Episode 761 – Waiting to Entrust the Great Vehicle
>> With our initial great vows and aspirations, we cultivate the practices of the Great Vehicle. We are diligent with the Bodhisattva Way and maintain a joyful heart. The lost son saw the enlightened father, yet did not recognize him. Rich and poor were separated only by a wall; the father inside and the son outside had not yet met.
>> “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]
>> “I have constantly yearned for this child, yet had no way to see him. Now he has suddenly appeared on his own, which exactly suits my wishes. Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> The father was old, and he constantly yearned for this child: Sentient beings transmigrate in samsara, where they are hard-pressed by many sufferings. It was due to His great compassion that this caused Him pain
>> So, Yet had no way to see him means, Though He desired to rescue them, He had not yet had the opportunity to do so.
>> Now, roots and conditions have matured, so the opportunity to transform them is near. Thus it says, Now he suddenly appeared on his own. This was in accord with His great compassion, so it says which exactly suits my wishes.
>> Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth: He had already become old, and His period of conditions for transformation would soon be at an end. Thus it says, Though I am already old. This also indicates that from when He received a prediction of Buddhahood from Burning Lamp of incarnating in the world from Tusita Heaven, becoming a monastic and attaining enlightenment, this period of transformation was ending.
>> Having not yet seen those with great capacities, He was unable to entrust the Dharma to anyone. So, from whom would future disciples attain liberation? For the sake of those to be transformed, it says he was still unable to pass down his wealth. Here ends the analogy of the father meeting the son.
“With our initial great vows and aspirations, we cultivate the practices of the Great Vehicle.
We are diligent with the Bodhisattva Way and maintain a joyful heart.
The lost son saw the enlightened father, yet did not recognize him. Rich and poor were separated only by a wall; the father inside and the son outside had not yet met.”
“I vow to deliver countless sentient beings.” With every person we meet, we will think of a way to deliver them. If we listen to and take the Dharma to heart, with every thought that arises, we will know as soon as we see people how to spread the seeds of goodness among them. If we have the aspiration, we will apply the Dharma that we hear. That means that when we see other people, we know they are our fields of blessings. We must quickly take the Dharma we have heard and plant this seed [in other people’s minds], thus creating good causes and good affinities. This is how listening to the teachings [applies to] our interpersonal relationships. Thus we must constantly [remember] “our initial great vows and aspirations.” We should always remember the aspirations we initially formed.
As I often remind everyone, every single person we encounter is our spiritual training ground. Every single thing they say is the Dharma to us. If we can use such a broad and expansive mind to accommodate all things, we can apply all Dharma to the minds of countless sentient beings. This is truly practicing the Great Vehicle.
“We are diligent with the Bodhisattva Way.” Furthermore, at all times, since we have made the great vows, we must engage in the Great Vehicle practice. We have to be immersed in the Bodhisattva Way. Every day, we must be diligent “and maintain a joyful heart.” We should always happily accept the Dharma. When we listen to the Dharma, we cannot merely listen; we must actually apply it.
For instance, last year, four or five. Tzu Chi volunteers came here from Mozambique. When they came to Taiwan, each of them carried a bamboo bank, a bamboo bank made of cardboard; each was this long and this wide. They were full of 50-centavo coins. They carried these bamboo banks with them and presented them to me. I placed it on the table, and we poured out the coins from the banks, with loud, clanking sounds; they were heavy! One after another, these containers of coins were poured into a rice sieve, filling it up. Then I asked them, “Why did you carry back these heavy things?” They expressed that they had received my [New Year’s] red envelopes in the past. For this year, they hoped that the red envelopes they receive would have a coin of their local currency.
When I heard this, I was very moved. I immediately asked people to count up these 50-centavo coins to see how much money they amounted to. The total was around NT 1000 or so? Anyways, it was more than NT 1000. I told them, “I will purchase these coins.” Of course I have to exchange this money with mine. That money is a donation to Tzu Chi Foundation. I will buy up these coins so we can put them into their red envelopes. The money that goes in there is still coming from me. So, we must remember that this year, these thousands of coins from Mozambique, there are probably 2-3000, will be placed into their red envelopes.
There was one family where the mother came along with her son and daughter. The mother told me, “Master, I came to show you my gratitude.” She pointed to her daughter and said, “This is Anna. You saved her. You have brought my daughter back to me” [I asked,] “What happened?” She then began to share Anna’s story.
Anna was a very wild girl. She was considered the thug of the village, even though she is a girl. But, Tzu Chi volunteers from South Africa, like Tzu Lei (Tholokele Mkhize) and Michael Pan, went there once, twice, again and again. They went to Mozambique and and held several activities, so the local volunteers were touched. This very vicious girl became well-behaved. She accepted the Buddha-Dharma and accepted the teachings of Tzu Chi. She learned that, “Doing good deeds and being filial cannot wait.”
