Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Advising the Assembly to Spread the Dharma (勸眾弘法 如佛本願)
Date: March.08.2018
“The Lotus Sutra is the ultimate teaching of wondrous existence within true emptiness. It is beyond words; it is unfathomable. [The Buddha] immediately taught it before the great assembly. In making great vows, all Buddhas past and present share the same vow and path. The Buddha’s many manifestations gathered and the door of the stupa was opened. He sought people to spread the Dharma.”
“The Lotus Sutra is the ultimate teaching of the wondrous existence within true emptiness.” We must mindfully seek to comprehend this. The Buddha taught the Dharma for over 40 years, always teaching about existence or emptiness according to the capabilities of sentient beings. Whatever capabilities sentient beings had, the Buddha taught the Dharma accordingly. This is how it was for over 40 years. People followed the teachings of the Buddha and came to accept and understand them. They understood that life is full of suffering and understood the true principles of the law of karma. So, according to each person’s capabilities, they understood “suffering, causation, cessation and the Path” and they understood the teachings of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. They understood they must have discipline to eliminate their bad habitual tendencies. Moreover, they understood that they must do good deeds, and that virtuous Dharma must be put into action. However, while disciplining oneself to eliminate one’s own afflictions is relatively easy, putting virtuous Dharma into action is harder. It is easier to distance ourselves from sentient beings. [We think], “If there is no reason to do so, I do not need to associate with sentient beings. This way, if I am not out in the world, I will have no afflictions. I will separate myself from worldly matters so that I will be free of afflictions.” Doing this is easy. But putting virtuous Dharma into action is hard. The virtuous Dharma requires us to give of ourselves. The recipient of our giving is sentient beings. To go out and give to others, we must heighten our vigilance. We cannot [say], “I do not want to contrive any more affinities” and thus only seek to awaken ourselves. To benefit both ourselves and others is very difficult. So, this becomes an attachment to emptiness.
Therefore, the Buddha felt that He still needed to keep telling everyone to refrain from having attachments. This is because our lives [are subject to] the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death; in the end, our life in this world is not long, so we should not take issue with things. This is why [He] taught so much about the law of karma. Anyone could be a relative or loved one of ours from a past life. Those who hate us in this life could be someone we greatly harmed in a past life. When these hateful causes and conditions converge, it is all a matter of the karmic law of cause and effect. People hear this and become even more afraid. “In that case, I have to stay away from people. I cannot draw near them! I need to stay away from people at all times. It is safer this way. Otherwise, due to our causes and conditions, we will obstruct each other and we will become entangled once again! Once I am entangled, attaining liberation will be hard.” The Buddha thought that this was wrong, that we must change our thinking. This is emptiness. Emptiness is when we give of ourselves completely. As for wondrous existence, we must know that our causes, conditions, effects and retributions will always, always be with us. Because even when the “cause” is gone the “effect” will still be there, always.
So, we must understand the law of cause and effect and very clearly comprehend wondrous existence and how to eliminate our causes, our negative causes and conditions from the past. You may try to evade it, always dodging, but the seed of causation will still remain. We still need to face it and eliminate karma as conditions arise. When facing these causes and conditions, we must learn to patiently endure these past negative causes and conditions. If we can accept these things in this life, then after we accept them, we will quickly go to serve others and sow the seeds of virtue and positive conditions for sentient beings that we may transform in lives to come.
To sum it up, we need to face our negative conditions. Only by facing our negative conditions and fully understanding their negative causes can we eliminate our karmic retributions and eliminate our negative effects. We must go among people to give to others. Then, these true causes, the seeds of the Bodhisattva cause, will continually accumulate. The accumulation of these causes is our future conditions for attaining Buddhahood. So, this is “the causal practice of Bodhisattvas”. This is why we must go among people. There is no need to be afraid. Even though life is full of suffering, even though our karmic retribution entangles us, if we understand the principles, we will be able to accept [our retribution] and accept it joyfully. Once we accept it, we must find ways to repay it. By releasing our negative conditions of the past, we turn them into gratitude and joy. This is why, right now, we must dedicate ourselves to going among people.
