Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Sentient Beings Are Tamed by Faith (眾生信伏 質直柔軟)
Date: February.15.2019
“Our minds must be upright, straightforward and free of any crooked thoughts, for the great Bodhi-path to enlightenment is straight. The innocent and genuine mind intrinsic to sentient beings is the Bodhi-path. Upon hearing the Dharma, sentient beings are tamed by faith, training their minds to become genuine, straightforward and gentle. A straightforward mind is a Bodhisattva’s pure land. In accordance with our will, we seek the Great Dharma with a gentle heart.”
We must be mindful and seek to realize and understand this. [In our discussions] every day, we never depart from “the mind”. If our spiritual practice departs from the mind, then there is no Dharma for us to discuss. We must fully discuss this mind of ours, because everything is created by the mind. In this world, we always come back to the mind, because our mind directs us in everything we do. But what is it we want to do? Whether what we do is good or evil, both good and evil begin in the mind. So, in learning the Buddha-Dharma, we must learn how we can train our mind to be straightforward and free of any crooked thoughts. We need to learn how to tame our mind to keep it straight upon the Bodhi-path. This is “training the mind to be straightforward.” If we train our mind well so that we move in the direction of the right path, in the direction of the Bodhi-path, then we naturally will have no crooked thoughts. We will not have any bent or crooked thoughts, no evil or deviant thoughts. So, in our spiritual practice and learning the Dharma, we must maintain an upright and straightforward mind. We need to straightforward our minds. This is our goal.
“The great Bodhi-path to enlightenment is straight.” Our goal is to find the path to enlightenment. When it comes to the word “Buddha.” “Buddha” means “enlightened one”. He is an enlightened person, so He is called the Great Enlightened One. He realized the principles of all matters and things in the universe. There is nothing He does not know, nothing He does not understand, nothing He has not awakened to. This is why He is called the Great Enlightened One. This is the direction we should pursue. So, only when our mind is “straightforward and free of any crooked thoughts” can we go directly forward upon this “great Bodhi-path to enlightenment [that] is straight.” When I first began teaching the Lotus Sutra, I took a long time in the beginning during which I kept explaining how “the great Bodhi-path is straight.” This was to help everyone clearly understand that this is the path of learning from the Buddha and the path to attain Buddhahood. So, “The innocent and genuine mind intrinsic to sentient beings” is “the Bodhi-path”. This is what the Buddha told us. Everyone has the intrinsic nature of True Suchness.
Our nature of True Suchness is the enlightened nature of the Buddha. We intrinsically possess it, but we have let it become lost. It seems like we are saying this every day. It is true! We say it and hear it every day, but when it comes to our deluded mind, is the intrinsic [nature] still there? Have we reduced our delusion and grown our awakening? Have we done this? If we are gradually alleviating our confusion, then we are beginning to awaken and understand what life is like. We hear this every day, “Alas, life is truly impermanent! Life is truly an illusion!” It is just that this impermanent illusion is longer for some and more brief for others. [Appearances] are extremely brief. For example, we do recitations every morning.
During our morning recitation, each line we recite of the sutras [shows us] the path to awakening. With our advanced modern technology, we project each sutra line on the wall, seeing it show forth and then disappear, line by line. Every morning we are sitting there reading and reciting [the sutras]. As soon as we have seen a line, [the projection] disappears. As soon as we have recited it, that [image] has already disappeared. We call this “the Dharma.” However, after reciting these sutra passages, do they remain in our hearts? How many lines do we remember? How many lines have we memorized? In our daily living, do the lines from the sutra, appear in our mind as we deal with people and matters, so we are able to use the lessons we have learned from those sutra lines? If not, then in the same manner, not only is the projection on the wall gone, even the memory in our mind has disappeared. Then our mind is just empty. How much [of this Dharma] can we apply? It is longer on our mind,
Every say for my lecture, I mindfully write down these lines, and some of you may use your cellphones and some of you may use your cellphones. Modern technology is so advanced that you can all keep a copy [of these passages] inside your cellphones. But even though we keep them in our phones, do we make use of them in our daily living? Whether we write them down or keep pictures of them in our cellphones, if we do not apply them, they will never converge with our nature of True Suchness. We say that we have always had this intrinsic, genuine mind, but are we able to directly connect with it? Whenever we listen to the Dharma, whether early in the morning or right now, the present moment is also impermanent; it just flashes by after we hear it, time passes and it is gone. How much of the Dharma have we really attained? Maybe our minds still remain empty.
