Episode 881 – Accumulating Merits and Cultivating Blessings
>> Merits come from the work of the inner cultivation of kind thoughts. By accumulating merits, we can manifest the virtue of practicing goodness. Goodness has the merits of nourishing and of creating blessings and benefits. The virtuous attain, so we must cultivate merits and establish our virtue.
>> “Kasyapa, you should know that the Tathagata is also just like this. He appears in the world like a great cloud arising.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]
>> “With His great voice, He covers the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms. This is like that great cloud, which covers all the lands of the great trichiliocosm.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]
>> This is an analogy for how. The Buddha teaches the Dharma with His voice. When the causes and conditions come together for the Buddha’s one great cause of saving and transforming sentient beings, He teaches the Dharma according to the time and capabilities in order to give suitable teachings.
>> According to capabilities: An assembly of heavenly beings, humans and asuras had responded by coming to this place in order to listen to the Dharma. They thus came to the place of the Buddha and listened to the Dharma
>> Asuras: One of the Six Realms. It has the meaning of “not-heavenly,” because they enjoy the blessings of heaven, but do not have heavenly virtues. They look like heavenly beings, but are in fact not-heavenly beings.
>> Asura: It also means improper. Because they have an ugly appearance and combative natures, they are constantly fighting with King Sakra. Most are born due to the three causes of anger, arrogance and doubt. In the asura realm, the men are ugly, but the women are beautiful.
>> So, This is like that great cloud which covers all of the lands of the great trichiliocosm, meaning, The Buddha’s body manifests everywhere the way a cloud blankets everything.
>> This is explaining how He summoned and called others to listen to the Dharma. The Buddha revealed to the assembly the merits and virtues of Buddhahood that He had attained. This is how He spoke with His great voice to cover the whole world.
>> “With His great voice, He covers the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms. This is like that great cloud, which covers all the lands of the great trichiliocosm.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]
>> This matches the previous analogy of how the Dharma universally nourishes; all trees, big and small, according to their great, average or small size, each receive something. This is also like the Buddha’s mystery of speech as He turns the Dharma-wheel to give teachings.
“Merits come from the work of the inner cultivation of kind thoughts. By accumulating merits, we can manifest the virtue of practicing goodness.
Goodness has the merits of nourishing and of creating blessings and benefits.
The virtuous attain, so we must cultivate merits and establish our virtue.”
We must always be mindful! We often speak of cultivating merits and virtue, but actually how do we do this? We must cultivate our minds. Constantly nurturing thoughts of goodness is called “merit” [We must] “do all that is good.” When it comes to all our thoughts and to the ways we treat people and things, we must always have thoughts of goodness as we face people and matters in the world. Thus, those with merits cultivate inwardly, cultivate thoughts of goodness within themselves. This requires us to put in work and not let these thoughts of goodness be interrupted. When we accumulate these good thoughts, “By accumulating merits, we can manifest the virtue of practicing goodness.” We must constantly accumulate [good thoughts] and not allow ourselves to lapse at any time. We must avoid giving rise to discursive thoughts. As soon as discursive thoughts arise, that slight deviation can lead us far astray. If we stray from our course of good thoughts, it takes a lot of effort to regain a good mindset. So, we must put this into practice and take action. When we act, others see us and will understand. When we are able to create blessings among people, others will be able to feel that this goodness is not only within our hearts. We can also put our goodness into action. When we can help humanity and contribute to society, others will acknowledge us. This is called “virtue.”
As we accumulate good thoughts and practice good deeds to benefit others, this goodness has the merits of nourishing and of creating blessings and benefits. When it comes to doing the right thing, more than just doing it, we must also diligently move forward. This is the process of learning. When we learn to only have thoughts of goodness, that is wisdom. As we learn to have thoughts of goodness without being contaminated by discursive thoughts, that is pure wisdom.
When we go among others to help them, we must constantly nourish our own goodness and be without greed; without greedy thoughts, we are able to give to others while not asking for anything in return. Then we are constantly increasing our practice of goodness and developing our thoughts of goodness. This is called “nourishing.” When we create blessings for the world and benefit others, [we return to] our initial aspiration. We often say, “If you sustain your initial aspiration, you will surely attain Buddhahood.” After we form aspirations, if thoughts of goodness are always sustained, we will constantly take goodness into our hearts. Our goodness will not be contaminated, and we will have the merits of wholeheartedly nourishing and creating blessings and benefits. Then, we will constantly add to and be more diligent in [cultivating] good thoughts. This is the merit of creating blessings and benefits.
“The virtuous attain.” We put our effort into this, into [cultivating] the goodness in our hearts. “We must cultivate merits and establish our virtue.” Accumulating goodness within creates “merits,” while putting goodness into action is “virtue.” Combined, they are called “merits and virtues.” This is what we attain through spiritual practice. By putting effort into our practice, we can establish these thoughts of goodness. By working hard to cultivate goodness in our mind, we are able to cultivate ourselves in daily living. This is cultivating our mind and our character. We must always work to cultivate our minds in order to return to our nature of True Suchness and manifest the pure wisdom within us. Then, no matter what challenges we encounter, we will not give rise to discursive thoughts.
