Episode 929 – Widely Proclaiming the Infinite Great Dharma
>> With wisdom and other teachings, He destroys greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt and so on, these deluded, unwholesome phenomena. He eliminates the suffering of samsara, attains supreme enlightenment and is respected by all heavenly beings and humans, ordinary and noble beings. Thus, He is called the World-Honored One.
>> “At that time, the. World-Honored One, having finished His verse, spoke to the assembly and called out these words, ‘My disciple Mahakasyapa,in future lifetimes…’.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 6 – On Bestowing Predictions]
>> “[You] will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them and widely proclaim the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas. [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 6 – On Bestowing Predictions]
>> [He] will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones: It is rare to encounter a Buddha in one’s lifetime yet he is able to meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas to cultivate causes. Outwardly, relying on replete superior conditions, he will cultivate infinite blessings and virtues from all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones.
>> The Buddha has the great grace of constantly guiding and transforming all beings to turn their delusion into awakening. The World-Honored One’s great grace is truly rare. He compassionately teaches and benefits us. Thus, He is the one honored by the world.
>> With utmost sincerity, he will make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them. With the Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind, he reverently follows Buddhas, pays respect to and praises Them. This is the Bodhisattva’s vow to constantly give with respect: His faith is pure, and he reverently pays respect.
>> Those who make offerings to all Buddhas and, with deep faith, love and joy, cultivate all merits and virtues tirelessly will be born into the Tathagata family. This is making offerings to, showing reverence paying respect to and praising Them.
>> [He will] widely proclaim the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas: This is widely proclaiming the Great Dharma, the profound, wondrous Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Those who widely transform people will achieve, by benefiting others, countless great merits and virtues.
>> Widely proclaim: Those who accumulate superior causes within will achieve the profound wisdom of all Buddhas. Only those with superior causes and conditions, with the two adornments of blessings and wisdom, are able to attain Buddhahood.
>> The Great Dharma can lovingly nourish parched sentient beings. Thus, it is likened to rain. Dharma Masters practicing the Bodhisattva-path are in the Great Vehicle, widely proclaiming the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas.
“With wisdom and other teachings, He destroys greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt and so on, these deluded, unwholesome phenomena.
He eliminates the suffering of samsara, attains supreme enlightenment and is respected by all heavenly beings and humans, ordinary and noble beings. Thus, He is called the World-Honored One.”
We all understand this clearly. With wisdom and other teachings, the Buddha can destroy greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt and so on. This is also the goal of our practice. With wisdom, our minds can be settled. When we are settled, we are able to stay focused. When we know to be patient and diligent, we will know to uphold precepts and to give then we know to uphold precepts and to give. These are the Six Perfections. They are giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom. When [the first five] come together, our true wisdom, our pure wisdom, will be able to be applied effectively. What will happen then? We will know how to eliminate greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. In our daily living, the greatest obstructions hindering our spiritual aspirations are these five. These are obstructions we create for ourselves, yet ironically we are unable to eliminate these obstructions and afflictions. As this is the case, unwholesome things will happen.
For instance, when the Buddha was in the world, many ministers and princes were able to become monastics. Among the royalty that came to practice, there were two brothers who were very special. They were the Buddha’s cousins. From one family, two sons were able to became monastics. One was Devadatta, and the other one was Ananda. Ananda and Devadatta were brothers, but they had different personalities. Ananda was pure and kind-hearted, while Devadatta was clever and sly. Nonetheless, Devadatta was very diligent as he practiced in the Sangha. Though arrogant, he was diligent in his practice. For 12 years, no matter what the Buddha taught him, he would practice it. So, after 12 years of hard work, he had penetrated the texts and understood the Buddha’s teachings.
But his greed, anger, ignorance and arrogance, those shortcomings, were not eliminated. These afflictions were still present in his mind.
One day, he felt he should go on to practice something superior to everyone else. He hoped to be able to quickly achieve spiritual powers and abilities to transform. Thus, he went to the Buddha to ask Him, “Could You share the teachings with me soon? Please teach me the power of transporting myself so that I can fly freely and go everywhere to expound the Dharma, to take all the teachings You have given and expound them for everyone to hear.”
The Buddha said, “You should still stick to learning the teachings in the proper order. You should study earnestly and better understand the principles of suffering, emptiness and impermanence.” Devadatta was very unhappy about this and went to see Sariputra. Sariputra said the same thing as the Buddha, “First you need to understand the principles of suffering, emptiness and impermanence.” So, he went to see Maudgalyayana, who also said the same thing, “First you should understand the principles of suffering, emptiness and impermanence.”
Devadatta’s ignorance and afflictions kept surfacing, layer by layer. He felt the Buddha, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana had belittled and excluded him. He was then struck by inspiration and thought of Ananda. Ananda was pure in heart; he had no suspicions of his older brother so he told [Devadatta] what he had heard. “I heard the Buddha teach such Dharma. If you could explore it in depth, then you would gain spiritual powers.” Devadatta more or less understood and put his heart into practicing. He kept practicing until sure enough, he could leave the ground and fly in the air as well as transform in various ways.
