Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Practice Speech That Brings Peace and Joy (不說他過 口安樂行)
Date: August.20.2018
“There are both good and evil phenomena. Based on these phenomena, we all perceive an existing self. This means that in doing good or evil deeds, there is no inherent view of self or others. If I perceive my self as doing good deeds, there should be no self that does evil deeds. If I perceive my self as doing evil deeds, there should be no self that does good deeds. Sentient beings are deluded and cling to [the view of] self and others. Because they cling to phenomena, they give rise to delusion and perceive an existing self.”
“I” and “others”. “Others” and “I”. These are labels. “I” am a person like others. “Others” also think of themselves as “I”. But when I use language to express myself, “I” refers to me. “I” am the one in control; it is me. Everybody else is “others,” other people. They are “other people,” and “I” am me. This is “my” so and so, “my” most beloved, “my” least favorite person. When it comes to self and others, we give rise to so much discrimination around this. This shows how, in life, we are attached to labels and appearances. So, when it comes to interpersonal conflicts or matters and objects or appearances, [the issue] is always people’s discrimination. In the speech we encounter every day, what we hear is inseparable from this. “What thing is this?” “What things is that?” “This is me; that is someone else. This is Mr. So-and-so; that is Mr. Such-and-such.” This is the language we always use. From language like this, good and evil phenomena develop. “This person is good; that person is evil. This is a good thing. That is an evil thing. This thing is beautiful; that thing is ugly.” In this way, there are constantly many complicated changes, and in accord with all these complicated changes, we begin to label things [in complicated ways]. This gives rise to much conflict, affliction and ignorance.
This is how “Based on these phenomena, we all perceive an existing self.” [We think], “What I do is correct. What others are doing is incorrect. My skill is good while their skills are quite lacking.” We make many distinctions like these and criticize the things that others create. We always think of ourselves as good. Even if others are very good and we have no way to measure up to them, we will still give rise to that sort of inferior arrogance. We will not concede defeat and instead give rise to arrogance. This is the way we give rise to so much interpersonal conflict, afflictions and ignorance amidst all these phenomena. These all arise in this way.
So, if we want to put things clearly, we should speak of “doing good or evil deeds.” Is something good, or is it evil? As we go about our daily living, can we distinguish good from evil? There is inherently no “self” or “others”. Actually, we should not be attached to ourselves, nor should we be attached to others. In any case, it is the same matter; we must work together with unity, harmony, love and concerted effort in order to accomplish this task. Then won’t we be able to harmoniously, smoothly and successfully carry this out?
This is like in Ecuador, where everyone worked together so harmoniously. Tzu Chi volunteers came from eight countries. From the United States, from Canada, from Guatemala, from the Dominican Republic, from Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, they went to Ecuador, where they met with local volunteers who had formed aspirations there. The weather was very hot there, as it is the closet country to the equator. Since the sun’s radiation is very direct there, the climate is much warmer. When I had a videoconference with them, Tzu Chi volunteers from eight countries who had all gathered together there appeared on the screen. I heard their voices and saw their images. Their skin was tanned from being under the sun, but they all seemed to be very joyful. They praised one another and were grateful to one another. They shared stories of how serious the disaster situation was there in Ecuador. They shared with us how there were old, frail, sick and suffering people there, how there were orphans and widows who really had no one to rely upon and were helpless. With such a disaster, how were they to recover? Fortunately, this group had come from abroad, this group of Tzu Chi volunteers. They came from different countries, but all used the same attitude to mobilize [the locals], one of sincerity. This sincerity came from their sincere vows to deliver all sentient beings. They “vow to deliver countless sentient beings”.
This is one of the Four Great Vows. The Buddha-Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, instructs us to practice the Bodhisattva-path. For a Bodhisattva, the most fundamental thing is to deliver sentient begins, to relieve them from suffering. This is a Bodhisattva’s mission. This mission stems from an inner reverence, from the true sincerity in their hearts. So, they are sincere in their vows to deliver all sentient begins. “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” We not only need sincerity in our minds, we must be upright in our minds as well. We should be upright and never deviate. All together our thinking shares a common aim; our thoughts have one direction, which is the Jing Si Dharma-lineage. Our teaching, our direction, is to practice the Bodhisattva-path. All of us are already walking upon this path of sincerity and integrity. As we walk the Bodhisattva-path, we practice according to this teaching. This is a Dharma-door, a true and correct Dharma-door. So. “We vow to learn infinite Dharma-doors.” These are the teachings we need to learn. The Dharma-lineage is meant to establish a clear and correct direction for everyone to walk toward together.
