Episode 382 – The Deep Desires of Our Hearts
>> “The Dharma may take different forms as wondrous provisional teachings. It can be applied differently and taught according to capabilities.”
>> “And these great lords of sages know the desires deep in the hearts of all the heavenly beings, humans and other beings in all worlds.”
>> And these great lords of sages: All Buddhas have great enlightened wisdom, like a great, perfect mirror. All conditions can be reflected in this great, clear mirror. They are most honored by sentient beings, so They are the great lords of sages.
>> [They know everything] in all the worlds: The world is constantly shifting. The Buddha knows everything about the worlds of sentient beings, that all principles and forms are created by karma. The world is also comprised of time and space. The Three Periods of Time, past, present and future, are [the time aspect] of the world. East, west, south and north, the four intermediate directions, above and below, these ten directions, are the space aspect.
>> “The world” refers to the universe. In the Buddha’s teachings, it does not solely refer to the myriad forms we see in this land. When we talk about “the world,” we refer to everything from the universe to people’s lives. The universe and the land that sentient beings rely on is called the material world. Sentient beings create karma out of delusion, resulting in a physical body that goes through birth, death and existence. This is the world of sentient beings.
>> All the heavenly beings, humans and other beings: The heaven and human realms are part of the Six Realms. They are the two good destinies. By practicing the Ten Good Deeds and Five Precepts, we are among those who benefit the world.
>> The desires deep in the heart: A strong will to seek the Dharma. Deep karmic causes: They have deeply planted virtues that are difficult to uproot. Deep in their hearts: Their aspiration to seek the Dharma is strong. This is the desire deep in their hearts.
I am grateful at all times. We must be grateful for the Buddha’s kindness because His compassion and great realizations led Him to teach the Great Dharma in this world.
“The Dharma may take different forms as wondrous provisional teachings. It can be applied differently and taught according to capabilities.”
This is the Buddha’s compassion; for the sake of this world, He uses many kinds of methods to teach according to sentient beings’ capacities. With great realizations, He teaches the Great Dharma. The Dharma can take on different forms, depending on our capabilities. He applied certain methods for certain kinds of sentient beings, so He established both provisional and wondrous teachings.
“Provisional” refers to skillful means that contain the most true and wondrous Dharma. The Buddha has the compassion and wisdom to teach according to different capabilities. But these various skillful means are ultimately encompassed in the One Vehicle Dharma. All these suitable teachings ultimately show that people all intrinsically have Buddha-nature so that they will manifest their pure nature of True Suchness. “To transform infinite sentient beings” [describes] how They worked to enable sentient beings to enter the path to Buddhahood. This is basically what I said yesterday.
The next passage in the sutra states,
“And these great lords of sages know the desires deep in the hearts of all the heavenly beings, humans and other beings in all worlds.”
“These great lords of sages” is another way Sakyamuni Buddha refers to all Buddhas of the past and future. They have realized all things in the world, so Their understanding and views of this world include the heaven and human realms, as well as the asura, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. They are all included, [so we speak of] “all the heavenly beings, humans and other beings.” All of us in the Six Realms are inseparable from “deep desires of the heart.” These habitual tendencies are very deeply rooted. Ignorance and desires are deeply rooted in ordinary people, so transforming them is indeed not easy.
Let us look at “great lords of sages.”
And these great lords of sages: All Buddhas have great enlightened wisdom, like a great, perfect mirror. All conditions can be reflected in this great, clear mirror. They are most honored by sentient beings, so They are the great lords of sages.
The great enlightened wisdom of all Buddhas is like a great, perfect mirror. All conditions can be reflected. In just this one great, perfect mirror, the entire world surrounding it can be reflected. So, a mirror can completely capture the world around it; everything is reflected in this mirror. Sakyamuni Buddha attained this great realization. But He was not the only one. All Buddhas of the past, present and future have an enlightened state of mind and can fully reflect everything in this great mirror. So, sentient beings revere Them most and consider Them the great lords of sages.
They are great lords of sages because. Their enlightened state of mind is so broad that in the world and in all the Six Realms, They can clearly understand all matters and principles. This is why everyone reveres Them. This is why They are great lords of sages.
[They know everything] in all the worlds: The world is constantly shifting. The Buddha knows everything about the worlds of sentient beings, that all principles and forms are created by karma. The world is also comprised of time and space. The Three Periods of Time, past, present and future, are [the time aspect] of the world. East, west, south and north, the four intermediate directions, above and below, these ten directions, are the space aspect.
