Episode 803 – The View of the Frog at the Bottom of the Well
>>The virtue of wisdom: The Buddha’s wisdom is deep and vast, and there is nothing unknown to Him. The virtue of grace: The Buddha’s compassion is immense. He vows to deliver all. The virtue of ending: The Buddha has ended and eliminated all afflictions. With the Three Virtues perfected, He is replete with blessings and wisdom.
>>”Today the World-Honored One has led us to contemplate and to cast away the excrement of frivolously debating all Dharma. In this, we earnestly increased our diligence and attained the single day’s wages of Nirvana.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>>”Having already attained this, we gave rise to great joy. We felt this was enough, and we said to ourselves, Due to our earnestness and diligence in the Buddha-Dharma, we have attained so much.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>>Having already attained this, we gave rise to great joy: With a single day’s wages they felt this was enough. They even said they had attained much; they were self-satisfied and complacent and stubbornly clung to their bias towards emptiness. This is precisely the malady of the Small Vehicle.
>>We felt this was enough, and we said to ourselves, “Due to our earnestness and diligence in the Buddha-Dharma, we have attained so much.”
>>Earnestness means never being lax, heading down the path with a straightforward mind. Earnestly performing all virtuous actions without ever slacking is known as diligence
>>Practicing all good paths diligently without slacking while maintaining constancy of mind without ever being self-indulgent is known as earnestness and diligence.
“The virtue of wisdom: The Buddha’s wisdom is deep and vast, and there is nothing unknown to Him.
The virtue of grace: The Buddha’s compassion is immense. He vows to deliver all.
The virtue of ending: The Buddha has ended and eliminated all afflictions.
With the Three Virtues perfected, He is replete with blessings and wisdom.”
In our spiritual practice, what we must cultivate is virtue. How many kinds of virtue are there? We have said before that we need to be replete with the Three Virtues; we must perfect the Three Virtues. Of the Three Virtues,
first is that the Buddha is replete with the virtue of wisdom. So, “His wisdom is deep and vast, and there is nothing unknown to Him.” Our lives are mixed-up and filled with ignorance. Sometimes when we do things, we do not even know that we have made a mistake. We truly are confused sentient beings. As for the Buddha, He engages in spiritual practice for the sake of one great cause. His one goal is to save all sentient beings, to save us from our ignorance and transform our afflictions. However much ignorance and afflictions sentient beings have, the Buddha’s ocean of enlightened wisdom is just as great. In response to sentient beings’ capabilities and afflictions, He teaches the Dharma accordingly. This is the Buddha’s virtue of wisdom; He is replete with the virtue of wisdom.
Towards sentient beings, the Buddha expresses the virtue of grace. The Buddha’s virtue of grace is His compassion. “His compassion is immense. He vows to deliver all sentient beings.” This has been the Buddha’s vow, life after life. How long has He been doing this, life after life? It cannot be determined. There is no way to use language to express how many lifetimes it has been. Life after life, He continually sought the Buddha’s Way and continually transformed sentient beings. As each Buddha manifested in this world, He engaged in spiritual practice by reverently seeking the Dharma, Life after life, He would go among people to benefit others and cultivate wisdom. This was His goal, to one day in the future attain Buddhahood. In attaining Buddhahood, there was only one aim, to deliver all sentient beings.
The Buddha’s grace toward all sentient beings is immeasurably vast, as the Buddha sees all beings as His only son. In the Five Realms, among the four forms of birth, the Buddha loves all living beings and sees all as His most beloved children. The Chapter on Faith and Understanding has already described how the father painstakingly sought his son. This is an analogy for the Buddha repeatedly and patiently searching for those who had the affinities, those who had been taught before, those whose causes and conditions had matured. If sentient beings have these affinities, they will hear the Dharma with joy and accept it right away. If sentient beings are lacking these affinities, the Buddha still does not give up, but creates causes and conditions for future transformation. So, for those whose conditions have matured, when He teaches the Dharma now they can joyfully and faithfully accept it. If their conditions have not matured, they will not even have the chance to meet Him or to hear the Dharma. Or after hearing the Dharma, they quickly forget about it. Or, they may not have the causes and conditions to meet the Buddha at all.
This is like the Buddha and the poor woman. Everyone at the time wanted to see the Buddha. Yet when this woman saw the Buddha, she shied away. She did not want to see Him. The Buddha said, “Ananda, this old woman has an affinity with you. Here, you go transform her.” You see, during the Buddha’s lifetime, there were also those who had no affinity with Him. Just as we have said before, in a city of 90,000 people, there were 30,000 people who saw the Buddha, listened to the Dharma and were transformed by Him. Another 30,000 people had heard that the Buddha had come to this place, but they were not interested in seeing him or listening to the Dharma. So, their causes and conditions were not [mature]. Another 30,000 people nad never even heard of Him, so how could they go to see the Buddha? Thus, the Buddha needed to then mindfully create causes and conditions with the last set of 30,000 to transform them in the future.
