Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The True Wisdom of the One Vehicle (實智一乘信心領受)
Date: March.28. 2017
“With the true wisdom of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle, [the Buddha] uses provisional and skillful means to teach according to capabilities. He knows that everyone intrinsically possesses the wondrous root of goodness, so He gradually uses skillful means to teach the Great Dharma. He awakened to [the truth of] the universe, which pervades all Dharma-realms. He awakened to the Path and taught the Dharma to reveal His original intent.”
We must be mindful! We have listened to the Dharma for so long, but have we taken it to heart? If we have taken it to heart, then with our wisdom, our pure intrinsic nature, we should be able to experience the truth of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. In learning the Dharma, [we must know] the Buddha taught sentient beings according to sentient beings’ capacities and thus used the teachings of the Three Vehicles. In fact, the Buddha came to our world solely to teach the One Vehicle Dharma; but He had to turn it into the Three Vehicles in order to be in accord with our capacities. This required a lot of effort! This is because sentient beings’ capacities are all different. Our thoughts and intellects are also all different. This is why the Buddha had to use all kinds of methods. He had to use many methods and spend a very long time. If it were not for this, the Dharma would be so simple. There is only the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. However, the capacities of sentient beings are all different, so they are not yet able to listen to and accept the Great Dharma. So, He had to spend a very long period of time. He originally taught us with true wisdom of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle; this was the Dharma that He taught us. The differences in sentient beings’ capacities required Him to use provisional and skillful means to teach the Dharma according to our capacities; this required even more effort. So, “He knows that everyone intrinsically possesses the wondrous roots of goodness.” The Buddha knew that all sentient beings have an intrinsic nature of True Suchness and have subtle and wondrous roots of goodness. Everyone intrinsically has these. However, we have lost our clarity and purity. The mind is as clear as a mirror, but because there is so much contaminating dust, layer upon layer of defiling dust stuck to it, our bright and magnificent nature of True Suchness is not able to shine forth. It is because of the contaminating dust, layer upon layer of defiling dust, that the quality of our light is slowly diminished. All sentient beings innately possess this bright quality and intrinsic nature. It is because of this [dust] that this bright and clear illumination has lost its brilliance.
So, the Buddha had to think of ways to gradually help us remove the dust. He spent a very long time doing this. So, with gradual teachings, He slowly drew near to us and educated us. This is like our commissioners and Faith Corps members who, in order to draw near to certain care recipients, must sometimes spend a very long time keeping them company and developing a relationship. Only then are they willing to accept us. Only then will they be receptive to what we say. If their house is very messy, only then will they allow us to clean and organize the house so that it can become a very neat and livable place. Bodhisattvas in this world must draw near suffering sentient beings because their perspectives and thinking have gone astray. Bodhisattvas in this world need to use these kinds of skillful means to slowly approach people and gradually help them so that in the end they can have stability and something to rely on. They will not have afflictions in their lives and will not need to worry; there will be people to accompany them. This is how “He gradually uses skillful means to teach the Great Dharma.” This is what we often see in the world. All around us, our fellow Bodhisattvas, no matter where they are, all use this kind of method to draw near to suffering people, to say nothing of how the Buddha treated all of us multitudes of sentient beings. Since our thoughts and ideas have gone astray, He had to deal with so much in order to find ways for everyone to understand this Dharma and connect their hearts to the Dharma and then slowly cultivate [new] habits. They could act in this way, take the Dharma to heart in this way and practice the teachings in this way, until in all their thoughts and all they said, this became their habit. Then they would return to seeing mountains as mountains and water as water; they would see the nature of reality very clearly. Being able to do this is why the Buddha wanted us to wipe the mirror of our hearts and awaken our great perfect mirror wisdom so the wisdom of this great perfect mirror could shine clearly again. Therefore, He needed to spend a long time.
The Buddha “awakened to [the truth of] the universe, which pervades all Dharma-realms”. We often say that what we understand is only what is around us. We understand the few people living around us, but do we have a thorough understanding? Do we understand their minds? Everyone has their own mind; how are we able to understand other people’s thoughts? We only know that they can do this task and that their expertise is in this area. So, whatever they are able to do, we let them accomplish it; whatever their expertise or specialty, we allow them to use it. But what are they thinking in their minds? We do not know. The scope of ordinary people’s understanding can only go so far. For things further away, or broader in scope, or involving more people, how much can we really understand? With the Buddha’s awakening, He can understand everything in the universe; His understanding pervades all Dharma-realms. The principles of people, matters and things are all clear to Him. This is the Great Enlightened One who has awakened to [the truth of] the universe. Therefore, after He awakened, He understood everything and knew all principles clearly. So, He thoroughly understands everything. Since He comprehends, the source of sentient beings’ suffering, the imbalance of the macrocosm of the world and the conflict and ignorance that cause so much suffering in the world are all understood by the Buddha. So, “He awakened to the Path and taught the Dharma to reveal His original intent.” He understands sentient beings. After He awakened, He revealed His original intent and the state to which He had awakened. As for the source of afflictions and the starting point of our imbalance, how did these come to be? He wanted to explain these to us one by one, but this is difficult! It is so difficult.
