Episode 865 – We Make Vows for the Future
>> Time, in the extremely short span of a few microseconds, slips away in the blink of an eye. Extremely long periods of time are without limits and without end. Children born of the Buddha’s speech have everlasting wisdom-life. We remember the past with gratitude and welcome the new future.
>> The Introductory Chapter: For the opening sutra, the Buddha first taught the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. He then entered Samadhi, radiated light and manifested auspicious appearances. He did not emerge from Samadhi for a long time. Maitreya raised a question, and Manjusri revealed the origin of the teaching. Emerging from Samadhi, the Buddha praised the Buddha’s virtues and penetrating wisdom.
>> The Chapter on Skillful Means: He directly taught the appearances of all Dharma for those with great capabilities. Sariputra immediately understood the Dharma that the Tathagata had just expounded. Resonating with the Buddha’s intent, he received a prediction of Buddhahood.
>> The Buddha previously explained that there is only the One Vehicle, which He skillfully expounded as the Three. We should know the Three were originally the One.
Time, “in the extremely short span of a few microseconds, slips away in the blink of an eye.
Extremely long periods of time are without limits and without end. Children born of the Buddha’s speech have everlasting wisdom-life. We remember the past with gratitude and welcome the new future.”
Time is continuously passing by like this; it goes by so [quickly]. This is not just talking about seconds but also microseconds, which are even shorter. There are even femtoseconds, extremely short periods of time that fly by as they continuously go past, always going by in the blink of an eye. In this way, time keeps slipping away. So, we often discuss the aggregates. The aggregate of action is these infinitesimal, continuous and constant changes. We do not even realize this is happening. Everything follows the laws of nature and fades away without a sound, changes without leaving a trace.
In our body, the new constantly replaces the old. In every second, the body is metabolizing and aging. This happens without us even realizing it. In this world, at no time does anything ever stop changing. This is because time never stops; it continuously slips away. So, all things in the world, this natural universe, are like this, continually changing without ceasing. This is how life slips away.
So, extremely short spans of time constantly slip away. Actually, extremely short spans of time, when accumulated, become long periods, extremely long periods of time. How many billions of years have passed? That number is incalculable. A period of time without beginning or end is an extremely long period of time. So, the Buddha-Dharma measures time in “kalpas.” A long period of time is called a “kalpa.”
Time can be so short it slips away in an instant or so long it is without limits and without end. This is all time. Time can bring all things to fruition.
Living in this world, our lifespan is just so short. People say living to be 100 is good. But how many people can actually live to the age of 100? Very few. However, when the Buddha came to this world to manifest the attainment of Buddhahood, He had a lifespan of 80 years 80 years was the length of time. He manifested in the human realm in that life. Think about it; after that lifetime, did the Buddha take a rest? No. He carries on life after life, continuously, without letting any moment slip away. He had not yet transformed all sentient beings. After forming this aspiration in the past, He has continually gone among people to create good affinities with sentient beings and cultivate wisdom among people. When His causes and conditions matured, in an era and world without Buddhas, He manifested the attainment of Buddhahood. Since then, more than 2000 years have passed.
This is still calculable, but what about the period of time before He attained Buddhahood? Before then, He had to continually accumulate [affinities] by going among the people life after life. He did not only go among humans; we often speak of the Five Realms and four forms of birth. The Buddha’s footprints are found in every place, as He went among the suffering to care for them, to guide them. This was how He created affinities with them. This continued until causes and conditions matured and He manifested the attainment of Buddhahood during that 80-year lifespan.
So, does the Buddha exist somewhere today? Though the Buddha has entered Parinirvana, His Dharma-body, which is the Dharma, all of the teachings that He gave, has remained in the human realm. Since the Buddha-Dharma has remained here, has the Buddha then taken a rest? No. He still comes back to the human realm, to the Five Realms and four forms of birth. He still continues to save all sentient beings. His affinities with them enable their karmic conditions to continue to mature. Therefore, the grace of all the Buddha has given for the sake of sentient beings is indeed tremendous.
This physical body that our parents give us is our causes and conditions for this one lifetime. With the causes we created in past lives and the karmic connections we formed with our parents, we brought our karma and followed our karmic conditions to be born in this world to this pair of parents. These parents gave birth to us and raised us. The grace they showed us this life is tremendous, to say nothing of the Buddha’s grace! He returned life after life to bring our wisdom-life into fruition. So, we are “children born of the Buddha’s speech.” The sutras mention. “Children born of the Buddha’s speech.” Everyone’s wisdom-life comes from the Buddha’s teachings, from experiencing and understanding them. By eliminating our ignorance, we begin to develop our wisdom-life.
With wisdom-life we return to our intrinsic nature. Our nature of True Suchness is forever. Our wisdom-life is everlasting because our nature of True Suchness has no beginning or end; it is always there [We are] “children born of the Buddha’s speech.” The Buddha’s teachings nurture our wisdom-life. This is why we are called Dharma-children.
