Episode 760 – Today the Opportunity for Transformation Has Come
>> The Buddha works for the sake of one great cause; He constantly awaits His disciples’ capacities. Now a chance has come that addresses His loving intent. Though the son did not recognize his father, the father nevertheless recognized his son; this fulfilled his wishes, so he was joyous. Abiding in the Dharma, the Buddha gives rise to great compassion, which is relieving great suffering. He abides in the Dharma, which is great loving-kindness and giving joy. Thus, He is filled with joy.
>> “At that time, the wealthy elder, seated upon the lion’s throne, saw his son and immediately recognized him. His heart filled with joy, and he had this thought, Now I have someone to whom I can entrust my wealth and stores.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> [He] saw his son and immediately recognized him: An analogy for the Buddha’s original intent to teach and transform sentient beings. His only thoughts were of the One Great Vehicle. Upon seeing people who had once formed great aspirations, He could recognize them as Buddha-children. He knew these were sentient beings with whom. He had formed affinities in the past.
>> The Buddha constantly sought out and waited for the appropriate capacities and conditions to deliver sentient beings. He viewed them all impartially with compassion, as if they were all His only child. Now He saw that capacities and conditions had matured. Seeing that His children had come allowed Him to express His loving intent. This was the reason for His great joy.
>> They had developed the capacity for transformation. Thus it says, Now he has suddenly appeared on his own. Their hearts were filled with great compassion, thus it says, [This] exactly suits my wishes.
>> Through cultivation in kalpas past, He has realized great Bodhi. Before seeing their great capacities, He would not rashly give them [the Dharma], thus the Dharma was not entrusted.
>> Now that things look bright, He was joyous, thus it says He was filled with joy. The opportunity had now come. This was in accord with His thoughts, which opens up His great loving intent.
>> He had this thought, Now I have someone to whom. I can entrust my wealth and stores: This is because his wishes were fulfilled by seeing his son. In the past he had seen how, after sentient beings rejected the Great, they rushed off in all four directions, seeking food and clothing, working for wages here and there and constantly desiring wealth, yet without the opportunity to obtain.
>> He saw how sentient beings rejected the Great for the Small, and how in their poverty they sought food and faced hardship in sustaining their lives. They constantly desired wealth, yet were without the opportunity to obtain.
>> Now the opportunity had come for the One Great Vehicle Dharma to be passed on. This was in accord with His great loving intent. Thus it says, “I can now entrust my stores”.
“The Buddha works for the sake of one great cause; He constantly awaits His disciples’ capacities.
Now a chance has come that addresses His loving intent. Though the son did not recognize his father,
the father nevertheless recognized his son; this fulfilled his wishes, so he was joyous.
Abiding in the Dharma, the Buddha gives rise to great compassion, which is relieving great suffering.
He abides in the Dharma, which is great loving-kindness and giving joy. Thus, He is filled with joy.”
We know that the Buddha is compassionate. He sees all sentient beings as His only son. The sutras often use the analogy of father and son. In fact, “father” refers to the Buddha and “son” refers to how all sentient beings are the Buddha’s disciples. If we are very clear on this, then we understand that with His great compassion the Buddha views all sentient beings impartially.
For the sake of His one great cause, the Buddha constantly comes to this world, to the realms of sentient beings, to teach and transform us. He hopes we can thoroughly understand and take on responsibility for the Buddha-Dharma, can form great aspirations and make great vows to carry on the Dharma-lineage and can continue to move forward and transform sentient beings. He hopes to find someone that. He has an affinity with to pass on the Dharma. This is the Buddha’s one great cause;
“He constantly awaits His disciples’ capacities.” He wants to find someone He has an affinity with, someone who has the opportunity to connect with the Dharma, someone who can really understand it. This is how, life after life, He transforms people He has an affinity with.
“Now a chance has come that addresses His loving intent. Though the son did not recognize his father….” At this [assembly], He saw that sentient beings were beginning to form aspirations. They had been lost and confused, endlessly transmigrating in the Five Realms and four forms of birth. Gradually, their minds had drawn near the Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha saw this. So, “Now a chance has come.” He saw that the chance had arrived, as they had the capacities, causes and conditions to come closer. So, this “addressed His loving intent.” He was like the father who had seen the figure of his son and felt a sense of joy arising from His kind heart.
