Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Attaining the Pure Land through Diligent Practice (遠劫勤修 國土清淨)
Date: July.21.2017
“For dust-inked kalpas, he practiced diligently, helped to promote the Dharma and protected it. He sought the wisdom of the fruit of Buddhahood and taught without fear. He constantly expounded the purifying Dharma and transformed all sentient beings, enabling them to abide in the Great Vehicle, the supreme Dharma of the one reality.”
Dust-inked kalpas are a very long period of time. The Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City starts by telling us about this. This is an incalculable amount of time. We probably have a deep impression of his. At that time, we repeated it over and over so that everyone would thoroughly understand. Spiritual practice takes a very long time. Actually, we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. We have always had it, so in what way do we need to practice? All we can do is work on our habitual tendencies. This is what I continually emphasize. This is what I teach you. We have always intrinsically had Buddha-nature. It is just that our minds, as soon as we are not careful, will go off track so we are influenced by desire for external things. When thoughts of desire, thoughts of enjoyment, enter the mind, it causes craving and attachment. Starting in this way, we are unable to turn back. This is also how we end up transmigrating in the Six Realms for a very long time. Though we have suffered terribly, we still do not recognize our inherently pure intrinsic nature. For the sake of craving and attachment, we become lost and do not know that we must return. We do not know how to find our way back, so we remain lost. Even if we wish to return, it is not east at all! It will take us a very long time, relying on the directions of a guiding teacher. Can we take his methods of guidance to heart? Can we hold fast to our aspirations when our minds have already run away from us? Our minds have already connected to so many objects of desire; they have already been contaminated by so many external conditions. These unwholesome affinities, unwholesome friends, ignorance, afflictions, delusions and so on, dust-like ignorance, afflictions and delusions, are already in our minds, so it is impossible for us to control ourselves.
This is like how people now take drugs and cannot stop taking them. They may have only been curious at first. Once they tried them, they drifted away into such a pleasant state. They feel so wonderful, so they try them again. “Maybe it won’t be a problem.” They clearly know these substances are harmful, but when they tried it the first time, after taking it into their system, they wanted to try it a second and third time, until they found it impossible to get away from this state of drug use. This is a mistake! We know we must abstain, or there will be unbearable suffering! It affects body and mind and our [life] situation. In the opinions of the people around, no one is willing to trust this person. He himself will undergo unbearable suffering. He may decide to quit, but is it easy? It is difficult. If he is arrested and locked up, he will be forced to quite while inside. He will have cut himself off from the drugs. A few years later he is released, but there will be the same external conditions, his old drug-user friends. At the slightest invitation, he will be unable to control himself and will start again. I have heard that if someone wants to quit drugs, during the time they undergo withdrawal, their entire body become very uncomfortable. It is painful! It is like ants are crawling all over you, like they are biting you, like insects are gnawing away at you. These are drug users. If they become addicted, it becomes very difficult for them to quit.
As ordinary people, we start off physically and mentally healthy, with our inherent nature of True Suchness. It is intrinsic to us all; since Beginningless Time we have inherently had this nature of True Suchness. It is just that a single thought of ignorance causes our minds to go off the rails, to be tainted with worldly desires and pleasures. This is just like people with a drug addiction, who continue taking them. “I know, I know it is a mistake. I am determined to quit.” However, quitting is very painful, so although they try to quit many times, they repeatedly fall back into their addiction. There is nothing they can do. We sentient beings have been like this for a while. So, now it is the time to bring ourselves back and return to our nature of True Suchness. Of course, we still need dust-inked kalpas, still need a very long period of time to train ourselves by going among people, to constantly cultivate our nature, to get rid of negative habitual tendencies. Though ignorance and afflictions are all around, we do not let them contaminate us. We not only remain uncontaminated, we can even become liberated. Not only can we become liberated, we can even go among the people teach, to influence others, to help others free themselves from these kinds of suffering.
