Episode 399 – Sincere Offerings of the Four Infinite Minds
>> “Faith is the source of the path, the mother of merits. Right thinking unlocks teachings of the right path. When the root of faith is solid, vows are deeply rooted. Pay respect to the Buddha’s image and harbor benevolence in your mind.”
>> The Four Great Vows are, “I vow to deliver countless sentient beings. I vow to eliminate endless afflictions. I vow to learn infinite Dharma-doors. I vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood.”
>> “With many wondrous sounds as these, they wholeheartedly made offerings. Perhaps, with happy hearts, they praised the Buddha’s virtues in song and chant. With even just one small sound, they have realized the path to Buddhahood.”
>> “If people with scattered minds give even a single flower as an offering to a painted image, they shall gradually see countless Buddhas. Some people prostrated, or merely put their palms together.”
>> If people with scattered minds: The minds of ordinary people wander through the world of the six sense objects. Not for a second can we control ourselves. A mind that cannot be calm and collected is a scattered mind.
>> Another reason for being scattered is because the objects we connect to cause our minds to wander by nature. This hinders us from entering right Samadhi. By relying on evil cleverness, we create karma. A scattered mind is adrift, like goose feathers that fly away everywhere without stopping and cannot be controlled.
>> [If they] give even a single flower: We must control our minds or we will not be in a state of meditation or Samadhi. If our minds are not in a state of Samadhi, we will have many delusional, scattered thoughts. But by making offerings of flowers, drawing images, copying sutras or paying respect to the Buddha, we focus our minds.
>> By making an offering to a painted image, they shall gradually see countless Buddhas: By being single-minded and not scattered, we reverently and respectfully make offerings. Even offering a flower or a painting, or prostrating or putting palms together are seeds for encountering Buddhas.
“Faith is the source of the path, the mother of merits.
Right thinking unlocks teachings of the right path.
When the root of faith is solid, vows are deeply rooted.
Pay respect to the Buddha’s image and harbor benevolence in your mind.”
I always tell people that. “Faith is the source of the path, the mother of merits. It nurtures all roots of goodness.” Faith will develop all roots of goodness. Therefore, we must have faith; we must believe in the principles taught by Buddha. If our faith is deeply rooted, naturally our minds will remain immersed in Right Dharma.
A few days ago, I talked about the Five Solidities. “Solidities” refers to very certain principles. During the Buddha’s lifetime, people could listen to the Dharma, practice it and attain liberation; this was a certainty, a very solid principle that existed 500 years after the Buddha entered Parinirvana, everyone still had faith, but their earnestness for engaging in spiritual practice and their faith had grown lax.
Then the third period of 500 years was about listening to the Dharma. Many people were listening to the Dharma, but the resolve to put it into practice had faded and their faith had grown weak. They listened, but did not intend to practice. They also lacked the faith to realize [the fruits]. So, they did not practice wholeheartedly and could not realize the fruit of attaining liberation. This was the third period. The fourth period was just about making statues, along with building stupas and temples. This was the era of Dharma-semblance.
The most heartbreaking things happen during the fifth period [of 500 years], which is one of conflict. The Buddha-Dharma is in the era of the evil world of Five Turbidities. As people interact with each other, even though they hear the teachings, they do not truly want to understand the Buddha-Dharma. They do not really want to listen or to sincerely express their reverence by prostrating. Their faith and respect have already faded away. They are entangled by worldly matters and cannot focus their minds.
There is always an endless number of things in the planning process. They are busily starting new things. They are so busy, but is one company enough? If they have the chance to start two companies, will they be content? If new opportunities come up, they will go for it. This is how chain stores unceasingly expand from humble beginnings, from tens of employees to hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands of employees. Then they feel like they are so busy. How do they have time to do anything else?
This is the reason people nowadays cannot calm their minds to accept the Buddha-Dharma. They do not have the mental capacity to calm their minds to really consider, “Where does life come from? Where do we go after we die? For what purpose do we come to this world? Are there any kind of principles that [govern] our interpersonal relationships?” These questions have already faded from people’s minds. People rarely think that there may be principles that guide their interpersonal relationships, so they focus on busily working, socializing or indulging in pleasures. How much time do we have in each day? So, instilling the Dharma into people’s minds is very difficult.
When the Dharma is missing from people’s minds, people will be confused about their path in life. This results in many man-made and natural disasters, causing many people to suffer. The path laid out by the Buddha-Dharma is missing from their lives. This path encourages sentient beings to make the Four Great Vows and cultivate the Four Infinite Minds.
The Four Great Vows are, “I vow to deliver countless sentient beings. I vow to eliminate endless afflictions. I vow to learn infinite Dharma-doors. I vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood.”