So, you can see how the Tzu Chi volunteers there never distinguish between themselves and others, saving “You are from the United States” or “You are from Brazil or from Paraguay”. They never make distinctions like this. They practice a common path, a path heading in a proper direction, a path that never deviates. They go to where disaster strikes and, with one heart and one mission, help the suffering people there with great sincerity. So, we could see everyone’s very sincere attitude, how they were so approachable as they got close to the disaster survivors and mobilized the local people through a Cash for Relief program. This way, everyone could help themselves, receiving wages for cleaning up their own town, clearing up the effects of the disaster so they could get on with their lives. Everyone there was very grateful and very happy. They were willing to work hard even though the weather there is so hot! All of them worked so hard and so earnestly over the course of eight days, cleaning several cities and towns like this. Over the course of two, three or four days, the surroundings came to look completely different. Each day they made a comparison. “Yesterday, this environment looked like this. Today after cleaning it looks like this! After we finish cleaning tomorrow. It will be different again, very clean.” All of the dirt and mud was gone. The useless damaged furniture, whether it had been brought outside or was still inside, was all cleared away. They moved everything outside and the government sent large trucks to remove it. The furniture they could not use was moved outside and the mud and dirt was cleaned out. Their floors were swept and washed so everything was clean, both inside and outside. Every day they went into this messy environment and cleaned; when they were done cleaning, they would stop there for the day, then come back and clean again the next. They cleaned like this day after day, until now everything is completely clean. This is how they pooled their strength.
So, when we pool our strength together, we do not discriminate between self and others. They never said, “He is a victim, you are a volunteer, and I am the one to come here to lead you.” No at all! Those who came from far away to mobilize them worked together with everyone else, and those who volunteered had to be even more mindful to lean the way that those from afar gave with such sincerity, the way they showed empathy. “I have suffered from this disaster. You have suffered from this disaster as well. We are all in this together; let me first help you clean your place, and then you can come and help me clean mine.” So, they had no sense of self and others. Everyone worked together toward a common cause.
So, they worked together with concerted effort. During those eight days they divided into teams to share the responsibilities, so they were able to clean very joyfully. This means, “In doing good or evil deeds, there is no inherent view of self or others.” While we were there doing good deeds, we were completely without the view of self and others. They naturally never made such distinctions. Everyone was in it together as they gave with such joy. They were unafraid of hardship. “This task will be easy; let’s finish it quickly.” If they blockaded over small details, it would mean. “If I perceive myself as doing good deeds….” They would think, “All these good deeds were done because of my leadership! I am someone who can help others. You are the ones I have helped.“ We cannot lead others with such an attitude. If we feel “Those good deeds have been done all because of me,” we can easily become arrogant. We had Tzu chi volunteers from eight countries, or strictly speaking, volunteers from seven other countries who worked together with the local people. Thus people from eight countries were there. Everyone maintained the same aspiration, so they all worked together to do good with no sense of “me” and “you,” with no attachment to the appearances of self and others. Everyone was equal. Those from foreign countries were for the most part entrepreneurs, but among the local people, many were suffering from poverty. From the footage they sent back, we could see them going into houses to clean. The houses never had proper walls to begin with. We could see that the walls were made of straw. In some places you could even see through them. We could see that they were poor.
However, these wealthy people from abroad likewise got involved to help clean and went into their homes to comfort them, telling them, “We know hard it is for you!” If there were elderly people there, they likewise showed their respect. They had no views of self and others; all they had was love. To exercise the reverent love in our hearts, we follow a path that goes in the right direction and put it into practice like this by giving genuinely of ourselves.
So, we have sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness. We have faith in this teaching. We believe deeply that this is our Dharma-door, that this is our Dharma-lineage. We shoulder responsibility for this lineage by giving of ourselves to help others. We have sincerity, integrity and faith; we believe, so we are steadfast in giving. We are grounded as we steadfastly advance. The Bodhisattva-path begins from this, and we never deviate from it even slightly until we reach the state of Buddhahood. So, we actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions. We perfect the cause to obtain the fruit, which is the attainment of Buddhahood. This is why we learn from the Buddha.
