Episode 432 – Engage in Contemplation to Transform Others
>> “Having vowed to transform sentient beings, the Buddha thought about this in great detail. Knowing the capabilities of sentient beings, for the limited, He gave provisional teachings. With empathetic and wholesome guidance, He opened the provisional to reveal the true.”
>> [I thought], “I would rather not teach the Dharma and quickly enter Parinirvana.” Then I recalled that the Buddhas of the past employed the power of skillful means. And as I now have attained the path, I should also teach the Three Vehicles.
>> “As I was contemplating this, the Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared, and with Brahma-voices encouraged me, saying, ‘Well done, Sakyamuni, the foremost guiding teacher.'”
>> Contemplating: By calmly thinking about and considering truths, our minds will not become scattered; we will constantly be cultivating Right Thinking. Then our practice will not deviate from the Bodhi-path.
>> The kings of Brahma Heaven and Sovereign Sakras spoke to the World-Honored One in verse: The past Buddhas of the ten directions have each come here to teach wondrous Dharma. These principles are the same for all past Buddhas because all Buddhas share the same path. Their truths and principles are one and the same. Therefore it is now said, “The Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared.”
>> One of the Buddha’s 32 Marks is the mark of the Brahma-voice. This refers to, one, the sound of the Buddha’s voice. The Buddha’s voice is pure in five ways. It is direct, melodious, clear, deep and far-reaching. It is one of the Buddha’s 32 Marks. Two, it is the sound of reading sutras.
“Having vowed to transform sentient beings,
the Buddha thought about this in great detail.
Knowing the capabilities of sentient beings,
for the limited, He gave provisional teachings.
With empathetic and wholesome guidance,
He opened the provisional to reveal the true.”
For sentient beings to become joyful upon hearing the teachings was the Buddha’s heartfelt wish. Unfortunately, sentient beings are very foolish. Yet the Buddha had the resolve and vowed to transform sentient beings. So, “Having vowed to transform sentient beings, the Buddha thought about this in a great detail.” Truly, in order to transform sentient beings, the Buddha had to be extremely detailed and contemplate things meticulously. The Buddha had to first understand what brought them joy, what kind of Dharma they would listen to and what kind of people could transform them. This shows the Buddha’s compassion. He did not abandon sentient beings. He continued to come up with ways to give them suitable teachings.
So, “knowing the capabilities of sentient beings, for the limited, He gave provisional teachings.” Even if sentient beings’ capacities were limited, the Buddha hoped He would have the opportunity to apply the methods [that He had developed]. He did not give up even on those with the most limited capabilities. He guided them with many kinds of analogies and skillful means. He opened the provisional teachings, which means He taught skillful means. Though these were skillful means, they were suitable for various capabilities.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, Elder Anathapindada was among His great supporters. In his family there was a maid who was quite old. She managed the resources of. Elder Anathapindada’s household. Elder Anathapindada gave her the following orders, “Whenever monastics come, whether they are healthy or unwell, we must fully provide them with everything necessary to meet their needs.”
However, this elderly maid was unconvinced. She thought, “My master truly does not cherish his wealth. He gives so much to the Buddha’s Sangha; it is a huge burden on him.” She was very unwilling to do what she was asked. Whenever she saw a monastic she became angry. Throughout the whole village, she told people, “Whenever I see these monastics, I become very unhappy, very angry. I vow to never see them again in any of my future lifetimes.” So, whenever bhiksus came to. Elder Anathapindada’s residence, she avoided them. The way she avoided them and the Buddha, and slandered the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha became widely known. These stories spread from small towns to cities. Thus Lady Mallika heard about it.
One day, she invited. Elder Anathapindada’s wife to the palace. Lady Mallika asked, “Why don’t you expel her from your household? Get her to leave so she will not slander the Buddha and the Dharma.” Elder Anathapindada’s wife replied, “The Buddha is compassionate. Because of His compassion, even with someone like Angulimaliya, who committed unpardonable evils, He still did everything he could to transform him. The Buddha even cherishes and cares for members of the lowest class, the Sudras. If I send away someone simply because she is dissatisfied with the Buddha and slanders the Buddha-Dharma, if I expel her from our household, the Buddha would feel uneasy if He found out. Therefore, I still need to put up with this maid.”
“What else can I do?” Lady Mallika said, “Ask her to come to here to the palace tomorrow.” Elder Anathapindada’s wife prepared some gifts and asked the maid to deliver them to the palace. When the maid brought the gifts into the palace, she suddenly saw the Buddha was already there. At that moment, she wanted to avoid him, but the Buddha was coming closer.
