Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Five Paramitas as Our Feet and Wisdom as Our Eyes (五度為足 智慧為目)
Date: March.11.2019
“When we think about seeking to benefit only ourselves, we will not be able to benefit others. We must listen to the Great Vehicle Dharma and practice the Six Paramitas. The Bodhisattva-nature is gentle, harmonious, virtuous and compliant. When we accept the Dharma, we can transform both ourselves and others, plant roots of goodness and sow the seeds of Buddhahood. Now, we call those who work for the Buddha-Dharma good lay men and women of faith.”
Everyone, we must be mindful. “When we think about seeking to benefit only ourselves, we will not be able to benefit others.” We must pay close attention. When we engage in spiritual practice, what is very important is knowing the direction. We have begun to engage in spiritual practice and understand life. Life is not very long. Since we are engaging in spiritual practice, we must further comprehend the Buddha and what He awakened to. As spiritual practitioners, our greatest goal is to learn from the Buddha. Learning from the Buddha [means] to emulate the Buddha’s practice. Only through practice can we awaken ourselves.
So, since we are learning from the Buddha, we must learn how He awakened, the origin of His awakening. How did He walk upon the path? How did He open up the path so that He could establish the sutras and principles? At this time, since we listen to the Dharma according to the sutras, we must recognize the path and go forward. So, if we want to learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must have a direction and goal for us to work hard toward. We do not have a lot of time. “If we do not transform ourselves in this lifetime, in which lifetime will we transform ourselves?” Since we do not have a very long time, we must earnestly seize [this opportunity] in order to achieve two things at once.
Otherwise, we will always contemplate with ordinary beings’ views and understandings and ways of thinking, contemplate using our consciousness. We clearly know that we want to learn from the Buddha and listen to what the Buddha taught. The Dharma the Buddha taught begins with suffering. When it comes to suffering, we now understand it. Once we understand suffering and that the origin of suffering comes from causation, once we also understand this causation, how do we stop this suffering? We must practice “cessation”. We must cease many afflictions. This we understand, too. If we eliminate afflictions, then we will be able to attain liberation. As we engage in spiritual practice on the path, we also understand this. We understand the Four Noble Truths of suffering, causation, cessation, and the Path. This clarity is about understanding suffering. We know that we are suffering; we see others suffer and know that the world is all suffering.
Though the whole world is suffering and we are very afraid of suffering, we also understand the principles. So, in looking to not experience suffering, the only way is for us to eliminate the afflictions we have accumulated by understanding the principles.
So, we may quickly engage in practice ourselves, and cultivate ourselves to not cause afflictions and to not have any entanglements with people. So, we may try to avoid [other people], hoping to benefit only ourselves and cultivating practices to liberate ourselves. This is called the Small Vehicle Dharma.
Through contemplation, we examine the principles and understand ourselves. We seek our own liberation. This is called contemplating with expectations. We contemplate to examine principles, solely to benefit ourselves. So, “We will not be able to benefit others. I will just take care of myself. Other people’s matters have nothing to do with me. I only want to be like the Buddha, but I will not bother with others’ matters. I only seek my own liberation.” [If we only aim] to grow our wisdom and be like the Buddha, that is [practicing] the Small Vehicle teachings. We only accept the teachings on suffering, causation, cessation and the Path and “will not be able to benefit others”. This then is all Small Vehicle [practices] in which we only care about ourselves. We listen to the Dharma all the same, but while listening to the Dharma, we must also form aspirations. “We must listen to the Great Vehicle Dharma and practice the Six Paramitas.” We must listen to the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Great Vehicle Dharma will inspire our great aspirations. As we walk upon the Bodhisattva-path, we must also [practice] the Four Earnest Efforts at the same time. We must be very proactive and diligently advance forward. Since we have the passion, we must put it into practice. We must be clear about what is the most important, the “Dharma of foremost in the world.” This is the Great Vehicle Dharma.