The South African Bodhisattva[-volunteers] shared about their own poverty and hardships and how they had also once lived unwholesome lives. Now, they have become very happy volunteers and have changed to be like loving and kind mothers, filled with compassion [Anna] was very happy to see them. They shared about their spiritual wealth. The South African Bodhisattva[-volunteers] told the Mozambican Bodhisattva[-volunteers]. “We are poor, but we became wealthy very quickly. Wealth is not just about material wealth. Love is also wealth. If we do good deeds and are filial, if we care for our neighbors out of goodness, we will be the wealthiest people. Helping people brings the greatest happiness.”
When Anna heard those words, she began changing her ways. Everything she did was to benefit other people. So, she changed completely. She went back and apologized to her mother. She went back and repented to her grandma. In the past, she was very angry that her mother had left her for her grandmother to raise. She was grateful to her grandmother, but she also misbehaved. Though grateful, she had a bad attitude. So, once she changed her ways, she repented. She apologized to her mother, then recruited her mother and younger brother. Both of them became a part of Tzu Chi.
Her younger brother was very smart. He could speak English and would go online to Da Ai TV’s website. Every day he watched. “Wisdom at Dawn” and “Life Wisdom.” This was his responsibility. Every week at the church, he mindfully explained the teachings I shared so that everyone could take them in and accept the Dharma. The Tzu Chi School of Buddhism teaches people how to be Tzu Chi volunteers, so they decided they wanted establish a farm for spiritual practice.
One of the volunteers became very happy upon hearing this. He said, “I have a piece of land that I’m willing to provide. I will rent it to you cheaply, just 2000 meticals a year” 2000 meticals has about the same value as NT 2000. The rent for this big piece of land was just 2000 meticals a year, so the volunteers agreed to rent it from him. They rented this land so that they could emulate the South African volunteers, growing vegetables and providing them to orphans and impoverished people who need them. The rest could be sold to support their work.
So, in practicing the Bodhisattva Way, we must be diligent while maintaining a joyful heart. They did this work happily. According to them, when they are in the church, they share the Jing Si Dharma-lineage, and when they are at the farm, they say they enter the Tzu Chi School of Buddhism. If they are doing volunteer work, they say they are in the Tzu Chi School. If they are listening to the Dharma, they say they are in the Jing Si Dharma-lineage. This is so clever and wise. This is an example of “maintaining a joyful heart.” Everyone was happy to do this work.
We must be earnest, or else we will also become lost. In the recent passages of the Lotus Sutra, the poor son had already entered the city his father lived in and was even outside his father’s room. He saw his father inside, yet he did not recognize his father. So, “The lost son saw the enlightened father, yet did not recognize him.” Though [these disciples] were with the Buddha, they may not have been willing to form aspirations. This is the same principle.
“Rich and poor were separated only by a wall; the father inside and the son outside had not yet met.” They were separated by a wall, by a gate. The son was just outside the door, but despite seeing his father, he was afraid, so he quickly ran away. This was in the previous sutra passage. The son did not recognize the father, but the father saw the son’s figure. He “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’.”
“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.”
The elder was very happy; he had been looking for his son for a long time. Now that he had seen the figure of his son, his mind was at ease. Knowing that his son was still alive, he was put at ease. Now he would be able to quickly call on his son to return. Now, he would be able to entrust his wealth and stores to his son. This is the meaning of the previous passage.
The next passage of the sutra states, “I have constantly yearned for this child, yet had no way to see him. Now he has suddenly appeared on his own, which exactly suits my wishes. Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth.”
“I have constantly yearned for this child, yet had no way to see him. Now he has suddenly appeared on his own, which exactly suits my wishes. Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth.”
This expressed what was in the father’s heart. Though father and son had been apart for a long time, as a father, the elder’s mind was constantly on his son. Thus, “I have constantly yearned for this child, yet had no way to see him.” He had been searching, yet after several decades, he still could not find him.
The father was old, and he constantly yearned for this child: Sentient beings transmigrate in samsara, where they are hard-pressed by many sufferings. It was due to His great compassion that this caused Him pain.
The father was quite old, very advanced in age, but he still “constantly yearned for this child.” His mind was always on his child, who is an analogy for “sentient beings transmigrating in samsara. They are hard-pressed by many sufferings, which pained Him due to His great compassion.”
When the father thinks about sentient beings, about these children, about all these living beings in the Six Realms or four forms of birth, transmigrating through cyclic existence, He feels great loving-kindness and compassion and is thus very saddened.
So, Yet had no way to see him means, Though He desired to rescue them, He had not yet had the opportunity to do so.
“Yet no way to see him” means those beings could not encounter Him. In hell and heaven, there is no Buddha-Dharma. Only in the human realm can the Dharma be found. However, there are multitudes of sentient beings, and the Buddha was only in this world for 80 years. For sentient beings, encountering Him is not easy, to say nothing of listening to the Dharma; that is even more difficult. Without the opportunity, He could not save them. This was the Buddha’s state of mind. He knew that sentient beings were suffering; He had compassion for them, but He could not find an opportunity to save them.
However, as the previous passage states, this wandering child was gradually coming closer. “Now he has suddenly appeared on his own, which exactly suits my wishes”
Now, roots and conditions have matured, so the opportunity to transform them is near. Thus it says, “Now he suddenly appeared on his own.” This was in accord with His great compassion, so it says “which exactly suits my wishes.”
