Episode 463 – Take the Dharma to Heart to Eliminate All Doubts
>> “Listen to the Dharma and take it to heart to understand the great path. When the sounds of teachings enter our ears, the mind will understand. Faithfully walk the great, direct Bodhi-path. When our minds converge with the path, we can eliminate doubts and regrets.”
>> “But I and others like me did not understand that skillful means were taught according to what was appropriate. So, when we first heard the Buddha-Dharma, we immediately believed and accepted it, thinking we had attained realizations.”
>> “World-Honored One, for a long time, I have, day and night, continually reproached myself. And now, from the Buddha, I have heard what I never heard before, this Dharma which I have never known before. Now all my doubts and regrets have been eliminated, my body and mind are at ease, and I feel a sense of peace and stability.”
>> World-Honored One, for a long time, I have, day and night, continually reproached myself: Sariputra questioned himself on why he had only received the Small Vehicle for attaining liberation. He regretted not beginning his practice of the Great Vehicle Dharma earlier.
>> Now all my doubts and regrets have been eliminated. My body and mind are at ease, and I feel a sense of peace and stability: Those who are peaceful, stable and happy will always be in a tranquil and wondrous state. Those who are never affected by worldly matters will no longer cling to conditions.
“Listen to the Dharma and take it to heart to understand the great path.
When the sounds of teachings enter our ears, the mind will understand.
Faithfully walk the great, direct Bodhi-path.
When our minds converge with the path, we can eliminate doubts and regrets.”
Everyone, in learning the Buddha’s teachings, we must see ourselves as true spiritual practitioners. We must always be mindful and safeguard our minds. If we can safeguard our minds, we will naturally behave properly and not deviate in our direction. When our minds and bodies are in harmony, we are engaging in spiritual practice; we are diligently advancing.
As Buddhist practitioners, we must abide by the teachings of the Buddha. Lay practitioners have the Five Precepts and the Ten Good Deeds so they can abide by the Buddha’s precepts. These are for lay Buddhist practitioners; they have their own rules and precepts. Monastics also have their own course to follow. If we do not follow these precepts, if we deviate from this course, then listening to the Dharma is useless. So, we must take the Dharma to heart. We must accept the Dharma into our minds, understand its principles and then put them into action. This is taking the Dharma to heart and putting it in into practice. Only when our minds and actions are in harmony are we truly spiritual practitioners of the Dharma. This is how we truly “comprehend the great path.” If we do not “comprehend the great path,” the Dharma will definitely not be in our hearts. If we do not take the Dharma to heart, our behaviors will deviate from it. We will become indolent and will degenerate. Even if we claim to be learning the Buddha’s teachings, we will have gone completely off track.
So, “when the sounds of teachings enter our ears,” though the teachings are entering through our ears, it is really our minds that must comprehend them. So, “when the sounds of teachings enter our ears, the mind will understand.” If it goes in one ear and leaks out the other, there will be no Dharma in our minds. It must go into our ears and then enter our minds. This Dharma must resonate with our minds for us to truly understand it. Upon understanding it, we can put it into practice. If we do not practice it, we did not understand it. If we did not understand, we were not mindful. Thus the sound did not resonate with our minds.
So, we must always remind ourselves to be vigilant of this. As the Dharma is being expounded and everyone listens together, some listen carefully, practice it diligently and safeguard their minds. Others just let it go by and do not care about their behavior. This indolence and deterioration is something we must avoid at all costs. “It is rare to be born human and rare to hear the Buddha-Dharma.” We must be careful to remember that once time passes, we cannot turn back the clock. Once we let the Dharma pass by, it will be difficult to encounter it again. So, we must seize every moment.
We must believe and “faithfully walk the great, direct Bodhi-path.” We must have faith, deep faith. And not only must we believe in the Dharma, we must also put it into practice so we can walk toward this great, direct Bodhi-path, which is the path to enlightenment. Awakening and delusion are opposites. If we are willing to remain deluded, we will live each day in a state of confusion. In a deluded life, we will not have faith in or apply the teachings we have heard. However, if we hear them and are willing to take them to heart and put them into practice, we can eliminate our delusions. So, if we are deluded, we are not awakened. If we are awakened, our delusions disappear. If we can turn from delusions toward awakening, if our minds can awaken, then delusions will not disturb our minds.
If we are unwilling to accept the Dharma and use it to find our intrinsic nature, our minds will forever be covered by delusions. So, we do not have much time; we must seize each moment to develop faith in and practice the Dharma. Our practice is to diligently advance on this Bodhi-path.
When our minds converge with this path, we can eliminate doubts and regrets. Yet we keep having doubts and regrets. Why do we have regrets? Because of our lack of faith in the Dharma, we have doubts. Because we have doubts, we end up doing things we regret. I often say, “The greatest punishment in life is regret.” How can we be presented with this opportunity and not quickly seize it? We must take good teachings to heart and mindfully contemplate them. When our minds converge with the path, we can naturally eliminate doubts. When we eliminate our doubts, we will no longer do things we will regret. When we seize each moment to unite our faith and practice, then we are walking the Bodhi-path. So, we must always be vigilant of ourselves; we must not become self-indulgent.
