Episode 859 – Repaying the Buddha’s Immense Grace
>> Practice with reverence means having thoughts of utmost reverence and propriety, without any indolence or retreating. Practice with nothing further means being replete with blessings and wisdom, the two kinds of spiritual provisions. Uninterrupted practice is courageously and diligently advancing without any pause or interruption. Extended practice is practicing for many decades without changing from the first day.
>> “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless trillions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace even if we were to carry Him on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]
>> With regard to sentient beings, the Buddha’s grace and virtues are tremendous. He teaches, transforms and benefits us. His grace and virtues are so deep and vast, they are inexpressibly difficult to repay.
>> We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits. They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace.
>> Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this?
>> Providing offerings with our hands and feet, or fully prostrating to pay respect. Even if we labor our entire lives to provide, if we use all our might, we still could not repay it.
>> Fully prostrating to pay respect: Placing the forehead upon the ground to reverently pay respect. We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground. This is how we pay respect to all Buddhas.
>> All the offerings we make could never repay His grace: These are the most reverent offerings made through the karma of body, speech and mind. Offerings made with all kinds of material goods are insufficient to repay this grace.
>> If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders: We carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like Guanyin Bodhisattva, who always carries the Tathagata in his crown. This shows our utmost sincerity and respect.
>> Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand, [we] fully expressed our respect: Even going through kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand we would fully express our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect.
>> Bodhisattvas, with the merits and virtues of cultivating the roots of goodness, undertake the mission and make offerings to all the infinite and boundless Buddhas. Of all those around them, no one is missed. This is to repay the grace of all Buddhas.
“Practice with reverence” means “having thoughts of utmost reverence and propriety, without any indolence or retreating. Practice with nothing further means being replete with blessings and wisdom, the two kinds of spiritual provisions.
Uninterrupted practice is courageously and diligently advancing without any pause or interruption.
Extended practice is practicing for many decades without changing from the first day.”
This is telling everyone that these four aspects of spiritual practice are very important for us.
The minds of spiritual practitioners must always be reverent. With reverence, we respect the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, the heavens, the earth, the human world and all things. I often mention to everyone that no matter what happens, we must feel gratitude, as well as respect. Finally, we should feel love. If we are able to constantly maintain this sense of reverence as we engage in spiritual practice, then as we interact with people, matters, things, and even in our attitude towards ourselves, naturally we will always have thoughts of utmost reverence. This is the most sincere and reverent form of spiritual practice.
Only if [individuals] have this sense of reverence will the group be orderly and harmonious. So, practicing with reverence is very important. On one hand, we must diligently carry out our spiritual aspirations, while on the other, when we go among people, we must interact with them harmoniously. This begins with sincere reverence; we cannot be indolent or retreat.
Next, we must “practice with nothing further. Practice with nothing further” means our minds are focused on one thing without any discursive thoughts. We have already chosen this course of practice, so we should not be distracted by anything and must focus on walking along the Bodhisattva-path. To walk the Bodhisattva-path is to go among people to cultivate blessings and attain wisdom. These are the two kinds of spiritual provisions we need as we walk the Bodhisattva-path. Thus, we cultivate both blessings and wisdom.
Then, there is “uninterrupted practice. Uninterrupted” means without pause. As time continuously passes, we do not relax our efforts for even an instant. We do not slack off, but continue on, always with a mind of courage and diligence.
When the weather is very cold, it is not easy to leave our warm beds. But, as long as we have a diligent mind, when we hear the striking of the wooden boards, we begin to move in that instant. We hear it, wake up, push aside our blankets and start moving to diligently enter the Great Hall. “Hearing the bell, afflictions are alleviated. Wisdom grows; Bodhi arises.” So, to be diligent, we must be courageous. No matter what we do, we absolutely must have a diligent mind and must not be lacking in courage. So, we must courageously and diligently advance.
Then, when afflictions arise, because of our courage and diligence, we immediately guard against wrongs and stop evil. With this sense of discipline, we will no longer engage in improper behavior. This is attained through diligent practice. This is the only way to eliminate unwholesome ignorance and afflictions. Therefore, our will to practice must continuously be present in our every thought, without interruption. We must guard against past habitual tendencies to avoid returning to them. Our thoughts of diligence must be uninterrupted. This is “uninterrupted practice.”
“Extended practice” means over a long time. “Extended practice” means over a long time. Over a long time, many decades, we remain the same as on the first day. In fact, we spiritual practitioners talk about tens of kalpas, countless kalpas, very long periods of time. Yet, in our countless subsequent lifetimes, we must consistently maintain our diligent mind.
For spiritual practitioners, these four methods of spiritual practice are essential.
In a previous sutra passage, Venerable Kasyapa also said that, in the past, the Buddha had taught them over and over. But over this long period of practice, they stopped halfway, so they let their diligent resolve leak away. When ignorance arises, there are Leaks. “Leaks” are ignorance. They cause us to fall into an unenlightened state and transmigrate through the Five Realms and the four forms of birth. So, we should take good care of our minds.