Dharma-children form great aspirations, make great vows and walk the Bodhisattva-path; this is what makes them Dharma-children. If we have not formed great aspirations and vows, we are like the poor son. The poor son was continually and mindfully enticed in by the elder. He went into the poor son’s environment in order to be with him, to gradually entice him and establish a relationship with him. This kind of enlightened love is the love of Bodhisattvas; they gradually, continually guide sentient beings until they realize that all of the elder’s wealth is the poor son’s, that all of the Buddha’s wisdom is inherently within all sentient beings. This is what the Buddha wants us to understand.
So, our wisdom-life is everlasting. Because the Buddha showed us such grace, we must remember the past with gratitude. The Buddha’s grace is indeed tremendous; He followed sentient beings in the Five Realms and four forms of birth, For such a long period of time, the Buddha continually worked for sentient beings. Think about it; shouldn’t we remember His grace with gratitude? Every day we must be grateful, grateful that we can obtain the Buddha-Dharma. At any time, in any situation, it allows us to create good affinities and exhaust bad karma.
When we encounter unwholesome sentient beings, when things do not go as we wish, we must remain calm as we deal with things. Then as time slips by, our [negative] karma will disappear along with it. As long as our minds can remain settled, as long as we do not take things too seriously and remain calm, we know no matter how terrible the conditions are they will slip away with the passage of time and become a thing of the past. Our karma and the obstacles and afflictions we face due to people, matters and things will also become a thing of the past. For this reason, we must always be grateful for having the Buddha-Dharma in our minds. So, we must patiently endure; by patiently enduring, we exhaust our karma and turn negative affinities into good affinities.
We must know that the Buddha, across a boundless ocean of great kalpas, sought the Bodhi-path for the sake of all beings. This took a very long time. Thus, the Buddha’s great grace is hard to repay. This is because He spent countless kalpas continually working hard on behalf of all beings, creating the causes and conditions for everyone to accept the Buddha-Dharma and thus develop wisdom-life and eliminate our afflictions.
No one can eliminate our afflictions for us; we must eliminate them ourselves. Only by understanding the Dharma are we able to eliminate afflictions. So, the Buddha used all kinds of methods to guide us to resonate with the Buddha’s mind. To resonate with is to be in accord with. Our mind and the Buddha’s mind must be in accord with each other. Only in this way can we repay the Buddha’s grace. If we are in accord with the Buddha’s mind, the Buddha wants us to walk the Bodhi-path and widely transform sentient beings. This is the only way to truly repay His grace.
The Introductory Chapter: For the opening sutra, the Buddha first taught the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. He then entered Samadhi, radiated light and manifested auspicious appearances. He did not emerge from Samadhi for a long time. Maitreya raised a question, and Manjusri revealed the origin of the teaching. Emerging from Samadhi, the Buddha praised the Buddha’s virtues and penetrating wisdom.
Dear Bodhisattvas, everyone must form Bodhisattva-aspirations. The Buddha used much effort to expound the Dharma, even just in giving the Lotus teachings alone. The Chapter on Faith and Understanding has now come to an end. Before the Chapter on Faith and Understanding, there was the Introductory Chapter. Before that was the opening sutra. The opening sutra was the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. After teaching that, the Buddha entered Samadhi. After He finished the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, the Dharma-assembly did not disperse, and the Buddha remained there and entered Samadhi. When in Samadhi, His appearance was dignified, and He radiated light. At that moment, everyone was puzzled. This had never happened before. After finishing expounding teachings, [usually] the Buddha would give a conclusion, then all would rejoice, faithfully accept and practice [the Dharma], then prostrate and leave. Every sutra [ended] like this.
However, after the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, He did not [give this conclusion]. Thus, nobody left that place. The Buddha entered Samadhi and did not emerge for a long time. So, Maitreya Bodhisattva began to ask questions on everyone’s behalf. He asked Manjusri Bodhisattva, because Manjusri had attained Buddhahood before and was a teacher of seven Buddhas in the past; those he taught had already attained Buddhahood. Only Manjusri Bodhisattva had seen and heard so much; his experience was very deep. So, Maitreya Bodhisattva asked Manjusri.
Manjusri Bodhisattva then revealed the origin of the teaching. He answered that all Buddhas share the same path so this all meant that the Buddha was about to teach the Great [Vehicle] Dharma. This was the meaning behind the Buddha entering Samadhi. So after emerging from Samadhi, the Buddha praised the virtues [of all Buddhas]. He began to explain how past Buddhas and the present one, all Buddhas, share the same path. Every single Buddha is replete with all kinds of virtues, as well as infinite wisdom. He began to explain this. He praised “the Buddha’s…penetrating wisdom.” After He emerged from Samadhi, He manifested so many of the spiritual states realized after His enlightenment, the wisdom awakened to all things in the universe, that tranquil and clear wisdom that encompasses the world, the ocean of enlightened wisdom within all of us. During this time, He continued to praise the Buddha-virtues
The Chapter on Skillful Means: He directly taught the appearances of all Dharma for those with great capabilities. Sariputra immediately understood the Dharma that the Tathagata had just expounded. Resonating with the Buddha’s intent, he received a prediction of Buddhahood.