However, when it comes to the habitual tendencies on our mind something that never goes away is our ignorance and afflictions. Our habitual tendencies are like this; we listen to the Dharma, but even after having listened to it, we go back to our old selves. This is why we are unenlightened beings. Have we reduce our afflictions and ignorance? If our habitual tendencies still remain, then we have not reduced our afflictions or grown our wisdom-life, because we have not applied what we heard in our daily living. Even though we listen for a very long time, we never apply the Dharma. “With each passing day, time is always passing. How much longer will we be here? We live each day thinking that there will be many more todays, but how much more time do we have, and how many more “todays” can we use? We should seize the present moment. Since we can listen to the Dharma, since we have the time and the karmic conditions to listen to it, shouldn’t we be carefully cherishing it? We must apply [the Dharma] in the present time. Right after this present moment, we must quickly eliminate our habitual tendencies [or at least] reduce them. If we can reduce our bad habitual tendencies, afflictions and ignorance like this, then we can increase our wisdom-life. If we can understand [the Dharma] a little more, use it in our daily living and commit it to memory, it will help grow our wisdom-life. This is “transforming consciousness into wisdom”. We transform our bad habitual tendencies and [false] knowledge into wisdom for our wisdom-life. If we can do this, then [we reveal] “the innocent and genuine mind” “intrinsic to sentient beings,” which is the Bodhi-path, also known as our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. We need to be very mindful and with an “upright and straightforward mind” return to “the Bodhi-path to enlightenment”. The Bodhi-path to enlightenment is inherent in us all, it is just that our afflictions and ignorance have been covering and hiding it. The Buddha came to the world to reveal to us and help us know that this ignorance of ours is covering our nature of True Suchness. He came to teach us how to mindfully eliminate ignorance and afflictions, so that we can return to our genuine mind and return to our Bodhi-path. This was the Buddha’s goal in coming to the world, so we should make use of [His teaching].
With this intention, the Buddha came for the one great cause of revealing His understanding and views to sentient beings. He hoped that “upon hearing the Dharma, sentient beings would be tamed by faith. Sentient beings need to listen to the Dharma, for only through listening can we have faith and be able to tame our afflictions. The seeds of afflictions are constantly growing inside of us. They are growing constantly, and as our afflictions keep growing, our wisdom-life keeps getting shorter. So, we must listen to the Dharma and after listening, quickly [tame our minds] after listening, quickly [tame our minds]. We believe in the Buddha-Dharma. We should believe in the Dharma when we hear it, for only by believing in it can we find ways to tame our mind’s afflicitons. Otherwise, when it comes to afflictions, throughout this lifetime of ours, our afflictions will keep increasing over time. As people, matters and things keep arising due to our afflictions, when interacting with others, we keep creating negatice causes and affinities.