The Buddha was earnest and had compassion for sentient beings, so He repeatedly returned over countless kalpas. Since Beginningless Time, He has transmitted the Dharma to people to give us all a chance to accept the Buddha-Dharma and take it to heart. He helps us all to recognize that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. This shows His single-minded resolve to help sentient beings attain Buddhahood. The Buddha’s grace is so great; how can we repay it?
Thus the previous sutra passage says, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless trillions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?” How can we repay the Buddha’s grace? The Buddha’s grace is so immense.
In the past they thought, “Accepting what the Buddha taught and attaining benefits through our own practice is the way to repay the Buddha’s grace.” Is it enough to merely practice and attain benefits for ourselves? No. What the Buddha hopes is not that we are the only ones who benefit from our practice. After we have attained benefits, we must also benefit others. Only then are we truly repaying the Buddha’s grace. The number of people rescuing people must increase so that suffering people of the world have more chances to be rescued. This is what the Buddha hopes for, that everyone will engage in spiritual practice to become Bodhisattvas and help deliver sentient beings. This is truly repaying the Buddha’s grace.
The next sutra passage states, “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace even if we were to carry Him on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….”
From this [sutra] passage, we should know that the Buddha has shown great grace and virtue to sentient beings. In lifetime after lifetime, He repeatedly returned to the Five Realms and the four forms of birth to go among people and benefit them.
Perhaps in many of our lifetimes we lived in the same era as the Buddha and received the Buddha’s teachings. Though He did not reveal Himself as a Buddha, He has taken on all kinds of identities in the world. From our state of ignorance and confusion, He taught and guided us to help us understand the principles, awaken from the delusion of our afflictions and repent and change our past mistaken ways. Perhaps changing our behavior and changing our lives allowed us to create positive causes. Then with these causes and conditions, in this life we are still able to immerse ourselves in the Buddha-Dharma. So, we must be grateful for the Buddha’s grace. The Buddha truly showed great grace and virtue to sentient beings.
If we consider the Buddha’s great grace as expressed by Venerable Kasyapa, what can we do to repay Him?
The Buddha “teaches, transforms and benefits us. His grace and virtues are so deep and vast.” They are higher than the sky, deeper than the ocean and more vast than the universe. Indeed, they are greater than these great spaces. This conveys the scope of His grace and virtue. The grace and virtue that. He has shown to sentient beings are so great.
Look at the people in prison. When Living Bodhisattvas go into prisons and hold study groups with [the inmates], they bring these truths into the prisons. With patient guidance, they help the inmates encounter [these principles and realize], “What I did in the past was wrong. Everything I did before was harmful. Now, I still have the chance to change.” Once the inmates have changed, they go from a place of suffering, a place where they have no freedom, to being able to liberate their minds and resolve their afflictions and ignorance. While in prison, they aspire to make the prison a place of spiritual practice. While there, they change their own behavior, which is expressed for others to see. One day they will leave that place and go out into this vast world to be completely free, body and mind. With this mental and physical freedom, they devote themselves to the greater world, benefiting society and sentient beings.
Think about it; just a set of principles can change someone’s life. By leaving these principles for us, hasn’t the Buddha shown us great grace and virtue? So, His grace and virtue are deep and vast. “They are inexpressibly difficult to repay.” To speak of them all would take a very long time
We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits. They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace.
“We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits.” They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace. Venerable Kasyapa felt that they had all earnestly followed everything that the Buddha taught, had practiced according to the teachings. “We engaged in spiritual practice by upholding the Buddha’s teachings.” So, by accepting and following them, they had eliminated afflictions and ignorance, and thus they had realized the small fruit, the Four Fruits of the Small [Vehicle], the first, second, third and fourth fruit. They thought these were the ultimate fruitions. This means they had already cleansed their minds of ignorance and put an end to fragmentary samsara. They had not eliminated transformational samsara, but they thought, “I am so earnest in my spiritual practice that I have lived up to the teachings the Buddha gave us.” Haven’t I thus already repaid the Buddha’s grace?”
Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this?
However, at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, Venerable Kasyapa and others further contemplated this carefully. They earnestly thought about this. “I only seek to benefit myself, to attain realizations myself. Have I truly repaid the Buddha’s immense grace? All I do is seek to awaken myself. He showed us such great grace and virtue by having taught us. For our sake, the Buddha repeatedly returned to deliver us and called on everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path. Can this possibly be repaid in a single lifetime or in a single kalpa?” Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa?
Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this? Even over countless kalpas, who could possibly repay this? Even if we have had these aspirations for countless kalpas, if we think about it and compare, the Buddha has given everyone so much, but the stage we have achieved [is limited]. So, have we really repaid the Buddha’s grace? Even over an extended period of time, who is able to give as much the Buddha has? Who can repay the Buddha’s grace?
Providing offerings with our hands and feet, or fully prostrating to pay respect. Even if we labor our entire lives to provide, if we use all our might, we still could not repay it.