We are always talking about actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions. This is how we give of ourselves to others. When we give, we give without discriminating against those we hate. We do not discriminate by thinking “He is someone I resent” or thinking, “This is someone I hate.” “I don’t have [good] affinities with this person. I do not want to give to him. I do not want to be with him. I do not want to work with him.” We cannot do this. Our lack of [good] affinities comes from a past cause. Because we created this negative affinity, he rejects us in this life. If we feel we have no [good] affinities with him and thus avoid him, in this way, we will not be able to form [a positive] affinity. When we walk the Bodhisattva-path in the future, this cause will be there and we will bring these adverse conditions with us. Spiritual practice is all about how to form good affinities with everyone until all affinities become favorable and positive. This is something we must be very mindful of. When we understand the principles in this life, we will understand how to be yielding, how to give of ourselves to others, how to take a step back when it is time to yield, and how to be proactive and help others when it is time to move forward. We must be proactive and go to help others. Only when we understand these principles will we know what methods to use to transform sentient beings. This wondrous existence and true emptiness is the True Dharma; this is what the Lotus Sutra teaches us. We have learned about the great principles, which are actually [found] within the intricate subtleties of our daily lives. As we deal with people and matters in life, we must apply these great principles within our everyday lives. This is true emptiness. However, we cannot empty out our daily lives! Why is it that we cannot empty them? If we understand the principles and do not take issue with others, then, all things will be empty. We will have emptied them out. Wondrous existence is when we go and help someone who truly needs it. In our daily lives, everyone works so hard. If I put forth a bit more effort, I can lessen the load for someone else. For a full load of work, if we put forth one-tenth of the effort required, at the very least, he will only have nine-tenths of the difficulty because we put forth some effort to help him. No matter how much we help him with, we can reduce some measure of his work. This is true existence.
Although we are only helping with a little bit, this is nevertheless part of a long-lasting cause. We often say drops of water can become a river. Isn’t this how rain accumulates into rivers? These tiny, tiny raindrops become a heavy rainfall. A small jar with water dripping into it drop by drop will become full after a long time. The principle is the same; this is wondrous existence and true emptiness. Do not neglect small good deeds thinking them insignificant, and do not commit small evil deeds thinking them trivial. This will not do. Even the slightest evil [deed], the slightest discursive thought, will not do. So, we must understand true emptiness. We should not take issue over anything. In our interactions with others, we must be understanding and always be grateful. This is all matter of our simple, everyday life, yet these profound principles exist within it.
So this is “wondrous existence and true emptiness”. If we explain it like this, where is the difficulty? Where is there any profound principles? In our daily lives, we can constantly accomplish this; this is the True Dharma. These are the principles the Lotus Sutra teaches us.
Wondrous existence: The existence which is not existence is called wondrous existence. True emptiness: The emptiness which is not emptiness is called true emptiness. One must understand true emptiness and wondrous existence. When teachings and practice are in unison, emptiness and existence do not obstruct each other.
So, “It is beyond words; it is unfathomable. [The Buddha] immediately taught it before the great assembly.” In fact, this all happens right in front of us; the Buddha used all kinds of methods [to expound] these profound principles. If we talk about how profound they are, [we find] that they are beyond words; they are unfathomable. But actually, if we simplify them a bit, [we find] that they are within our daily lives. [He taught] these great principles according to the assembly’s capabilities. Thus “[the Buddha] immediately taught it before the great assembly” to help everyone understand very quickly with an instantaneous, immediate realization. It is the same principle. “When you put it like this, I understand. It is all within our daily life!” Yes, it is just that simple. Our interactions with people and matters, our own spiritual cultivation and the virtuous practice of helping others are all like this; they are all a matter of our every day lives. This is easy for everyone to understand.
So, there are many analogies in the Lotus Sutra. The analogies are there to help everyone clearly understand. It is just this simple; it is all a matter of our daily lives.