On the other hadn, after listening to the Dharma, if we turn negatice affinities into good ones, we will then know that we must not create any more negative affinities. When we take a step back, the world opens up; the more we give of ourselves, the more we grow our good affinities. We must seize the present moments to use our lives to develop positive affinities and no longer create negative affinities with other people. When it comes to giving, there is so much suffering among sentient beings. so, we willingly go among people, to find ways to guide others in life and gather our strength together to relieve the suffering of others. This is what we do in the world among people, matters and things. After we listen to the Dharma, if we can do this with others, then we will be “tamed by faith”. When we listen to the Dharma and have faith in it, we can tame our own ignorance and afflictions. We can eliminate them, keep reducing them and keep taking the Dharma we hear to heart. Since we deeply believe in the Buddha-Dharma, when we hear [the Dharma], we must use it in our daily living. When afflictions manifest, we should quickly transform them, turning afflictions into Bodhi and evil into good. This is the most important thing in listening to the Dharma. So, we “train our minds to become genuine, straightforward and gentle”. We tame our mind, and earnestly and quickly adjust our habitual tendencies. We now adjust and straighten out the thoughts that were crooked or twisted. With an upright and straightforward mind, we accept the Buddha-Dharma. We listen, believe in and verify the Dharma. We must have faith in the right thing and go among people to just do it. When we are among people, we need an open heart. We need a broad and open heart, a soft and gentle heart, to face sentient beings. Do we remember how “Great compassion is the room” and “Gentleness and patience are the clothing”? We already understood both of these. With great loving-kindness, we cannot bear to see sentient beings suffering from afflictions and ignorance. What about great compassion? “We feel others’ pain and suffering as our own”. The willingness to help is great compassion. We need great compassion when among others, and we also need a gentle heart. To create good affinities with everyone, we must be gentle in our attitude. If we want people to joyfully draw near to us, then our attitude must be amiable when among them. This requires that we adjust ourselves. Everyone has the nature of True Suchness that is not defiled by evil habitual tendencies; it is inherently pure and gentle.
When people see this in us they rejoice! This requires adjusting [our mind to be] gentle. “A straightforward mind is a Bodhisattva’s pure land”. If we all wish to reach the state of Buddhahood, we must be sure to put effort into mindfully “actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions”. To “actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions”, we need to find ways to bring harmony to people as we go among them and help them with their difficulties. Some have unresolvable difficulties such as psychological problems, some have difficulties that they lack the strength to overcome, and some face difficulties that are truly impossible to overcome in this world. When there are so many difficulties, how much help can we give? The strength of one person is not enough, so we must go among people, so that everyone will share our aspiration. Moreover, our aspiration is that of a Bodhisattva. The direction of a Bodhisattva’s aspiration is the Bodhi-path, the Bodhi-path to enlightenment. So, we hope that everyone will share the same direction as us and walk on the Bodhisattva-path, in the direction of the great Bodhi-path toward awakening. Then there will be many people that “actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions”.
For example, in Mexico, [our volunteers] exercise [their abilities] in recruiting many people to become Bodhisattvas. This is because in Mexico, on September 19, [2017], a great earthquake rocked the earth, causing instant destruction. In that country, this changed people’s lives in an instant; heaven became hell. People were suffering! People were wailing in grief. From that day on, Tzu Chi volunteers started coming from everywhere. Tzu Chi volunteers from four or five countries went to that country so that they could draw near to those people. Originally, they did not know anyone or have connections with anyone there. They had no affinities there at all. Yet, because people were suffering there and “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings”, that group of Bodhisattva willingly went there to dedicate themselves. This intention and willingness to dedicate themselves like this is called a “genuine and straightforward mind”. “I have formed Bodhisattva-aspiration, so I must practice the Bodhisattva-path with a sincere and genuine mind. Bodhisattva arise because of suffering sentient beings”. This is the goal of Bodhisattvas, so [these volunteers] willingly went. When they arrived there, they stood upon the devastated land in the hardest-hit disaster areas, surrounded by people in suffering. It was under those circumstances that they went to tell everyone, “Everyone come”! The locals heard the appeal of the volunteers. “The Tzu Chi volunteers are here!” When they came out [to help], they were moved!
