Episode 808 – Understanding Matters and Principles with Wisdom
>> With wisdom, we comprehend all phenomena; with discerning wisdom, [we differentiate] the substance and appearance of matters and things. When we awaken to the essence of all living things, the coming together of matters and principles is [understood through] impartial wisdom.
>> “Why was this so? Knowing we took delight in the Small [Vehicle] Dharma, the Buddha exercised the power of skillful means to teach in ways to accommodate us, but we did not know that truly we were Buddha-children.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> “Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> World-Honored One is one of the ten epithets of the Buddha. It refers to the Buddha’s impartial wisdom. He is replete with all virtues, thus He is esteemed by all in the world.
>> Having completely eradicated all dust-like ignorance and delusions, He takes the vehicle of True Suchness and wondrous Dharma to come to the world, manifesting this appearance to deliver beings and attaining supreme enlightenment. Heavenly beings and humans, ordinary beings and noble beings, all offer Him respect. Therefore, He is called the World-Honored One.
>> We doubted that the Buddha would use. His Tathagata-wisdom to teach and instruct us and thought He taught merely for the Bodhisattvas. It seemed He was deeply
>> The Buddha told us today that all skillful means were used to inspire Bodhi; everything that He taught was used to transform Bodhisattvas.
>> Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One never withheld from us in the slightest any of His Buddha-wisdom. This is a metaphor for how now, in this sutra, the Buddha is giving predictions of Buddhahood. This follows from the preceding lines, but at first we did not know that truly we are Buddha-children.
“With wisdom, we comprehend all phenomena; with discerning wisdom, [we differentiate] the substance and appearance of matters and things. When we awaken to the essence of all living things, the coming together of matters and principles” is [understood through] “impartial wisdom.”
Are the principles behind matters and the substance of things the same or different? We must clearly distinguish between the two. Discerning wisdom and impartial wisdom each have their own function. To clearly understand all phenomena, discerning and impartial wisdom must both be present. Confucius said, “Listen to their words and observe their actions.” By listening to people speak and watching the way they do things by observing them over a period of time, we can discern [their intent]. This is discerning wisdom. There is both discerning and impartial wisdom; [with wisdom], we can differentiate all phenomena of people, matters and objects. Being able to distinguish the substance and appearance of matters and things is considered “discerning wisdom.” We must be very clear on the substance and appearances of matters and things. Material things arise from the union of the four elements. All material things arise from the convergence of [causes and conditions] according to principles.
We often use examples right in front of us to help everyone understand. This table is a union of the four elements. It began as a seed. Then earth, water, sunlight and air all came together to help the seed grow. Because of the convergence of the four elements, it goes from a seed to a small tree and then a large tree. As it is nurtured over time, the four elements came together to continuously provide for it and help it grow. Then there is human [action]. To fulfill our material desires, people cut down this great tree deep in the forest in order to make it into a table, tools, chairs or so on. All these are inseparable from the four elements. To make an article out of wood, we need a saw. We need chisels for shaping it. These tools likewise arise from the union of the four elements.
Saws, blades and chisels are all made of metal. Metal has to be taken from a mine; a mine has to be dug, so we damage the land to get metal. After metal is taken from the earth, to refine it we need fire, air and water. This is the only way; see, metalsmiths use bellows to blow air [into the furnace] to stoke the fire. After they smelt the metal in the fire, they douse it in water. Then they hammer it. After that, they heat it again until it is glowing red hot. All these things work in conjunction. This is true for everything; these kinds of processes are inseparable from the four elements.
So, the four elements converge to give rise to all material things. These material things are then used together to create other things. This is a kind of cycle in the world, this coming together of the four elements. When it comes to our daily living, to the way we do things, doesn’t this also apply? So, we need discerning wisdom to understand how certain things come together with other things. These matters and things are inseparable from the way we use them. This is discerning wisdom; knowing how things come together is “discerning wisdom.” To understand their essence, we rely on “impartial wisdom.”
When the four elements come together, which element is the most important? Every element is important. If there is a seed, earth and sunlight but no water, then the seed will not grow. If there is water but no earth, or if there is sunlight and air but no earth, then the seed will be unable to grow into a tree. This is impartial wisdom.
Impartial wisdom brings awakening; we understand how this thing came about and how none of its elements can be missing. So, each element is equally important; not a single element can be missing. It is the same for us humans. The coming together of matters and principles is [understood] with impartial wisdom.
So, we awaken to the essence of all living things. Humans have a world that they inhabit; they are one kind of life. Animals have a world they inhabit; they are likewise one kind of life. So, we must have respect for all living things. This is the coming together of matters and principles. This is being impartial. Not only do we love and respect people and feel grateful to everyone for coming together, we must also cherish things. As we have all these things, we must respect living beings; we must have love. So, we feel gratitude and respect. Whether sentient or non-sentient, we must have respect and love for them.
