Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Parable of the Doctor-Father and His Sons (醫父喻佛 子喻三乘)
Date: February.26.2019
“The doctor-father is an analogy for the Tathagata. His sons are an analogy for the Three Vehicle practitioners. His sons, out of ignorance, drink another, poisonous, medicine, and they become delirious. Their father devises skillful means to help them take the wonderful medicine to cure their ailments. They represent Three Vehicle practitioners, who faithfully accept the provisional teachings but do not reach the right path. The Tathagata devises skillful means to help them take the Dharma-medicine of the Great Vehicle. This can swiftly rid them of suffering and afflictions so they will no longer have any ailments.”
We must mindfully seek to comprehend this. In this rather long section from the Chapter on the Buddha’s Lifespan, [the Buddha] uses the analogy of the relationship between the doctor-father and his children. The children’s father is a doctor.
This doctor is very famous, and many people in faraway lands desperately need this doctor to treat them. So, the doctor often travels to other places. He has children at home. These children know that their father is a famous doctor. Yet, once their father leaves, they take another medicine for a while, slowly poisoning their bodies as well as their minds. Their father is no longer home. The children’s bodies are wracked by the encroaching effects of the poisonous medicine. Some of them start to realize, “If our father were home, he would save us from our bodily ailments, and we would suffer no longer.” When their father finally returns, the children are very happy. They welcome their father’s return, kneeling before him to pay their respects, and with such etiquette, they ask their father, “Father, when you were away, we took another medicine. We have been poisoned. Father, please cure us! Please save us!” When their father discovers this, he makes a diagnosis and prescribes some medicine for them. Those who are slightly poisoned realize they must cherish the medicine their father prescribed for them, and they take it immediately.
Those who are severely poisoned are deluded. They are happy to see their father return, but they do not want to take the medicine that their father prescribed for them right away. They still have some doubts in their minds. So, the deluded ones remain confused. The father sees what state his children are in and feels very helpless. He diagnoses their ailments accurately and prescribes and prepares all the medicine they need. He then needs to leave again to go abroad. He tells his children, “I have to leave again. You must remember that whenever you feel sick, you must take the medicine I prepared for you. For whatever illness you have, you must quickly take the right medicine.” After imparting these instructions, their father leaves.
Although the children understand him, [some] are not diligent about taking their medicine on time or even refuse to take it at all. Their father feels very helpless about this. He has no choice but to use skillful means. He instructs a messenger, “Go to my home and tell my children that I have died somewhere far away, and that I will never return.” This messenger carries out the doctor’s instructions. He really does go and tell these children, “Your father died in a faraway land. He will never return. For those of you who are ill, you must take the medicine as your father prescribed.” When the children learn this, they finally start to truly appreciate the time when their father was home and how safe they felt then. They think about how whenever they fell ill, their father would always cure them, but they never appreciated this before. Now that their father has died far from home and will never come back again, they give rise to deep appreciation for him. Their bodies being ill, they naturally recall their father’s instructions about how to cure their ailments by taking this medicine.
This doctor-father is an analogy for the Tathagata. Sakyamuni Buddha came to this world lifetime after lifetime in response to karmic conditions, seeking to bring all sentient beings to fruition. Only sentient beings who have affinities [with Him] and light karma, that is, deeper affinities and less karma, quickly accept the Buddha’s assistance. As for those who have shallow affinities and severe karma, though they might know of the Buddha and acknowledge Him, they still fail to earnestly listen to the Dharma, let alone practice according to His teachings. These sentient beings with many karmic obstacles are unable to draw near the Buddha’s teachings. This is like how Three Vehicle practitioners are divided in terms of their capabilities. They are represented by “His sons,” who, “out of ignorance drink another, poisonous, medicine and become delirious.” The ignorance of these children represents their shallow affinities, sever karma and numerous obstructions. They obstruct their own minds and obstruct themselves from diligently advancing along the path. They are obstructing themselves. This is represented by “drinking another, poisonous, medicine.” They have accumulated [karma] in the past. They are lost and deluded. Greed, anger, ignorance and so on have severely poisoned them. This is the meaning of “drinking another, poisonous, medicine.” They are delirious, so their father has no choice but to “devise skillful means.” Their father prepares a good method of treatment and leaves home. This is like how the Buddha left His teachings behind in the world, one by one. He also revealed that He would enter Parinirvana. Entering Parinirvana means entering cessation.