Seeing so many sentient beings facing suffering and hardships, and seeing how their minds are so troubled, we should aspire to transform them all. They may suffer from a [lack of] material goods or from interpersonal conflicts, such as family disputes, or because their minds are deluded. When it comes to mental suffering, who can guide them? Who can relieve their suffering? This is all because the Buddha-Dharma has not abided in people’s minds. If it can abide in people’s minds, we will “vow to deliver countless sentient beings.” Whatever is causing their suffering, whether it is their body, the environment, or something on their minds, as long as we have the Buddha-Dharma and aspire to help, suffering sentient beings can be saved and the world will be on the right course.
Therefore, we aspire to transform all sentient beings and aspire to eliminate our own afflictions. If we do not eliminate our own afflictions, we cannot take the Buddha-Dharma to heart. Only after we take the Buddha-Dharma to heart will we realize that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature and has the potential to attain Buddhahood. It is not only a potential; we surely will attain it when we return to our intrinsic nature. By [making] the Four Great Vows, we can instill the Buddha-Dharma in our hearts.
I would like to ask all of you, have you instilled the Buddha-Dharma in your hearts? If you have instilled it in your hearts, then that is Right Dharma. The Dharma in your hearts is the Buddha’s teaching from over 2000 years ago. He opened up the Bodhisattva-path and taught the Bodhisattva Way. Our minds are still on the path of taking the Dharma to heart. Not only must the Dharma be in our hearts, it must be in our actions as well. This comes from the Four Infinite Minds of
loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Infinite loving-kindness, infinite compassion, infinite joy and infinite equanimity must be integrated into our actions. Wherever sentient beings are suffering, we cannot bear to let them suffer because we feel their pain as our own. We keep hoping that all sentient beings can live in peace and be happy. This is like the way parents treat their children when they know their children are suffering. Therefore the Buddha is called the kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings.
So, for us sentient beings, the Buddha sees Himself as our guiding teacher, so He hopes everyone can attain [Buddhahood]. This is “infinite loving-kindness.” He treats all sentient beings with the mindset of the kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings. He cannot bear to let us suffer because He has “infinite compassion.” The Buddha teaches all sentient beings in hopes that we will be moral and virtuous and stay on that course. By doing so, our minds will be at peace, and we will have a clear conscience. Thus we will feel at ease and be joyful. This is the joy in our minds; we are filled with Dharma-joy. Once we have infinite joy, we will give with great equanimity. Giving without asking for anything in return comes from “infinite equanimity.” Taking the Dharma into our hearts and manifesting it in our actions is part of the process of spiritual practice.
To engage in spiritual cultivation, we must believe that over 2500 years ago, the Dharma that the Buddha taught is our path. This is the source of the path that led us to give to others and take the Dharma to heart so we can make the Four Great Vows and put the Four Infinite Minds into practice. It is the unceasing source of our merits and virtues; it unceasingly gives rise to the actions of our body and mind. So, it is “the source of the path, the mother of merits.”
Right thinking can guide us and “unlock the teachings of the right path.” If our thinking is correct, we can distinguish right from wrong. By distinguishing them clearly, we can always remind ourselves to walk the right path. The road we want to take is the right path. Not only do we walk on the right path ourselves, we also need to inspire others to walk on the right path.
“When the root of faith is solid, vows are deeply rooted.” If our root of faith is solid, our vows will then be deeply rooted. The Four Great Vows will always be part of our mindset. The Four Infinite Minds will always manifest in our actions.
As I previously mentioned, whether we encounter stupas, temples or statues, we must show our respect. Both the people who created them and the people who see them may feel happy and develop the faith to seek the Buddha-Dharma. Perhaps those who hear [the teachings] not only listen with their ears, but also sing and chant out loud. They sing and recite the teachings. For these people, as I previously mentioned,
“With many wondrous sounds as these, they wholeheartedly made offerings. Perhaps, with happy hearts, they praised the Buddha’s virtues in song and chant. With even just one small sound, they have realized the path to Buddhahood.”
This is the previous passage in the sutra. The following passage states,
“If people with scattered minds give even a single flower as an offering to a painted image, they shall gradually see countless Buddhas. Some people prostrated, or merely put their palms together.”
We must know “people [have] scattered minds.” We are now in the fifth period of 500 years [after the Buddha entered Parinirvana]. People’s minds have become scattered. Because of all their discursive thoughts, they have created much impure and evil karma. So, this is the evil world of the Five Turbidities. When the Buddha said, at that time, “people with scattered minds.” He was describing people in the future, which is our present.
If people with scattered minds: The minds of ordinary people wander through the world of the six sense objects. Not for a second can we control ourselves. A mind that cannot be calm and collected is a scattered mind.
