Episode 871 – True Principles Are Boundless, Hard to Measure
>>Though the Dharma contains many teachings, none depart from the provisional and the true. Besides these two, there is no other teaching. True principles are infinite, boundless and limitless. The phenomena contained within are many; have faith, understand they are hard to measure.
>>”He said, Kasyapa, you should know that the Tathagata is the king of all Dharma. That which I teach will never be false.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]>>”I teach all Dharma with the use of wisdom and skillful means. All the Dharma that I teach leads to the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]>>I teach all Dharma: He deeply understands all matters and principles with all-encompassing wisdom and explains the Dharma to benefit all life. Worldly and world-transcending teachings are called all Dharma.
>> All Dharma can be roughly split into three kinds: . The first is conditioned phenomena. The second is unconditioned Dharma. The third is unteachable Dharma. Together, these three encompass all Dharma.
>> So, With the use of His wisdom and skillful means means. He uses the Four Unobstructed Wisdoms to teach according to people’s capabilities. With His skillful wisdom, He can teach with skillful means.
>> All the Dharma that He taught: The Buddha taught the Dharma with wondrous skillful means. With unobstructed meaning, rhetoric and joy in speaking, He taught tirelessly. He followed sentient beings’ capabilities to use skillful wisdom to share with them all the Dharma that He taught.
>>All lead to the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma: One with the wisdom of all Dharma attains the stage of wisdom of all Dharma. Though the appearances of the Dharma may differ, they all lead to that stage of wisdom.
>> The stage of the wisdom of all Dharma: This is the ultimate stage of Buddhahood, the ultimate truth of all phenomena. It cannot be realized without true wisdom and cannot be revealed through language. Even if one wishes to teach it, they cannot; it cannot be reached with language. With circuitous explanations, one can only reveal illusive appearances.
“Though the Dharma contains many teachings, none depart from the provisional and the true.
Besides these two, there is no other teaching.
True principles are infinite, boundless and limitless.
The phenomena contained within are many; have faith, understand they are hard to measure.”
There are many teachings in the Buddha-Dharma. Just one sentence of the principles can encompass all things in the world, not to mention the countless sutras and treatises, which contain even more principles. Before we open up the capacity of our minds, how many of the Buddha’s teachings can we hold? Yet, the Buddha did everything He could, devising provisional means to suit our capacities and establishing all kinds of skillful teachings. This is the “provisional”; it is what was taught according to our capacities. In fact, while He adapted to our capabilities in giving the provisional, His original intention was to teach the Dharma of the One Vehicle, which contains all principles. So we say, “Besides these two, there is no other teaching.”
“True principles are infinite, boundless and limitless.” The true principles are limitless, boundless and endlessly vast. The Buddha’s ocean of enlightenment is truly endless and vast. Earth is just [a tiny part] of the universe. Apart from Earth, there are many more [planets] in the universe. The matters and workings of things on Earth alone are beyond our understanding. Even within our own bodies, the infinitesimal changes that lead to aging, illness and death are still beyond our knowledge; how much can we possibly know? Therefore, we must believe the Buddha’s teachings; our body will age, but our nature of True Suchness is everlasting. It does not arise or cease, does not age or die. This is our nature of True Suchness. This is what “true principles” refers to.
“True principles are infinite, boundless and limitless.” Since the beginning, we humans have had this nature of True Suchness, while all things have their intrinsic principles. Throughout millions of kalpas, since Beginningless Time, these have been the intrinsic order [of nature]. However,, we are still unable to truly understand and comprehend everything. We just know that there are “true principles.” These true principles are everlasting. They are pervasive, infinite, boundless, endless. There are many meanings and teachings within them.
If we use the present capacity of our minds to experience and assess all things in the world, they will be very difficult to measure; we have no way to do so. Thus, the Buddha hopes that each one of us, upon listening to the Dharma, will first develop faith and understanding. To develop faith, we must apply our wisdom. If our wisdom is not developed, the root of our faith will not be stable or deep. So, we must be mindful.