Since He has entered cessation, it will be a very long time before the Buddha appears in the world again. However, the Buddha-Dharma will abide in this world forever. The Buddha-Dharma is the Buddha’s Dharmakaya. The Buddha’s Nirmanakaya manifested in the world according to that particular time. That time was over 2000 years ago. During that time, in that place, among those people and with His parents, the causes and conditions were ripe for Him to be born there. With this body, in that place, He came journeying upon the Buddha-Dharma in response to causes and conditions to tranform people in this world.
This is how He comes [to this world]. When His affinities run out, His Nirmanakaya enters cessation. He comes bringing the Dharma, journeying upon the Dharma of Suchness. The Dharma remains in the world, but His body enters Parinirvana. So, the skillful means devised by the father represent the teachings left behind by the Buddha. This is the method He uses, leaving these teachings behind in this world.
He “help them take the wonderful medicine.” The father instructs [his children], “You must take this medicine. If you take it, it will completely eliminate your ailments. Once your ailments are eliminated, you will make a full recovery.” This is like how when the Buddha was about to leave, He had already clearly delineated the different medicines. At the Vulture Peak Assembly, He had already explained the teachings of the Small, Middle and Great Vehicle one by one, clearly delineating them all. He said that 42 years ago, back when He first attained Buddhahood and enlightenment, He had but one thought in His mind, which was that all sentient beings intrinsically have Buddha-nature. He was overjoyed to discover that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. This was such great news that.
He wanted to quickly proclaim this to everyone. But unfortunately, upon observing sentient beings’ capabilities, He found that they were deeply confused. They had accumulated many lifetimes’ worth of greed, anger, ignorance, doubt and arrogance. These Five Poisons had already contaminated their minds. Throughout many lifetimes, their consciousnesses had ceaselessly accumulated turbidities. These poisons, these poisonous turbidities, had already left them severely poisoned. He wanted to tell them all, “Everyone intrinsically had Buddha-nature,” but at that time, no one would listen, and no one would be able to comprehend this.
If we let people who refuse to listen and fail to understand hear the True Dharma, not only are they unable to make use of it, they will even turn around and slander the Buddha and the Dharma. By slandering the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, they will create severe negative karma. So, [the Buddha] had do devise [skillful] means to enable everyone to faithfully accept the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. He had to help them understand the Dharma clearly and willing take it to heart so that they would be able to gradually nourish, cleanse and purify their minds. Only then would they be able to truly accept this True Dharma of the One Great Vehicle. This refers to the Buddha’s initial thought upon attaining enlightenment, which He continued to keep in mind. 42 years later, He had grown old, so He had no choice but to teach the Great Vehicle, the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. He also saw that His disciples’ capabilities were just about right. So, He began to turn the Dharma-wheel; He turned the great Dharma-wheel on Vulture Peak.
He clarified for everyone that the Agama [teachings] in the past were aimed at a certain level of capabilities. Then came the Vaipulya [teachings].
Next came the Prajna [teachings]. Then came the Lotus [teachings], where He returned to the Avatamsaka [teachings] that He gave first upon attaining enlightenment. He followed this sequence in order to help us return to our nature of True Suchness, that initial enlightenment, the Avatamsaka state. But we have to go through the Lotus [teachings] and walk the Bodhisattva-path to be able to return to our nature of True Suchness.
This is “the Dharma-medicine of the Great Vehicle”. Because we have spent so many lifetimes languishing amidst these severe turbidities, we are severely poisoned. This is accumulated throughout many lifetimes. In this lifetime, the Buddha hopes that we will listen to the Buddha-Dharma with urgency, take it to heart with urgency and eliminate our afflictions and ignorance. Thus, “This can swiftly rid them of suffering and afflictions”. [The Dharma] helps us understand suffering. Suffering comes from “causation”.
Since we know “causation” works like this, causing us to accumulate all kinds of suffering, we should seek the Dharma with even more urgency. We must make vows to attain Buddhahood. So, we must vow to learn [infinite Dharma-doors], “vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood” and urgently eliminate our afflictions so that we will no longer have so many obstructions afflicting our minds. We must mindfully seek to comprehend this. The Three Vehicle practitioners faithfully accepted the provisional teachings in the past. But in our time, we must urgently turn toward the right path. The right path is the Bodhisattva-path. This is also how the Tathagata patiently guides us. He slowly guides us along like this, leading us to the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. This is what we must put into practice. In this lifetime, we must urgently sow these seeds, pave this path and make it level so that in future lifetimes, we will continue to form good connections.