She had nowhere to escape. Then she saw a hole in the wall, which dogs used to enter and exit the grounds. She tried to squeeze herself into the hole. As she did so, she bumped the door, which closed; thus she was unable to go through. The Buddha was already next to her, so she picked up a fan to cover her face so she would not see Him, but incredibly, as soon as she opened the fan it tore and became full of holes. Though she used it to cover her face, in each hole was a Buddha; she saw Him through every hole in the fan.
Then she put away the fan and tried using her fingers to cover her eyes. But when she raised them to her face, she felt that she saw the Buddha on every one of her fingers. The face of the Buddha appeared before her eyes. She felt helpless and angry, so she turned around and left. She went back to Elder Anathapindada’s house. Upon returning to her room, she promptly looked for a large bamboo container. After using a large thick cloth to cover the entire container, she crawled inside. Feeling this was not enough, she wrapped herself in a blanket.
When the Buddha found out, He felt compassion for her. Who could transform her? He thought of Rahula. He told Rahula and Ananda, “You must find a way to transform this maid. She is suffering greatly right now; quickly find a way to help her.” As we all know, Rahula was quite mischievous and was very lively. When he arrived at Elder Anathapindada’s house, he loudly announced, “A noble king has been born to eradicate those who are evil.”
When the maid heard this, she thought, “To me, the Buddha is the evil one. Now that a noble king has been born for the sole purpose of eradicating evil, he will be my savior.” Thus she emerged from the container. She still did not dare look, so her head remained bowed as she approached. Ananda walked over to her and said, “The noble king admires you and says that you are very beautiful. He wishes for you to come closer.” Not daring to lift her head, she said, “How can I? I am old, ugly and of a lower class.”
Ananda, from the hand of this noble king, who was actually Rahula, took a mani pearl and presented it to this maid, Vikara. The pearl was so shiny that it reflected her face. In this reflection, she felt that she looked very beautiful, and was very happy. Then she raised her head and saw the bhiksus. [She wondered,] “How could I look upon. Rahula and Ananda with such happiness?”
At that moment, Rahula told her, “You should really learn the truths of life. In this life you were born into the lowest class and have served as a maid. Isn’t this hard on you? Every day, [thoughts of] the Buddha and bhiksus make you feel such great afflictions. The Buddha cannot bear for you to be troubled by this issue every day. So, why don’t you come see the Buddha with me?” At that moment, the maid Vikara obediently followed Rahula. She went with him and Ananda to see the Buddha.
When she saw the Buddha, she still felt a little intimidated. Seeing this, the Buddha, out of great compassion earnestly taught the Dharma to Vikara. At that moment, Vikara’s mind became calm and she willingly accepted the Buddha’s and bhiksus.’ Dharma into her heart. At that time, the Buddha told Rahula, “Take Vikara to Mahaprajapati to engage in spiritual practice as part of her monastic community.”
You see, the Buddha was like this. For this person from a low class, in particular someone who had widely slandered the Buddha and the Dharma, the Buddha still “gave provisional teachings.” Facing a person with such a low status and a strong bias, He had to use many kinds of methods. For those without a karmic connection with Him, the Buddha asked the people they had an affinity with to transform them, like Rahula and Vikara, or like Ananda and the poor woman and so on. This is why the Buddha, “with empathetic and wholesome guidance, opened the provisional to reveal the true.” Applying provisional teachings, ultimately He guided people with the most practical principles.
Yesterday we talked about how the sutra text discussed how the Buddha observed that sentient beings had very limited capabilities and are truly hard to train. The Buddha-Dharma is so subtle and wondrous, but sentient beings are not able to accept it. “I would rather not teach the Dharma.” That was the mentality of the Buddha when He first attained Buddhahood.
[I thought], “I would rather not teach the Dharma and quickly enter Parinirvana.” Then I recalled that the Buddhas of the past employed the power of skillful means. And as I now have attained the path, I should also teach the Three Vehicles.
It was at this time that all heavenly beings appeared [to console Him]. Thus the Buddha accepted that. He must go into the human realm to transform all sentient beings. “Then I recalled the Buddhas of the past” and the kinds of methods They used to go among people. Past Buddhas “employed the power of skillful means.” They also gave teachings through skillful means and used this power to transform all beings. “And as I now have attained the path, I should also teach the Three Vehicles.” Thus He began [His teaching]; starting at Deer Park, He went among the people.
Next the text says, “As I was contemplating this.” Once the Buddha had decided to go among people, He started to contemplate.
“As I was contemplating this, the Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared, and with Brahma-voices encouraged me, saying, ‘Well done, Sakyamuni, the foremost guiding teacher.'”
This was as the Buddha began to contemplate how sentient beings are difficult to transform. What kind of methods should He use to help them accept the Dharma? At this moment, “[He] was contemplating this.” Contemplating means “calmly thinking about and considering truths.”