So, at this time, we give in this way. “If I perceive myself as doing good deeds there should be no self that does evil deeds. Since we are there doing good deeds and we are giving without expectations, could there be a “self” that is doing evil deeds? Of course, there isn’t any! Now in this place, everyone is doing good deeds. If I “perceive my self as doing evil deeds, there should be no self that does good deeds”.
Indeed, if I am committing evil deeds, my mind will be filled with afflictions. How can this “self” whose mind is filled with afflictions possibly come together in harmony with everyone else? Whatever we see will displease us, so that we want to destroy it. Look at how the refugee crisis began. Who had been persecuting whom? This is truly unbearable suffering. When it comes to good and evil deeds, to self and others, how do we differentiate? It depends on our minds; if we have good thoughts, we naturally will get rid of our afflictions. If our minds are focused on good deeds, we will rid our mind or ignorance and attachment. There will not be any feeling of. “This is your business; it has nothing to do with me. It is a far-away country suffering disaster. Why should we take such pains to go there?” This is discriminating between self and others; it is breaking away from the love in human nature.
So, the love in our human nature makes no distinction between self and others. When disaster strikes people far away, our love extends universally across the land. Sentient beings are all like our own family. So, if we are moving toward good, then we naturally will be free of evil. Yet once our thoughts deviate and our minds become full of afflictions, if we try to teach others about doing good deeds, ah, how could they accept it? If they don’t accept it, how could they do them? If someone is indolent, no matter how much we tell them to be diligent, they will still remain indolent. They will never accept it. So, this is [the difference between] good and evil and between diligent and indolent. When it comes to doing good or evil, which direction should we take? As Buddhist practitioners, of course, we will strive to do good. So, we do not want to be “sentient beings who are deluded and cling to [the view of] self and other”. Because “they cling to phenomena, they give rise to delusion and perceive an existing self”. Only if we are deluded will we cling to and remain attached to phenomena. If, because of our physical bodies, we say, “I am tired” or “I am sick”, “I hurt” or “I am suffering so I need to rest, to take care of myself”, we will naturally let a lot of time pass. So, we need to be very mindful. In the world, love is what allows us to open up our hearts.
Let us look at the previous sutra passage. “Manjusri, after the Tathagata enters Parinirvana, in the era of Dharma-degeneration, those who wish to expound this sutra must abide in the practice of bringing peace and joy”.
We have talked about this before. The Buddha is calling out again to Manjusri. He had already explained to us before about the things we should avoid and the attitude we should have when we are facing difficulties. When we face difficulties with conditioned phenomena, we use unconditioned Dharma to deal with them. We must not let our minds get stuck on them; we must exercise both compassion and wisdom to overcome them. This means we must understand that after the Buddha enters Parinirvana, there will be many disasters in this turbid and evil world. This is what will test the compassion and wisdom of Bodhisattvas. To teach this sutra in an era of Dharma-degeneration like this, Bodhisattvas truly need to abide in practices of bringing peace and joy and open up their hearts.
So, the next passage says, “When they teach openly and when they study the sutra, they do not take joy in discussing the faults of other people or the sutras nor disparage any other Dharma teacher nor speak of others’ good points or bad points, strengths or weaknesses”.
Those who teach this sutra must have a demeanor like this. “When we teach openly”, when we teach the sutra, we should say nothing but positive things. Don’t we practice the Threefold Kindness? With our speech, we speak kind words. With our body, we do kind deeds. With our minds, we think kind thoughts. We must persevere in these. So, “Discussing the faults of other people or the sutras” is something we should not do. Some will ask about others, “What faults do they have?” Why must we always criticize people for their faults? “What is the shortcoming of this sutra, what faults does it have that can be criticized?” We should ask ourselves if we are like this. If we find ourselves speaking of another’s faults, we must carefully engage in contemplation. Reflecting on ourselves is better than having someone else point it out. If our thoughts and intentions are good, then when it comes to our speech, before we speak about the faults of others, we should hasten to reflect on ourselves. “What faults does this person have? What faults does this sutra have? Why, in our speech, would we want to talk about others’ faults?” So, we must hasten to only speak kind words.
When they teach openly: [They do not] discuss the faults of other people or the sutras. Question: What faults do people have? What faults do the sutras have? Answer: There are Great and Small Vehicle sutras and people of great and limited capabilities. The Buddha used vehicles suited to their capabilities according to what they cannot understand.