“The Tathagata devises skillful means to help them take the Dharma-medicine of the Great Vehicle”. He has already made good preparations for us to help us understand the Great Vehicle Dharma. We understand it, so we must put it to use. We cannot be like these children who have lost their original mind. We need to wake up right away and take this Dharma-medicine. Only then will we able to quickly eliminate our afflictions so that we will no longer face any obstructions. This should be very clear. I have already shared this with everyone.
Let us take a look at the previous sutra passage, [in which the Buddha said], “For this group, I may teach them that the Buddha’s lifespan is infinite. For those who take long to see Buddha, I teach them that it is rare to encounter the Buddha. This is the power of my wisdom; the light of my wisdom illuminates infinitely. My lifespan extends over countless kalpas. This is only attained through long cultivation”.
We must be very mindful here. The Buddha has already made it very clear to us that His lifespan is, in fact, infinite. He can remain in this world for a very long time. It is just that He [chooses to] conform to the [human lifespan]. Thus, at the age of 80, He entered Parinirvana, for the [human lifespan] lasts about this long.
At that time, the Buddha said to Ananda, “I can abide in this world for as long as a kalpa. This is a very long time”. However, at that time, Ananda did not request the Buddha to remain in the world. Due to sentient beings’ way of life and their karmic forces, the Buddha could not remain in the world for long. This was due to sentient beings’ collective karma, to their way of life and mindset. So, the Buddha announced that He would enter Parinirvana. He started to say, “Before long, I will enter Parinirvana”. The Buddha’s lifespan is inherently infinite. The Buddha’s lifespan is inherently infinite. So now, when we talk about the Buddha’s lifespan, we also need to have faith that His lifespan is infinite, for so long as the Dharma is here, the Buddha is alive in the world. Whenever we make use of the Dharma He taught, the Buddha is in our hearts. So long as the Dharma is in our hearts, the Buddha will be in our hearts. We must use the Dharma to nourish our roots of wisdom. We must constantly seek the Dharma, constantly take it to heart and engrave it in our minds. We must “transform consciousness into wisdom”. We must constantly grow in wisdom. Wherever we go in the future, we must not depend upon what we have sown in our karmic consciousness; rather, we must depend on our discerning and impartial wisdom. [We need both] discerning and impartial wisdom. We must rely on our discerning wisdom. In terms of discerning wisdom, we have the wisdom of all Dharma as well as “all-accomplishing wisdom”. We also have “universal equality wisdom” and “profound discerning wisdom”. So, if we can transform our consciousness, we return to our “great perfect mirror wisdom”. This is not really that hard to do. We only need to take the Buddha-Dharma to heart in our everyday lives and apply the Dharma in every matter we encounter. This is “profound discerning wisdom”. We must accomplish [the transformation of our first Five Consciousness] with which we perceive in the world into “all-accomplishing wisdom”, which we then transform into “profound discerning wisdom” returning to the interconnectedness of our lives. Our life is not our own. This life is not just about us as individuals. Our life comes from the world, our parents, sentient beings and the Buddha’s teachings on the Three Treasures. As soon as we are born, we [breath in] the air. Our parents give use the chance to [breathe in] this air. We also need this earth to live on. With fresh air, [we can grow] crops on this earth to provide for our material needs. How can we live without the contributions of all people and sentient beings? We cannot. All these materials that people contribute are provided to sustain us. We have received the teachings through the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. In the Buddha’s wisdom, He has left us the Dharma.
The next thing is to become a monastic. Once we become a monastic, we can focus our minds on taking up the mission to pass down the Buddha-Dharma. This is all accomplished with the help of the totality of all living beings. In the course of our lives alone in this world, we must go through so much to grow our wisdom-life. Since it is the totality of all life that enables us to accomplish this, we must repay all sentient beings in the world. Our lives are not just about us as individuals or a story about ourselves. If we were to depend on ourselves alone, we would not survive; we need to rely on [other] people and resources in order to survive in the world and to have the causes and conditions to enter the Buddha-Dharma. As we realize the life is about universal equality wisdom, we must return to the true principles of the interconnectedness of all life.