For instance, during the Buddha’s lifetime, one day, a spiritual practitioner was performing walking meditation in the woods. Suddenly, he heard a very deep voice, and when the monastic lowered his gaze, he saw a python on the ground slithering toward him. When the bhiksu saw this, he was frightened. It seemed like this python was talking to him, and he was saying, “Please do not be afraid, I will not harm you. There is something that I cannot understand. I only wish to request your guidance. I hope you can give me a direction and point me toward the [right] path.” The bhiksu calmed himself, and then python asked, “Have you ever heard the name King Agnidatta?” The bhiksu thought for a moment and said, “Of course! King Agnidatta upheld the Dharma and gave charitably with a kind heart. Indeed! I was King Agnidatta.” The bhiksu said, “How is that possible? King Agnidatta made offerings and upheld the Right Dharma. When he passed away, he should have been born in heaven to enjoy heavenly blessings. Why did you fall into the form of a python?”
The python replied, “You are right. When I was on my deathbed, one of my attendants was fanning my head for me. However, he carelessly dropped the fan, which fell onto my face. At that time I gave rise to a thought of anger, of hatred and resentment. Because of this, I followed this thought of hatred as I died and was reborn in the form of a python.” The bhiksu then said, “Ah, so this is the reason the Buddha constantly admonishes us that we should avoid giving rise to angry thoughts and constantly cultivate goodness in our hearts. Then, when challenges arise, we bear no hatred. I heard the Buddha teach this. The first time He taught He expounded the Four Noble Truths and the karmic law of cause and effect.” This bhiksu then used the Dharma he had heard and taught it to the python just as he had heard it.
When the python heard it, [he said,]. “Now I understand; this is the law of karma.” So, for seven days and seven nights, the python did not eat anything. He did not search for food. Just like this, after seven days, the python passed away. After the python passed away, he was transformation-born as a heavenly being. As a heavenly being, he received the blessings of heaven and earnestly reflected on his past. He was born as a python due to a single thought of anger. This is quite scary! “The reason I was able to be born in heaven was because when I was the king, I upheld the Right Dharma and made offerings to the Three Treasures. Now that I have been born in the heaven realm, I must repay the Buddha’s grace.”
So, this heavenly being came to the Buddha’s Sangha. When the Buddha gave teachings to the Sangha, flowers floated down from heaven. Everyone felt it was very strange that all of a sudden, with a slight breeze, flowers began to fall from the sky. It was such a wonderful scene. What were the karmic conditions behind this? The Buddha began to recount the python’s story for them from start to finish.
So, we must believe in karmic cause and effect. Even our final thought as our life ends is very important. Thus, we need to cultivate merits and virtues, and we must work even harder on our minds. We must constantly accumulate good thoughts, so that goodness will forever remain in our hearts and constantly increase. This goodness will nourish our blessings, and we will be able to cultivate merits and virtues. In our lifetime, our past mistakes are now in the past; we must quickly repent, for repentance brings purity. Now we need to guard our thoughts well, so we must be constantly vigilant.
The previous sutra passages states, “Kasyapa, you should know that the Tathagata is also just like this. He appears in the world like a great cloud arising.”
“Kasyapa, you should know; all plants and living things in the world require rain to nourish the land.” To nourish all the forests of plants and trees, there has to be clouds and rain. The Tathagata is also like this. He appeared in the world and used the Dharma to widely benefit sentient beings, to help the fields of their minds be nourished with Dharma-water. This is the meaning of this sutra passage.
The next sutra passage states, “With His great voice, He covers the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms. This is like that great cloud, which covers all the lands of the great trichiliocosm.”
The Buddha is like gathering rain clouds. When it rains, there is the sound of thunder. As the rain falls, it also makes a great sound. This great sound comes down from the sky, and everyone on the ground can hear it This is an analogy for how. “The Buddha teaches the Dharma with His voice. When the causes and conditions come together for the Buddha’s one great cause of saving and transforming sentient beings, He teaches the Dharma according to the time and capabilities in order to give suitable teachings.”
The Buddha came to the world to teach the Dharma with the goal of transforming sentient beings. This is the Buddha’s one great cause. But, in order for the Buddha to come to the world, karmic causes and conditions had to converge. This depends on His affinity with sentient beings. Were His affinities sufficient? With sufficient causes and conditions, the Buddha would appear in the human realm to open up this direct path for sentient beings. The Buddha had to engage in deep contemplation. With sentient beings’ capabilities and such causes and conditions, which method should be taught to sentient beings? “He teaches the Dharma according to the time and capabilities in order to give suitable teachings.” This is like the great sound from the sky. When the clouds have gathered and the rain is about to fall, the thunderstorm is fully complete. Many causes and conditions must be present for the world to hear that sound.
In this sutra verse it says, “With His great voice, He covers the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms.” This voice reaches the whole world; it refers to the sound of the Dharma that reaches all places, including the heaven, human and asura realms [He had to teach] according to capabilities.