Contemplating: By calmly thinking about and considering truths, our minds will not become scattered; we will constantly be cultivating Right Thinking. Then our practice will not deviate from the Bodhi-path.
Through calm thinking, our mind has become pure and entered a state of tranquility and clarity. This calm and still state of mind is like crystal. Thus the Buddha started to analyze the capabilities of all sentient beings and the limits of the ways to transform them. For sentient beings with great capabilities, He would teach Great Dharma. For sentient beings with limited capabilities, He used the limited Small [Vehicle] Dharma. He teaches according to the capabilities of sentient beings, great, average and limited.
As the Buddha was contemplating, His mind was not scattered and. He had a good grasp of what would be proper. So, “We will constantly be cultivating right thinking.” As we engage in spiritual cultivation, we cannot avoid contemplation. Some people do things very impulsively. Even when doing the right things, they are not patient. Even if the timing is wrong, they rush into things anyway. This is not proper. [For others], even if it is the right thing to do, they do not seize the right moment; too much [thinking] is just as bad as too little. Therefore we must at all times maintain Right Thinking. “Then our practices will not deviate from the Bodhi-path.” Everything the Buddha thought about was solely for the sake of the Bodhi-path, for paving a smooth path for sentient beings.
“The Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared,” Brahma Kings, Sovereign Sakras, all appeared at His place of enlightenment. They consoled Sakyamuni with these words.
The kings of Brahma Heaven and Sovereign Sakras spoke to the World-Honored One in verse: The past Buddhas of the ten directions have each come here to teach wondrous Dharma. These principles are the same for all past Buddhas because all Buddhas share the same path. Their truths and principles are one and the same. Therefore it is now said, “The Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared.”
Since the Buddha, for a brief moment, wanted to enter Parinirvana, these heavenly beings came to speak these verses. They said, “The past Buddhas of the ten directions have each come here to teach wondrous Dharma.” They all have come here. “Here” refers to the place of enlightenment which is the mind of the Buddha. He came here “to teach the wondrous Dharma.” His mindset upon attaining enlightenment was to begin widely teaching the Buddha-Dharma to all sentient beings.
“The principles are the same for all past Buddhas because all Buddhas share the same path.” The principles [are the same]; Buddhas of the past, present and future all share the same path. “Their truths and principles are one and the same.” The principles He had awakened to, the Dharma that Sakyamuni had realized, was the same truth that all past Buddhas had realized. “Now” means this is the time to make the effort to teach the Dharma. Therefore the sutra states, “The Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared.” The Buddhas of ten directions emerged to give Sakyamuni Buddha some encouragement to quickly go among people and spread the Dharma throughout the world.
So, in the Buddha’s state of mind at that time, [They appeared and] “with Brahma-voices encouraged him, saying, ‘Well done, Sakyamuni.'” At that time, the voices of all heavenly beings, which are pure and undefiled voices, comforted Sakyamuni Buddha. He was already the “foremost guiding teacher. The foremost guiding teacher” is one who can widely transform sentient beings.
What is the sign of the perfect attainment of Buddhahood? After attaining Buddhahood the Buddha was replete with 32 Marks. In addition to the Buddha’s appearance, His voice brings people happiness when they hear it. It captivates their minds. This is one of the 32 Marks.
One of the Buddha’s 32 Marks is the mark of the Brahma-voice. This refers to, one, the sound of the Buddha’s voice. The Buddha’s voice is pure in five ways. It is direct, melodious, clear, deep and far-reaching. It is one of the Buddha’s 32 Marks. Two, it is the sound of reading sutras.
There are two kinds of Brahma-voice. One refers to the sound of the Buddha’s voice. The Buddha’s voice is pure in five ways. It is a very direct sound, very forthright and direct. People feel the Buddha teaches directly to them. So, they call His voice “direct.” It is also “melodious.” Though that voice seems to be talking to them, it is very soft and gentle and brings them delight. It is also very “clear.” Every single sentence is very well articulated. Then it is “deep.” Everything He says is filled with truth, is very rich and very clear. Each sentence encompasses very great principles. His voice is also “far-reaching.” Though He is not speaking loudly, people from faraway can hear everything He says. We mentioned His “deep, far-reaching tone” before.
All these five elements were present. This is one of the 32 Marks of the Buddha. Whenever the Buddha recited the sutras, His voice was very clear.
All this was happening in the Buddha’s mind after He attained enlightenment. He became determined to come up with many methods. He thought and considered this carefully, to figure out how He could teach in the proper way. How fully we can embrace it also depends on our capabilities. Nevertheless, we must use a contemplative mind to accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must always be mindful.