He was like the father who spent a lifetime looking for his son. For so many decades, the son had drifted about in other lands and no longer recognized the father, but the father still recognized the son. Therefore, when he saw his figure, he became very happy, because he had constantly wished for his son to come back to him. This was the same wish as the Buddha’s. The Buddha hoped that His disciples’ minds would slowly connect with and realize the Dharma, would have the capacity to get close to the Dharma. Therefore, the arrival of the son is an analogy for how the disciples’ capabilities were about to awaken.
“This fulfilled his wishes”; things were coming together to fulfill His wish. Thus, “He was joyous.” When sentient beings’ capabilities come together with the Dharma, that makes the Buddha most happy.
“Abiding in the Dharma, He gave rise to great compassion.” This great compassion arises from the Dharma. I often talk about “unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion.” People can show each other universal compassion; this is not something that only Bodhisattvas do. In fact, what the Buddha wanted to teach us is that we must all have universal compassion. So, we often talk about how we are interconnected with the entire world. We need to reach this level [of understanding]. Then we are one with heaven and earth. When the weather is favorable, the land is safe. When the land is safe, sentient beings are safe.
If we do not have universal compassion, feeling other people’s suffering as our own, if we do not have this mindset, then, though we learn the Buddha’s Way, we will be unable to realize His intent.
The Buddha’s intent and the principles are singular; as we have discussed in the past, all Buddhas share the same path. When we return to our awakened nature, the principles will be [apparent]. Yet at this time, we have not yet penetrated the principles. We are still at “the stage of learning”; we still need to learn. Moreover, there are rules for spiritual practice. These are the rules, but nowadays, ordinary people find it hard to be disciplined in this way. So, we give rise to discursive thoughts and are unable to stabilize our minds. If this is the case, we will find it hard to [realize] the principles.
So, “Abiding in the Dharma, He gave rise to great compassion.” This “universal compassion” is the relieving of great suffering. Sentient beings transmigrate in the Six Realms. They go between the four forms of birth, the Five Realms or Six Realms. After transmigrating in this way, sentient beings may finally aspire to engage in spiritual practice. In the process of spiritual cultivation, they may spend many decades enduring suffering of body and mind. They cultivated ascetic practices and also learned to control their minds. Though in the Sangha there were evil-natured bhiksus that troubled them, their minds had to remain firm. In this way, “Abiding in the Dharma, the Buddha gives rise to great compassion, which is relieving great suffering.” On the path of spiritual practice, people will struggle to get by.
“He abides in the Dharma, which is great loving-kindness and giving joy.” Abiding in the Dharma allowed Him to better understand that. He had to open up His mind and go among people to bring them more blessings and happiness. This is great joy. The Buddha hoped that His disciples could live in harmony with the whole world and be one with all sentient beings. This is called “great compassion.” He hoped that everyone could give rise to great loving-kindness and bring blessings and safety to everyone. For the world and individuals to all be at peace, we need to have the Buddha-Dharma. And the Buddha-Dharma needs all of us, the Buddha’s disciples, to take responsibility for bringing purity to everyone’s minds. Then we can bring peace and stability to the world. This is how the Buddha-Dharma can save the world. This was the Buddha’s intent.
Previously we discussed, “At that time the wealthy elder, seated upon the lion’s throne, saw his son and immediately recognized him. His heart filled with joy.” The father on the lion’s throne had seen his son. “He had this thought, Now I have someone to whom I can entrust my wealth and stores.”
There was someone to inherit his wealth. This means that the Buddha had seen that people’s limited capabilities had turned into great capabilities. Now the Buddha-Dharma could be transmitted. There were people willing to dedicate themselves to transmitting the Right Dharma.
[He] saw his son and immediately recognized him: An analogy for the Buddha’s original intent to teach and transform sentient beings. His only thoughts were of the One Great Vehicle. Upon seeing people who had once formed great aspirations, He could recognize them as Buddha-children. He knew these were sentient beings with whom. He had formed affinities in the past.