He had already transformed those He could, next He carefully prepared causes and conditions for those who could not yet be transformed. In the future, He would come to this world again to likewise transform those who did not yet have the affinities. He prepared the conditions for that in this life. Though they had not truly accepted [the Dharma], the seed had already been planted in their hearts. In lifetime after lifetime, He searched for the causes and conditions to transform all sentient beings. This is the Buddha’s virtue of grace.
Next is the virtue of ending. Over countless lifetimes, the Buddha had followed Buddhas and been transformed by them. He faithfully accepted and practiced every Buddha’s teachings. He understood afflictions, ignorance, dust-like delusions and so on, and one by one, He continued to end afflictions life after life. He went among people to create blessed affinities, and He cultivated wisdom on the Bodhisattva-path by interacting with people.
This is how the Buddha had, for countless lifetimes, continuously eliminated afflictions and ignorance. This was His spiritual practice. He eliminated all afflictions, perfected the Three Virtues and became replete with blessings and wisdom. The Three Virtues are the virtue of wisdom, the virtue of grace and the virtue of ending. He had already perfected these three virtues. In particular, He had perfected and was replete with the two “feet” of blessings and wisdom. One of the Buddha’s ten epithets is the Two-Footed Honored One. This is necessary in order to become a Buddha. This was the process of perfecting His spiritual practice.
The goal of our spiritual practice is the same. We must have the virtue of wisdom, otherwise, it is easy to fall into confusion. When we make a mistake, we may not be aware of it. There is so much of this ignorance and affliction. So, we need to accept the Buddha’s teachings. When the Buddha came to this world, He constantly upheld this principle, to help everyone understand we must “do all good deeds, refrain from all evil.” This is the one great cause for which the Buddha came to the world,
for which He engaged in spiritual practice and perfected the Three Virtues. This is the Buddha’s wisdom and His virtue. In the previous sutra passage, Subhuti already understood. So, Subhuti said, “Today the World-Honored One has led us to contemplate and to cast away the excrement of frivolously debating all Dharma. In this, we earnestly increased our diligence and attained the single day’s wages of Nirvana.”
In lifetime after lifetime, the Buddha had mindfully transformed them. Now Subhuti and the others all understood. Contemplation is careful thinking. There are so many afflictions; for many lifetimes we have faced so much suffering and accumulated countless afflictions. These piled up like excrement, like garbage. Life after life, we had the causes and conditions to contemplate carefully and thus eliminate afflictions.
“In this, we earnestly increased our diligence.” Subhuti had the conditions to encounter the Dharma. They were all very diligent in learning the Buddha-Dharma “[They] attained Nirvana” means they could attain a state of tranquility and be liberated from afflictions. This is “a single day’s wages.” This is a day’s [work]; however much we do is how much we can get in return.
The following sutra passage says, “Having already attained this, we gave rise to great joy. We felt this was enough, and we said to ourselves, Due to our earnestness and diligence in the Buddha-Dharma, we have attained so much.”
Yes, when Subhuti said this, he had already put in the work and got the value. “Having already attained this, we gave rise to great joy.” He already knew, “Over the course of my spiritual practice, I have eliminated my afflictions. I can be free and at peace.” Eliminating afflictions can bring peace; it is like getting a single day’s wages. They already attained this, so they felt very joyful and thought they were satisfied.
“We said to ourselves” means this was what they thought. “I’ve been diligent in learning the Buddha-Dharma. Since I’ve worked so hard, so diligently, I’ve received a lot as well.” So, they felt they were satisfied.
Is this all that spiritual practice is about? No. The Buddha also told us that to be replete with wisdom, we must go among the people to hone our wisdom. This was the Buddha’s intention. But Subhuti and the others thought, “My afflictions have been eliminated. It’s enough. I have already attained a lot.” So, they were very happy
Having already attained this, we gave rise to great joy: With a single day’s wages they felt this was enough. They even said they had attained much; they were self-satisfied and complacent and stubbornly clung to their bias towards emptiness. This is precisely the malady of the Small Vehicle.
Since these spiritual practitioners already felt they had awakened themselves, they were very happy. They thought this was the extent of Buddha-Dharma. They felt very satisfied, so they “stubbornly clung to their bias towards emptiness.” They had gone from the Agama, to the Vaipulya, to the Prajna. Then in the Prajna period, they assumed, “This way we can enter Nirvana.” Actually, this was a “bias towards emptiness.” There is still “wondrous existence,” the true state of “wondrous existence.” They had not yet attained the wonders of the Buddha-Dharma, its most wondrous [truths]. They had only reached the stage of Prajna and already felt satisfied. This was a “bias towards emptiness”; they still had the “malady of the Small Vehicle.” This malady meant they still had imperfections; they had not yet reached perfection.