Look at the prisons, at the large group of those in prison for drugs. Because they used drugs, they committed crimes. Now there are these people in prison, and a group of Bodhisattva-[volunteers] outside who cannot bear to let sentient beings suffer. They carry the Dharma into the prisons, first approaching them through friendship. Through being loving, through diligent effort, through sincerity, they are able to get close. They keep them company as they read and talk to them about the outside world. They talk about how, in the outside world, there are many Bodhisattvas, many people exercising love in local areas or going abroad for disaster relief, relieving others from suffering and difficulty. They gradually draw close to [the imamates], gradually help them recognize, help them to understand that their imprisonment had caused so much suffering in the past! Their parents, their families, society, friends, so many people, [were affected] because of their addiction to drugs. Under the influence of these drugs, they became confused and made so many mistakes. “I know. I am clear-headed now. I want to change.” Then with the sutra [adaptations] they start to mobilize them right away, teaching them how good deeds and filial piety cannot wait. The musical adaptation of the Sutra of Profound Gratitude Toward Parents, with its music, its passages from the sutra, its sign language and body language, was all brought into the prisons to help these addicts and offenders to engage in continual self-reflection and help the Dharma enter their minds bit by bit. With self-reflection, by taking the Dharma to heart, they make up their minds. Thus they will purify their bodies and minds. After going through such a long period of time, they eventually [change] their behavior completely. These people in prison have clearly already completely changed, so they can be paroled early and can leave the prison. They can be paroled early so they are said to be “rehabilitated”.
They have changed and started anew. After being released, they have this aspiration, so they quickly seek out this group who woke them up, this group who drop by drop gave them the ambrosial dew of the Dharma-water to nourish their wisdom-life and help it grow. They look for this group of Bodhisattvas. Starting in this way, our Tzu Chi volunteers seize the opportunity to bring them in to help in recycling work. When they see the elderly recycling volunteers, they learn to treat them with the same respect they do their own parents. Though they did not have any relationship with these seniors, they learn to cherish them and also devote themselves to the recycling work. On one hand they learn to respect the elderly, to respect them like they would their own parents. As for the recyclables, this great mess of many things, didn’t they do just this in the past, creating so much garbage? They used to throw away things like this, run things like this. It turns out this group had been collecting them. So, this environmental consciousness was continually absorbed by them. They learn to cherish the earth, cherish mankind and respect the elderly. This is how they are continually trained at the recycling stations. Being in this kind of good environment, together with good people, serves to stabilize their minds. So, gradually they will have the opportunity to join the introductory volunteer training. They begin their introductory training. In the introductory training, they join in visits to the poor and in many other things. They see all kinds of people in society, families in impoverished and difficult conditions, all the different ways suffering manifests. Those at the end of their lives face indescribable suffering. They experience this with sincerity. They understand, so they begin becoming even more mindful.
After introductory training is advanced training. After advanced training, they also can begin to go and transform others. We see so many families where the child, or the husband, or any family member for that matter, had caused trouble for the family in the past. They were cast aside by their parents, estranged from their siblings and so on. Now they are trying to reestablish these relationships, to revive the parental affection, restore their parents’ trust in them and revive the brotherly and sisterly affections with their siblings. How hard must they try?
Every time I go to Pingtung, the volunteers will always do the same thing and arrange time for rehabilitated former inmates. These people are already completely liberated; they are no longer looked upon as “rehabilitated,” but have become free members of society and members of this group of Bodhisattvas who go into prisons again to transform others. Every time I go there, they always bring former inmates like these to meet me. They even bring their family members, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, their wives and children to accompany them, to testify and express their gratitude. They are grateful for all of our volunteers, grateful that Tzu Chi could help their most beloved relative who had lost his way, who, in his time of confusion, had been cut off from society in prison. He had felt so hopeless and had experienced so much pain, but now he had been released from prison and their family had become complete again. When the head of the household returns, the wife are very happy and children are also proud to have their father home. In particular, when they had made mistakes before, their children had felt a sense of aversion for them and had even begun misbehaving themselves. Seeing their fathers turn their lives around, not only did they change their views of their fathers, they were now alerted to be careful of themselves so as not to follow in their father’s footsteps. “My father was like that, and I had such aversion for him in my heart. I was heading that way. What would have become of me in the future?”
There is a child in Pingtung who has now started middle school. When his father was released from prison, the child was still in primary school. When his father was released from prison, the child was no even willing to see him. It is not like this anymore. When I went to Pingtung [in 2015], he came with his father, his grandfather and his grandmother [to see me]. Every day he went with his father early in the morning to offer his grandparents tea. Then each evening he again went with his father and would kneel and offer tea to his grandparents. I asked this child, “Your father serves tea to your grandparents, and you serve it together with him. Do you serve tea to your father? He told me, “Father wants me to serve tea to my grandparents”. I said, “Now it is time for you to serve tea to your father. Can you do that?” He looked at his father and said, “Father, now I will begin serving you tea”. His father was very happy. His grandparents too were also happy and said, “That is how it should be. learn from how you father is now! You should be filial”. That is right! Now this family is joyful and harmonious. Truly, he had made mistakes in the past. How did the family get through those times? Now that he has reformed, what is that family like now?