So, “In making great vows, all Buddhas past and present share the same vow and path”. We all must make great vows. From all the past Buddhas infinite kalpas ago down to the present Sakyamuni buddha and even those in the future, all Buddhas past and present share the same vow and the same path. They all want to draw near to people. They all want to serve sentient beings. The principle is the same. So we say “All Buddhas share the same path”. They come and go, never leaving people behind, never leaving this world behind, never leaving stubborn sentient beings behind. Sentient beings are stubborn, so they need the Buddha to come to this world to tame them. Due to our stubborn afflictions, we need the Great Enlightened One to teach all kinds of Dharma so that we will be able to comprehend. This was the Buddha’s goal in coming to this world. All Buddhas past and present share the same vows and the same path. They all “share the same vow and path”. Their vows are all the same; [it is the same] for all Buddhas. We all engage in spiritual practice together, so we should also share the same vow. “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings”. We must not cause sentient beings afflictions. We must change our habitual tendencies so that when others see our attitude or see us or hear our voice, they become unhappy due to our harsh speech or harsh language. Our demeanor must have dignity and etiquette. “With principles, we have propriety. With propriety, we have the principles”. It must be that if we have the principles, we must have propriety. This is all a matter of our daily lives. This is the Dharma.
The Dharma came from the Buddha’s speech. He teaches us and we understand. Thus, “The Buddha’s many manifestations gathered”. We all understand. You understand, and I understand as well. He also understands. Everyone understands. This came from the Buddha. Everyone realizes and comprehends these principles. This is the common Dharma we all share. Sentient beings are suffering, so we must go to help them. For those with unresolved knots in their hearts, we must help them unite these knots and eliminate their afflictions. For those in hardship, we must quickly help them. This is what it means to serve others.
So, serving others is very easy to do. Everything the Buddha taught is the Bodhisattva Way, which is inseparable from actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions. This is the practice of giving, serving others. Whether we give with our money, words, energy, or our loving care and so on, these are all things that everyone can do. We do not need money to be able to give to others. No!
For example, so many countries in the world are experiencing suffering and hardship. There are many poor people. Right now, so many people from different countries are helping people in poverty and hardship, going into disaster areas to assist and rescue disaster survivors. There are so many! Right now (in 2016) Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture has, through Tzu Chi, distributed rice to several countries. Just look at Cambodia alone. In Cambodia (in 1994), it was very dangerous after the war. To conduct relief work safely, the country had to use tanks to go ahead [of the relief team] because the area was full of land mines. They call them “butterfly mines”. They were very small, covered the entire ground, and would explode on touch. So the tank needed to lead the way with the relief vehicles behind following in the tracks of the tank. This was how they had to conduct relief work!
So, from the road and ground, they had to keep removing the mines. From where they were buried underground, they kept collecting them. Now, in that place, in that country, there are still a lot of poor people. Now we have the karmic affinity to return there again. There are already five Tzu Chi seeds there now who have been certified [as commissioners]. In that place, we have sent over 600 tons of rice [for relief]. In August, they began communicating with the government to gain a better understanding. So, the 600 tons of rice had to be distributed to over 15,000 households. Therefore, they held several distributions. The fourth distribution was a big event. To do such a big distribution, they had Tzu Chi volunteers from Singapore and Malaysia, 50-60 people in all, come to assist them. We were very grateful to be able to hold such a big distribution. We discovered that in that place, although we only had five certified commissioners, they had already made arrangements with the local government; with the provincial and country governors, they mayors and village head; they had made extensive arrangements and prepared everything very well. Also, in addition to holding distributions in the countryside, they went to mosques as well, which are Muslim places of worship, and distributed [aid] to Muslims and held large-scale distributions like this. We do not discriminate between religions. To follow day, we also went to a temple. The Dharma masters, the Abbots of the temple, were also very grateful, because at this time, it happened to be the Ancestor’s Festival [Pchum Ben]. The Ancestor’s Festival is similar to our Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is when we seek blessings for our ancestors. But according to the customs there, [their festival] lasts for half a month. During this half a month, every day, all the locals will send food and rice to the temple as an offering and dedicate it to their ancestors.
All day long, they recite sutras in the temple. The sound if the recitations is very loud. The entire village comes to make offerings, bringing offerings of food and rice.