At the beginning of the Chapter on Parables, Sariputra began to share what he felt in the past. Let us put ourselves in his position. The previous sutra passage describes how Sariputra, after hearing the Buddha’s teachings in the past, stopped at that point, and how he regretted it. This was because he lacked the genuine faith to open his mind to accept the Great Dharma. To him, this was something he deeply regretted. In the past, his faith had not been firm. His [lack of] faith led him to wonder, “How can I possibly become a Bodhisattva?” He had this doubt about himself. So, he did not have deep faith in the Dharma that he received. These were Sariputra’s doubts and regrets.
Thus, the previous passage states,
“But I and others like me did not understand that skillful means were taught according to what was appropriate. So, when we first heard the Buddha-Dharma, we immediately believed and accepted it, thinking we had attained realizations.”
When Sariputra first heard the Dharma, he believed and accepted that things arise due to causes and conditions and things cease due to causes and conditions. There are many causes and conditions in the Dharma; when the Buddha taught the Dharma, he always talked about them. Whenever Sariputra listened to the Dharma, he was focused on these. Actually, when he heard wondrous provisional teachings, he clung to their “provisional” aspect and did not realize how they were “wondrous” truths. These were Sariputra’s doubts and regrets.
Now this passage continues to state,
“World-Honored One, for a long time, I have, day and night, continually reproached myself. And now, from the Buddha, I have heard what I never heard before, this Dharma which I have never known before. Now all my doubts and regrets have been eliminated, my body and mind are at ease, and I feel a sense of peace and stability.”
This was Sariputra expressing his feelings from the past and from the present. “I, for a long time…. A long time” refers to the past several decades. “Day and night,” whether it was day or night, he had reproached and reflected on himself. “For so long I have heard the Buddha’s teachings, yet I stopped at the Middle and Small Vehicles.”
“I always listened to the Buddha talk about the Three Vehicles. Could I accept the Great Vehicle Dharma with my capabilities? When I face multitudes of sentient beings, can I give of myself for their sake?” It was not that Sariputra did not understand, it was that he was still contemplating it. Could he really dedicate himself to other people? Could he really transform sentient beings? Day and night, he continued to contemplate the Great, Middle and Small Vehicles.
World-Honored One, for a long time, I have, day and night, continually reproached myself: Sariputra questioned himself on why he had only received the Small Vehicle for attaining liberation. He regretted not beginning his practice of the Great Vehicle Dharma earlier.
Sariputra had always known of the Middle Vehicle, as well as the Great Vehicle. He also thought to himself, “I am practicing the Small and Middle Vehicles; can I really accept the Great Vehicle?” He was always evaluating himself and did not dare to move forward. “And now, from the Buddha, I heard what I have never heard before, this Dharma which I have never known before.” At this moment, he really heard it. Even though the Buddha had given these teachings before, his mind had not been open to them. So, what he heard now felt like something he had never heard before. Perhaps he had heard it but was not mindful of it. So, it was Dharma “never known before.”
What he had heard now was something he had already heard before, but he did not take it to heart then. Now that he really heard what the Buddha had been saying and what He was now saying, Sariputra accepted all of it. So, he described it as “this Dharma which I have never known before.” This does not mean that the Buddha had never taught it before, just that Sariputra had not connected with it. So, “never known before” means he had not taken it into his heart before.
“Now all my doubts and regrets have been eliminated.” If he had accepted the Great Dharma, his mind would now be free of doubts and he would not have these regrets now, his regret that [he did not realize that] the Buddha had taught this same Dharma before. They had all listened to the same Dharma and have the same Dharma-nature. Now, he understood that those who practiced the Great Vehicle Dharma and those who practiced the Small Vehicle Dharma have the same Dharma-nature. They all listened to the Dharma together and each also had this Dharma-nature within them. But he had just not accepted it yet.
Now, he opened his mind and accepted this Dharma, because the Buddha sincerely and clearly said, “What I taught before were skillful means.” In this way, He set aside the provisional and now revealed the true teachings. Thus, Sariputra could see the Dharma that had been safeguarded in the Buddha’s mind, and could connect it to his mind and realize it. Because of this, he said that now his mind had attained the Dharma that he had never known before. He had already taken it to heart, so “all [his] doubts and regrets have been eliminated.” He had eliminated all his doubts and no longer wanted to give rise to further doubts or regrets. Now that he had heard it again, he took the True Dharma to heart. Because of this, “[his] body and mind were at ease, and [he] felt a sense of peace and stability.” He felt a great sense of freedom and his mind was open and unobstructed. He was not hindered by doubt. This was what Sariputra expressed with body and mind. It was not that the Buddha did not teach him, but that he did not have the capacity to accept it.
When the Buddha taught this Dharma in the past, at that time early on [in his spiritual practice], Sariputra did not start practicing the Great Vehicle. “The Buddha taught for all three capabilities; why did I choose the Small Vehicle and the Middle Vehicle, and focus only on attaining self-realization?” He regretted this. “I should have, early on, begun to practice the Great Vehicle Dharma. Why did I wait until now? In the past, I and all of the Buddha’s disciples likewise realized the nature of things. Why did I stop with this [limited] state?”