So, “We must listen to the Great Vehicle Dharma and practice the Six Paramitas.” Our direction is correct in the Six Paramitas. There are not just the Five Paramitas; we must practice the Six Paramitas. Bodhisattvas practice the Six Paramitas. “The Bodhisattva-nature is gentle, harmonious, virtuous and compliant.” In truth, Bodhisattvas and ordinary beings are the same. Bodhisattvas begin as ordinary beings. For us ordinary beings, as long as we make great aspirations, we can also be called Bodhisattvas. We can also be Bodhisattvas. It is just a matter of our mindset. We must have correct mindset and direction. With the same period of time, we can make a choice; we can choose the Bodhisattva-path. With the same period of time, people may have different mindsets. People who practice the Small Vehicle Dharma choose to benefit themselves. Their time is no shorter than that of Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas’ time is no longer than of those who practice the Small Vehicle. Likewise, our intrinsic Tathagata-nature has existed since Beginningless Time. It is just that ordinary beings, throughout such a long time, have deviated toward the Six Realms and circled there for a long time. What about Bodhisattvas? For them, with their time, they [Practice] the Six Paramitas and [maintain] their aspirations for a long time.
The time is of the same length. Ordinary beings [spend their time] continually transmigrating in the Six Realms. Bodhisattvas [engage in practice] for a long time, for countless kalpas, which is an incalculable time. Previously, we continually said that the time is long, very long. [Bodhisattvas] practice the Bodhisattva-path and actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions. For such a long time, they remain on the Bodhisattva-path and continuously practice with earnest efforts as Bodhisattvas. They practice the Great Vehicle Dharma, go among people and transform sentient beings. Think about the difference between ordinary beings and Bodhisattvas.
We must be very mindful, very meticulous. “The Bodhisattva-nature is gentle, harmonious, virtuous and complaint.” Since they learn the Buddha’s teachings, meaning they have chosen the practice of the Buddha, they very quickly accept the teachings with faith and put them into practice; they very quickly accept the teachings. Since they faithfully accept and practice [the teachings], they carry on the Buddha’s teachings, which is to spread the Dharma and benefit sentient beings. In this way, they are gentle, harmonious, virtuous and compliant; they “enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the Tathagata’s clothing, sit on the Tathagata’s seat,” and teach the Tathagata’s Dharma. These are Bodhisattvas. We must be very mindful; just like them, from our body, speech and mind, we must also put in effort to engage in spiritual practice.
We must also make great vows. In the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy, [the Buddha] explained this very clearly. So, we must be very mindful. “When we accept the Dharma, we can transform both ourselves and others.” The Bodhisattva-path has always been very long. The number of afflictions we have [corresponds to] how long we must continue on the Bodhisattva-path. As for our delusions of views and thinking, when will we completely eliminate them? For the delusions of views and thinking of the Three Realms to be completely eliminated, we must continue on the Bodhisattva-path. For us to reach the state of Buddhahood, we must eliminate dust-like delusions, these very subtle and intricate delusion, and delusions of ignorance.
At that time, we will attain Buddhahood. So, at this time, we must accept the Dharma. Then, even while we are among people, “[we turn] afflictions into Bodhi.” People are [a source of] worldly Dharma, a training ground for us to succeed on the Bodhisattva-path. So, within the turbulent world of temptations, we us [worldly] Dharma to pave the way. This is the great direct Bodhi-path, because sentient beings help bring Bodhisattvas to fruition. So, we cannot distance ourselves from sentient beings and people. We must practice the Buddha-Dharma. This is what we must be very mindful about. When we accept the Buddha’s teachings, we must spread the Dharma for the benefit of sentient beings.
Spreading the Dharma to benefit sentient beings benefits ourselves as well as others, because our great direct Bodhi-path is among people. The Buddha taught us to go among people. This is walking the Bodhisattva-path. On the course of the Bodhisattva-path, the final destination is the state of Buddhahood. We often talk about this principle. So everyone, please be mindful and accept this Dharma. By accepting the Dharma, we can transform ourselves and others. We must purify ourselves, our delusions of views and thinking, ignorance and afflictions. We must purify our delusions. These dust-like delusions are very intricate and subtle. So, we must accept the Dharma and be able to transform ourselves and others. We must purify our minds first in order to be able to transform others.