It is the same with our spiritual practice. We must also spend a very long time in order to transform ourselves. If we wish to conquer our minds, train them until we completely get rid of ignorance, afflictions and dust-like delusions, then of course this will take a long time. We have recently seen, in the prisons of Taiwan so many moving stories like this.
It is the same in faraway places as well. There are many Bodhisattvas who go abroad in order to save others. The world’s four elements are out of balance. There are disasters, floods and droughts. With long-term disasters like these, the local people are not able to save everyone by themselves; they need to help of many from abroad to get involved and go there to help. We all must wholeheartedly work together.
This is like our African “Black Pearls”. Though their languages all differ from ours, they have taken the Dharma to heart more than anyone else. They even actualize the Four Great Vows, widely transforming sentient beings. Financially speaking, they endure great difficulty. In the way they physically get around, compared to all of us, it is actually much more difficult for them, as they are much more heavyset than we are. Their travel routes are all very far and take a long time. They need to climb great mountains and walk for long distances. Their environment is so much poorer than ours. Yet, they have taken the Dharma to heart. They bring the Dharma with them wherever they go. Wherever they are, they wake up on time to listen to the Dharma. They get up every morning, even when on the road. They get up on time every morning, wash themselves and put themselves together, then all of them gather, turn on the computer and when the time arrives, when the Da Ai TV channel comes up on the screen, they pay respect to their teacher as if their teacher were there. They are very reverent, placing their palms together, bowing and so on. They follow all of the practices properly. As they learn like this, they respectfully take this Dharma to heart. Having respectfully taken the Dharma to heart, they make vows. Because they have vows, their strength can manifest. They have the Four Great Vows. “I vow to deliver countless sentient beings “. They are in South Africa, yet in fact they cover seven countries. Swaziland is the closest to them, but that is still 500 or 600 kilometers before they reach that border. From Durban, it is 500 or 600 kilometers before they can reach that border. Then how large is Swaziland? They must still get to that place where they will promote the Dharma. They still do this with utmost sincerity. After the New Year, in mid-February (2016), they began making plans for several different trips to these countries. In just a four-year period, they have gone to Swaziland 43 times alone. It is clear that their spirit in transforming others is so fervent. They persisted and would not give up. This is especially true of their spirit and ideals in transforming people. They must always start with themselves. They must first start by transforming themselves. Then people feel respect for them on sight. All of them dress so neatly. In that place, there are many poor people, but when they wear the blue and white uniform, even with the environment and the transportation the way it is, the white skirts they wear are always kept very clean. Even if they are met with a downpour of rain, even if the ground turns to mud, they still can cross that muddy water, and cross those muddy roads, while keeping their appearance very clean. They keep themselves clean and spotless. Just keeping themselves as neat as they do is not easy at all. There are no Chinese commissioners in Swaziland. There are no Tzu Chi volunteers there, no Chinese volunteers. Moreover, we had no local seeds there, and everything there was unfamiliar. This is how it was in the beginning. Fortunately, there was a company there call Tex-Ray that provided a place for us to use. The manager was very cooperative with Tzu Chi, very inspired and willing to provide an even large place for volunteers to hold meetings, or provide them with an even more suitable place where they could rest. These were the blessings they created. They are very disciplined; every day they listen to the sutras. They watch the “Wisdom at Dawn” program, with the translated English subtitles. They mindfully watch the images and read the translated English subtitles. When they watch this way, they understand and take the Dharma to heart. [The videos] had reached the story of the poor son from the Chapter on Faith and Understanding. Those passages about the poor son started while they were actually there in Swaziland. When they arrived there, everyone invited them to share, invited them to hold trainings. In the trainings they held, they told the people that when we receive a case of someone in difficulty, we must make a home visit in this way, must write reports in this way, must do other things and so on. this is what they were meticulously teaching them. Among them was one who seemed very impatient, whose face seemed filled with worry. You could see her impatience; she felt very afflicted. Nevertheless, in that place they all tried to comfort her. They asked her to listen and watch carefully. As it turned out, it was this story, the analogy of the poor son from the Chapter on Faith and Understanding. As she watched and listened, she took it in. Then afterwards, beaming with a great smile, she reverently repented to everyone. She tole them, “[I am sorry that] at first, I was giving everyone such terrible looks. I am very grateful to have watched this program.” She was so grateful for what I had said. “It was so fortunate you are here!” she said, pointing to the South African volunteers. “They have brought the Dharna here so all of us can understand it.” So she was very grateful. Starting in this way, this seed very joyfully came to join us. She seems like a very promising local seed there. She took the Dharma to heart right away. She had turned to everyone and bravely said, “Thank you so much! I am so sorry for the negative expression I gave everyone!” and things like that. She spoke from her heart of how she was moved. She told them, “How wonderful of you to bring the Dharma here!” Clearly this woman is a very food seed. She has much wisdom. so, Swaziland should have hope for the future.