We just talked about how we must be replete with the Three Virtues. But they were not replete with all of them; they had not yet perfected them. So, the malady of the Small Vehicle meant they still had flaws. This was where the problem lay. They were earnestly engaged in spiritual practice, so why wasn’t the Buddha satisfied? Because they were all only benefiting themselves. They were biased toward emptiness, so they felt this was enough. They thought they were very satisfied; they thought they had already attained enough. Actually, this is like the famous frog in the well. We often say that someone is “like the frog in the bottom of the well” or like the frog in a small creek. He thinks he knows all there is to the world, as he looks up through the mouth of the well and thinks that what he sees is the whole world.
We felt this was enough, and we said to ourselves, “Due to our earnestness and diligence in the Buddha-Dharma, we have attained so much.”
In reality, the heavens are boundless. But the frog at the bottom of the well thinks this is all there is. In such a limited state, he is unable to open his mind. He still does not know how vast the sea is. We sentient beings are like this. We think we are satisfied with such a small understanding or awakening. But we still have so much room to improve. Within this vast world, there is still so much we do not understand; there is still so much more for us to practice. This is because the Bodhisattva-path is truly the most critical part of our spiritual practice. So, “Due to our earnestness and diligence in the Buddha-Dharma, we have attained so much.” They thought this was already a lot.
Earnestness means never being lax, heading down the path with a straightforward mind. Earnestly performing all virtuous actions without ever slacking is known as diligence
Actually, diligence means not being lax, heading down the path with a straightforward mind. Starting as an unenlightened being and going all the way to the state of Buddhahood is a long, long road. Yet they had stopped at the half-way mark. Still, they thought, “We’ve been very earnest and diligent.”
So, a straightforward mind, faith, understanding are needed for spiritual practice. We need to use a straightforward mind to believe the Buddha’s teachings. With a straightforward mind, faith, understanding, we press forward on this great, direct Bodhi-path. Moving ahead on this path is earnestness. We must do all that is good. Not only must we walk the road, we also need to do all that is good. As we have chosen to refrain from all evil, we must then do all that is good. Is walking this road doing all that is good? In walking this path, we must go among people; only then can we do all that is good. If we do not go among people, what good is there to be done? Goodness must be practiced in this world, in our interactions with each other. Only in the human realm can we find much suffering.
Lately, we have been continually hearing about winter relief distributions. Winter is almost here. For Tzu Chi volunteers, whether they are in. Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc., wherever Tzu Chi volunteers are, they will begin home visits and care assessments. We need to understand every family to prepare for the winter relief distributions.
Right now we still have three months until the winter relief distributions and Chinese New Year. During these two to three months, if we discover anyone in great need, we will begin to help them at this time. When we go on the home visits, we even bring some [gifts]. This is how Bodhisattvas go among people and “earnestly do all that is good.” They have already formed Bodhisattva-aspirations. In Tzu Chi, there are so many Living Bodhisattvas! They go among the people to give. This is “earnestly doing all that is good without ever becoming indolent.” They are not lax at all [They all] work like this.
For example, Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines are giving of themselves like this. They just came back [to Taiwan] a few days ago. I said, “Thank you for your hard work. Don’t mention it! We all love doing it!” No one is the least bit lax in their work of benefiting people. It has been nearly a year since Typhoon Haiyan. Tzu Chi volunteers never left; they have stayed in that place to find ways to help people live a stable life, ways to provide housing for them and ways to provide an education for the children. See, they have spent an entire year helping in this way. They are not indolent at all. If I told them, “I cannot bear to have you work so hard,” [they would say], “Don’t worry, doing this makes us happy.” This is the vow of a Bodhisattva. This is true earnestness and diligence
Practicing all good paths diligently without slacking while maintaining constancy of mind without ever being self-indulgent is known as earnestness and diligence.
“Practicing all good paths diligently without slacking while maintaining constancy of mind without ever being self-indulgent” is known as “earnestness and diligence.” This is how we should learn the Buddha’s Way. Since we have faith in the Buddha-Dharma, we must be diligent in learning all of the Buddha’s teachings. Diligent means not being indolent. We must advance with wholehearted resolve. The Bodhisattva-path is a very direct path, we just need to keep moving forward. And we are not being diligent just for ourselves; we must be diligent for the sake of all sentient beings, without becoming indolent.
This is the method the Buddha has taught us, for engaging in spiritual practice, for eliminating afflictions, cultivating wisdom, cultivating the virtue of grace and cultivating the virtue of ending. How do we cultivate wisdom and compassion? To have wisdom, we must also have compassion. Along with wisdom and compassion, we must also eliminate our afflictions. This is also what the Buddha has taught us. This teaching is one we need to earnestly keep in our minds. This is practicing the Bodhisattva-path. So everyone, please always be mindful.