“[They know everything] in all the worlds.” The word “world” seems very straightforward, but it actually encompasses many meanings. In the world, everything is constantly shifting. The Buddha knows that in all the worlds of sentient beings, all principles and forms are created by karma. The Buddha more or less understands that this world is constantly shifting, and the world can refer to space.
What is it that is shifting? Time. From the past there is an unbroken, uninterrupted chain of moments which has continued to this day. Then it will continue on for a long time, for innumerable kalpas. As I have said, no words can describe the scope of time. So, in Buddhism we use the term, “kalpa.” A kalpa is a long period of time; it flows constantly without ever stopping. This is the component of “time. The world” also refers to space.
The enlightened Buddha knew everything about the worlds of sentient beings, which include the heaven, human and other realms. The way sentient beings live, all their principles and appearances, are results of the karma they created. So, based on the karmic law of cause and effect, we follow the karma we have created and the currents of the river of time to end up in these different [realms]. [Where we go depends] on the karma we create. Cultivating the Ten Good Deeds leads us to the space of the heaven realm. Upholding the Five Precepts leads us to the space of the human realm. If we commit evils, we will go to different realms of suffering. This is all based on the karma we create.
This is how we explain “the world” in terms of time and space. “Time” is the past, present and future. As for space, it is above, below, the four intermediate and four cardinal directions. Worlds in these ten directions are “space. The world” [is time and space]. “The world” can also refer to the universe. The whole universe can be considered the world. All the stars in the universe are constantly revolving in their different orbits. So, though the universe seems to be unmoving, all the worlds, all the stars, are constantly revolving. This shows the presence of time.
The Buddha realized the true principles of all things in the universe. His mind and awareness [are one with] the universe. This is the state of great Nirvana, of non-arising and non-ceasing. This comes from realizing the principles of the universe.
“The world” refers to the universe. In the Buddha’s teachings, it does not solely refer to the myriad forms we see in this land. When we talk about “the world,” we refer to everything from the universe to people’s lives. The universe and the land that sentient beings rely on is called the material world. Sentient beings create karma out of delusion, resulting in a physical body that goes through birth, death and existence. This is the world of sentient beings.
So, in the Buddha’s teachings, the definition of “the world” is very open. In the principles of the Buddha-Dharma, “the world” does not solely refer to all the myriad forms we see in nature. It is more than that. “The universe and people’s lives are all encompassed in ‘the world,'”
not just the myriad forms in nature. Indeed, as I just said, [the world] refers to all the principles and appearances in the world, all the worlds of sentient beings and everything we can feel, everything we can see. The world of all sentient beings includes the dimensions of both time and space. Whether we live in Taiwan, or in Africa or somewhere else, we are all part of the world of sentient beings. In this world of sentient beings, why were some of us born in Taiwan? Why were some of us born in a very poor country in Africa? This is all because of one thing, a principle. What principle? The karmic law of cause and effect. Because of this principle, people’s circumstantial retribution led them to be born there.
But we also face our direct retribution when we are born in this world.
Some people are born wealthy, are blessed to be wealthy and educated and live a fortunate life. This kind of life is [due to having] good circumstantial retributions and good direct retributions. But some have positive circumstantial retributions and negative direct retributions. They may be born into a good family. This is due to their karma. They have an affinity with this set of parents, so they are born in this place. But their relationship with their parents is not very harmonious, bringing their parents much frustration and mental anguish. Or perhaps things change suddenly. Life is impermanent; there are constant changes. Some people may be born into poor circumstances and suffer from many hardships, but because of their direct retributions, they are very diligent and focused and vow to [make something of their lives]. So, they strive to find a way out toward a better life and are able to repay their parents’ kindness; there are also people like this.
There are all kinds of appearances in this world. So, principles and appearances are based on the law of karma. Appearances arise based on various conditions, which give rise to various ways of living. This all happens according to karma. This is what the Buddha teaches about the world. The Buddha had the wisdom to understand the principles behind the myriad forms of the world. He taught sentient beings to help us know and thoroughly understand this.
The universe and people’s lives are encompassed by what we call “the world.” In the universe, the land we rely on is Earth. But the Buddha has transcended the way we live on Earth. His understanding and views are of the universe, which remains in an unmoving state of purity. But He related all the truths [of the universe] back to this world.