The Chapter on Skillful Means was expounded for those with great capabilities. Regarding the Chapter on Skillful Means, we must not think that it is giving limited teachings; it is not. It helps everyone understand that the Dharma given by the Buddha in the past was taught according to sentient beings’ capabilities. Accommodating sentient beings’ capabilities is actually great wisdom. That wisdom includes the wisdom of enlightenment and many others within all-encompassing wisdom. These many kinds of wisdom are explained in the Chapter on Skillful Means.
All this time Sariputra had been hearing about the Buddha’s virtues, past spiritual practices and the wisdom He had accumulated in His ocean of enlightened wisdom. Finally, Sariputra attained a realization. So, Sariputra hoped that everyone would understand the Buddha’s wisdom and resonate with the Buddha’s intent. Thus, Sariputra became the [designated] recipient and asked the Buddha for guidance. The Buddha was asked by Sariputra three times, and He refused him three times. Only after that did He begin to teach the infinite and supreme. One Vehicle Dharma. So, the Chapter on Skillful Means is expounded for those with great capabilities. Sariputra realized the Tathagata’s teachings; thus “Resonating with the Buddha’s intent, he received a prediction of Buddhahood.” So, in the Chapter on Parables, Sariputra received a prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha.
The Buddha used all kinds of analogies. One was the Parable of the Burning House. Sentient beings are so arrogant and proud that when He expounded the Great Dharma, 5000 people withdrew from the assembly. All over this world, many people are covered in ignorance like this. Due to a thought of greed, they played with fire. The fire continued drawing closer, but they were unaware and stayed in the burning house. So, the Buddha had to establish skillful means; with a sheep-cart, deer-cart and a great white ox-cart, He enticed them to quickly leave the burning house. This is in the Chapter on Parables.
Everyone understood, so they began to have faith and understanding; this is the Chapter on Faith and Understanding. The Chapter on Faith and Understanding comes after the Chapter on Parables, in which Sariputra understood the Buddha and resonated with the Buddha’s intent and thus comprehended the Buddha-Dharma. After the Buddha bestowed a prediction of. Buddhahood on Sariputra, in the Chapter on Faith and Understanding, four of His disciples arose and asked the Buddha to continue. They drew an analogy based on how, in the past, although they had been at His side they remained attached to the Small Vehicle Dharma. They were like a poor son [who had gone astray]. Then they continuously spoke of His great grace. The Buddha’s grace is difficult to repay. Even if we physically work hard to contribute, will this repay the Buddha’s grace? Is making offerings of material things enough to repay the Buddha’s grace? None of these are enough [To repay] the Buddha’s grace we need to realize the Buddha-mind and awaken to His intent.
The Buddha hopes that everyone will walk the Bodhisattva-path and go among the people to experience it, to comprehend life’s suffering, then amidst suffering, comprehend how we can awaken their wisdom and transform sentient beings without being contaminated by them. This kind of training is like being in a furnace. Scrap iron is thrown into a furnace to be heated by the blazing fire. After we take it out, we must hammer it. We have to do this over and over again to turn scrap iron into a refined tool.
By the same principle, we ordinary people have already spent many lifetimes replicating our afflictions and ignorance and acting out of greed, anger and ignorance. We developed doubts and entered into conflict with each other. With our actions, we began a cycle of enmity. We also fostered an arrogant and proud mentality. All of these things are like a pile of garbage. This ignorance has covered us completely, Our nature of True Suchness and our minds are covered with afflictions, so we must enter the furnace again to be tempered, trained. As we now wish to attain Buddhahood, we must aspire to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
The Chapter on Faith and Understanding helps us strengthen our faith and [deepen] our realization of the Buddha’s intent. Next is the Chapter on Medicinal Plants. It helps us further understand that those with great capacities must be taught with the Great Dharma. The ways of applying the Dharma will be discussed in the future. So, [teachings] are all found in parables. “Parables are used to show the Dharma’s meaning.”
The Buddha previously explained that there is only the One Vehicle, which He skillfully expounded as the Three. We should know the Three were originally the One.
Thus, previous passages explained how the Buddha merged the Three Vehicles into the One. “There is only One Vehicle, which He skillfully expounded as the Three.” Originally it was the One Vehicle. The Buddha, to teach according to capabilities, turned it into the Three Vehicles. He gave teaching suitable for their capabilities. We now know that the Three Vehicles were originally the One Vehicle. This was all done to help us attain Buddhahood [Ultimately] there is only the One Vehicle.
So, we are children born of the Buddha’s speech; He nurtures our wisdom-life. The Buddha spent a very long period of time helping us to develop our wisdom-life. This wisdom-life we all have is everlasting. So, we must remember the Buddha’s grace. He hoped we could walk the Bodhisattva-path and make the Four Great Vows “to deliver countless sentient beings.” We must also practice the Four Infinite Minds. With the Four Infinite Minds, we will give of ourselves with loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. This is being in accord with the Buddha’s mind and walking the Bodhisattva-path. This is the only way to truly repay His grace. Therefore, we must always be mindful.