The father had been looking for his son for a long time. Now, as he had settled down in this place, his son unexpectedly appeared. His wishes were being fulfilled. This is an analogy for how capabilities and conditions were maturing and how an opportunity for transformation was getting closer. He had cleansed and trained them with the Dharma by teaching according to capabilities from the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna, all the way to the Lotus Assembly, so their capabilities had slowly matured; they had gradually approached him. Thus it says, “Now he suddenly appeared on his own.”
See, Subhuti and the others had already stood up and come before the Buddha. They were ready to open up their minds. So, when He saw them arrive [at this stage], “This was in accord with His great compassion.” He was able to feel at peace. “This was in accord with His great compassion” means His wishes were about to be fulfilled. His vows were coming to fruition as sentient beings had developed great capabilities. So, “This was in accord with His great compassion. Thus it says, ‘which exactly suits my wishes’.” This passages states, “[This] exactly suits my wishes.” The father had been looking for his son for many decades. Now that he had seen his son’s figure, that meant he was very close. His wish was about to be fulfilled.
Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth: He had already become old, and His period of conditions for transformation would soon be at an end. Thus it says, Though I am already old. This also indicates that from when He received a prediction of Buddhahood from Burning Lamp of incarnating in the world from Tusita Heaven, becoming a monastic and attaining enlightenment, this period of transformation was ending.
“Though I am already old, I am still unable to pass down my wealth”. The older He got, the more worried He became. What was He worried about? His conditions for transformation would soon end. When the Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra, He was already in His 70s. He knew He was approaching the end of His life, and His conditions for transforming others were about to be over. So, “His conditions for transformation would soon be at an end.” These conditions for transformation were ending. His days and. His conditions for transforming sentient beings were coming to an end. It is because He had a body that He could interact with all these sentient beings. If they had the affinities, He would talk to them. If they accepted the Dharma, they could take it to heart. There is an end to human life. The Buddha’s lifespan was 80 years. When He gave the Lotus teachings, He was already in His 70s. So, He began to worry, as “His conditions for transformation” would soon be at an end. He often thought about how old He was. Thus it says, “Though I am already old.” He was already quite old.
This also means that He had received confirmation from Burning Lamp Buddha; it was from Him that Sakyamuni Buddha received a prediction of Buddhahood. He was told, “When you attain Buddhahood, You will be called Sakyamuni. Your world will be the Saha World. Your lifespan will be….” In the era of Burning Lamp Buddha, [He was told,]. “You will have this long to transform others.” He had already received this prediction during the era of Burning Lamp Buddha. Then He continued to form affinities with people until causes and conditions matured, and He descended from Tusita Heaven to be born into the palace. In this lifetime, He manifested the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment. He grew up and then engaged in spiritual cultivation and in ascetic practices. After His enlightenment, He transformed sentient beings. This was one period of “conditions for transformation.” He came to this world to transform sentient beings and those karmic conditions were about to end. Thus, “His period of conditions for transformation would soon be at an end.” His causes and conditions for teaching and transforming them were about to be over.
However, as He grew old, “Having not yet seen those with great capacities, He was unable to entrust the Dharma to anyone. So, from whom would future disciples attain liberation? Who would serve those still to be transformed?” Thus, He was “unable to pass down his wealth.”
Having not yet seen those with great capacities, He was unable to entrust the Dharma to anyone. So, from whom would future disciples attain liberation? For the sake of those to be transformed, it says he was still unable to pass down his wealth. Here ends the analogy of the father meeting the son.
When the Buddha reached old age, He still had not found people with great capabilities. All of His disciples, including the ten main disciples, each had their own strong points. But though each had their strengths, they were unable to develop great capabilities, form great aspirations. “Having not yet seen those with great capacities,” He had no one to entrust the Dharma to.
There must be those willing to devote themselves to people without being [negatively] affected by them. He could not yet find this kind of person. “He was unable to entrust the Dharma to anyone. So, [as for] future disciples,” sentient beings in the future, who would help deliver them? So, “Who would serve those still to be transformed?” Who could transform them? Who could help them attain liberation? Because of this, He was still “unable to pass down his wealth.” He endlessly thought about this. He was still lacking someone to take responsibility for going among people,
who had completely eliminated afflictions and was willing to form great aspirations to help others without being affected by people and matters or losing their spiritual aspirations. He had yet to find this kind of person, so He was very worried. He was “unable to pass down his wealth” because He still could not find people like this. He cherished these kinds of capabilities and conditions, but He had not come across them yet.
Thus, “Here ends the analogy of the father and the son seeing each other.” In this parable, the father and son had seen each other. The son had not recognized the father, but the father recognized the son. This parable contains profound teachings, even if the story seems simple. If everyone has been putting their hearts into comprehending it, everyone will have taken the Dharma to heart. Isn’t this a way to awaken our great capabilities and form great aspirations? Everyone, please always be mindful.