This world is “the material world.” Our planet is a physical world, Tangible things are all part of the material world. Everything in the material world will arise and cease, from flowers to grasses to trees and so on. “Sentient beings create karma out of delusion.” We sentient beings, living in this material world, give rise to delusion and create karma here. For example, jade comes from a mine. Rocks of jade deposits are dug out and after people grind them down, they become very precious pieces of jade. How big does a mountain need to be for us to find something so valuable? Think about how the mountains, rivers and the land contain so many treasures. But we human beings become deluded because of them. This is why we dig mines and destroy and dig [into the mountain]. How much of the mountain must be removed to produce such a shiny and clear piece of jade?
This is how our desire gives rise to delusion. Thus we create karma when we damage all these beautiful things. A group of Bodhisattva[-volunteers] who returned from Gansu gave a report where they showed me pictures of a beautiful mountain. Sadly, there was not an inch of grass on it. Then the locals told the history of their land. In the past, the mountain forest was lush. It was destroyed [because of human greed]. The whole mountain was cleared out for steelmaking, for making weapons and so on. For the sake of people’s way of life, the forest was turned into coal. Then coal was used to render many things. So, the mountains became barren as far as the eyes can see. Indeed, humans caused this destruction. This is our ignorance, our delusion. The karma we have created now makes it so that people can no longer survive in this place. This is all human-caused destruction.
So, the place where we have a physical body that experiences birth and death is the world of sentient beings. So, we say that the world of sentient beings can be completely seen and understood by the Buddha. He uses His understanding and views to teach us.
So, when it comes to “all the heavenly beings, humans and other beings, the heaven and human realms, are part of the Six Realms.”
All the heavenly beings, humans and other beings: The heaven and human realms are part of the Six Realms. They are the two good destinies. By practicing the Ten Good Deeds and Five Precepts, we are among those who benefit the world.
The heaven realm is part of the Six Realms, and the human realm is also part of the Six Realms. The hell, hungry ghost, animal and [asura] realms are all parts of the Six Realms. Together, they are called the Six Realms. In each world of the Six Realms, the experience is different. Of the Six Realms, the heaven and human realms are good destinies. Those who do the Ten Good Deeds are born in heaven. Those who abide by the Five Precepts are born in the human realm. These are all people who benefit others in this world, So, “all the heavenly beings, humans and other beings” are part of the Six Realms. The Buddha said [the heaven and human realms] are the two good destinies.
So, “[Buddhas] know the deep desires of the heart.” The Buddha said that sentient beings have deeply rooted desires. If they become greedy, they will destroy a myriad of things in the world. If they move towards “faith,” if their will to seek the Dharma is firm, these sentient beings will be in good destinies.
The desires deep in the heart: A strong will to seek the Dharma. Deep karmic causes: They have deeply planted virtues that are difficult to uproot. Deep in their hearts: Their aspiration to seek the Dharma is strong. This is the desire deep in their hearts.
Heavenly beings will come to this world to take refuge with the Buddha. The Buddha appears in this world, and if they take refuge with Him and can “have a strong will to seek the Dharma,” they are oriented towards goodness. If they [are oriented toward evil], they will stubbornly remain deluded. These are sentient beings of the evil realms. There is a mix of good and evil in this world, the Saha World.
So, “the desires deep in the heart” [can] lead to the good realms, the heaven and human realms. In the human realm, some wealthy people live in heaven on earth and still constantly do good deeds, uphold the Five Precepts and do the Ten Good Deeds. This is having a strong will to seek the Dharma.
If their will to seek the Dharma is strong, their causes and virtues will be deeply planted. Then they will be difficult to uproot. So, we must plant them deeply so regardless of the challenges [we face], they cannot influence our deep faith and aspiration to seek the Dharma. If we are sincere in seeking the Dharma, our root of faith will be deep and extensive. Then whatever [challenges arise], they cannot uproot our root of faith. This is why, when we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must be mindful.
If we have a deep desire to seek the Dharma, we will seek it diligently; we will be earnest and serious. This is “the desire deep in the heart.” Our “desire” is to seek the Buddha-Dharma and wisdom, to seek the Buddha’s understanding and views, and apply them to our own understanding and views. We want our understanding and views and the Buddha’s to converge so we can benefit others in this world; this is our deep [desire].
In summary, we must be grateful. Regardless of our capabilities, the Buddha patiently gave various teachings. We now have so many teachings we can share and so many principles we can listen to. This allows us to put the teachings into practice on the great Bodhi-path. Therefore, we must always be mindful.