Then, taking advantage of his spiritual powers, every day he would go to the palace and transform in different ways, playing with Prince Ajatasatru. The prince was very happy, and he gave Devadatta 500 taels per day. Every day he would grant him any material object he asked for. Starting from that time, the arrogance and conceit in his mind became more and more severe.
The Buddha could only sigh, “Devadatta’s heart has completely [lost its way]. In the future, the Sangha will never be at peace.” As expected Devadatta became bolder and hoped to take the Buddha’s place. He encouraged Ajatasatru to take his father’s throne. Thus, both the kingdom and the Sangha were [rocked by chaos].
This is a very long story. All in all, we need to have wisdom in our spiritual practice. We must “destroy greed, anger, ignorance and so on, these deluded, unwholesome phenomena, eliminate the suffering of rebirth, attain supreme enlightenment and [be] respected by all heavenly beings, humans, ordinary and noble beings.” As the Buddha “eliminated the suffering of samsara,” He truly attained supreme enlightenment. All the true principles of the world are contained in His ocean of enlightened wisdom. He thus earned the respect of heavenly beings and humans, ordinary and noble beings, and is therefore called the World-Honored One.
In the previous sutra passage we already reached the Chapter on Bestowing Predictions “At that time, the. World-Honored One, having finished His verse, spoke to the assembly and called out these words, ‘My disciple Mahakasyapa,in future lifetimes…’.”
“At that time, the World-Honored One, having finished His verse” means that the verse in the Medicinal Plants chapter had concluded.
Next, in the Chapter on Bestowing Predictions, the Buddha prepared to [bestow predictions] on those disciples who had comprehended the Buddha’s mind, who resonated with the Buddha’s mind and understood the principles. He now prepared to bestow predictions of Buddhahood on them “[He] called out these words” means that. He started talking to the entire assembly. “My disciple Mahakasyapa, in future lifetimes,”
and then the following sutra passage states, “[You] will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them and widely proclaim the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas.”
Kasyapa also practiced like this in the past, and He will still need to practice for a very long time in the future. Thus, he “will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, [He] will meet and serve” means in the future he will meet many Buddhas; he will be able to serve by the side of 300 trillion Buddhas and accept their teachings. How long will this take? “It is rare to encounter a Buddha in one’s lifetime,” yet he is able to live during the lifetimes of 300 trillion Buddhas and able to serve Them, able to meet and get close to these Buddhas, able to cultivate the causes of [serving] these 300 trillion. Clearly, meeting a Buddha is truly not easy
[He] will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones: It is rare to encounter a Buddha in one’s lifetime yet he is able to meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas to cultivate causes. Outwardly, relying on replete superior conditions, he will cultivate infinite blessings and virtues from all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones.
Venerable Kasyapa must have cultivated these causes in the past such that he was able to, in this life, meaning more than 2000 years ago, live at the same time as the Buddha. Now he was able to meet the Buddha and resonate with the Buddha’s mind. So, the Buddha bestowed a prediction on him, that he would be able to meet 300 trillion Buddhas in the future [Meeting] all these Buddhas indicates that. Kasyapa needs to keep cultivating causes. So, he must cultivate until replete, as he is,
“outwardly, relying on replete superior conditions.” Inwardly, he needs to cultivate causes of being able to meet and serve all Buddhas and accept teachings from all Buddhas. This is cultivating causes inwardly. “Outwardly, relying on superior conditions” means going among people, working to help others. We must form many good affinities with others and greatly grow in wisdom. Only with this gradual accumulation of inner causes and outer conditions can we attain Buddhahood in the future
“The Buddha has the great grace of constantly guiding and transforming all beings to turn their delusion into awakening. The World-Honored One’s great grace is truly rare. He compassionately teaches and benefits us. Thus, He is the one honored by the world.”
The Buddha teaches sentient beings with this kind of method. He explained how He Himself had been taught by the Buddhas He met in the past and the mindset He used in accepting the Dharma. He also had to go among people to transform them and [help them] turn their delusion into awakening. So, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is truly rare.” He had to go among people for such a long time. To have such a mindset is truly very rare. “He compassionately teaches and benefits us.” All Buddhas teach and transform us in the same way. “Thus, He is the one honored by the world.” He was able to earn respect from all of us.
With utmost sincerity, he will make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them. With the Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind, he reverently follows Buddhas, pays respect to and praises Them. This is the Bodhisattva’s vow to constantly give with respect: His faith is pure, and he reverently pays respect.