Next, “He saw his son and immediately recognized him” This is “an analogy for the Buddha’s original intent to teach and transform. His only thoughts were of the One Great Vehicle.” In the instant the Buddha attained Buddhahood, His mind became one with the universe. This state of mind was the Buddha’s intent. He hoped to help everyone understand this state of mind, because He believed that everyone has the capability to attain Buddhahood. Therefore, His intent and what we wanted to teach sentient beings was only this mindset of the One Great Vehicle. So, in the Lotus Sutra, He “merged the Three to return to the One.” He combined the Three Vehicles into the One, into the Bodhisattva-Path; this was the Buddha’s intent.
“When he saw people who had once formed great aspirations, He could recognize them as Buddha-children. Upon seeing people who have once formed great aspirations,” He felt they were true Buddha-children, born of the Buddha’s speech and transformed by the Dharma. They were true Buddha-children, because He knew these were sentient beings who had formed good affinities in the past. Now they were able to form great aspirations to continue the Dharma-lineage. They did not just do so in this life, but had done so in the past as well. “The past” represents a very long time ago. Throughout His many lifetimes, the Buddha was constantly searching, hoping to find people with great capabilities to teach and transform in life after life.
We should know that life is very short and to help train a person to attain Buddhahood is not easy. So, He had to spend many lifetimes constantly looking for people who could accept the Great Dharma and continue transmitting this Dharma until Maitreya attains Buddhahood; then it must continue to be transmitted. A very long time is needed to train and polish our awakened nature, which can become one with the universe. Thus, when [the Buddha] discovered that people were starting to discover this nature, “His heart filled with joy”
The Buddha constantly sought out and waited for the appropriate capacities and conditions to deliver sentient beings. He viewed them all impartially with compassion, as if they were all His only child. Now He saw that capacities and conditions had matured. Seeing that His children had come allowed Him to express His loving intent. This was the reason for His great joy.
“The Buddha constantly sought out and waited for the appropriate capacities and conditions.” He kept on searching and waiting for people with the [right] capacities so He could approach and transform them. In this way, He continuously looked for people with these kinds of capabilities, these kinds of causes and conditions. He constantly nurtured these causes and conditions and capabilities in people. So, “He viewed them all equally with compassion, as if they were all His only child.” The Buddha views all sentient beings as if they were His only child. When [His son] Rahula engaged in spiritual practice in the Sangha, he lived like everyone else in the Sangha. By the same principle, the Buddha treated all disciples the same. He was simply waiting for their capacities and karmic conditions to mature so they could transmit the Dharma.
“Now He saw that the capacities and affinities had matured. Seeing that His children had come allowed Him to express His loving intent.” When He saw that the conditions had matured, that they had the capabilities to continue drawing near the Great Dharma, it was like a father seeing his son. It “allowed Him to express His loving intent,” so He was very happy. “This was the reason for His great joy”
They had developed the capacity for transformation. Thus it says, Now he has suddenly appeared on his own. Their hearts were filled with great compassion, thus it says, [This] exactly suits my wishes.
[His disciples] had now developed the capacities for transformation. Their capacities for truly realizing and taking the Dharma to heart had begun to develop. So, “Now he has suddenly appeared on his own.” Suddenly, this child unexpectedly appeared. Sariputra, from among all these people, had formed aspirations, this also suddenly appeared. Now, Subhuti and the three others had also suddenly attained realizations. This was something that brought the Buddha joy. With universal and great compassion, people feel they are one with the world. So, one by one, they had developed this great compassion and were becoming one with everything. This was their mindset. Hence, “[This] exactly suits my wishes.” My hope is also like this; I hope everyone can work in concert with unity, harmony and love and that everyone can share the same mission. This is what makes me most happy. This is the meaning of “exactly suits my wishes.”
Through cultivation in kalpas past, He has realized great Bodhi. Before seeing their great capacities, He would not rashly give them [the Dharma], thus the Dharma was not entrusted.
“Through cultivation in kalpas past, He has realized great Bodhi”.. “Kalpas past” means that this goes beyond this current lifetime. It has been going on for a very long time. “Kalpas past” is a boundless stretch of time. Ever since the beginning, the Buddha had been searching for those who are capable of forming great aspirations and realizing great Bodhi. These were the people that the Buddha had constantly been searching for over a very long time.