So, we must give our lives back to the sentient beings of this world. We must go out to serve others. These teachings are so on point. The Buddha hopes that we will walk the Bodhisattva-path within the spiritual training ground of the Lotus [teachings]. So, as long as the Dharma is here, the Buddha-Dharma is here. This is the Buddha’s lifespan. The Buddha-Dharma is the Buddha’s lifespan. The more we apply the Buddha-Dharma, the more the Buddha’s life will thrive in the world; thus, His lifespan is everlasting. However, if we do not earnestly apply the Dharma, we will be cutting the Buddha’s lifespan short. So, we must work hard to extend the Buddha’s lifespan infinitely. Therefore, the Buddha’s true lifespan is infinite. It just depends on us sentient beings to extend the Buddha’s lifespan, so we must take the Buddha-Dharma to heart and put it to use among people. In this way, we will return to our nature of True Suchness, which we all possess. This is returning to the Avatamsaka state. It is the same principle. These are the teachings the Buddha gave to us. So, “for those who take long to see the Buddha” means that this takes them a very long time to do “I teach the that it is rare to encounter the Buddha”. When we understand “universal equality wisdom, we will understand the significance of the great interconnectedness of all life”. It takes a very long time to learn how to walk the Bodhisattva-path, become one with the universe and “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions,” putting he Dharma into practice in this way. So, it takes a lot of time to be able to implement the wondrous Dharma of great enlightenment in the world. [The Buddha said], “This is the power of my wisdom”. This is the Buddha’s awakened power of wisdom. This “my” mentioned here refers to everyone’s intrinsic awakened nature. Our awakened nature has always been there. As long as we work hard to put it to use, the Buddha-Dharma will live on inside us. When we take the Buddha-Dharma to heart, our power of wisdom will be equal to the Buddha’s and we will return to an awakening equal to the Buddha’s. So, “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature]”. The mind and the Buddha are as one. This is the nature of the power of wisdom.
“The light of my wisdom illuminates infinitely”. The light of our wisdom illuminates infinitely. We must not overlook the small amount of strength that we all have. In this way, everyone can [gather] their small [amounts of strength] into a great [force] through a process of constant accumulation. So, we often say, “Many grains of rice make a bushel, and many drops of water make a river”. In this way, drop by drop, grain by grain, these things are accumulated. Great roots of goodness, blessings and virtues are things we must work very hard to accumulate. Thus, our light of wisdom illuminates infinitely.
“My lifespan extends over countless kalpas”. The lifespan referred to here is the lifespan of His Dharmakaya, which is very long. [The Buddha] hopes we will “transform consciousness into wisdom”. We must not allow our consciousness to drag us along, lost in confusion. At this time, in this lifetime, we must start turning ourselves around. We must accumulate wisdom drop by drop, We must accumulate wisdom drop by drop, lifetime after lifetime. Then, we will spend our lives in an awakened state of clarity and awareness, coming and going like this. If we do this, our “lifespan will extend over countless kalpas”. This is only attained through long cultivation. It takes a very long time of earnest spiritual cultivation to accumulate such a long lifespan. If we do this, ours will be equal to the Buddha’s. The sutra passage may seem simple, but it contains such a profound meaning, so we must be mindful at every moment.
In the next sutra passage, [the Buddha] says, “Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts about this; cast them off and end them forever. The Buddha’s words are true and never false, like the doctor who cleverly uses skillful means. In order to treat his delirious sons, he says he is dead even though he is alive, yet none can say he speaks falsely yet none can say he speaks falsely.
Yes, we must remember this. We must understand this very clearly. So, “Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts about this”. This is what the previous sutra passage says. If we make use of our wisdom, we will no longer rely on our “consciousness”. As worldly beings, when we use the knowledge and consciousness of unenlightened beings to seek the Buddha, it will seem as if the Buddha is already gone from this world. But with wisdom, we will harbor no doubts. The Buddha’s lifespan is long, and He will abide in this world forever. We must have faith in this. People of wisdom must believe in this and eliminate any doubts.
We must eradicate old doubts and afflictions and not give rise to any new doubts. His intentions are sincere, so we must have faith that. He is genuine and free of deceit and falsehood. People of wisdom realize
His sincerity and are free of doubts. The Tathagata’s words are sincere, all true and not false. So, “We must eradicate old doubts and afflictions”.