Thus, with utmost sincerity [Kasyapa will] “make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them.” This is the process [of his practice]
As for the 300 trillion Buddhas that. Kasyapa will meet in the future, lifetime after lifetime, he will treat the World-Honored One, every Buddha, with reverence. “He will make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them.” He always has the utmost sincerity, showing reverence in this way “[He uses] the Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind….” This requires that he have reverence in his heart. He serves by putting the teachings into action to show reverence with his body, praises with his speech and makes offerings with sincerity of mind. Thus, with his Threefold Karma, “He reverently follows Buddhas, pays respect and praises Them.” This means that in spiritual practice, we need to have long-lasting persistence and unchanging reverence and respect. Even with 300 trillion Buddhas, we must use the same Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind to “make offerings, to show reverence with utmost sincerity.”
“This is the Bodhisattva’s vow to constantly give with respect.” This is the Bodhisattva’s vow, to help others with reverence. His faith is pure. This means he pays respect reverently. Every morning, we reverently prostrate in respect. In fact, this is showing reverence and paying respect to ourselves. If we have reverent minds, naturally the Buddha-mind will be in our mind
“Those who make offerings to all Buddhas and, with deep faith, love and joy, cultivate all merits and virtues tirelessly will be born into the Tathagata family. This is making offerings to, showing reverence paying respect to and praising Them.”
This is telling us that everyone is a Buddha. Otherwise, how could we possibly [serve] 300 trillion Buddhas? This is the meaning in what the Buddha said, that if you show reverence to everyone, then naturally lifetime after lifetime you are in the family of the Buddha-Dharma and you can be close to the Buddha-Dharma. Thus, we need to make offerings with reverence
[He will] widely proclaim the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas: This is widely proclaiming the Great Dharma, the profound, wondrous Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Those who widely transform people will achieve, by benefiting others, countless great merits and virtues.
“and widely proclaim the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas.” We must not only make offerings reverently, but also pay respect to and praise all Buddhas and widely proclaim the. Great Dharma of all Buddhas. In our physical conduct we must rid ourselves of conceit and arrogance and show respect to everyone. This is the true way to reverently make offerings to all Buddhas. We do not have to wait until future lifetimes to meet 300 trillion Buddhas. In this lifetime, we can treat everyone as the Buddha. With a mindset of reverently making offerings, we pay respect to and praise Them. At the same time, we are also proclaiming the Buddha-Dharma. This is the same
“This is widely proclaiming the Great Dharma, the profound, wondrous Dharma of the Great Vehicle.” The Great Dharma that is widely proclaimed is the profound, wondrous Dharma of the Great Vehicle. It widely transforms people. Whoever sees and listens to it can become an example for others. Their body, mind and speech all proclaim the teachings, especially the Great Dharma. So, they “will achieve, by benefiting others, countless great merits and virtues.”
Widely proclaim: Those who accumulate superior causes within will achieve the profound wisdom of all Buddhas. Only those with superior causes and conditions, with the two adornments of blessings and wisdom, are able to attain Buddhahood.
Widely proclaiming is to “accumulate superior causes within.” Internally, we accumulate many superior causes. Since we are learning the Dharma, much Buddha-Dharma is already in our minds. Thus, we “will achieve the profound wisdom of all Buddhas. Only those with superior causes and conditions, with the two adornments of blessings and wisdom, are able to attain Buddhahood.” Actually, everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. From past lives, our accumulated good causes, superior causes, are in our minds. It is because we had the Dharma in the past and can again listen to the teachings in this life that these causes keep accumulating. “Only those with superior causes and conditions” means we need causes and conditions. The causes are in our minds. The conditions are from the outside. The wisdom we cultivate will forever remain in our minds as causes. Externally, we respect everyone, which creates blessed conditions. So, “with superior causes and conditions [and] the two adornments of blessings and wisdom,” blessings and wisdom dignify our body so we will naturally be respected by all who see us. With both blessings and wisdom, we “are able to attain Buddhahood.” This is how we are able to attain Buddhahood
The Great Dharma can lovingly nourish parched sentient beings. Thus, it is likened to rain. Dharma Masters practicing the Bodhisattva-path are in the Great Vehicle, widely proclaiming the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas.
The Great Dharma is like Dharma-rain falling and nourishing everything on Earth. This is an analogy, showing that the Dharma is like nourishing rain. “Dharma Masters practicing the Bodhisattva-path” take the Dharma as their own teacher and go among people to give the teachings “[They] are in the Great Vehicle, widely proclaiming the infinite Great Dharma of all Buddhas.”
All in all, we need to practice earnestly in our daily living. We need to act with wisdom. Thus, we need to earnestly learn how to tame our greed, anger and ignorance. These unwholesome things must be quickly eliminated. This is getting rid of all afflictions. Then we can truly converge with the true principles of the universe and attain great awakening. This is what the Buddha taught us.
Venerable Kasyapa will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones. We may think this will take too long, that we do not have the patience. So, we should see everyone as a Buddha. See, right now, how many future Buddhas are we all meeting? Every day, we pay respect to everyone. By seeing everyone as a Buddha, we are truly respecting ourselves. Therefore, we must always be mindful!