Episode 833 – Our Intrinsic Treasure is Buried in Ignorance
>> Everyone intrinsically has the precious storehouse of True Suchness, but over time it has been covered and buried by the dusts of ignorance. This splendid treasure is hidden inside us without our awareness, so we lament that we are impoverished and complain of how hard it is to sustain ourselves.
>> “Then with gentler words he said, “Think of yourself as my son”. The elder used wisdom to gradually have him come and go. After a period of 20 years, he put him charge of household affairs.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> “[The elder] showed him his gold, silver, pearls and crystals. With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one. Yet the son remained outside of the door, living in a straw hut. He considered himself to be poor, thinking, ‘None of this is mine’.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> [The elder] showed him his gold, silver, pearls and crystals: This is an analogy for the Great Vehicle Dharma-treasures, the Dharma-wealth of benefiting oneself and others. He let them receive and understand this; thus it says, He showed him the gold, silver, pearls and crystals.
>> With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one: Transforming others is like the goods going out benefiting oneself is like the goods coming in. The arising of conditions is going out; the empty nature of all things is coming in. So, All the goods refers to all phenomena and practices. He let him know about every one.
>> Yet he remained outside of the door: This is an analogy for those upholding the Small Vehicle. Though they knew the meaning of. Great Vehicle teachings, they felt inferior and believed they had no part in them. Thus they stopped outside the door of the Great Vehicle.
>> So, Though they were able to teach the Bodhisattva Way, they themselves were content to abide outside the door of the cause of practicing the Great Vehicle teachings. They could teach it but not practice it; they knew it but lacked the power of vows.
>> Living in a straw hut: He could not give up his sense of inferiority and willingly lived in a straw hut outside the door. This is an analogy for not being willing to turn to the Great, but preferring to linger in the conjured city of the Small [Vehicle] path. “Straw hut” is an analogy for the Two Vehicles’ fruit of eliminating dust, but this is only a temporary shelter from the storm of fragmentary samsara.
>> He considered himself to be poor, thinking, None of this is mine: He lamented his poverty. As the long-form prose stated, [He] first asked for the value of his wages. Then he followed them to clear excrement. Those who abide in the Small [Vehicle] teachings were aware that they had not entered the home of the Great Vehicle nor taken their part in the Great Vehicle mission, and they had no intention or desire to seek the Great Vehicle. Thus it says, None of this is mine.
>> It says in the prose that, [He] received and understood all those things. Still, he had no wish to take even a meal for himself. So, They stopped at this point and thus remained there with their inferior mindset, unable to let go.
“Everyone intrinsically has the precious storehouse of True Suchness,
but over time it has been covered and buried by the dusts of ignorance.
This splendid treasure is hidden inside us without our awareness, so we lament that we are impoverished and complain of how hard it is to sustain ourselves.”
Isn’t life like this? Clearly we all intrinsically possess the. Tathagata’s precious storehouse of True Suchness. Unfortunately, we are completely unaware of it. “Over time, it has become covered and buried by the dusts of ignorance.” It has not merely been covered; it has become deeply buried.
We often hear of archaeologists, how they sometimes unearth ancient ruins that have been buried very deeply. Though the people who lived in these ancient ruins have already been gone for several thousands or even several tens of thousands of years, nevertheless these objects and monuments can serve as evidence. People today can verify [what happened] thousands or tens of thousands of years ago. For those of us here now, the Dharma the Buddha taught tells us that we all intrinsically possess Buddha-nature, that we all have the precious storehouse of True Suchness. We should believe this and furthermore apply it in our daily living. Now, we are only applying our knowledge; we still have not applied our true wisdom.
Every day, when we see things, our Six Roots [connect with] the Six Dusts, which result in feelings. As we connect with the external environment, we will experience physical sensations. Now it is winter, and it is cold outside, so our bodies experience sensations of cold; we feel cold. This is our sensation of the weather. This is what we know; through our knowledge we recognize these things. When the external environment connects with our bodies, we have feelings. This is True Suchness. However, the true state of True Suchness has much greater abilities.
Why is the weather cold? We know it is cold because it is winter. We can use current technology to understand that when the Earth revolves around the sun, it gives us the four seasons. When the Buddha attained enlightenment, the motions of the planets in the universe were immediately realized by Him. He taught these hidden principles to us, but we were unable to realize them. Now we know that truly, time is always passing. The afflictions in our lives [increase] along with our material needs, and our wisdom becomes mere knowledge.