In the past, we used the consciousness of unenlightened beings to seek the Buddha and understand the Dharma. Now, we must “turn consciousness into wisdom”. We must use wisdom to understand the principles of the Buddha-Dharma. So, if we have old doubts from the past, we must urgently eliminate them. If we do not eliminate our afflictions or the doubts in our minds, then we will continue to give rise to new doubts. So, at this time, “We must eradicate old doubts and afflictions and not give rise to any new doubts”. At this time, we must work hard to eliminate old doubts so that new doubts do not arise. By hearing one thing, we realize a thousand; we have heard and understood the principles, and now we must never go back to that place of doubt and indecision. We must be resolute and give rise to deep faith in what is right. We must be very mindful. “His intentions are sincere, so we must have faith that. He is genuine and free of deceit and falsehood”. The Buddha speaks the truth. He does not speak lies or falsehoods. We should have faith in the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha treats sentient beings with sincerity. He is true and sincere. We must have faith that the Buddha’s teachings are free of deceit and falsehood.
People of wisdom are able to understand this. “People of wisdom realize His sincerity and are free of doubts”. They absolutely comprehend the Buddha’s words. The deeper meaning here is very profound. This means that this true principle requires wisdom [to understand]; a person of knowledge and wisdom should be able to completely believer in and trust in this. So, they “realize His sincerity” and are absolutely free of doubts. The Buddha has sincerity and compassion. The Buddha is free of deceit and falsehood. So, the Buddha-Dharma is true and not false. The principles contained within it are definitely trustworthy. We need to be clear on this. So, “The Tathagata’s words are sincere, all true and not false”. The Buddha’s sincere and true principles are absolutely free of falsehoods. We must believe in this.
So, “Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts about this”. At this point, we must not doubt the Dharma any further.
Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts about this: The Buddha praised those Bodhisattvas, saying, “Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts. You must follow the true principles to realize your intrinsic nature of True Suchness and have no doubts about this”.
This shows that the Buddha believed that the Bodhisattvas at the assembly had already deeply understood the Buddha’s intent. They had deeply realized the Buddha’s intent because these Bodhisattvas were people of wisdom. When He spoke to the Bodhisattvas there, these Bodhisattvas all definitely had deep faith free of doubts. So, the Buddha praised them as [people of] wisdom. Bodhisattvas must bear testimony. So, they “must not harbor any doubts”. They absolutely cannot have doubts. “You must follow the true principles to realize”. We must follow this deeper truth to realize and comprehend this profound meaning. So, I am always saying that the Dharma must be in our everyday lives. We must devote ourselves to going among people to be able to realize and comprehend, to be able to truly awaken to the principles of suffering in this world.
Look at how people have come here from nine different countries. There are entrepreneurs from every country who have come to attend our Lifestyle Camp. They have come to such deep realizations. Everyone has made the vow that starting right now, they will change their lives. They said this with such intensity. They want to become vegetarians. They understand the interconnectedness of all life. They have expressed their love, beginning with vegetarianism. They have realized that all sentient beings are interconnected, and they understand [the dangers] of pollution, air pollution and so on. In caring for this earth, how can we reduce pollution? How can we care for this earth? How can we express our love for all life? We can do it through going vegetarian. So, one by one, they made vows to change their lifestyle. So, the participants in the Jing Si Lifestyle Camp truly engaged in thorough contemplation. They also came to true realizations about their lives. They were able to accomplish this. So, we must very clearly come to understand our “intrinsic nature of True Suchness and have no doubts about this”. We really must understand our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. We must work hard to deeply comprehend this. We must not waste any time. We must work hard to pave this path.
Moreover, [the Buddha] said, “Cast them off and end them forever. The Buddha’s words are true and never false, like the doctor who cleverly uses skillful means”.
Cast them off and end them forever. The Buddha’s words are true and never false, like the doctor who cleverly uses skillful means: We must cast off the net of delusions and doubts and never let them arise again. The Buddha’s words are true and never false; He is like the excellent doctor who cleverly uses skillful means.
Everyone must clearly understand and seek to experience this. We must cast off this net of doubts and delusions. In today’s society, [this net] is very apparent, [especially on] the Internet. This net that the Buddha spoke of is the net of ignorance. In today’s society, every road we walk on is a net. This really is a network. Many paths have nets to trap us, causing us to end up lost in the net of confusion, harboring all kinds of doubts and suspicions. People have no faith in one another. They do not know how to conduct themselves. Confucius said, “If a person lacks faithfulness, what can they possibly accomplish?” If a person is not faithful, then what can they possibly accomplish? They are useless. So, faith is very important. Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. If we are lost and confused, this means we have lost faith and will continue to harbor doubts in this state. “Doubt” is the state of faithlessness. So, this world is full of confusion and doubts. We are entangled by and trapped within this net. So, we must “never let [doubts] arise again”. We must work hard to cast away this net and never let it entangle us again. We must never let this net entrap us again. “The Buddha’s words are true and never false”. The Buddha’s words are true. The words spoken by the Buddha are the principles. The Buddha’s words are true, not false. These are not just trivial words. These words contain the true principles. Thus, “the Buddha’s words are true and never false.” Everything He says contains many principles. It is not just empty talk; His words contain many principles. So, “He is like the excellent doctor who cleverly uses skillful means.” He is like that doctor who knows how to use skillful means. Not only does he prescribe medicine, he also devises a way [to get them to take it]. [He does this] “to treat his delirious sons.” He treats his delirious sons who are confused. Their minds are deeply deluded. These are his children.