I often say that the world is severely turbid. Starting as a term, it has now become reality. In the past, in the era of the Buddha, where was this turbidity? In the current era, every day we talk about air pollution. This is turbidity. Where does this turbidity come from? What we have in present times is turbidity. It is actually manmade; it is the turbidity of sentient beings. Sentient beings’ turbidity of views, turbidity of afflictions and so on have caused the entire space in this world to become filled with turbidity. This is the turbid world that the Buddha spoke of over 2000 years ago. It was a concept, and now it has become a reality; it has truly become what humans fear the most. [The air is] now turbid. Look how [the pollution of] the entire atmosphere has also brought about respiratory [issues]. When it comes to the source of the pollution we inhale, is this not all caused by humans? Indeed! This evil world of the Five Turbidities comes from within us, from the greed and defilements in our minds. Thus, the land and the atmosphere are polluted. People nowadays already know about environment protection. When it comes to environmental protection, we want to protect our outer environment, but we forget to protect to protect the environment inside our minds. Therefore, we must put] the teachings] into practice among people. Everyone must accept to be transformed. Spiritual practitioners understand the Dharma. We must receive the Dharma; we must accept the Dharma and understand the principles. Environmental protection starts from us transforming ourselves inwardly. We must first transform ourselves before we can transform others. If we do not cleanse our minds well and only cleanse our external [environment], we will never attain purity. So, we must seek to be mindful. “When we accept the Dharma, we can transform both ourselves and others”. Everyone, we must be mindful. We must “plant roots of goodness and sow the seeds of Buddhahood”.
So, we must be a good planter of seeds. We must earnestly spread seeds. The land needs them. We must cultivate the land and earnestly purify it. Not only do we need to protect the environment and eliminate garbage, but most importantly, we must quickly plant seeds of goodness in the land.
Presently, we advocate to plant trees. Planting trees, means to plant the seedlings into the ground so that it can grow roots and sprout in the ground. Only then can the land become green. This principle is certain. So, in terms of “planting roots of goodness,” we must plant these roots of goodness. We must allow them to take root. Nowadays, we often talk about letting a tree grow large and then sever its roots and move it elsewhere. The treetop may look very lush, but the tree roots do not grow deep. What we fear most is typhoons, winds of ignorance. What these [trees off goodness] without [deep] roots in the ground fear most are winds of ignorance. Therefore, we must pass on the teachings through the Dharma-lineage. Otherwise, everyone would be doing good deeds but have no roots; this is very scary. The treetop may look very lush, but [the tree] has not taken root under the soil. In this case, the Dharma-lineage has not taken root yet.
So, everyone, we must be very mindful. This verse [requires us] to be attentive and to mindfully seek to comprehend the essence of the Dharmas. We must further understand its essence. So, we must “plant roots of goodness and sow the seeds of Buddhahood”. We must seek to understand the Buddha’s mind. How should we learn from the Buddha? To learn from the Buddha, we must enter the Buddha’s mind and practice the Dharma that the Buddha practices. Only then are we true Buddhist practitioners. So, we must be very mindful.
In addition to truly learning the Buddha’s teachings, letting go of our “self” to go toward the Dharma of people and concentrating on spiritual cultivation, we need to [transform] people in society. We need a group of many people; we need “the those who work for the Buddha-Dharma”. They are the lay practitioners. They manifest the appearance of lay people, but they have accepted the Buddha-Dharma. They draw near the Buddha to practice the Buddha’s teachings and the Dharma. They practice the Dharma that is the same as the Buddha’s. So, lay practitioners can also be Bodhisattva. As long as they form great aspirations, lay Bodhisattvas have great wisdom. These are “those who work for the Buddha-Dharma”. They have drawn near to the Buddha and have chosen [to practice] the Buddha-Dharma, the Great Vehicle Dharma. They are called good men and good women. They are called “good lay men and women of faith”. These are our lay male and female practitioners.
The upcoming [sutra] passage is about good men and women. Some people engage ins spiritual practice by eliminating desires and attachments and leading a monastic life. However, in reality, those who engage in spiritual practice as lay practitioners are also a great force in society. Only when people in society orient their minds toward the Buddha and pass on the Buddha-Dharma can society and the world truly become purified. When we purify our minds, naturally the world will be purified. This is very important, so we must always be mindful.