So, in this case we are able to answer, “There are Great and Small Vehicle sutras”. In criticizing the sutras one may say, “What you are talking about is incorrect! I am clearly teaching this sutra, how can you say I am incorrect? You only teach the Small Vehicle!” This is a criticism. In fact, we have always said that the Small Vehicle is fundamental for those wishing to learn Buddha’s teachings. Aren’t Hearers and Solitary Realizers Small Vehicle practitioners?
The Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths; if He had not, how could we recognize suffering? How could we understand that we must eliminate our afflictions? So, we cannot say the Small Vehicle is mistaken; it is just that the Buddha urged us to go further, telling us we should not stop there. We must not get to this point and then just seek to enter Nirvana. We should not get here and think that we already attained everything. It is not like that. We must go further. If we do not practice the Bodhisattva-path, how can we attain the state of Buddhahood? This is the only difference.
So, Great Vehicle practitioners should never criticize the Small Vehicle Dharma. The Dharma is fundamentally equal; it encourages us to move forward in our thinking, to open our minds, move forward in developing our state of mind so that we begin to benefit others, for only then do we truly benefit ourselves. So, when it comes to the faults of others, can we really criticize them? “People have great and limited capabilities.” Those whose capabilities are greater, those who are sharper, understand very quickly and can awaken to the Great Vehicle Dharma.
Actually, those with greater capabilities must also understand the Small Vehicle Dharma. They must understand self-cultivation, otherwise they may get ahead of themselves and lack the proper self-discipline. This will not do.
See how the Buddha, in the Lotus Sutra, also continually asked us to uphold the precepts. These disciplines and demeanors are very important as well, but ordinary people think, “If everything is empty, then why do I need to uphold the precepts? I am beyond that, I am undefiled and unattached.” This will lead to mistakes. If single thought goes astray, everything further will be mistaken. So, we must keep our feet firmly on the ground. We must not be a flying kite held with string; when the strings breaks, the kite has no way to come back to earth. This is not grounded, it is illusory. So, we must remember not to criticize the shortcomings of the sutras.
The sutras teach according to the situation. We must always start from primary school, from kindergarten, before reaching our master’s or doctorate degree. We must always proceed step by step. The vehicles “suit their capabilities according to what they can understand”. The vehicles are suited to different capabilities. The Buddha taught according to capabilities, otherwise, if one were to teach the Great Vehicle Dharma to those whose capabilities were limited, they would not be able to understand it. If they listen and only partially understand it, then they may easily do the wrong thing. So, we must proceed steadily and put effort into patiently guiding others. Otherwise, if we try to teach the Great Vehicle to those with limited capabilities, they will have no way to understand it. So, “The sutras have the fault of revealing the nature, abandoning the provisional and establishing the true”. It we were to suddenly abandon skillful means and try to teach the True Vehicle all at once, then we would not be correct in doing this. This is not correct. If we keep on criticizing [people], then that is even more incorrect. We should patiently guide them as well.
The sutras have the fault of revealing the nature, abandoning the provisional and establishing the true, as well as the fault of destroying appearances, concealing the true and opening the provisional. People have the fault of clinging to principles and lacking faith in gradual cultivation, as well as the fault of clinging to matters and lacking faith in immediate awakening.
The Great Vehicle Dharma is wonderful, but we must begin by training ourselves. We must know the Four Noble Truths and understand the Twelve Links before we can devote ourselves to the Six Perfections. We must proceed in this sequence, perfecting the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, realizing listening, contemplation and practice. We must go through this process. Otherwise, we may simply abandon the provisional and say that everyone has intrinsic Buddha-nature, that anyone can attain Buddhahood, so why even engage in spiritual practice? We all have the nature of True Suchness, so we can just skip directly to this true nature. Where is your nature of True Suchness? Where is it? We are lost ourselves, yet we still want to talk about True Suchness. This is mistaken.
This is “the fault of abandoning the provisional to establish the true”. We do not need to criticize others, but instead to earnestly guide them. “Destroying appearances and concealing the true” is “open the provisional”. Even if the True Dharma of the One Vehicle is not yet revealed, the Great Vehicle Dharma is nevertheless inseparable from people, matters and things. When it comes to the Bodhisattva-path, in Ecuador, in that place that is now experiencing suffering, if our Bodhisattvas had never gone there, if they had never mobilized those people there, the disaster area would remain a disaster, and the people suffering there would still be helpless. The Bodhisattva-path arises for the sake of suffering sentient beings. this is fundamentally how it is. If one were to cut off these affinities, then how could a Bodhisattva be called a Bodhisattva? The Bodhisattva Way has always been tied to going to experience sentient beings’ suffering. This is what it means to be a Bodhisattva, what it means to practice the Bodhisattva-path. If we severed all of [our affinities], then those people would just suffer [for nothing]. “Bodhisattva” would then just be a label. This would not be anything like a Bodhisattva. If we can go to experience this, then we will come to understand. So, we cannot say the provisional mistaken.