In the previous sutra passage, the Buddha called on Kasyapa again because Venerable Kasyapa would be the one to pass on the Dharma in His mind. This is why the Buddha passed His robes and alms bowl to him. Why did the Buddha regard him so highly? Because he had single-minded resolve, and safeguarded his spiritual aspirations. He steadfastly engaged in spiritual practice without fearing the difficulties. He comprehended the Dharma of emptiness and the workings of all impure phenomena in this world. Thus in the Lotus Sutra, from the Chapter on Faith and Understanding to the Chapter on Medicinal Plants, the Buddha treated Venerable Kasyapa as the leader of the Sangha, the one who resonated with the Dharma and the suitable target of His conversation.
So, the Buddha called on Kasyapa as a representative He said, “Kasyapa, you should know that the Tathagata is the king of all Dharma. That which I teach will never be false.”
This was to strengthen everyone’s faith and understanding. So, the Buddha again told Kasyapa that. “The Tathagata is the king of all Dharma” to help everyone further understand and believe in the Buddha-Dharma. For the Buddha, when it comes to all things and all Dharma in the universe, He understands them all. Thus He said the Buddha is the king of all Dharma. Nothing He says is false; everything is absolutely true.
The next sutra passage says, “I teach all Dharma with the use of wisdom and skillful means. All the Dharma that I teach leads to the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma.”
This sutra passage helps us further understand the. Buddha’s wisdom in regard to all Dharma, how He uses skillful means to teach. He adapts to sentient beings’ capabilities; however much we can accept, whatever the extent of our capacities, the Buddha will teach us according to our different capabilities. In this way, He guided us with skillful means. This is the mindfulness of the Buddha.
I teach all Dharma: He deeply understands all matters and principles with all-encompassing wisdom and explains the Dharma to benefit all life. Worldly and world-transcending teachings are called all Dharma.
So, “I teach all Dharma” means. “He deeply understands all matters and principles with all-encompassing wisdom” ․I teach all Dharma: He deeply understands all matters and principles with all-encompassing wisdom and explains the Dharma to benefit all life. Worldly and world-transcending teachings are called “all Dharma.” The principles contained in all Dharma are what we need to believe and deeply comprehend in order to be able to clearly understand the principles which underlie all matters and objects. No matter what kind of thing it is, with any tangible, material objects, we must apply wisdom [to understand them].
When we take the Buddha’s principles to heart, we can comprehend the formless true principles. This is the wisdom of all Dharma. Only by deeply delving into things with faith will we have a clear understanding. This originates in the wisdom of all Dharma. With the wisdom of all Dharma, “[He] explains the Dharma to benefit all life.” We can use this wisdom of all Dharma, the principles behind all matters and objects; as we understand them one by one, we will be able to explain them one by one. Only by explaining them can we benefit all life.
If we are able to do this, the Dharma will forever be in our hearts. Then, in the future, we will bring this Dharma of clarity and wisdom with us into our next life, continually carrying it forward. These are worldly and world-transcending teachings. Even though we must leave this life, we will still take with us the Dharma we heard and understood in this life and carry it into our future lives. We do not want to keep bringing our ignorance with us into our future lives. This is why we must be mindful. This is what “all Dharma” refers to. When we engage in spiritual practice, our bodies and minds must be inseparable from all Dharma. The principles which underlie people, matters and objects are what we must be profoundly clear on.
All Dharma can be roughly split into three kinds: . The first is conditioned phenomena. The second is unconditioned Dharma. The third is unteachable Dharma. Together, these three encompass all Dharma.
So, all Dharma can be roughly split into three categories. “The first is conditioned phenomena. The second is unconditioned Dharma.” The third is “unteachable Dharma.” Together, these three encompass all Dharma.
Conditioned phenomena refers to what we can see, each and every matter and thing. If we can thoroughly understand these kinds of conditioned phenomena, we can help people know what things are acceptable or unacceptable to do. If it is something they should do, we must immediately encourage them, “Do it!” As for what they should not do, we should say, “Don’t do it!” We must explain why they should not do this, why they should refrain from all evil. Why are there so many unwholesome things that we should avoid doing? Because of the effects of these karmic conditions. The actions we take now will yield certain results in the future. This is something we must be clear on; we must be clear about the future consequences for us to be able to tell people not to do them.