We know that wealth, fame and status are things for which people fight amongst each other. We produce so many products, extract so many material resources, all for the sake of people’s enjoyment. For the sake of pleasure, people constantly produce desires. When desires are created, we continue to replicate our ignorance. This is what we call ignorance; it accumulates over a long time to the point that it covers and buries our nature of True Suchness.
Our ignorance, though a lifetime is only a few decades long, is accumulated lifetime after lifetime. The nature of True Suchness buried within us is fundamentally so splendid, like a treasure of the world. We [talk about] the microcosm of our bodies; our bodies are also like a small universe. Within the microcosm of our bodies there is a splendid treasure, yet we are unaware of it. After accumulating ignorance life after life, our precious storehouse still lies within us, yet we become less and less aware of it. In such a life, “This splendid treasure is hidden inside us without our awareness so we lament that we are impoverished and complain of how hard it is to sustain ourselves” [We think,] what could we possibly do for others?
The Buddha came to this world with the goal of turning knowledge into wisdom; He wanted to help turn our knowledge into wisdom so we could understand the layers and layers of ignorance and afflictions that we have. If we can analyze this and gain clarity and understanding, we can then resolve to remove the ignorance and afflictions layer by layer. We must never again attract this ignorance that covers and conceals [our true nature]. If we can do this, with our nature of True Suchness, we naturally can turn knowledge into wisdom. We can take our ignorant mind-consciousness and turn it into pure wisdom. Thus we can freely make use of our treasure and apply it however we wish. However, this takes quite a bit of effort.
So, the previous sutra passage states, “Then with gentler words he said, ‘Think of yourself as my son’. The elder used wisdom to gradually have him come and go.” He let him come and go, in and out, very freely. After a period of 20 years, “He put him in charge of household affairs.”
The Buddha had already brought bewildered sentient beings into His door. These were the Hearers and the Solitary Realizers. The analogy used here is “20 years.” After 20 years, “He put him in charge of household affairs.” The Buddha guided them in spiritual practice, had them clean out the garbage and straighten up the yard so they could eventually go through the door.
So, the next passage states, “[The elder] showed him his gold, silver, pearls and crystals. With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one. Yet the son remained outside of the door, living in a straw hut. He considered himself to be poor, thinking, ‘None of this is mine’.”
Though he had already been led through the door and been shown the storehouse of treasures and the many treasures within it, and though he was allowed to freely go in and out, he still thought to himself, “I do not live in there. I am just a worker.” So, he lived in a grass hut outside. He thought, “These things are not mine. I am still poor. These are the master’s things. They have nothing to do with me.”
[The elder] showed him his gold, silver, pearls and crystals: This is an analogy for the Great Vehicle Dharma-treasures, the Dharma-wealth of benefiting oneself and others. He let them receive and understand this; thus it says, He showed him the gold, silver, pearls and crystals.
These things are analogies; the “gold, silver, pearls and crystals” are analogies for the “Great Vehicle Dharma-treasures, the Dharma-wealth of benefiting oneself and others.” With the Dharma, these precious treasures, we can benefit ourselves, as well as benefit others. This is the. “Dharma-wealth of benefiting oneself and others.” If we can attain these Dharma-treasures, these Great Vehicle Dharma-treasures, we can then pass this Dharma on to others. This is “the Dharma-wealth of benefiting oneself and others.” These are the “gold, silver, pearls and crystals.” This is the Great Vehicle Dharma
With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one: Transforming others is like the goods going out benefiting oneself is like the goods coming in. The arising of conditions is going out; the empty nature of all things is coming in. So, All the goods refers to all phenomena and practices. He let him know about every one.
The elder thought of every method he could to let him know about all of these things. “With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one.” These goods went in and out, were moved in and out, or perhaps these precious goods had to be counted and checked and so on. This is like how spiritual practitioners may already know of these things, yet it is like they are counting other’s wealth. “I am only keeping these things for them. These things are not mine.” They still have this kind of mindset.