“But now, from the Buddha, I have heard what I never heard before.” Now, the Buddha once again explained the Great and Small Vehicles. Beginning with the Small and Middle Vehicles, the Buddha had already clearly said that the Small and Middle Vehicles were what He initially used to guide people because sentient beings’ capabilities did not allow them to immediately accept the Great Vehicle teachings, such as, “You intrinsically have Buddha-nature. You have ample wisdom. You can transform sentient beings.” They would not be able to easily accept this, so He began by teaching them the principle that all things arise with causes and conditions and cease with causes and conditions. Everything is related to causes and conditions.
In the past, whether I was talking about the Water Repentance or the Lotus Sutra, I have always said to everyone, “A seed contains an ocean of fruits.” The law of karmic cause and effect is taught universally in the Buddha-Dharma. We must place great importance on karmic causes and conditions; we must believe this true principle. All Great Vehicle Dharma is inseparable from causes and conditions, but Small Vehicle teachings are wholly focused on them. Causes and conditions, parables and so on were used to help sentient beings [of different] capabilities connect with this Dharma.
So, during the Lotus Dharma-assembly, the Buddha clearly said that, in the past, He had taught the Small and Middle Vehicles. From this point forward, He would teach the Great Vehicle to explain that the past [teachings] were skillful means. Now everyone would hear about the way to walk the Bodhisattva-path. Everyone’s goal is to attain enlightenment, to be united with and manifest their awakened nature and ocean of wisdom. Everyone can be “transformed by the Dharma.” This awakened nature and ocean of wisdom must enter everyone’s minds.
Now Sariputra finally understood, so “all [his] doubts and regrets were eliminated, [his] body and mind were at ease, and [he] felt a sense of peace and stability.” At this time, all of his doubt and regret [were gone]. Regret is not helpful anyway. But, now he had to seize this moment and sustain it forever. From then on, he had hold on to [this aspiration]. At this time, he decided that he must move toward the Great Vehicle Dharma. After making that decision, the Great Vehicle Dharma was his course to follow.
As this occurred, “his body and mind were at ease.” The direction he chose was set, so he was happy every day. Having “a sense of peace and stability” means having great happiness. Every day he felt very happy. After hearing this Dharma, he was very happy because he was heading in the right direction. He aspired to advance in the Great Vehicle, so “his body and mind were at ease.” Being very stable brings a sense of ease, as well as happiness. This feeling of happiness, stability and freedom of body and mind means the mind has reached a state of stillness.
Now all my doubts and regrets have been eliminated. My body and mind are at ease, and I feel a sense of peace and stability: Those who are peaceful, stable and happy will always be in a tranquil and wondrous state. Those who are never affected by worldly matters will no longer cling to conditions.
If we feel doubts and regrets, then there are still afflictions in our minds. As afflictions appear and disappear, our minds cannot be focused. Since we have now decided on a direction, naturally we “will always be in a tranquil and wondrous state.” The wondrous Dharma steadies our minds so we are “always [tranquil]”; we will not go through ups and downs and
will “never [be] affected by worldly matters.” Whenever we interact with people, things will come up. Since we have resolved to go among people, we will certainly face many challenges. But since we formed Great Vehicle aspirations and calmed our minds, we must always remain in a state of tranquility so that we will not be affected by worldly matters or interpersonal conflicts. Thus, we are “never affected by worldly matters,” which means we will no longer cling to conditions. We must completely eliminate our desire to cling to conditions. Only then can our spiritual aspirations be firm.
Everyone, after we listen to the teachings, we must earnestly reflect on and contemplate whether our minds are tempted by worldly things such as material objects and interpersonal conflicts that keep us living a mundane life. Is this the case? Are we role models to other people? Have we taken the Dharma to heart? Have we comprehended the great path? We are constantly encouraging people to form great aspirations and walk the Bodhisattva-path. Practitioners at this spiritual community must be role models for everyone in the world. If people who hear the Buddha-Dharma can also see our dignified demeanor as spiritual practitioners, this can help solidify their spiritual aspirations and be of benefit to humanity.
Spiritual practitioners must take the Dharma to heart and comprehend the great path. We truly must open up this Bodhi-path, not just build a road in this world. Now, we [monastics] must pave the Bodhi-path to help laypeople understand that they should be paving a road in this world that connects to our Bodhi-path. Then they can reach the state of Buddhahood. So, “when the sounds of teachings enter our ears,” it must come together with our minds. Otherwise, if all we do is listen, if we do not take the Dharma to heart, it will continue to pass us by.
We “faithfully walk the great, direct Bodhi-path.” We must directly listen to and accept the Dharma. If our minds can converge with the path, we will not give rise to discursive thoughts. Then we will feel stable and happy and will always be in a tranquil and wondrous state. Worldly matters and interpersonal disputes will no longer affect our minds. We will not let them cause afflictions to arise in us. If we can do this, our demeanor will be dignified and we can transform sentient beings by setting an example. Everyone, please always be mindful.