We must do good deeds and do them promptly. Consider what happened in Myanmar in 2008. When they experienced that major disaster, we entrusted Tzu Chi volunteers from Malaysia to take charge of [our relief efforts]. After that, they began traveling there repeatedly. By giving of themselves with long-lasting compassion and great love, they paved a path in Myanmar and expanded the scope of people’s love
[In 2014,] when Malaysia experienced flooding, there was much damage. So, it was the people of Myanmar’s turn to fundraise [for relief efforts]. They even said, “In the past when it rained, we were unable to walk along the fields. The roads all disappeared under the water. Tzu Chi helped us build bridges. Tzu Chi helped us pave roads. Tzu Chi helped us construct schools. Malaysian Tzu Chi volunteers came and did so many things for us, so we should give back.”
This is the workings of people and matters. When we do good deeds, even though it might have been many years ago, now, so many years later, there is still this awakened love and compassion and the roads we paved. This is not a metaphor; [the volunteers] actually paved roads for them. This is a conditioned phenomenon. This is something everyone can do.
“The second is unconditioned Dharma. Unconditioned Dharma” refers to a natural state. Naturally, in the world, in the space between heaven and earth, the clouds and rain nourish the land. Things growing in nature depend on the climate. The four seasons follow each other in a cycle, and the weather changes accordingly. We humans are the same way. We go through childhood, youth, middle age and old age. Our body, in this natural state, goes through birth, aging, illness and death. These are the natural principles of life. This Dharma is very subtle and wondrous, and the principles it contains are truly wondrous and profound.
The third is “unteachable Dharma.” There are many, many principles. For us as ordinary people, it is impossible to understand them all. So, “unteachable Dharma” does not mean it cannot be taught, but that it cannot ever be taught fully.
Together, these three encompass all Dharma. Even if we tried, we could not teach it completely. Only the Buddha can, with wisdom of all Dharma, as everything is encompassed in the Buddha’s ocean of enlightenment
So, With the use of His wisdom and skillful means means. He uses the Four Unobstructed Wisdoms to teach according to people’s capabilities. With His skillful wisdom, He can teach with skillful means.
The Buddha wanted to give so many teachings, but though the Buddha could teach them, we would be unable to comprehend. So, the Buddha applied His wisdom to teach with skillful means; He established the Three Vehicles in accordance to our capacities. The Buddha “uses the Four Unobstructed Wisdoms to teach according to people’s capabilities.” To teach according to our capabilities, He teaches one person this kind of Dharma while for another person, He would teach that principle. He observes our capacities and makes distinctions. So, “With His skillful wisdom, He can teach with skillful means.” He used the Four Unobstructed Wisdoms, which are skillful and wondrous, to adapt to sentient beings’ capacities and teach with skillful means.
All the Dharma that He taught: The Buddha taught the Dharma with wondrous skillful means. With unobstructed meaning, rhetoric and joy in speaking, He taught tirelessly. He followed sentient beings’ capabilities to use skillful wisdom to share with them all the Dharma that He taught.
So, with “all the Dharma that He taught,” He used “wondrous skillful means.” He used unobstructed Dharma, unobstructed meaning, unobstructed rhetoric and unobstructed joy in speaking, meaning He taught tirelessly. “He followed sentient beings’ capabilities” and used skillful wisdom to share with them all the Dharma that He taught.
Unobstructed Dharma, unobstructed meaning, unobstructed rhetoric and unobstructed joy in speaking are the Four Unobstructed Wisdoms. When the Buddha interacted with sentient beings, He never grew tired and never became indulgent. So, when He taught the Dharma, as He continued speaking, He never tired; He just kept teaching in the hope that sentient beings could comprehend the Dharma He was sharing. Even if He had to teach it over and over, He remained patient and never became vexed. If sentient beings did not understand, He explained again.