Repaying the Buddha’s grace is more than “providing offerings with our hands and feet,” or “fully prostrating to pay respect.” Even if we “labor our entire lives to provide,” if we use “all our might,” we still could not repay it.
Whether with tangible [offerings] in our lives, or expressions of deep reverence when we are with the Buddha, whether fully prostrating to pay respect or providing offerings with our hands and feet, these are ways in which we can express deep reverence and labor on the Buddha’s behalf, doing many things. Whatever the Buddha wishes to be done, we do it for Him. In life, this is a way of giving and showing respect.
Fully prostrating to pay respect: Placing the forehead upon the ground to reverently pay respect. We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground. This is how we pay respect to all Buddhas.
“Fully prostrating to pay respect” means that we touch our forehead to the ground. Placing our forehead upon the ground is a way of paying our respects
“We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if. They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground.” This is how we “pay respect to all Buddhas.”
To sincerely pay respect, we must place our forehead on the ground with a heart of deep reverence. When we express respect in this way, it is not just the Buddha statue that is before us. We must also visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions before us [We do this] because the Buddha-Dharma is not just transmitted by Sakyamuni Buddha; He likewise received it from countless Buddhas. Thus, we must pay our respects to all Buddhas.
So, would this be repaying the Buddha’s grace? To “reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground” is a way to pay respect to all Buddhas. Isn’t this repaying the Buddha’s grace? It is indeed, yet,
All the offerings we make could never repay His grace: These are the most reverent offerings made through the karma of body, speech and mind. Offerings made with all kinds of material goods are insufficient to repay this grace.
“All the offerings we make could never repay His grace.” In fact, this is merely a form of expression, an expression of body, speech and mind in making reverent offerings. “Offerings made with all kinds of material goods” like all those we have mentioned are insufficient repayment. This is also only an expression of reverence; it is only the outward appearance of respect. We need to have this type of appearance; this is part of our organization’s way of life. But, are we truly repaying the Buddha’s grace?
The next part of the passage says, “If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders….”
If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders: We carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like Guanyin Bodhisattva, who always carries the Tathagata in his crown. This shows our utmost sincerity and respect.
“[We] carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders.” In fact, we often see this on Bodhisattva statues. Of those wearing a crown, we see another Buddha’s image carved into it. This is one way to express reverence. Another way is to labor on behalf of the Buddha by transporting many things by placing them on our heads; this is the same. Perhaps we place things on our shoulders and carry an abundance of material things as a way of making offerings. Thus, we “bear Him on our shoulders.” We carry the Buddha on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like how Guanyin Bodhisattva and others [carry Him] in their crowns; this effort expresses their utmost reverence.
Next we discuss, “Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, [we] fully express our respect.”
Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand, [we] fully expressed our respect: Even going through kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand we would fully express our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect.
Even after kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand of “fully expressing our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect” means this will take a very long time, not merely a single lifetime. It may take many kalpas, as numerous as the Ganges’ sand. If one grain of sand is equivalent to one kalpa, and it takes as many kalpas as the Ganges’ sand, how long is that? As for “fully expressing our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect,” we must be able to achieve this level. It takes a very long time to express this. We must exercise a sincere, reverent mind to repay the Buddha. Then is this really enough? Bodhisattvas must, “with the merits and virtues of cultivating the roots of goodness, undertake the mission and make offerings to all the infinite and boundless Buddhas. Of all those around them, no one is missed. This is to repay the grace of all Buddhas.”
When it comes to Bodhisattvas, they walk the Bodhisattva-path to cultivate the merits and virtues of their roots of goodness. Walking the Bodhisattva-path to benefit sentient beings, to save and transform them, is truly having a Buddha-mind.
All Buddhas hope that the minds of sentient beings can be the same as that of the Buddha. To achieve the same mind as the Buddha, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. Bodhi is the cause, and Bodhisattva-practice is the effect; these are the cause and effect. If we do not put this path into practice and only cultivate the Small Vehicle, no matter how respectful we are, we are still merely benefiting ourselves. The Buddha hopes that we can all open up our hearts and take the Dharma we understand and truly share it with other sentient beings to turn them from ignorance toward a radiant path of goodness.
Think of the inmates who lost their freedom; how can we go into those places to open up their hearts? In a world of deep suffering, how can we help people tap into their spiritual wealth? We must help them plant the seed of Bodhi, the seed of walking the Bodhisattva-path in this life, so they can carry them into subsequent lifetimes and benefit many people. Wisdom arises from blessings, and blessings come from doing good deeds, as doing them makes us very happy. Wisdom comes from understanding and allows us to have true freedom. All this is what we attain by working with others. Similarly, finding a way to truly draw near the Buddha’s mind depends on our mindfulness and how determined we are to be diligent and courageous and engage in the four forms of spiritual practice. We must engage in practice with reverence, practice with nothing further, uninterrupted practice and extended practice. Therefore, we must always be mindful.