“Transforming others is like goods ‘going out'”, and “benefiting oneself is like goods ‘coming in’.” The Dharma should be used to benefit us and others. However, being a Small Vehicle practitioner is like keeping a safe deposit box for others. It is like we are only counting the valuables that come in and go out and nothing more
With all the goods going out and coming in, he let him know about every one: Transforming others is like the goods “going out” benefiting oneself is like the goods “coming in.” The arising of conditions is “going out”; the empty nature of all things is “coming in. The arising of conditions is ‘going out’; the empty nature of all things is ‘coming in’. The arising of conditions” means that after we understand all of these teachings, once we understand this Dharma, when the causes and conditions arrive, we can use this Dharma to go out to transform and deliver sentient beings. This is like “the goods ‘going out’.” It is using the Dharma to go and transform others.
However, “The empty nature of all things is ‘coming in’.” We understand that no phenomenon has a fixed state and all things are empty in nature. The principles are there for our use, yet they are without substance or appearance. Therefore, we came to understand that there is no substance or appearance. If we take the Dharma to heart, we will no longer do things out of ignorance, afflictions, desirous thoughts, greed, pursuit and grasping. Those things will not affect us, and we will no longer multiply our afflictions.
This is due to the “empty nature of all things”; all things are empty. Life lasts but a few short decades, and when these decades are gone, don’t we leave empty-handed? Only one thing is left, karmic cause and effect. We know the law of karma so we should earnestly safeguard our intrinsic nature. Every day we will understand the principles and will no longer create any more karma. We may no longer create any more karma, but since we have this Dharma, we should turn the Dharma-wheel and give it to others in order to transform them. Nevertheless, we must remain aware that all things are empty
So, “All the goods refers to all phenomena and practices. He let him know about every one.” In “with all the goods going out and coming in, all the goods” refers to all phenomena or all things. All phenomena are intrinsically empty and do not truly exist; however, once [causes and conditions] converge, many things are created. In the beginning, the earth was just the earth. It was humankind’s application of knowledge that led to drilling for oil beneath the earth. Originally things were a certain way, but by drilling for these things, we have harmed the earth and at the same time polluted the air. These things originally did not exist, but because of humankind’s knowledge, they have been created. The evolution of our knowledge has brought with it many calamities. So, when we learn the Buddha’s Way, these are the things we must understand.
It is all knowledge. When turned in one direction, it creates karma, but turned in the other, it becomes wisdom-life, it becomes wisdom. When we protect our wisdom-life, we will no longer create negative karma. So, all phenomena are inherently empty. Things are created by human beings, and it is those things that elicit sentient beings’ ignorance and afflictions, so we create more; this becomes a cycle, a cycle of ignorance and afflictions.
Those who understand, who are awakened, know “the arising of conditions is ‘going out’.” When causes and conditions converge, we must go transform sentient beings. We should no longer be attached, for “all things are by nature empty.” This is our intrinsic nature of True Suchness, which is inherently pure. This is how the Buddha patiently guided us, so we would understand. “He let us know about every one.” He made us aware of them. Nevertheless, we “remained outside the door”
Yet he remained outside of the door: This is an analogy for those upholding the Small Vehicle. Though they knew the meaning of. Great Vehicle teachings, they felt inferior and believed they had no part in them. Thus they stopped outside the door of the Great Vehicle.
The son remaining outside of the door is an analogy for “those who uphold the Small Vehicle,” who still only seek to benefit themselves. “Though they knew the meaning of the Great Vehicle teachings,” though they understood the Great Vehicle Dharma, “they felt inferior and believed they had no part in them.” It was like these teachings were unrelated to them. Is this the case? It should not be like this. In fact, we should all hope that with the Dharma we understand, we will do our best so that those who see us and those who listen to what we say will take it to heart with faith and understanding and we ourselves will have even more faith and understanding as we apply it. It should be like this. Only in this way is the Dharma truly ours.
Everyone possesses the nature of True Suchness. We all possess infinite treasures in our precious storehouse of True Suchness. Yet, Small Vehicle practitioners “felt inferior and believed they had no part in them. Thus they stopped outside of the door to the Great Vehicle.” Though they could teach the Great Vehicle Dharma, they still stayed outside the door, [as if] living in that grass hut. If this is the case, then it is a shame
So, “Though they were able to teach the Bodhisattva Way, they themselves were content to abide outside the door of the cause of practicing the Great Vehicle teachings. They could teach it but not practice it; they knew it but lacked the power of vows.”