All lead to the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma: One with the wisdom of all Dharma attains the stage of wisdom of all Dharma. Though the appearances of the Dharma may differ, they all lead to that stage of wisdom.
“All lead to the stage of wisdom of all Dharma.” The Buddha was so earnest and diligent, tireless in His joy of speaking. He continuously hoped that all sentient beings would arrive at the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma
The stage of the wisdom of all Dharma includes conditioned phenomena and unconditioned Dharma. Whether tangible or intangible, matters and things or principles, the Buddha hoped we all could thoroughly understand these. This is the wisdom of all Dharma.
“Attaining the stage of wisdom of all Dharma” means that we have truly arrived at that state. The Buddha taught us this Dharma to point us in the [right] direction. Once we have actually arrived, we will have taken the Dharma to heart. After taking the Dharma to heart, we [must] also put it into practice. Thus we “attain the stage of wisdom of all Dharma. Attaining the stage of wisdom of all Dharma” means that we can achieve this. After we have truly comprehended it, we will also put it into practice. “Though the appearances of the Dharma may differ, they all lead to that stage of wisdom.” Although we have done many different things, still, though the appearances are different, we all arrive at the same truths. He hoped that everyone could understand this. This is “the stage of the wisdom of all Dharma”; this is the Buddha’s ultimate stage.
The “stage of the wisdom of all Dharma” is the state that the Buddha had awakened to.
The stage of the wisdom of all Dharma: This is the ultimate stage of Buddhahood, the ultimate truth of all phenomena. It cannot be realized without true wisdom and cannot be revealed through language. Even if one wishes to teach it, they cannot; it cannot be reached with language. With circuitous explanations, one can only reveal illusive appearances.
“The ultimate truth of all phenomena” refers to the true appearance of all things, which is completely encompassed in the Buddha’s ocean of wisdom. “It cannot be realized without true wisdom.” If someone cannot truly experience it, they will truly be unable to realize this stage, will be unable to awaken. To realize is to awaken. “It cannot be revealed through language,” so if we do not truly realize the Dharma, even if we share an abundance of teachings we would still be unable to point out the true, broad path.
So, “Even if one wishes to teach it, they cannot; it cannot be reached with language.” Truly, though we want to communicate it, no matter how much we speak, we cannot reach the principles the Buddha taught. How can we take true principles into our hearts? This cannot be achieved through language. So, “With circuitous explanations, one can only reveal illusive appearances.” We can only speak so indirectly in the hope that everyone can understand. We still use worldly appearances to teach, like the sounds we hear and images we see. But are we able to bring out the principles? These are things that must truly be experienced to know what these principles are. So, the world is filled with illusory appearances, but the Buddha wanted to share true principles, and what we need to understand is also True Dharma.
For example, people say that, “Only the one who drinks the water knows its temperature.” I often repeat this phrase. But this is just a way of describing something through words. I am taking medicine; it is very bitter. They do not know how terrible it is, but they say, “You have to drink it.” This is life. Everyone has to experience things for themselves. Drinking this medicine is good for our health, yet we might still resist, “It is so bitter! I don’t want it!” This is the same thing. Even if we clearly know that this medicine is beneficial for our health, we still resist taking it.
This is how deluded we sentient beings are. For us to awaken, we must have clear minds and truly comprehend the [principles], which is indeed difficult. When it comes to the Buddha-Dharma, explaining it clearly and laying it out in a way everyone can comprehend is truly difficult. However, we need to recognize that, “Though Buddha-Dharma contains many teachings, none depart from the provisional and the true. Besides these two, there is no other teaching.” The Buddha did all He could to help us understand. So, “Besides these two, there is no other teaching.” The Buddha had already done all He could. True principles are infinite, boundless and limitless. The meanings contained in a single phrase are numerous and great. So, “Have faith, understand they are hard to measure.” Even if we have faith and understanding, measuring this Dharma is truly difficult.
Dear Bodhisattvas, even though it is difficult, where there is a will, there is a way. Please listen to the Dharma and engage in spiritual practice. Truly, we must always be mindful.