Thus, it says, “For dust-inked kalpas, he practiced diligently, helped to promote the Dharma and protected it. This is what Purna Maitrayaniputra had done. “He sought the wisdom of the fruit of Buddhahood and taught without fear.” No matter how negative the environment, he was fearless; he would still go. Whatever the difficulty of questions asked of him, he could resolve then all one by one, He could use his methods to help everyone open up their minds and understand. He was without fear, so “He constantly expounded the purifying Dharma and transformed all sentient beings.” This was what Purna had done; he “enabled them to abide in the Great Vehicle, the supreme Dharma of the one reality. By helping everyone listen to this Dharma, by helping them abide in the Dharma, the Dharma would never retreat from their hearts and they could always abide in the Dharma. This was Purna Maitrayaniputra’s contribution to the Dharma, so the Buddha praised him greatly.
Thus, the previous passage says, “In the futher, he will further give offerings to infinite, countless Buddhas.”
In the future he will further give offerings to infinite, countless Buddhas, protect and help to promote the Right Dharma and purify his own Buddha-land as well. He will constantly apply all skillful means to teach the Dharma without fear, will transform incalculable numbers of people, enabling them to attain wisdom of all Dharma, will give offerings to all Tathagata and will protect and uphold the treasures of the Dharma.
In the past he was like this and in the future will also be like this. he transformed sentient beings in the past and will in the future similarly use the Dharma to make offerings to infinite Buddhas. He made offerings by protecting the Dharma, by helping those Buddhas promote Right Dharma. This is how he purified his own Buddha-land. This is the goal of spiritual practice, to arrive at the state of Buddhahood. This is spiritual practice.
So, “He will constantly apply all skillful means to teach the Dharma without fear.” He always used many kinds of skillful means in order to teach the Dharma. He taught “without fear”; he was very calm, because he was well-versed in the Dharma. No matter what king of challenge was posed to him, he could always explain each one. Thus he will “transform incalculable numbers of people, enabling them to attain wisdom of all Dharma, give offerings to all Tathagata and protect and uphold the treasures of the Dharma. This is Purna Maitrayaniputra and what he had done in his spiritual practice from dust-inked kalpas ago until today.
“Afterwards he will attain Buddhahood.” The passage continues like this, “Afterwards he will attain Buddhahood . His epithet will be Dharma Clarity. His land will be named Pure Kindness, composed of the Seven Treasures. His kalpa will be named Treasure Bright. The Bodhisattvas in the assembly will be many, numbering in the countless billions.”
This is telling us the name of His reward-body after attaining Buddhahood. This is Purna Maitrayaniputra, in the future, after a very long time. He will always form affinities with others and always help Buddhas promote the teachings, until, in the future, he will also attain Buddhahood. When a Buddha manifests in the world, that is called His reward-body. In response to sufficient causes and conditions, he will manifest in the world. After attaining Buddhahood, his name will be Dharma Clarity.
This means that “He comprehends with clarity the Dharma’s meaning.” Why will he be called Dharma Clarity? It is because of his clarity, because of his clear understanding of the Dharma.
Afterwards he will attain Buddhahood. His epithet will be Dharma Clarity: After manifesting and attaining Buddhahood, his epithet will be Dharma Clarity. He comprehends with clarity the Dharma’s meaning and expounds the Dharma to break through the darkness and foolishness in the world. Thus he will be named Dharma Clarity. This is that Buddha’s distinctive epithet.
It is the same as with Sakyamuni Buddha. After He attained enlightenment, He thoroughly understood all of the true principles of the universe. So, it will be the same for Dharma Clarity Tathagata in the future. All of the principles of the universe will become clear in his mind; all will be very clear. So, “He comprehends with clarity the Dharma’s meaning.” When he teaches everyone in the future, he will clearly comprehend the Dharma’s meaning. He will “expound the Dharma to break through the darkness and foolishness in the world.” He will give many teachings that can [eliminate] all the ignorance, affliction and darkness inside sentient beings. By completely attaining the Buddha’s teaching, they will be able to eliminate all of this. Because of this, his epithet will be Dharma Clarity. “This is that Buddha’s distinctive epithet.” The Buddha has ten epithets all together. The distinctive epithet for our current Buddha is Sakyamuni Buddha. The future Buddha will be called Maitreya Buddha, and then again in the future, after Buddha, many kalpas later, will be called Dharma Clarity Tathagata. Every one has a different name. All of us are called people. We are commonly called people, but we all have distinctive epithets, our names. Your name and my name are different. Everyone has different names. So in the future, Dharma Clarity Tathagata will be his name.