“Before seeing their great capacities, He would not rashly give them [the Dharma].” If we do not see that someone’s great capacities have matured, we cannot casually entrust the Dharma to him. Thus, in the Chapter on Parables, it said that for people like this, “Do not teach this sutra”; for people like that, “Do not teach this sutra.” Their capacities are not yet very mature, so we should not teach this to them. They have not yet penetrated Bodhi or remained mindful and determined; they would not be able to get through this ordeal. For people like this, “We should not teach this sutra.” So, if the Buddha had not seen evidence of their great capabilities, “He would not rashly give them [the Dharma].” He would not transmit it to them so easily. In the wrong hands, it would cause trouble. Thus, finding someone to entrust the Dharma to was in fact very difficult. “Thus the Dharma was not entrusted.” Without people with great capacities, there was no one to entrust it to.
Now that things look bright, He was joyous, thus it says He was filled with joy. The opportunity had now come. This was in accord with His thoughts, which opens up His great loving intent.
“Now, it showed that they were bringing joy.” Being able to see this now, He was joyous. Their great capacities and minds had opened up; “The opportunity had now come.” Today He saw people who were willing to accept and had the great capabilities to penetrate the Dharma. They were willing to open up their minds to teach and transform sentient beings and to expand their compassionate hearts to save and deliver them. This kind of capabilities were seen at this time; they had come. “This was in accord with His wishes to express His great loving intent.” The Buddha’s great loving intent had already been cleared of obstacles; otherwise He would be very worried. Having seen people with great capacities, the Buddha began to feel happy.
“My wealth and stores” can now be entrusted; there were people to pass them down to. This means there were now people to transmit the Dharma.
He had this thought, Now I have someone to whom. I can entrust my wealth and stores: This is because his wishes were fulfilled by seeing his son. In the past he had seen how, after sentient beings rejected the Great, they rushed off in all four directions, seeking food and clothing, working for wages here and there and constantly desiring wealth, yet without the opportunity to obtain.
“He had this thought, Now I have someone to whom I can entrust my wealth and stores” Upon seeing his son, [the elder’s] “wishes were fulfilled.” The Buddha’s wishes were fulfilled when. He saw disciples with great capacities, who were about to form [great] aspirations. Thus, His wishes were fulfilled. The Lotus Sutra was the Buddha’s final teaching. After these four or five disciples became willing [to form great aspirations], they would be closely followed by more people. As long as some were willing to form aspirations, more and more disciples would do the same. “This is because his wishes were fulfilled by seeing his son.” Seeing his child, his wishes were fulfilled.
“In the past he had seen how, after sentient beings rejected the Great, they rushed off in all four directions.” Those who had formed great aspirations in the past had retreated from them, then “rushed off in all four directions.” In this way, they continued to transmigrate in the Five Realms and the four forms of birth. We cannot assume that if we form aspirations now, we will be safe from now on. After forming aspirations, we still have many opportunities to retreat. If we do not take good care of our minds, we will “work for wages here and there.” Obtaining food and clothing will be difficult.
He saw how sentient beings rejected the Great for the Small, and how in their poverty they sought food and faced hardship in sustaining their lives. They constantly desired wealth, yet were without the opportunity to obtain.
So we say, in life we must seize every opportunity. When the elder saw the poor son, he did not even have an opportunity to help him. This is the same principle. So, when the Buddha saw sentient beings “reject the Great for the Small,” His heart was pained. Retreating from great aspirations, they willingly returned to an unenlightened state. This was truly worrisome. They turned back again, thus, “In a poor neighborhood they sought food and faced hardship in sustaining their lives. They constantly desired wealth.” They desired wealth more and more, “yet were without the opportunity to obtain.” Without this opportunity and affinity, they could not obtain [the Dharma].
Now the opportunity had come for the One Great Vehicle Dharma to be passed on. This was in accord with His great loving intent. Thus it says, “I can now entrust my stores”.
“The opportunity had now come for the Great Dharma of the One Vehicle to be passed on.” Once they developed great capacities, the Dharma could be transmitted to them. “This was in accord with His great loving intent. Thus it says, I can now entrust my stores.”
Dear Bodhisattvas, we should truly form Bodhisattva-aspirations and never retreat from them. For the sake of sentient beings, the Buddha continued looking for people with great capabilities. Forming great aspirations is very difficult. Only when our capabilities allow us to resonate with the Buddha’s mind are we able to “address the Buddha’s intent.” Therefore, we should always be mindful.