But when Tzu Chi volunteers went to the temple this time, it was to hold a large-scale distribution. The monastics there, the monastics and the abbot, were all very grateful, so they paused their recitations to allow the voices of Tzu Chi [volunteers] during the distribution ring out loud and clear, the way we asked everyone to begin, or energized [the locals] and spoke to them. They carried their rice vouchers, and had to be called on according to household. In addition to calling out names to pick up rice, we also spoke to them about environmental awareness and how to recycle, teaching them recycling methods. To everyone, we promoted “the spirit of the bamboo banks. The village head accompanied Tzu Chi volunteers. Even before the distribution began and before rice vouchers were distributed, he began telling [villagers] the bamboo bank story. He told them to collect OET bottles and clearly explained the ideas behind recycling. The rice voucher had a special stamp on the back, “Small change can accomplish great goodness. The ideas behind environmental protection were printed there [on that voucher]. They were in constant collaboration with the village head. So, when [the locals] came to get the rice, they brought PET bottles with them. During this temple distribution, the village head asked people to collect the PET bottles and sell them, and this brought in over 200,000 [riels]! 200,000 [Cambodian riels] is, in fact, over NTD 1500. So, this money came from these villagers doing recycling work and selling the PET bottles they collected. It was these people, as well as another distribution area, two sites, that collected and sold for 2000 riels. This is equivalent to NTD 15. This was the method they used to lead people to do recycling work. This was serving others with the concept of love, without discriminating between religions. The distribution at the Islamic mosques was for the Muslims. The distribution at the Buddhist temples was for the general populace. We did not discriminate between religions.
In this way, we distributed nearly 200 tons, and another 400 tons [of rice] after this. in the same way, through many distributions we kept drawing near people, comforting them with love and using the spirit and ideals of Buddhism lead them to do good and guide them to experience the truth of the principles of loving all beings and all people. This is the power of love.
So, these are the Buddha’s multiple manifestations. Look at how they used this method in Cambodia; Tzu Chi volunteers from Malaysia and Singapore also took joy in the merits and virtues of others. They also knew that place lacked manpower. They made vows and were willings to go help them.
When it was time to do the distribution, they went help them. They mobilized the local people and slowly led the volunteers into action. The village head accompanied Tzu Chi volunteers, and has already become a certified volunteer. People from far away came to assist the locals in transforming sentient beings. isn’t that what happened? Whether Many Treasures Buddha from afar or Sakyamuni Buddha of this land, we must take the Buddha’s heart as our own. When we take Sakyamuni’s teaching to heart, we are all Sakyamuni Buddha. To sum it up, the power of love lies within serving others with awakened love.
So, we must be very mindful. True emptiness is in wondrous existence; wondrous existence is in true emptiness. The power of love is our daily lives.
Let us look at the previous passage “At that time, the World-Honored One, wished to restate His meaning, spoke this verse, ‘The Noble Lord, the World-Honored One, despite having entered Parinirvana long ago, within His stupa of treasures still comes for the sake of the Dharma. Why then are people not diligent with respect to the Dharma?
The Noble Lord and World One is Many Treasures Buddha. He had entered Parinirvana a long time ago, but because Sakyamuni Buddha was teaching the Lotus Sutra, He came from far away to listen to this sutra. Since this was the case, why are none of us willing [to hear the Dharma]? We are all learning the Buddha’s teachings now. We must work hard to be mindful. We must mindfully seek to comprehend them. We must be diligent for the sake of the Dharma. Only by hearing and understanding the Dharma will we know to be diligent in our cultivation of the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom; only then will we know the importance of working hard to reign in our behavior. We must steady our minds. We must make use of our wisdom to “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions” throughout our everyday living. We engage in the causal practice of Bodhisattvas and advance toward the fruit of Buddhahood.
So, the next sutra passage says, “This Buddha who entered Parinirvana countless kalpas ago goes everywhere to hear the Dharma because it is rare to encounter. That Buddha’s original vow was, ‘After I enter Parinirvana, wherever I go, I always go to listen to the Dharma’”.
“That Buddha” shows that this is Sakyamuni Buddha talking about Buddha (Many Treasures). “This Buddha” [also] refers to Many Treasures. This Buddha had already entered Parinirvana a long time ago. Countless kalpas is a very long time. But He still [held to] His vow, “Wherever the Lotus Sutra is taught, I will go to that place to listen to the sutra and bear witness”. This was the vow of that Buddha.