In that place, they all treated our volunteers like family. They would come on their own and embrace the Tzu Chi volunteers. In that place, a vast area had been affected by the disaster. One of the victims was still unable to leave the trauma behind. She had lost touch with reality. Her family was also very worried about her and was trying to find ways to help her. A Tzu Chi volunteer named Liang Dai, after heart about her from the locals, approached her. [The woman] was a teacher, but what happened to her family traumatized her so much that she had lost touch with reality. Liang Dai approached her and led her out, telling here, “Follow me as a volunteer”. “Would that be ok?” So, the woman followed her around. After volunteering for several days, she came out of her daze. She became a volunteer herself and began wearing the volunteer vest. Because she was a teacher there, [she could help us find people’s location]. When someone told us, “Such and such family is in a terrible state”, as we looked for that specific household, since there could be three or four households in one single unit, how could we locate them? She was a teacher, so by looking at the names and seeing the number, she could guide us where to go. She knew by the names where each house was, so that made everything very easy. She turned a difficult task into an easy one, so everything went very smoothly. So, those Bodhisattvas dedicated themselves among the people there with genuine and gentle minds.
As we originally did not know anyone there, how could we give with compassion and joy? Even if we wanted to give with compassion and joy, we did not have the karmic conditions to do so. Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings. Therefore, we had to go there. Since we clearly knew how much they were suffering there, people with the hearts of Bodhisattvas had to go to help those suffering sentient beings there. Yet, how could we form the affinities to do so? from not knowing anyone, we kept working until we had recruited a large group of volunteers there; the streets were full of people wearing [Tzu Chi] volunteers vests. Furthermore, we have been training them to have the demeanor of volunteers and to practice gratitude to give without expecting anything in return and practice gratitude, respect and love. These are the spirit and ideals that we are trying to implement there.
So, their minds are genuine, straightforward and gentle. Tzu Chi volunteers seized the karmic conditions. While being among people who are suffering, they can find ways to train volunteers. They have cultivated a group of local seeds to be “genuine, straightforward and gentle”. “Great compassion is the room and patient and gentleness are the clothing”. This is how they learn to wear the volunteer vests and prepare to dedicate themselves there. They begin exercising their ability to help others. There is clearly much suffering in the world, so how do Bodhisattvas go among people in order to transform sentient beings? This is the way that they do it I have a great deal of admiration for those Bodhisattvas there, for their minds are so genuine, straightforward and gentle. These people rejoice when encountering Tzu Chi. This is due to their causes and conditions. They dedicate themselves fully with sincerity.
In sum, “They are genuine and straightforward, and their hearts have become gentle. This is a Bodhisattva’s heart. “A straightforward mind is a Bodhisattva’s pure land. Through the disaster in that place was so major and so severe, they transformed themselves through the power of their minds. They have all become unhindered and resolved their afflictions. With a joyful, genuine and straightforward mind, they dedicate themselves among people. So, “in accordance with our will, we seek the Great Dharma with a gentle heart. In accordance with our will means that through our spiritual power, we can always remain very joyful, for this is something that pleases us, accords with our will and brings harmony to our mind. Although we may be very capable, we have now become very gentle and willing to seek the Great Dharma.
What are the truths of the Buddha-Dharma? When we interact with people, how can we practice “universal compassion”? By having unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion, we learn to feel the suffering of others as our own suffering. We understand others’ suffering through our own. This requires great mindfulness. Living Bodhisattvas of this world need to give of themselves by going among people. So, we must mindfully seek to realize this.
We should try to remember the previous passages. The precious sutra passage says, “At that time, the World-Honored One wishing to restate His meaning, spoke in verse”. He said, “Since I attained Buddhahood, the kalpas that have passed number in the countless trillions of asankyas”.
This means it had already been a very long time. It had been such a long time that it was impossible for them to believe. The Buddha used analogies and so forth in order to tell us this, but He wanted to emphasize once more that the Buddha had been coming and going in the world for a very long time.
I constantly expound the Dharma to teach and transform countless billions of sentient beings, enabling them to enter the path to Buddhahood. Throughout these infinite kalpas, for the sake of delivering sentient beings, I manifest Parinirvana as skillful means. However, in truth, I never enter Parinirvana but permanently abide here to teach the Dharma.