The Small Vehicle practitioners heard the Buddha open and reveal the. Vaipulya teachings by telling them that everyone could practice the Bodhisattva-path. Though they could teach the Bodhisattva Way, could follow the Dharma taught by the Buddha to pass on and teach the Bodhisattva Way, they themselves never engaged in Bodhisattva-practices. Thus, “They themselves were content to abide outside the door of the cause.”
Our cause, this seed in our minds, has not yet transformed. We still remain with Small Vehicle seeds. In the field of our minds, there are only small trees with small roots. We want to be great trees with great roots, but our cause, this seed, is still so small. This is why we only stand outside the door, not entering the door to the Great Vehicle; we stick to the Small Vehicle Dharma.
“They could teach it but not practice it.” They were people who could teach it, but they could not practice it. They could give many teachings to others, but they did not seek to get involved themselves. They were ones who could teach, but could not do. “They knew it but lacked the power of vows.” They knew the Dharma, but did not have the vows [to practice it]. This was a shame.
Living in a straw hut: He could not give up his sense of inferiority and willingly lived in a straw hut outside the door. This is an analogy for not being willing to turn to the Great, but preferring to linger in the conjured city of the Small [Vehicle] path. “Straw hut” is an analogy for the Two Vehicles’ fruit of eliminating dust, but this is only a temporary shelter from the storm of fragmentary samsara.
So, He was “living in a straw hut. He could not give up his sense of inferiority and willingly lived in a straw hut outside the door.” This is “not being willing to turn to the Great,” but constantly remaining in the Small Vehicle. So, the “straw hut” is an analogy for “the Two Vehicles’ fruit of eliminating dust,” a stage of fragmentary samsara.
Two Vehicle practitioners eliminate ignorance, afflictions and dust. We eliminate those small afflictions, but the truly great afflictions and dust-like delusions have still not been eliminated. Ignorance and afflictions are eliminated in name only, but our nature of True Suchness still remains buried. The dust-like afflictions have not been cleansed. They still have not been eliminated. So we want a shelter [like a straw hut]; it will cover our minds amidst [the storm of] fragmentary samsara.
He considered himself to be poor, thinking, None of this is mine: He lamented his poverty. As the long-form prose stated, [He] first asked for the value of his wages. Then he followed them to clear excrement. Those who abide in the Small [Vehicle] teachings were aware that they had not entered the home of the Great Vehicle nor taken their part in the Great Vehicle mission, and they had no intention or desire to seek the Great Vehicle. Thus it says, None of this is mine.
“He considered himself to be poor, thinking, ‘None of this is mine’.” Actually, it is intrinsic to everyone, but we remain stuck in the Small Vehicle and thus are unwilling to enter the door. Therefore, “He lamented his poverty.” Like it says in the verse, “[He] first asked for the value of his wages. Then he followed them to clear excrement.” All we think about is earning wages; we never give a thought to the fact that the things inside are actually ours. We still just stand outside earning a wage Those who abide in the Small Vehicle teachings” is saying that this is an analogy for “those who abide in the Small Vehicle teachings.” So, they “were aware that they had not entered the home of the Great Vehicle.” They themselves had already admitted that they had never entered the home of the Great Vehicle. This was an analogy Venerable Kasyapa used for himself. “The door was open so wide, and I was able to know of the treasures inside. It is just that I never have entered nor taken my part in the Great Vehicle mission. It is as if I have no part in the Great Vehicle mission. This belongs to others. I have always thought of it as something belonging to others and have had no intention or desire to seek the Great Vehicle. I never wished to seek it, so I never sought the Great Vehicle Dharma. This is why none of this is mine”
It says in the prose that, “[He] received and understood all those things. Still, he had no wish to take even a meal for himself.” So, “They stopped at this point and thus remained there with their inferior mindset, unable to let go.”
This is because they did not wish to relinquish the Small Vehicle. If we do not relinquish the Small Vehicle, then how can we enter the Great Vehicle? This is why we say, to learn the Buddha’s Way, we must be mindful, for it is only by relinquishing the Small Vehicle that we are able to enter the Great Vehicle Dharma. Everyone has a nature of True Suchness, so let us not look down on ourselves, or allow the many dust-like afflictions to bury our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, we must always be mindful.