We must nurture discerning and impartial wisdom in order to differentiate between the substance and appearance of matters and things. Then we awaken to the essence of all living things. Only then can we bring together matters and principles and treat everyone impartially. If we can reach this state of mind, then we can connect to the great path.
So, the Buddha-Dharma, the Buddha’s teachings, were for patiently guiding His disciples. Thus, in the previous sutra passage, Subhuti asks, “Why was this so? [The Buddha] knew we took delight in the Small [Vehicle] Dharma”
“Why was this so? Knowing we took delight in the Small [Vehicle] Dharma, the Buddha exercised the power of skillful means to teach in ways to accommodate us, but we did not know that truly we were Buddha-children.”
Since they followed the Buddha, why couldn’t His disciples just immediately form great aspirations and walk the Bodhisattva-path? The Buddha was afraid we would not comprehend it. So, knowing that we had limited capabilities, He gradually began teaching with. Small [Vehicle] teachings. He had to teach according to capabilities, so He made use of the power and might of skillful means to teach both the provisional and the true “[He] taught in ways to accommodate us.” Thus we came to know that we were in fact Buddha-children. In the past we did not know this, but we knew it now.
“Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.”
“Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.” It turns out that the Buddha “never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.” He never held back any of the Dharma; all of it was given to us. There was no stinginess; He offered us everything and always looked upon us as His own children. All sentient beings are like His own children, so He views everyone impartially. He never withheld any of His wealth at all,
because everyone inherently has this wisdom; it is just that we have not made use of it. So, He used these methods to guide us and help us apply this Dharma ourselves. The Dharma is principles; it has no actual substance. So, how could He give [the Dharma] to us? He did everything He could to help us understand and realize that we have this power, too. We too have this kind of strength, this kind of might. Everyone intrinsically has it.
All of us can also make use of skillful methods. If we want to secure one thing to another, we use a nut and bolt. If the bolt is too big, we wonder, “Why doesn’t it go in? Why can’t I screw it in?” So, we look for a smaller one. The smaller one may be too loose. We have to keep looking to find one that fits perfectly and can be screwed in. Only when the bolt fits the nut perfectly can we accomplish the task at hand. So, to accomplish a task, we must be able to discern how to make use of things. Only in this way can we achieve our goal.
The methods and tools are all in our minds. All the resources we need are already inside our brains, in our innate enlightenment, in our ocean of wisdom. So, the Buddha is only teaching us how to draw upon our own resources and make use of them, how to give shape to our own methods. This is the wisdom of the World-Honored One. Thus Subhuti was now saying, “Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One…”
“World-Honored One” is one of the ten epithets of the Buddha. It refers to the Buddha’s impartial wisdom. He is replete with all virtues, thus He is esteemed by all in the world.
“World-Honored One” is one of the ten epithets of the Buddha. It refers to “the Buddha’s impartial wisdom.” The wisdom of the Buddha is the pinnacle of all Dharma. The Buddha has already attained. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi; He has attained the great wisdom of supreme, universal and perfect enlightenment. There is nothing higher than the Buddha’s wisdom. His enlightenment is unsurpassed. Of all things in the word, there is no matter or thing, no substance or appearance, that He does not understand. When it comes to matters, principles, substance and appearance, there is nothing He is not clear on. So, He has reached the pinnacle of wisdom and is replete with all [virtuous] practices. He interacts with all people with gratitude, respect and love. When it comes to material things, He thoroughly understands the principles and cherishes the life of these objects. The Buddha is already replete with all virtues, so He “is esteemed by all in the world.” Thus He is called the World-Honored One
Having completely eradicated all dust-like ignorance and delusions, He takes the vehicle of True Suchness and wondrous Dharma to come to the world, manifesting this appearance to deliver beings and attaining supreme enlightenment. Heavenly beings and humans, ordinary beings and noble beings, all offer Him respect. Therefore, He is called “the World-Honored One.”
The World-Honored One had completely eradicated all dust-like ignorance and delusions. If we still have delusions of ignorance, we will still frequently give rise to ignorance; our minds can change in the span of a thought. The Buddha had already thoroughly eradicated all dust-like ignorant thoughts and afflictions; He had eliminated them completely. He had already “taken the vehicle of True Suchness and wondrous Dharma to come to the world.” Thus He is called “Tathagata” (Thus Come One). In order to deliver sentient beings, He set aside His magnificent clothing to go among the people. But in fact, deep within His mind, He remained pure and radiant; He still has an ocean of enlightened wisdom as He comes to the world. He takes the vehicle of this Dharma, the ocean of enlightened wisdom, to come to the world and deliver sentient beings.