According to capabilities: An assembly of heavenly beings, humans and asuras had responded by coming to this place in order to listen to the Dharma. They thus came to the place of the Buddha and listened to the Dharma.
When the Buddha came to the world, to spread the Dharma everywhere in this world, the capabilities He had to teach to were those of heavenly beings, humans and asuras. The conditions He was responding to were to come to this world for these people. Thus, all “had responded by coming to this place.” They probably all came to listen to the Dharma. “In order to listen to the Dharma, they thus came to the place of the Buddha and listened to the Dharma.” During the Vulture Peak Assembly, when the Buddha was teaching the Lotus Sutra, heavenly beings, humans and asuras were all gathered at the Dharma-assembly.
Asuras: One of the Six Realms. It has the meaning of “not-heavenly,” because they enjoy the blessings of heaven, but do not have heavenly virtues. They look like heavenly beings, but are in fact not-heavenly beings.
So, the “asura realm” is one of the Six Realms. Their name can be translated as “not-heavenly.” Although they may be in the heaven realm and enjoy the blessings of heaven, they do not possess heavenly virtues. They have created blessings in the world, therefore they acquired heavenly blessings. However, they do not have heavenly virtues. So, they are not categorized as heavenly beings. They are called another name, “asuras.”
They are “not-heavenly”; although born in heaven, they lack heavenly virtues. So, they are “not-heavenly.” Their name can also mean “improper,” which is due to their ugly appearances. With expressions of anger and hatred, they are not dignified; they are ugly. They have combative natures and love to fight. Wherever they go, they cause trouble. So, asuras often have battles with King Sakra
Asura: It also means “improper.” Because they have an ugly appearance and combative natures, they are constantly fighting with King Sakra. Most are born due to the three causes of anger, arrogance and doubt. In the asura realm, the men are ugly, but the women are beautiful.
In heaven, there is also war. War is common between King Sakra and the asuras. This comes from the three causes and conditions of anger, arrogance and doubt. They are combative by nature, due to their minds being filled with great anger as well as great arrogance and great doubt. These three factors are concentrated within their minds, thus causing them to become asuras.
However, in the state of asuras, men are ugly while women are beautiful. Asura women are very beautiful, and King Sakra even married an asura woman. But asuras often came to stir up trouble. So, is the heaven realm a peaceful place? It is not peaceful either, since there are still asuras in the heaven realm. All together, these are called the Six Realms; the Six realms are never at peace
So, “This is like that great cloud which covers all of the lands of the great trichiliocosm,” meaning, “The Buddha’s body manifests everywhere the way a cloud blankets everything.”
This is like when the Buddha was in the world. The Buddha’s Dharmakaya is like the convergence of causes and conditions that causes rainclouds to gather in the sky.
This is explaining how He summoned and called others to listen to the Dharma. The Buddha revealed to the assembly the merits and virtues of Buddhahood that He had attained. This is how He spoke with His great voice to cover the whole world.
This explains how He “summoned and called others.” Everyone invited each other to the Dharma-assembly. He wanted the Dharma to be heard by more people, so “The Buddha revealed to the assembly the merits and virtues of Buddhahood that He had attained” [He did this] to help everyone understand that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. All sentient beings have those merits and virtues. In the end, if we can engage in spiritual practice according to the Dharma, then in the future, we can be equal to the Buddha. So, “spoke” means the Buddha used the Dharma to teach sentient beings around the world. This is how “He spoke with His great voice,” and the sound “covered the whole world”
“With His great voice, He covers the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms. This is like that great cloud, which covers all the lands of the great trichiliocosm.”
What is expressed in this passage is what we have been saying since the beginning. This entire passage is showing that the Dharma taught by the Buddha “covered the whole world and the heaven, human and asura realms.” This is like a great cloud that covers the trichiliocosm
This matches the previous analogy of how the Dharma universally nourishes; all trees, big and small, according to their great, average or small size, each receive something. This is also like the Buddha’s mystery of speech as He turns the Dharma-wheel to give teachings.
The Buddha hoped His voice could reach [all lands in] the trichiliocosm. This is analogous to our world, to “all trees, big and small.” All the trees, whether big or small, tall, average or short, are nourished by the rain. This symbolizes “the Buddha’s mystery of speech.” It is a mystery because it is densely concentrated, universal and uninterrupted. The Buddha’s Dharma is found throughout the world. We are reading the Chapter on Medicinal Plants, which should help us understand more clearly that all things in the universe contain principles within them. Whatever we do not understand, the Buddha teaches us, one by one. This is how the Buddha’s voice turns the Dharma-wheel and transforms sentient beings. This is the karmic condition for the Buddha to come into the world.
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, [we know] the conditions for a Buddha to appear in the world do not come easily. So, we should begin to practice right now, just as the Buddha accumulated merits and virtues over many lifetimes. We should constantly accumulate merits and adjust our state of mind. We must earnestly put the teachings into action and create blessings among people while cultivating goodness in our minds. This is perfecting merits and virtues. Thus, we must constantly learn the Buddha-Dharma. We must be very meticulous and always mindful.