Just talking about ourselves, how long have we listened to the sutras and how much can we comprehend? Have we changed? Have we gotten rid of our past attitudes and habitual tendencies? If we have short tempers and are easily angered, have we really changed these habitual tendencies? If we have not improved at all, then we have not taken the Dharma to heart. If we have improved and changed, this means that the Dharma is in our hearts and we are advancing. This does not depend on our age or how long we have been listening to the Dharma. Some just have sharp capabilities and are able to respond very quickly. This like a six-year-old child who spoke to her parents because her parents always have short tempers. These two married because they loved each other. After they got married, they had this child. Before long, because both of them had short tempers and neither one would yield to the other, they would often speak to each other with harsh words. Their child, this little girl, is very adorable. She lives in Canada. This little girl’s parents, because they both have short tempers, decided to separate. This girl was only six years old when her parents separated. Although they are divorced, they still see each other often because… it seemed that they still lived together. One day, the mother was driving and was about to enter her garage, but there was a shoe rack in the way. It was possible that the father had moved it out slightly. The mother was driving fast and this little girl, who was sitting in the car, quickly said to her mother, “Stop! Stop!” She wanted her to stop the car because there was a shoe rack in front of them. But in the middle of her saying, “Stop,” they already knocked over the rack with the car. At this, the mother got out of her car and the two parents, who were already divorced, began arguing. They were arguing very loudly, so the girl pulled her mom off to the side. Thus this very moving story unfolded. She pulled her mother to the stairs and sat on one of the steps. She really seemed like an adult. She said to her mother, “Mom, are you willing to be his friend?” She did not say her father; she just said, “Are you willing to be friends with him again?” because they still lived together. The mother’s reply was. “Yes, I am willing.” This little girl then replied, “I hope that you are able to take your bad tempers that are high and bring them down to be this low. Can you bring your tempers down to have a gentler?” After saying this, she continued, “My heart is something special. “Other people’s hearts are something special; everyone’s hearts are something special. If we live in a terrible world, then everyone will become a monster. “Because everyone’s heart is something special, if we live in a terrible world, won’t everyone turn into a monster? If in this world there are only a few good people left, then all of us will [eat] these good people. The good people will be devoured by the monsters. Then what will we do? In the end there will only be monsters left in this world. She said this to her mother. Then she went on to say, “I want you and my dad to really be good friends. I’m not trying to be mean”. She reminded her, “I’m not trying to be mean. I just hope that everyone can be friends. If everyone can be kind, I believe that we can all do this. Being nice is something that we can all do. I want mom and dad and everyone to be good friends. I want everyone to be happy and smile. This is what I hope for, for mom, dad and I, for everyone, to be able to be happy and smile. This little girl said this to her mom. She also said, “I hope that I, too, can be a good child. I hope that grandma, mom and dad, everyone, can be happy every day and be good people with good tempers. I hope everyone can be happy and smiling people”. This is how this child was.
Although she used the words of a child, she is able to speak to her mother with such wisdom. So, this is our nature as human beings; by nature we are pure and innocent and wise. Our wisdom surpasses all other animals. We are all similarly sentient beings, but humans are very special. In particular, within all people is the ability to express their true nature. But everyone is also something special; all people have their own temperaments and views. So, it is easy for the world to transform into a world that is no longer a human world. It would seem like a world of animals or a world of monsters. If it becomes like this, as the little girl said, when there are many monsters and only a few good people left, they will all be swallowed by the monsters. Think about these principles; should we not always be mindful in seeking to comprehend this? If we bury our human nature, then with our animal nature, as soon as we give rise to thoughts of evil, we will become animals and be in the animals realm. All people’s minds will be like those of animals. In this case, won’t all of us good people be swallowed by these animals? This is a very worrying matter. We must mindfully seek to comprehend this. So, the Buddha came to the world in the hope that we all will return to our intrinsic nature. If we have bad habitual tendencies, the same habitual tendencies as monsters, then we must quickly change them and return to our true intrinsic nature, must quickly cultivate our intrinsic human nature until we can return to our Buddha-nature, which is equal to the Buddha’s. If we are able to do this, then this world will be able to be saved. Otherwise, there will be more and more disasters.