“I constantly expound the Dharma to teach and transform. He came to the world to teach the Dharma and transform all so that “countless billions of sentient beings” are “enabled to enter the path to Buddhahood”. He taught so many Bodhisattvas, guiding them all to enter the path to Buddhahood. Isn’t the same happening in Mexico? They are helping so many people there to understand that the Buddha-Dharma is in the world and that they can practice to become Bodhisattvas. They “enable them to enter the path to Buddhahood.” They help them begin to understand that the Buddha’s teachings are in the world and that the principles of His teachings are for us to go among people.
So, “throughout these infinite kalpas means that it has been a very, very long time. The spirit and ideals of the Buddha-Dharma have been around for a very long time. “For the sake of delivering sentient beings. I manifest Parinirvana as skillful means.” In order to deliver sentient beings, the Buddha repeatedly comes and goes in the world for the one great cause to open and reveal His understanding and vires. It is for the sake of this goal that He always comes here to expound the Dharma. “However, in truth, I enter Parinirvana.” Actually, He will always be coming back just like that doctor, that father. He often leaves home to go to other places, but he always comes home again. So, he repeatedly comes and goes. [I] permanently abide here to teach the Dharma. This is what it says in the previous passage.
Following that, [the Buddha] continued “I able permanently here, but using my various spiritual powers, I make it so that deluded sentient beings do not see me even though I am near.
In the passage, [the Buddha] is saying, “I am always here, because. I have left the medicine here. He has left the Buddha-Dharma for us here. I am leave for a bit, but I will return again.” This is what He does. So, “I abide permanently here, using my various spiritual powers. He repeatedly comes and goes like this.
I abide permanently here, using my various spiritual powers: The Buddha’s Dharmakaya abide permanently in the world. He has compassion for sentient beings. Why is it that they cannot see the Buddha or hear the Dharma? This is the reason He uses. His various spiritual powers and skillful means.
The Buddha-Dharma, the Buddha’s Dharmakaya, permanently in the world. His principles always remain here like this. So, He “abides permanently” means that the Buddha’s Dharmakaya abides permanently in the world. “He has compassion for sentient beings. Why is it that they cannot see the Buddha. Why can’t they hear the Dharma? He has always come and gone in the world, and the Dharma has always remained in the world. So, if the Buddha remains in the world, why can’t they see the Buddha or hear the Dharma?
So, this is truly very unfortunate. We often talked about how in a small city, a third of the population saw the Buddha and heard the Dharma. Another third of the population only heard of the Buddha, but they never saw Him. They heard of the Buddha’s name, not to mention seeing the Buddha in person. There were another 30,000 people in that city who never even heard of the Buddha’s name. So, how could they have ever seen the Buddha? How could they have ever heard the Dharma? There was just no way. Even in such a small city, only a third of the population ever saw the Buddha or heard the Dharma. We can see how even when the Buddha was alive, there were people who did not want to see Him or hear the Buddha-Dharma. [That was the case] even in such a small place, not to mention in the great big world. So, the Buddha must keep coming to the world through His spiritual powers. With His spiritual powers, He can return quickly. The human lifespan is brief, so He was soon to depart. This is how He responds to the world by coming and going. This is like how Bodhisattvas, if they are not in a hurry, can take cars etc. If they are needed in a hurry, then they can take airplanes. They can arrive quickly in airplanes. This depends on our means of transportation.
Do you still remember? There were the sheep-cart, deer-cart and the great white ox-cart. It depends on the cart we take, our means of transportation. Flying in an airplane is like using spiritual powers. This is the Great Vehicle Dharma. If we practice all kinds of teachings, then we can grasp the Dharma very quickly. So, “He is able to respond to conditions and guide sentient beings onto the right path”.
I make it so that deluded sentient beings do not see me even though I am near: He is able to respond to conditions and guide sentient beings onto the right path. The Tathagata, the World-Honored One, with His understanding and views, made great vows to deliver sentient beings, so He is fully endowed with a virtuous appearance. It is only because people get lost in confusion and give rise to deluded thoughts that, even if they live at the same time as the Buddha and are close to Him, despite being nearby, do not see Him.