In fact, when we go there to help them, this path firm and grounded at each step. This is what we should mindfully seek to realize.
“People have the fault of clinging to principles and lacking faith in gradual cultivation.” This is what happens when we merely cling to principles but will not believe that our feet must be firmly planted on the ground as we undergo gradual cultivation. If we do not walk the path, we will never arrive. We must actually walk it. If we just say, “I will stick to my principles” or “I understand all of the principles” or “I know the principles, we may in fact understand the principles, but when we walk, what do we use to walk? We use our two feet. Our two feet are blessings and wisdom. We need the two feet of blessings and wisdom. we must cultivate both blessings and wisdom, for only Two-Footed Honored Ones with both blessings and wisdom can become Buddhas. Our process is to put the teachings into practice like this. Otherwise, if we only understand the principles, what use is that? So, we must gradually cultivate ourselves. We must believe in this. The path must be walked by people. We often say in Tzu Chi that the path we lay out is paved with love. We should be very mindful of this.
“The fault of clinging to matters and lacking faith in immediate awakening” means that if we only to some matter and say, “All that I need is to do this. Why do I still need to understand the Dharma?” this is not correct either! If we do not have the principles, then we will merely be clinging to matters. It will be easy for us to become lost. Not knowing the method, not knowing the principle, we will deviate from the right way. So, we should not merely cling to matters nor merely be attached to principles. This is what we must mindfully analyze.
“If nature and appearance are in harmony, then what fault could the sutras have?” If we are able to understand that everyone has the nature of True Suchness, then we cannot neglect external matters and appearances. We need to be able to bring external matters and appearances together with our nature of True Suchness. The principles are inseparable from human affairs. In whatever we do, we can never depart from the principles, never leave this path. These principles, this path, is what we use to be able to carry out matters. These two must be brought together as one. The Bodhisattvas spirit is to exercise the power of love and get involved in places in suffering. The principle is the same. After getting involved, when we complete our task, we are filled with Dharma-joy. These are the causes and conditions. This is the result; this is what happens.
If nature and appearance are in harmony, then what fault could the sutras have? Since matters and principles do not obstruct one another, then what fault could people have? If we say they have faults, we will bring afflictions and disturbances to those who listen. This is not the practice of bringing peace and joy with speech, so we must abstain from it.
So, “Since matters and principles do not obstruct one another, then what fault could people have?” “Since matters and principles do not obstruct one another,” then how can we go wrong when we do things? Why are those who do things so often criticized? Why should those who give of themselves to others have to suffer so much criticism? So, we need to be very mindful. If we bring matters together with principles, we need not be concerned with other’s criticism. When it comes to conditioned phenomena, we use unconditioned Dharma to understand them. If you criticize someone, that is your business. What we are doing is correct, so our minds are free and at ease. How can we be at fault if we do things like this? “If we say they have faults, we will bring afflictions and disturbances to those who listen.” If we speak of people’s “faults,” others may use this to maliciously slander them. They will start rumors that other people will listen to. This will cause afflictions on both sides. By saying things we should not say, by criticizing people’s mistakes, we disturb the people who hear and may cause doubts to arise in them. People will be influenced if we create conflicts with our speech. So, “We will bring afflictions and disturbances to those who listen”. This is a mistake. “This is not the practice of bringing peace and joy with speech, so we must abstain from it”. When we speak, if what we say disturbs people, this does not benefit us either. So, we should be cautious to abstain from creating karma of speech through criticizing others or causing conflicts. We need to abstain from this. Then we create peace and joy with our speech, so we are not afraid of making mistakes when we speak.
We should always be cautious when we speak so that we are not being critical of others. When others do things that are good, we should praise them. This too brings peace and joy through speech. The sutra passage says, “When they teach openly and when they study the sutras, they do not take joy in discussing the faults of other people or the sutras.” This is the principle. When they teach or study this sutra, they have no desire to discuss the faults of other people or the faults of the sutras. This is what the sutra says. We talked about this before. As we take action, we will experience so much. “Nor do we disparage any other Dharma teacher.” We never disparage other Dharma teachers. This means that we disparage or disrespect any other sutras or anyone who teaches the Dharma. We should never do this.
