, [these teachings] were what the Buddha originally intended to teach. For countless kalpas, He has safeguarded the One Vehicle Dharma in His mind. Now, at this time, He completely and directly opened the Dharma-door to True Dharma. He hoped we could all wholeheartedly and directly enter our intrinsic Buddha-nature of True Suchness.
Because His time was limited and the end of this life was near, He had to teach the wondrous Dharma of one reality very quickly. But, He also worried that people would not thoroughly understand it, and half-believe and half-question it. Still, the Buddha was very determined, so He kept reminding those who were listening at the Vulture Peak assembly to “have deep faith and not give rise to doubt,” to avoid having a doubtful mind. So, “if they had remaining doubts or worries,” they should “resolve their questions.” This was the Buddha reminding everyone to no longer give rise to doubts.
“The teachings of all Buddhas are the same.” This means that. “Buddhas” does not just refer to Sakyamuni, but also all Buddhas of the past; They all taught the same Dharma.
So, “the teachings of all Buddhas are the same; the path of all Buddhas are the same.” This is what the Buddha called the heart of the Tathagata-garbha.
All Buddhas have “Tathagata-garbha.” Does everyone have “Tathagata-garbha”?
We talk about the Eight Consciousnesses, and we also often discuss the ninth consciousness. The eighth consciousness is the karmic consciousness. Sentient beings have all Eight Consciousnesses. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind connect to the Five Sense Objects and Five Conditions and take them into our mind-consciousness. Then the mind-consciousness will be incorporated into the seventh consciousness, which has to do with thinking and understanding. So, the seventh consciousness leads us to commit good or evil deeds. Every cause and condition we create in this lifetime is taken into our eighth consciousness. So, the eighth is our storehouse consciousness. All good and bad deeds are contained in this storehouse consciousness.
Dust-like afflictions are also stored here; this makes us ignorant. The storehouse in us ordinary people is very messy because we throw all kinds of complicated things in there. As part of our spiritual practice, we must immediately clean up this storehouse, which is our eighth consciousness. Our past mistakes must be removed and eliminated immediately. We must not take them back in; we must clean up. If we can clean up our minds, we can attain the Tathagata-garbha mind. “The Tathagata-garbha mind” is a pure mind; this is the ninth consciousness.
So, all Buddhas are the same. “All Buddhas share the same path.” What is kept in the storehouse of His mind is the pure and undefiled Dharma. He has already shared with everyone that, “All Buddhas share the same path.”
So, the Diamond Sutra states, “the Tathagata is one who speaks the truth, who speaks the actual… who does not speak what is false, who does not speak what is not so.”
The Buddha is one who speaks the truth. This is how “all Buddhas share the same path.”
“There is only the One Vehicle, not two.” When each Buddha comes to give teachings, They only need to teach one thing. They just need to tell everyone, “All of us intrinsically has Buddha-nature.” It is that simple. To engage in spiritual practice and return to our intrinsic nature,
There is “only the One Vehicle Dharma,” which “is the true Bodhi-path.” So, the Two and Three Vehicles are just skillful, provisional teachings. “The Dharma of Buddhas of the ten directions is just the One Vehicle,” so the Two Vehicles are skillful means.
I hope we can all understand the Buddha’s purpose in coming to this world. He was very earnest in hoping we could all mindfully accept and enjoy the Buddha-Dharma. We must have deep faith in the Buddha-Dharma. Only then can we enter the Bodhi-path and walk forward step by step. Only then can we attain a beautiful state of mind and enter the Buddha’s tranquil and still state. Therefore, we must always be mindful.