To help those deluded sentient beings become able to draw near to Him, the Buddha truly had to apply methods to respond to sentient beings’ conditions. If their conditions had not yet matured, then He had to wait patiently and time after time respond to their conditions to guide them onto the right path like this. This is what it was like 42 years earlier. He had to begin by patiently guiding them. It was only 42 years later that He could quickly use the Lotus Sutra, the Great Vehicle Dharma, the One True Vehicle Dharma, to transform and deliver them. The principle is the same. So, the Buddha has always intended to reveal His understanding and views to sentient beings. Thus, He uses His wisdom, understanding and views when He comes to the world. The Buddha has His understanding and views. He comprehends sentient beings’ capabilities, their understanding and views, so He comes to the world. He comes to this world responding to the Dharma of Suchness. Having made great vows to deliver sentient beings, He is fully replete with a virtuous appearance and comes to this world responding to conditions. Depending on the affinities he has with sentient beings, the Buddha manifests according to that time to respond to and deliver sentient beings.
So, [all He does] is for deluded sentient beings, who are all distorted. Sentient beings have given rise to so many delusions, afflictions and illusions; they are numerous. “Even if” people lived in the same era as the Buddha, even if they were close to the Buddha, they never thought of coming to see the Buddha. There are also many stories like this from the Buddha’s lifetime. The most famous is that about the poor old woman. Although she was so close to the Buddha, she had no affinities with Him and was unwilling [to meet Him]. There are many people like this “who do not see [Him] even when nearby”.
Sentient beings have lost their original mind and are deluded, so they do not want to see the Buddha or hear Right Dharma. This is like how the sun and moon shine brightly, yet the blind cannot see this. This is the fault of those who do not see. It is not the fault of the sun and moon. “Sentient beings have lost their original mind and are deluded, so they do not want to see the Buddha.”
They naturally never think of seeing the Buddha, for their minds have become deluded. They are just like the doctor’s children who did not want to take their medicine because they had lost their minds. They do not want to see Him. People like this do not want to see the Buddha. So, they “do not want to hear Right Dharma”. They do not want to listen to Right Dharma. “It is like how the sun and moon shine brightly, yet the blind cannot see this”. The sun and the moon are always shining. It is the earth that is revolving. The moon and sun are always there. It is we sentient beings who are revolving. It is not the sun and the moon that disappear! “The blind cannot see this.” They are blind. This is the fault of those who do not see. It is not the fault of the sun and the moon. This is what we must seek to understand. The doctor had prescribed medicine, and after the doctor had gone, the children were told, “Your father is no longer here; he had died.” So, he used this as skillful means, because the children were unwilling to take the medicine. He had to use these skillful means. So, there is no fault in using skillful means. In this way, the Buddha further wished to express His intent.
Continuing on, [He] further said, “When people see me enter Parinirvana, they make extensive offerings to my sariras. They all feel admiration and thus give rise to yearning. Sentient beings, then tamed by faith, become genuine, straightforward and gentle. They single-mindedly wish to see the Buddha and are willing to give their lives.”
We must again mindfully seek to understand this passage. Everyone at the assembly heard Him saying that He was about to enter Parinirvana. Everyone could see that the Buddha was already old and the day He would enter Parinirvana was near. This is what the Buddha had told them, so everyone was vigilant in their minds. It was not until after the Buddha had entered Parinirvana that sentient beings cherished Him even more. By the time they wanted to draw near the Buddha, the Buddha was no longer there. In this way, they gave rise to reverence and wanted to make offerings to His sariras.
When people see me enter Parinirvana, they make extensive offerings to my sariras: This illustrates how sentient beings give rise to reverence and admiration because this resonates with their capabilities. Upon seeing the physical body of the Tathagata enter Parinirvana, they make extensive offerings to His sariras.