So, with “True Suchness and wondrous Dharma [He] came to the world, manifesting this appearance to deliver beings.” It is as if the multitudes of sentient beings are in the midst of a great ocean, so He continually steers the ship of compassion back to the world, thus “attaining supreme enlightenment.” Life after life, He delivered sentient beings. Life after life, He used the phenomena of the world to nurture wisdom-life. He did this until causes and conditions matured, and He manifested the attainment of Buddhahood. As for His enlightenment, it is unsurpassed. Whether heavenly beings or humans, unenlightened or noble beings, they all respect Him. Thus He is called the World-Honored One.
So, He “never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.” The Buddha came to the world to deliver sentient beings, all for the sole purpose of helping all of us attain Buddhahood and recognize our own nature of True Suchness. He hopes we can all find our way back to the Tathagata’s house. But to find this way back again, of course we have to walk the Bodhisattva-path. If we are not on the Bodhisattva-path, we will be unable to experience the suffering in the world and how ignorance and afflictions come about. If we cannot comprehend how they come about, then we will be unable to eliminate the sources of suffering. After we understand, if we do not undergo a process of tempering, delusions will still fly up everywhere like dust.
So, we must have perseverance and must not have doubts. We still had doubts in the past ․”We doubted that the Buddha would use. His Tathagata-wisdom to teach and instruct us and thought He taught merely for the Bodhisattvas. It seemed He was deeply reluctant to give it to us.”
We doubted that the Buddha would use. His Tathagata-wisdom to teach and instruct us and thought He taught merely for the Bodhisattvas. It seemed He was deeply
When the Buddha instructed them on what to do, they thought it was meant for Bodhisattvas, that He was instructing Bodhisattvas to do this, not them. So, they doubted that the Buddha gave these teachings for them, for everyone listening. Only now did they know that the Buddha was actually teaching to them, that the Buddha wanted to teach them, to teach them that they all had a part in this. He was not teaching only the Bodhisattvas; it was just that they did not accept this teaching.
This is because they had doubts. “It seemed He was deeply reluctant to give it to us.” It seemed that He was not giving this to them, that He was teaching specifically to someone else. This was their doubt. It “seemed” indicates their doubt. This was what they thought at the time. Though the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle, it seemed to them that. He was teaching it to someone else, and it had nothing to do with them.
So, “The Buddha told us today that all skillful means were used to inspire Bodhi; everything that He taught was used to transform Bodhisattvas.”
They thoroughly understood this now. The Buddha had now very earnestly expressed that the skillful means He taught in the past were also part of the Bodhi-path. Bodhi is enlightenment. Everything is part of the path to enlightenment, starting with the Four Noble Truths, then the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, that it all starts with a thought of ignorance. He has been teaching all along, so that through the 37 Practices to Enlightenment, we can achieve realizations about the world and train our minds. He also taught us to practice the Six Perfections. To deliver sentient beings, we need to uphold precepts and have patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom. We must use of all kinds of methods to go among people and give.
In fact, since the very beginning. He has been paving this Bodhi-path, this path to enlightenment. Ever since the Buddha began teaching the Dharma, all of His discourses, lectures and skillful means already contained the principles for enlightenment. It is we who did not realize this. Because we did not realize this, we thought awakening ourselves, practicing for our own benefit, was enough. We did not show compassion for others. Every person is someone we need to deliver in order to awaken. But we did not express this aspiration; we did not open the door to our minds,
did not realize that the Buddha’s state of mind was so encompassing. From when people were small children, to middle-age, all the way through old age, He always cherished everyone just like a young child. Worrying that He might hurt us, He patiently guided us. This is the mindfulness of the Buddha. Everything He does is to teach and transform us to become Bodhisattvas and go among people
“Only now do we realize that the World-Honored One never withheld from us in the slightest any of His Buddha-wisdom.” He never withheld anything in the slightest, but gave us everything completely. This is an analogy. Now, at the Lotus [Dharma-assembly], the Buddha prepared to bestow predictions of Buddhahood.
Sariputra had already received this prediction; in the future many more would also receive one. Everyone should be prepared to take on this responsibility. “But at first we did not know that truly we are Buddha-children.” We did not know that from the start we were truly Buddha-children. Now, [we knew that He] “never withheld the Buddha-wisdom from us.” Only now do we know that the Buddha never held anything back; He gave us all the teachings.
So, everyone should understand the Buddha’s genuine love for us. We should even more mindfully comprehend that the Buddha, in His wisdom, wished for us to achieve impartial wisdom and truly apply it. We must be clear on the substance and appearances of matters and things. Furthermore we must awaken to all living things. We must thoroughly comprehend the substance and appearance of all living things. In summary, wisdom is what we must seek. So everyone, please always be mindful.