This is in praise of Many Treasures Buddha’s original vow. The stupa appeared for him to bear witness and listen to the sutra. With this, the Buddha encouraged the fourfold assembly to seek the Dharma and widely spread the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle, just like that Buddha’s original vow.
This is a repeated verse. It is an expression in verse form of Many Treasures Buddha’s original vow to manifest His stupa, listen to the Dharma and bear witness. He encouraged the fourfold assembly, the male and female lay practitioners and the male and female monastics. The fourfold assembly must know the importance of diligently seeking the Dharma. But besides seeking the Dharma, we must also widely spread the Great Vehicle Dharma. We must listen to the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle. We must seek the Dharma. We must spread the Dharma. This was the Buddha’s original vow. The past Buddha was like this. The present Buddha was like this. Listening to the Dharma was like this in the past. Now we must also listen to the Dharma like this. So, we must “seek the Dharma and widely spread the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle”. This is “just like that Buddha’s original vow”.
As Buddhist practitioners, we must learn the Buddha’s original vow. So, “This Buddha who entered Parinirvana” “countless kalpas ago,” this Buddha, Many Treasures Buddha, had entered Parinirvana a very long time ago. This shows that this Buddha had entered cessation and deliverance so long ago that there is no way to calculate this amount of time. Thus it says “countless kalpas”; this is an asankya kalpa, which is impossible to calculate. An asankya kalpa is impossible to calculate. So, “Our enlightened nature of True Suchness is forever non-increasing and non-decreasing”. This represents our enlightened nature of True Suchness. Many Treasures Buddha was inside the stupa of treasures. We all have our nature of True Suchness, the stupa of treasures within our minds. We all have a Many Treasures Buddha inside the stupa of treasures in our minds, which represents our awakened nature as sentient beings. Sentient beings are replete with the nature of True Suchness. It is everlasting. It is neither increasing nor decreasing. It is always present. I am always telling everyone about this. The sutra also continually emphasizes this point. So, “[He] goes everywhere to hear the Dharma because it is rare to encounter”.
[He] goes everywhere to hear the Dharma because it is rare to encounter: He will appear anywhere to hear the teachings of the wondrous Dharma because the Dharma is so wondrous and rare to encounter. The Dharma is like the udumbara flower, thus it says “rare to encounter”.
Because this Buddha, Many Treasures Buddha, will go everywhere to listen to the Dharma, in any place where the Lotus Sutra is taught, His stupa of treasures will appear. This is encouraging all of us; everyone in the fourfold assembly must diligently seek the Dharma. We must also use our own nature of True Suchness to diligently seek the Dharma. So, “He will appear everywhere”. He will appear everywhere like this to “hear the teachings of the wondrous Dharma”. All that He seeks is the wondrous Dharma. ”[This is] because the Dharma is so wondrous and rare to encounter”. This Dharma truly is so high-reaching, like the stupa of treasures rising up into space, [this Dharma] transcends the Five Vehicles. It is the unsurpassed and supreme wondrous Dharma. Thus, it is rare to encounter. “The Dharma is like the udumbara flower”. The udumbara is a flower that rarely blooms. In ancient times, people used the udumbara flower as an analogy for something rare to encounter because in the past it was said that [this flower] only bloomed once every 1000 years. This is rare to encounter. Once it blooms, it withers away very quickly. So, it was referred to as the udumbara flower. We have often mentioned this in the past. “So, it says ‘rare to encounter’”. It can only bloom once every 1000 years. Once it blooms, it quickly disappears. So, it is very rare to encounter.
“That Buddha’s original vow was,” ‘After I enter Parinirvana….”’ This was that Buddha’s original vow. That Buddha is our nature of True Suchness, which lies within our innermost hearts. From ancient times to today, everyone has had this nature of True Suchness. So, when it comes to His vow, we must have made the same vow dust-inked kalpas ago. Thus, when He says, “After I enter Parinirvana,” He is talking about coming and going, arising and ceasing. Though He came and went from this life, His original vow was everlasting. Original vows are everlasting. Our nature of True Suchness does not arise or cease. While life’s matters and appearances are all part [of the cycle of] birth, aging, illness and death, our nature of True Suchness is everlasting. “That Buddha’s original vow was,’After I enter Parinirvana….”’ This explains how “His power of vows is such that He will go anywhere to hear this sutra”. Since [our nature] is everlasting throughout lifetime after lifetime, the “anywhere” here means throughout lifetime after lifetime, we will be able to hear [the sutra]. Since we are able to hear the Lotus Sutra, we must go to listen to it and understand it. “That Many Treasures Buddha made this original vow ‘After this body of mine enters Parinirvana….”’ This is that Buddha who made this original vow.