This is how sentient beings express their reverence and admiration, “because this resonates with their capabilities”. Only when the Buddha was no longer there did the sentient beings’ capabilities begin to awaken. Such is the foolishness of sentient beings; they only pursue Him after He is gone. The only way they could seek Him then was by making offerings to the Buddha’s sariras. In this way, only “upon seeing the physical body of the Tathagata enter Parinirvana” do they begin making offerings. Sentient beings are deluded like this. Only after He is gone do they want to pursue Him and talk about making offerings. So, “They all feel admiration and thus give rise to yearning”.
They all feel admiration and thus give rise to yearning: When the Buddha appears to enter Parinirvana, they all feel admiration and they all give rise to yearning. Their hearts become gentle; they patiently endure suffering and advance diligently, wishing to see the Tathagata.
At that moment, they gave rise to admiration. They wanted to commemorate the Buddha. At this moment, everyone wished to draw near to the Buddha, but He was already gone. So, they could only yearn for and admire the Buddha in their memories. The Buddha was gone. They ordinarily never thought to draw near to Him. Only when He was gone did they commemorate Him through memories. So, “Every single sentient being gives rise to yearning.” Only then did they begin to commemorate Him. “Their hearts became gentle.” Their hearts naturally became tame and “they patiently endured suffering.” Look at people nowadays who go for pilgrimages. Nowadays, when they want to make a pilgrimage, they are willing to walk however far away. A long time ago, when the Buddha was there in that place, did many people often go to see Him? Not necessarily! Even if they drew near to Him, they did not have a deep yearning and admiration in their hearts. They thought that His being there was normal. Now they all come from afar, wanting to make a pilgrimage to Him. They think that this hardship would bring merits and virtues.
This is how sentient beings are. So, “They patiently endure suffering and advance diligently, wishing to see the Tathagata.”
They become very reverent and really want to go see the Buddha. So, “Sentient beings, then tamed by faith, become genuine, straightforward and gentle.”
Sentient beings, then tamed by faith, become genuine, straightforward and gentle: When sentient beings give rise to deep faith and tame themselves, their minds become genuine, upright, straightforward and gentle.
Their minds all become so obedient that they all want to go there with reverence in their hearts, saying, “I want to go and make a pilgrimage.” This is the attitude by which they seek the Dharma. Are their hearts really genuine in this pursuit? We are now in the era of Dharma-degeneration. Even statues from the era of the Buddha-Dharma have already been destroyed, so what [remains] in the present era? People only think, “I am so reverent and have gained merits and virtues by making a pilgrimage.” Perhaps this is how people think. People nowadays only seek something when it is already too late. So, “Sentient beings, then tamed by faith, become genuine, straightforward and gentle.” It is best that they are tamed like this, for when tamed, their minds become genuine. Do we still have bent or crooked thoughts? Are we genuinely learning the Buddha-Dharma? Do we have genuine faith in the Dharma? We should tame our own mind so that it becomes genuine, straightforward and gentle and we can change our temperament. We must earnestly make our minds gentle to engage in spiritual practice. Sentient beings are like this. Since they have given rise to profound faith, they must also use a genuine and upright mind and a gentle heart to tame themselves. This is the only way. So, “They single-mindedly wish to see the Buddha and are willing to give their lives.” This is how reverent they are, so “single-minded and joyful in wishing to see the Tathagata.” They joyfully wish to see the Tathagata.
They single-mindedly wish to see the Buddha and are willing to give their lives: Single-mindedly and joyfully, they wish to see the Tathagata, letting go of their lives and property without holding anything back at all.
Actually we need not go far to seek the Buddha on Vulture Peak, for Vulture Peak is in our mind. If we earnestly tame our mind, then we will see the Buddha in our own nature. We must see the Buddha in our own nature, tame our mind and help it becomes gentle. This is the true direction for our spiritual practice. We need faith, deep faith, and we need to put effort into being mindful. So, we should seize every single moment and never waste a second of time. We must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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