The previous verse states, “At that time, that Buddha accepted the novices’ request 20,000 kalpas having already passed, He then, before the fourfold assembly, taught the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra, which teaches the Bodhisattva Way and is in the thoughts and under the protection of the Buddha.
This is when He taught the Bodhisattva Way. This was the Buddha’s greatest aspiration, that we all listen to the Buddha-Dharma and experience the truth of the Buddha’s principles. This was His aspiration. He came to our world to teach the Bodhisattva Way, hoping we can comprehend the Buddha’s aspiration. This was the Buddha’s intent in teaching the Lotus Sutra. He opened up His heart to teach the Lotus Sutra, hoping people could comprehend [the teachings].
The next sutra passage states, “After He taught this sutra, the 16 novices, in order to achieve Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, all accepted and upheld it, recited its verses and keenly comprehended it together. When this sutra was taught, the 16 Bodhisattva-novices all faithfully accepted it”.
Now the 16 novices had received what they sought, the Buddha teaching them the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Great Vehicle Dharma is supreme, universal and perfect enlightenment; Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha had consented and begun teaching this. He taught the Lotus Sutra, which is the Great Vehicle Dharma. He had already taught it, and the 16 novices all mindfully accepted and upheld it. The Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra “was taught for those who wished to achieve universal and perfect enlightenment. Having heard the Lotus Sutra and taken it in, their purpose in seeking the Dharma was to achieve universal and perfect enlightenment. This was their aim in seeking the Dharma. “All accepted and upheld it, recited its verses and keenly comprehended it together”.
All accepted and upheld it, recited its verses and keenly comprehended it together: Their power of faith was deep, so they could accept it. Their power of mindfulness was firm, so they could uphold it Reading slowly and clearly is called “reciting”. Reading straightforwardly and loudly is “chanting” Reciting verses is the wisdom of listening. Having keen comprehension is the wisdom of contemplation. Accepting and upholding are the wisdom of practice. These were the realizations of the 16 novices.
What does it mean to accept and uphold? To accept and uphold, they needed to have a power of faith [that] was deep. This is called “accepting”. Since we are listening to the Dharma, we must first have a deep root of faith for the Buddha-Dharma to be able to be carved deeply into our minds; we must faithfully accept and practice it. This requires our faith to be deep; we must faithfully accept and practice. With firm power of mindfulness, we can “uphold”. We must accept and uphold. When we take the Dharma to heart, it becomes ours. In the past, our intrinsic nature of True Suchness was already obscured by ignorance and afflictions. We have wiped away some of that ignorance, so now there is some clarity. We must be determined and put our efforts into understanding. We must put effort into spiritual practice and t effort into removing our ignorance bit by bit. If we know to practice this way, naturally the defilements will be eliminated. Our bright innate nature, the mirror of our mind, will be clear. So, because we now understand this, we must make effort to accept and uphold it. Thus, “Their of mindfulness was firm, so they could uphold it”. Our every thought must be on how we can eliminate ignorance. We must be very firm; this is how we accept and uphold. We must maintain our firm resolve.
Since we want to engage in spiritual practice, regardless of what kind of difficulties we face, we must still firmly persevere. This is firm power of mindfulness. “Reading slowly and clearly is reciting”. When reciting the sutras, we must do it aloud; we must constantly recite and chant. The sound of this reciting is not very rushed; they must be read slowly. We must earnestly and slowly recite them, very clearly, word by word, projecting our voice. So, we recite slowly and clearly. Each word must be clearly recited. “Reading straightforwardly and loudly is chanting.” We must loudly project our voice, and each phrase must be clear; this is said to be loud and clear. The sounds must be loud and each word clear; this is reciting its verses. Our power of faith must be firm, and our power of mindfulness must be maintained. This is to “accept and uphold, recite its verses”. The sound of our reciting should be loud and clear. Each phrase must be clear; this is “reciting its verses”.
Every morning as we do our morning recitation, we must similarly chant our loud. When we listen to sutras, we must be clear about each word and phrase and take them to heart. We must exercise our ability to firmly accept and uphold [the Dharma]. We absolutely must take the Dharma to heart. If we know that we have done something wrong, we must correct it right away; we must put effort into upholding [the Dharma] and correcting our past faults. With our negative habitual tendencies, we must quickly correct them one by one. Reciting verses also means that after we have listened, we must recite them again. After listening, we take the Dharma to heart. We listen with our ears, but we must take it into our heart. Then we recite it again phrase by phrase. “Keen comprehension” is wisdom of contemplating. After we have listened, we must earnestly contemplate it deep in our mind. This is called “having keen comprehension”.