“His land will be called Pure Kindness.”
His land will be called Pure Kindness: With kindness he transforms sentient beings and enables their minds to be pure, hence his land will be pure. In that land there is no evil of lust; all beings will be transformation-born. Thus it is called Pure Kindness.
It is called Pure Kindness because “with kindness he transforms sentient beings and enables their minds to be pure, hence his land will be pure.” If people’s minds are pure, then the land will be pure. There will be no evil of lust in the people of that land. Everyone born in that country will be pure and innocent. There will be no sexual misconduct or evil of lust. The people of that country will all follow the teachings and the rules very purely. So, “All beings will be transformation-born. Thus, it is called Pure Kindness.” This is what that land will be like. It will be so pure. In particular, it is “compose of the Seven Treasures.”
Compose of the Seven Treasures: The Seven Treasures: gold, silver, crystal, mother-of-pearl, chalcedony, pearl and rose stone. Because he had achieved the merits and virtues of the seven roots of goodness, in his fruitions, his reward-land will be dignified with the Seven Treasures.
The Seven Treasures are gold, silver, crystal, mother-of-pearl, chalcedony, pearl and rose stone and so on. These are the Seven Treasures; there will be so many of them. This is “because he has achieved the merits and virtues of the seven roots of goodness.” We have the 37 Practices to Enlightenment, “the three Fours, two Fives, Seven and Eight.” These all are the foundation of the Dharma. These all are the roots of goodness, all beneficial teachings. Because of these, he will have accomplished many merits and virtues. This is the place where he will attain Buddhahood in the future. It “will be dignified with the Seven Treasures.” “His kalpa will be named Treasure Bright.”
His kalpa’s name is Treasure Bright and there “with kindness He expounds all Dharma.” “The Dharma-treasure manifest brightly. Virtuous people will increase, and their bodies will all be golden in color. Thus, it will be called Treasure Bright.”
That will be his era. A kalpa is an era. During that time, a very long time from now, everything around will be like this. “With kindness He will expound all Dharma.” Anything anyone says there will be an interaction through the Dharma. They will teach the True Dharma to each other. They will only have good words, and everyone will only encourage one another. This is what it will be like in that era. That is not like the world now. People nowadays must be cautious when they speak and guard against [misunderstandings]. “If I say this, how will others take it?” We are always frightened. In Dharma Clarity Tathagata’s future land, everyone’s minds will all be very calm. All they will talk about will be true principles; all will be the Dharma. This will be the state that they will live in in the future. “The Dharma-treasures manifest brightly.” Every word will be the Dharma, and all will be treasures. This is like that woman in Swaziland. Her face was full of worry at the start; her mind was full of afflictions. She was very impatient. After hearing the Dharma, she broke out in a smile and began to repent, began expressing her gratitude to so many people for having brought the Dharma there. It helped resolve her afflictions and ignorance and put a smile on her face. This was not such a simple matter. To enable her to express her repentance that way was not an easy thing to do. This was the Dharma suiting her capabilities. In the future era of Dharma Clarity Tathagata, the “Dharma-treasures manifest brightly.” Anything anyone says there will always bring joy to others and, on hearing it, they open their mind and understand.
So, “Virtuous people will increase” there. There will be more and more virtuous people, and “Their bodies will all be golden in color.” They will have not afflictions and everyone there will appear very dignified. The kalpa will be called Treasure Bright. “The Bodhisattvas in the assembly will be many, numbering in the countless billions.”
The Bodhisattvas in the assembly will be many, numbering in the countless billions: This is because he had transformed many people.
In that future place, in that land and in that era, everyone will live together so happily. They will encourage each other there and work to benefit one another and strengthen their spiritual aspirations. They mutually benefit each other. It will be such a wonderful state!
Dear Bodhisattvas, we should all know that learning the Buddha’s teachings takes a long time. We must diligently practice for dust-inked kalpas. We must mindfully promote the Buddha-Dharma so that everyone can accept the Buddha-Dharma, change from the past and practice for the future. We must quickly change our past mistaken views and quickly take the Dharma to heart. We must constantly seek the Buddha-Dharma while transforming sentient beings, for only then will our world be one of peace and joy. This depends on whether or not we are being mindful. I just have one thing to say; we must still always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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