We are all the same. If we listen to the sutra, we must take the Dharma to heart. Once we take the Dharma to heart, we will spend our entire lifetime journeying on this vow in the same way. We will be very mindful and respectful of the Lotus Sutra. We have already taken the Dharma to heart. We are also putting the teachings into action by walking the path. The path is a road to walk on, and this road in the world is a path that we are paving in love. This awakened love will still return to this world in the next life. So, He says He will “go anywhere to hear the sutra”. It does no matter whether we are coming or going; when we come, we will pave this path. When we leave, the path is the same; we must return to pave it again in the next life. So, our vow is also to return and pave this path. Thus, “for no other reason,” means He comes and goes purely for the Lotus Sutra.
Wherever I go, I always go to listen to the Dharma: Wherever He goes, He goes there for no other reason than to always listen to and cultivate the Dharma and engage in the causal practice.
Coming to this world, if we can understand the principles and give to others in accordance with the principles, this gives our lives value. We cannot know how long our lifespan will be, but the breadth and depth [of our lives] is something we can create for ourselves. We can spread these principles widely. We can accept these principles and deepen our experience of them as we apply them among people. This is how we can come and to in this world; we can come and go as we wish according to our vow. So, “Wherever He goes, He goes there for no other reason.” In the past, [Many Treasures] came, now He goes. He came and went all for the sake of listening to the sutra, spreading the Dharma widely and transforming sentient beings. He comes and goes entirely upon this path, without ever going off track. So, He will “always listen to and cultivate the Dharma and engage in causal practice.” He will always listen to this sutra, spread this Dharma, pave this road and walk this path, which is the Bodhisattva-path. So, we must “always listen to and cultivate the Dharma and engage in causal practice” and actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions. This is something we must be mindful of.
After this, the sutra goes on to say, “Also, my multiple manifestations, those countless Buddhas as numberless as the Ganges’ sands, come wishing to listen to the Dharma and to see this Many Treasures Buddha who has entered Parinirvana.”
“Also, my multiple manifestations” means the Dharma taught by Sakyamuni Buddha. We have all heard by now that there were so many of these people. “Those countless Buddhas as numberless as the Ganges’ sands” are those who, lifetime after lifetime, were transformed, the Dharma that was taught. In the same way, all gathered together now. This means that “all the Buddha’s manifestations from the ten directions as many as Ganges’ sands” had already come together to listen to the Dharma. They also gathered together to see this Many Treasures Buddha who had entered Parinirvana. The past and present Buddhas met each other.
That is right! This is what our nature of True Suchness is like. We need to recollect [what we have heard]. Once we listen to the sutra, are we putting it into practice? Do we remember this Dharma, or has it leaked away? The Dharma we have heard still continues to constantly surround us with its principles on all sides. We must [accept] these principles and broadly spread them everywhere. As we gather the principles together, they unite with our nature of True Suchness. This is the uniting of the past and present Buddhas. In the distant past, countless kalpas ago, we made a vow. As for our actions and the vow we made, the [Dharma] we hear and the actions we take now, are they in unison? In fact, the Dharma is nothing more than this. Every day, we must earnestly contemplate whether we really are spreading the Buddha-Dharma everywhere right now. How many people are dedicated to this Dharma, practicing the causes, the Bodhisattva causes, and actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions? How many are there? If we do this this, we will take joy in others’ merits and virtues; we will hear them and rejoice. We must be even more earnest and give this Dharma to even more people, spreading it even wider. This way, we will constantly pass on and spread [the Dharma] as well as constantly absorb and recollect it; this is the cycle of the Dharma. When we listen to the teachings, we must recycle them. We must find out which teachings worked well and quickly take this wondrous Dharma and put it to use again. This cycle, this cycle of the Dharma, all depends on us. We must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)