Nor disparage any other Dharma teacher: Also, they must not disparage or disrespect any of the other sutras or the teachers who expound the Dharma. This means that those who promote the sutra must not take the perfection of the Lotus Sutra [as a basis for] disparaging any Dharma teachers biased toward the provisional.
We were just talking about this. The sutras and people both are fault-free. When people want to engage in spiritual practice, they begin by taking their first steps through the Small Vehicle. If we have the affinities to be able to share with them, then when they form aspirations, they may be able to form great aspirations for entering the Great Vehicle Dharma. We need not criticize their way as incorrect.
In fact, all spiritual practice is correct. As long as one’s perspective does not become stuck so that one ends up only practicing for oneself, then there is nothing really incorrect. So, “This means that those who promote the sutra must not take the perfection of the Lotus Sutra [as a basis].” We should not brandish the fact that “I am listening to the Lotus Sutra. I understand so many principles.” If you understand so many principles, are you walking the path? Are you putting them into action? Have you really understood them? We should know this clearly about ourselves. We must know ourselves. We cannot just say that we have read the sutra, that we recite or that we listen to the sutra. That will make us arrogant; we must not do this.
Otherwise, we may easily “disparage any Dharma teachers who are biased toward the provisional.” There are some who practice like this. It will not do for us to belittle them either. So, the Buddha used different skillful means to patiently guide people and “assist the perfect and true right path”.
The Buddha used different skillful means to assist the perfect and true right path, so how can those who promote the sutra in the future disparage the provisional Small Vehicle teachings? They must follow the Buddha’s intent to preserve opportunities for all beings, so they must abstain from this.
The Buddha patiently guided them. He gradually and continually guided them through the limited teachings until their causes and conditions had matured. Then He told them, “You should not stop here. Ahead lies a great and broad path. You must walk it”. This is like what He told them in the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City. “This is only a conjured city where you can rest for a while. The true goal lies ahead. It is not far off now”. He led them stage by stage like this. “How can those who promote the sutra in the future disparage the provisional Small Vehicle teachings?” If we had not come this way, how would we have ever drawn near the great path? So, the Small Vehicle should not be disparaged. Thus, “We must follow the Buddha’s intent”. We need to comprehend that the Buddha’s intent was to preserve opportunities for all beings. “Beings” means sentient beings. We need to learn to protect sentient beings’ capabilities and their causes and conditions. Though their capabilities may be limited and their karmic conditions may have not ripened yet, when their causes and conditions have matured, that will be the right time for us to encourage them to dedicate themselves, to give of themselves, to experience this. So, it says, “nor speak of others’ good points or their bad points, strengths or weaknesses”.
Nor speak of others’ good points or their bad points, strengths or weaknesses: They do not praise or disparage or discuss the good points or bad points, strengths or weaknesses of ordinary people. They must not speak of others’ flaws. When we take form, there are two principles, our intrinsic nature, which is always perfect, and the emotions of our physical body, which always go astray.
We need not criticize others as to the correctness or strength of their teachings or to their shortcomings. We need not criticize them. “We should not discuss the good points or bad points of others.” Neither do we need to criticize “the strengths or weaknesses of ordinary people.” So, “They must not speak of others’ flaws. When we take form, there are two principles." When it comes to form, we need to know how to safeguard these principles, safeguard our discipline and etiquette, our “intrinsic nature,” our inherent nature, “which is always perfect." The intrinsic nature in each of us is inherently without any deficiencies. These principles have always been inherent in us.
So, “The emotions of our physical body always go astray.” As we use these physical bodies, as we use our lives to engage in spiritual practice like this, not everything we do will always be correct. Even though we all practice together in the same place of spiritual practice, not everyone always shares the same thinking, not everyone is equally diligent in practice and not everyone’s views are always correct. These are “the emotions of our physical bodies.” We have physical bodies, made of flesh and blood, that have life. Therefore, we have feelings, we are unenlightened beings. This does not necessarily mean being human [or that] “I am a spiritual practitioner, so everything that I do is correct."
So, this is what we should always try to experience and be mindful of. How do we live our lives? How do we make best use of this opportunity of being human? We must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)