In order to treat his delirious sons: In order to treat his delirious sons who have lost their original minds and are full of deluded thoughts, he leaves them medicine suited for their ailments, then travels far away. This represents how [the Buddha] never actually enters Parinirvana but proclaims that He will enter Parinirvana. Delirious sons: This refers to people of limited capabilities and undeveloped capacities.
How can this doctor gradually comfort these delirious children and get them to take the medicine? Under what sort of circumstances, in what mental state, would they accept and take this medicine? We have seen how people coax dementia patients to take medicine. Usually, people just say, “It is time to take your medicine.” But [dementia patients] are different. We need to be mindful and find ways to coax them. “You need to swallow the medicine. Eat it up; swallow it.” This is not easy at all. This is the meaning of “skillful means.” So, “He leaves them medicine suited for their ailments, then travels far away.” These are the skillful means he uses. He leaves the medicine behind and travels far away. Then he sends someone back to say, “Your father has died.” Only then will they know to appreciate him. While a person is still alive, their teachings are no big deal. As long as they are alive, they are not special. Once they are gone, [their teachings] are more valuable. In this way, they come to realize, “This medicine is very valuable; I will take it right away.” So, in this way, the Buddha never actually enters Parinirvana, “but proclaims that He will enter Parinirvana.”
In fact, the Buddha’s true Dharmakaya never dies. However, He has to say, “The Buddha will disappear from this world.” The Buddha has already entered Parinirvana, but the Buddha-Dharma will always be here. This state of neither arising nor ceasing is “Parinirvana,” which is pure and undefiled. The true principles never arise or cease. So, “delirious sons” represents people with “limited capabilities.” The Buddha-Dharma describes them as having “limited capabilities and undeveloped capacities.” However, the Buddha-nature is intrinsic to us all; we need only to engage in spiritual practice. People with limited capabilities only care about themselves and are unwilling to help others. These are people of limited capabilities. So, because He uses skillful means like these, He is able to guide people of limited capabilities to give rise to great aspirations to walk the Bodhisattva-path and work hard to make use of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. This is the Buddha’s mindfulness. “He says he is dead even though he is alive, yet none can say he speaks falsely.”
He says he is dead even though he is alive, yet none can say he speaks falsely: He relies on using skillful means. He appears to speak falsehoods, but is actually sincere and compassionate. Out of compassion, [the Buddha] teaches according to capabilities. No one can say that He speaks falsely.
Although His Dharmakaya is everlasting, [the Buddha] proclaimed He would enter Parinirvana. This was to help sentient beings give rise to reverence for the Dharma deep in their hearts. Thus, “He relies on using skillful means. He appears to speak falsehoods.” It appears as if He speaks falsehoods, but He is actually sincere. Although He devises these skillful means, these skillful means are not false but true. “I prescribed this medicine. Since you will not take it, I have found a way to get you to take it.” It is the same with the medicine. There are ways to get people to take it. So, this is true and not false. It seems like we are tricking them into taking it; the word “trick” is involved here. But it is not a trick; it is skillful means to find a way to get them to take their medicine. So, this [intention] is sincere; it is actually “sincere and compassionate.” This is the Buddha’s sincerity and compassion. “Out of compassion, [the Buddha] teaches according to capabilities.” This is compassion. He adjusts to our capabilities to devise skillful means. “No one can say that He speaks falsely.” We cannot say that the Buddha’s [words] are false. They are not false; they are true. He simply uses skillful means. So, we must mindfully seek to comprehend how, out of compassion and loving-kindness, the Buddha patiently guides sentient beings. Sentient beings must mindfully seek to comprehend this so that their capabilities will resonate with and accept the Buddha’s teachings. Therefore, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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