“Accepting and upholding is wisdom of practice”. After listening to it, we contemplate it. With firm faith, we earnestly practice according to the teachings. This is how we engage in practice. So, we need the wisdoms of listening, contemplation and practice. We must listen and internalize it, then continually recite it so that it can be imprinted deep in our minds. Each word must be heard deep in our mind so that when we encounter matters we thoroughly understand everything. This comes from our perspectives and thoughts. When we encounter situations, people, matters or things and have to handle various tasks, we will have keen comprehension of all of them. This requires us to put effort into accepting and upholding the Buddha-Dharma. Otherwise, speaking very honestly, when we listen to the sutras, it would just go in one ear and out the other. Or we would only hear half of it and take things out of context with only a partial understanding. We must earnestly be mindful and read and recite with keen comprehension in accepting and upholding, reciting its verses and having keen comprehension, we must be mindful to accept and uphold.
This is how the 16 novices were able to comprehend the Great Vehicle Dharma. They were still very young and were still novices. They were not adults yet and had only received the novice precepts. But when the Buddha taught the Great Dharma, they were able to accept and uphold it, recite its verses and have keen comprehension. This is very special. They were able to “teach the Six Paramitas, the ultimate great practice of benefiting the self and others”. They were able to have keen comprehension and understand the Great Vehicle Dharma. So, they could use all kind of methods and teach the Six Paramitas, the methods of the Six Perfections.
They taught the Six Paramitas, the ultimate great practice of benefiting the self and others: The Valpulya teachings speak of the principle of the Middle Way. These are the proper principle of the equality of sentient beings and the Buddha. Therefore, they knew to teach the Vaipulya. The Six Perfections are the Bodhisattva-practice. Therefore, they knew to teach the Prajna. Accepting and upholding and so on mean they [accepted] the teachings completely and never lost them in their minds. All these things above were what they practiced and learned together.
Isn’t this like the six-year-old we mentioned? She was able to say to her mother, “Can’t you both take your [high] tempers and bring them down low, even lower? Can’t you do this?” That is right; we all have bad habitual tendencies. With such bad habits, aren’t we capable of changing them? If we are able to change them, then naturally in the end we will be able to have the ultimate great practice of benefiting ourselves and others. These teachings given before the Lotus Sutra include the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna. What the Vaipulya discusses is the principles of the Middle Way. The meaning of Vaipulya is “proper”. It is the principles of the equality of the mind, the Buddha and sentient beings. This is what is contained in the Vaipulya sutras. There are many principles, all of which are proper. [The Buddha] taught everyone that. “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are all equal”. These principles had already been taught by the Buddha during the Vaipulya period. In the process required to teach the Lotus Sutra, He had to teach the Vaipulya sutras.
So, “They knew to teach the Vaipulya”. The novices were able to teach the Six Paramitas because they had already gone through the Agama and the Vaipulya and reached the Prajna. Thus, when it came to actualizing the Six Perfections in all actions, the Bodhisattva Way that the Buddha taught, they were able to understand it. They recited its verses and had keen comprehension. They understood it all. “Therefore, they knew to teach the Prajna”. They accepted and upheld and so on, earnestly and diligently following the teachings. With every period of the Buddha’s teachings, such as the Agama period, they understood. Sentient beings’ capacities are limited, so Hearers follow the Agama teachings, the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. All of these things were taught one by one. Next was the Vaipulya, teaching the Great Vehicle Dharma that all sentient beings are equal. After that was the Prajna, the principles of analyzing how everything is ultimately empty. All this is the process of accepting and upholding and following the teachings. They remembered all of this deep in their minds. The 16 novices listened to the Dharma in this way, so they let none of it leak away. “[All this] was what they practiced and learned together”. They had practiced and learned all of this. This is how the 16 novices earnestly practiced each teaching they attained. Every teaching was kept in their hearts.