“People with scattered minds” are the people of the present and future. If they have scattered minds, then their minds are unenlightened minds. Our minds are always freely roaming, meaning they are lax and unfocused, wandering through the Six Realms. They roam here and there among the Six Dusts, which you know as the sense objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thought. Nowadays, we always see people who pursue sights and sounds in places of entertainment and lose themselves there. Perhaps they are indulging in sensory pleasures.
We see that many places are crowded because so many people are going sightseeing. During holidays and festivals, people set off fireworks or release sky lanterns. Crowds are drawn to those places. Perhaps people are watching singing or dancing. All this has to do with entertainment, with eating, drinking, playing and so on. These are all sense objects of the Six Dusts.
If we have this mindset, not for second can we control ourselves. We know we must focus our minds, but we cannot help ourselves. One second later, we lose our focus.
Before, when we talked about sitting in meditation we talked about “counting our breaths.” First we exhale, count “one,” then inhale. Then we exhale and inhale again, “two.” This is “counting our breaths.” So we count one, two, three, but sometimes, before we count to ten, our mind has wandered off somewhere. By the time we count to three, our mind is already indulging in other thoughts. Our mind has wandered off. So, not for a second can we control ourselves. This is a mind that cannot be calm and collected. Our minds cannot be at peace at all. This is having a scattered mind.
Another reason for being scattered is because the objects we connect to cause our minds to wander by nature. This hinders us from entering right Samadhi. By relying on evil cleverness, we create karma. A scattered mind is adrift, like goose feathers that fly away everywhere without stopping and cannot be controlled.
This kind of mind is scattered because of the objects we connect to. Why do we have a scattered mind? Because our mind is drawn to connect with all kinds of phenomena. Thus it wanders off by nature. Because our external conditions are in motion, that causes our minds to be constantly in motion and hinders us from entering right Samadhi.
As we engage in spiritual practice, the first hindrance we must eliminate is our habitual tendencies, so we must make an effort to eliminate them. To eliminate our habitual tendencies, we need to always be reverent toward people, matters and objects. We must nurture our sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness so that we can eliminate these tendencies. Right now, we are lingering on our desires, so we need to treat ourselves with the Dharma. Or else, “by relying on evil cleverness, we create karma.” If we let our habitual tendencies hinder us, they can even conceal our wisdom, so what we manifest is cleverness.
Our cleverness is also generated by our habitual tendencies. This leads us to create karma out of cleverness. So, cleverness is the evil version of wisdom. This is cleverness.
“A scattered mind” may cause us to feel adrift. We may not feel grounded at all. The scattered mind is adrift and aimless. That comes from [lack of] faith. If our root of faith is not secure, if our faith is not deep, our scattered minds will drift off like a light [goose] feather that can be blown about by a light wind. It will “fly away everywhere without stopping and cannot be controlled.” As soon as a wind blows, it will drift away.
[If they] give even a single flower: We must control our minds or we will not be in a state of meditation or Samadhi. If our minds are not in a state of Samadhi, we will have many delusional, scattered thoughts. But by making offerings of flowers, drawing images, copying sutras or paying respect to the Buddha, we focus our minds.
“[If they] give even a single flower….” In order to have thorough control over our minds, we need Samadhi. With our reverent thoughts, we can make an offering of flowers to the Buddha. In front of images of the Buddha, we make an offering of flowers and then copy sutras and pay our respects. This is how we gradually rein in our minds. In this way, “by making an offering to a painted image, they shall gradually see countless Buddhas.”
By making an offering to a painted image, they shall gradually see countless Buddhas: By being single-minded and not scattered, we reverently and respectfully make offerings. Even offering a flower or a painting, or prostrating or putting palms together are seeds for encountering Buddhas.
If we gradually nurture this reverence, we shall “gradually see countless Buddhas.” By being single-minded and not scattered, we reverently make offerings to an image of the Buddha. Perhaps we offer a single flower. Perhaps we offer a painting. As long as we are reverent, whether we prostrate or put our palms together, those are all causes for attaining Buddhahood. Some people are willing to respectfully prostrate or put their palms together to show reverence. These are very skillful methods that help us eliminate the discursive thoughts in our minds.
So, as Buddhist practitioners, we must be mindful of the teachings He gave during His lifetime. We must have faith. “Faith is the source of the path, the mother of merits.” We must remember to have deep faith and engage with everything through right thinking in order to inspire ourselves to walk the right path. Our root of faith must be solid for our vows to be deeply rooted. If we have this sense of reverence, it will be as if the Buddha is in this world. Then Right Dharma still abides in this world. We must still have utmost reverence and respect the Buddha as if He is still here. This is the reverence and respect we must have. So, we must always be mindful.