So, we must put effort into comprehending all this. How did the Buddha come to this life? What was the purpose of His life here? It was for the sake of all of us sentient beings. We have so much ignorance and so many afflictions. So, He taught continuously and laboriously in the hopes that everyone could accept the Bodhisattva-path and go among people to transform themselves and others. He hoped there would not only be a few good people. He did not want there to be many evil people who are all like fierce animals. If that happened, what could we do? There must be more good people so that evil people can be tamed. Among the Buddha’s ten epithets, one of them is the Tamer. This is like what the six-year-old girl said. If people have bad tempers, then everyone in this world will turn into monsters. If there are a lot of monsters, then what are we to do? So, with monsters, there must be a tamer to train them. See, isn’t what this little girl said also the Buddha-Dharma? It is in the words of a child. The 16 novices were the same; the Buddha had taught Dharma for so long and they all listened. They accepted and upheld the teachings one by one, reciting them and having keen comprehension. So, we must be mindful.
The next passage states. “When this sutra was taught, the 16 Bodhisattva-novices all faithfully accepted it”. “Bodhisattva-novices” is talking about when Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra, the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. Those who are called “novices” have only accepted the Ten Precepts. They originally followed the Small Vehicle, but these very young novices knew to seek the path to Buddhahood. Although they took the Ten Precepts, their aspirations were much greater. After the Buddha spoke of the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna, these 16 novices again requested that the Buddha teach the Great Vehicle Dharma of supreme, universal and perfect enlightenment, Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. They asked Him to teach the Great Vehicle Dharma. Everyone wanted to pursue the understanding and views equal to the Buddha’s. This was the 16 novices’ request for teaching. Clearly, the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna of the past were all teachings they had heard before. They now sought the Buddha’s views and understanding and the path to Boddhahood. This was what they were seeking now. So, now their intention was to cultivate practices of the Great Vehicle. Thus they were called Bodhisattva-novices. They had heard the Vaipulya and Prajna sutras, and 20,000 kalpas had already passed. This is a long time; that Buddha’s lifespan was very long. It is like how on our world, on our planet, in one year we have 365 days, while if we were on another planet, the years would be different. Take Pluto for instance. For it to circle the Sun one time, one of its years, is 160 years on our planet! Both planets are in the same solar system. Our year is 365 days. For Pluto to make a full orbit takes more than 160 of our years. So, the time is different. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s lifespan was also very long, so it was [the same] when He taught the Dharma. All Buddhas share the same path. In whichever world They teach the Dharma, the order is always the same. After 42 years, [Sakyamuni] Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra; after 20,000 kalpas, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha began to teach the Lotus Sutra. So over the Vaipulya, Prajna and Agama periods, 20,000 kalpas had passed He took 20,000 kalpas to expound. The Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna Thus, they had comprehended everything and practiced the Six Perfections. So, they were called “Bodhisattvas-novices,” as they were worthy of being called “Bodhisattvas”.
When Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha taught the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra the novices had taken the Ten Precepts. They were originally Small Vehicle practitioners. Now they sought the path to Buddhahood and cultivated the Great Vehicle practice. Therefore, they were called Bodhisattva-novices. Form listening to the Valpulya and the Prajna across 20,000 kalpas, they practiced the Six Perfections. So, they are worthy of being called Bodhisattvas.
We are all able to be called Bodhisattvas as long as we have great aspirations and vows, walk the Bodhisattva-path and practice according to the teachings. The Buddha taught us in this way. If we practice in this way, benefiting ourselves and others, cultivating blessings for ourselves, then creating blessings for others, this is called the Bodhisattva-path. So, we must earnestly exercise true wisdom. “The true wisdom of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle” is the direction in which we must practice. We hope we can achieve wisdom equal to the Buddha, the understanding and views of the Buddha. So, the true wisdom of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle is what we must put into practice. Although the Buddha had previously used provisional skillful means to teach according to capacities and had taught many skillful means, these were actually our foundation and allow us to understand the Dharma of the world. If we do not know the Dharma of the world, how can we have a way of understanding world-transcending Dharma? So, we still must value these skillful means. When it comes to the Agama’s Four Noble Truths and Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, If we are unclear about them, how will we be able to diligently move toward the state of Buddhahood? So, we must know that we need to cultivate roots of goodness. If we lack roots of goodness, how can we take the Dharma into our hearts? So, we must be earnest and mindful to persevere. Our power of faith must be deep and our power of mindfulness firm. We must constantly recite the Dharma in our minds so that we will be able to mindfully listen to, practice and contemplate each teaching. If we are able to do this, then after we listen to it, after we thoroughly contemplate it, we will put it into practice. If we cannot do this, then we will not be able to experience the true principles of the universe. So, we must put effort into being mindful. We truly have been lost for too long. Our habitual tendencies are truly very deep. Now we must truly be mindful and put in our efforts to persevere. We must earnestly Listen, contemplate and practice. So, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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