In the previous sutra passage, [the Buddha] said, “Due to these causes and conditions they are able to give rise to all stages of Samadhi. Throughout 80 trillion kalpas, they abide in peace, minds, undisturbed. With the blessing of this single-mindedness, they vow to seek the unsurpassed path, I will attain the wisdom of all Dharma and exhaust the limits of all stages of Samadhi”.
When it comes to this sutra passage, we have constantly discussed previously that people who have formed Bodhisattva-aspirations have long been immersed in the Buddha-Dharma. [Their time as] Bodhisattvas is very long; it is immeasurable. All lay practitioners have a good heart, but they have not awakened their wisdom. Those who practice the Five Paramitas also have affinities from the past to be able to see the Buddha in this lifetime. In the Buddha’s era, they were also listening to the Dharma. it is just that they still have afflictions that they have yet to completely eliminate, so they have yet to open their door of wisdom. So, they likewise listen to the Dharma for a long time and do not deviate [from the path]. It is just that they are walking very slowly. They constantly remain within the Six Realms, the Five Realms or among the human and heaven realm. They spend a very long time [there], as long as “80 trillion kalpas. They abide in peace, minds undisturbed. With the blessing of this single-mindedness”, they maintain a virtuous mind, so they are still within the human and heaven realms. If their minds become disturbed, then they will be within the three evil realms. This is what the Six Realms are like, a mix of good and evil. If they have the roots of goodness “to work for the Buddha-Dharma”, they can remain undisturbed. They create blessings; “with the blessing of this single-mindedness”, they [can] create blessings.
“They vow to seek the unsurpassed path”. They understand to always draw near to the Buddha-Dharma until they attain the state of Buddhahood. So, this is what the Buddha side, that to attain all wisdom one must draw near to the Buddha and “exhaust the limits of all stage of Samadhi”. [Some people] think that by sitting in meditation, they have already drawn near to the Buddha, but they have yet to open their door of wisdom. They practice giving, precepts patience, diligence and Samadhi. They think that in this way, they have already drawn near to the Buddha and attained all-encompassing wisdom. In truth, they still have ways to go.
“These people, throughout hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of kalpas, engage in all these meritorious practices as described earlier.
Previously, it said that they continued to practice the Bodhisattva-path for a long time. However, they only practiced up to the Five Paramitas. They practice giving, precepts, patience, diligence and stop at Samadhi; they only reach this state. They have yet to open their door of wisdom.
Let us try to understand. So, “When good men and good women,” referring to lay practitioners, “hear me discuss my lifespan and give rise to even a single thought of faith, their blessings will surpass those of the others. If people can be completely free of all doubts and regrets and give rise to a moment of faith deep in their hearts, their blessings will be like this.
We must earnestly seek to understand this. What this verse talks about is that “when a single thought of goodness arises, it gives to the blessings of faith and understanding.
This describes how a single thought of goodness gives rise to the blessings of faith and understanding. With faith comes understanding. This is true faith. So, to understand without claiming to understand is ture understanding. A single thought of goodness give rise to faith and understanding.
We have discussed previously how these two words, “faith and understanding,” are so important. For faith and understanding, when we have faith, “Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. It nurtures all roots of goodness.” As long as we have faith, we can nurture many roots of goodness and spread its seed. Spreading goodness is giving. We must also uphold precepts and so on. Because we have faith, we are willing to give and willing to uphold the precepts and know what we can and cannot do. For ourselves, we can “refrain from all evils and do all that is good”. This is because we have faith, because we have faith and understanding. Therefore, when we have faith and understanding, we can give rise to many blessings. This seed can develop into much blessed karma, so we can do many things that benefit people.
So, because of faith, we understand. It is because we have faith that we are willing to listen to the Dharma. Because we listen to the Dharma, we can attain understanding. This is because of faith. So, “this is true faith”. This must be right faith. Otherwise, if we deviate in our faith, we become deluded. This is what the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City tells us. Having engaged in spiritual practice for a while, if we want to turn back when we encounter difficulties, it is because we do not have [deep] faith. For us to truly walk the Bodhisattvas-path and draw near to the Buddha, we must be vigilant and have true faith. So, we must have true faith in order to draw near to the Buddha. “So, we understand without claiming to understand.” We do not need to say whether we understand or not, as long as the true faith we have is wise faith and not misguided faith. Wise faith is faith in the wisdom of all Dharma. When we have this kind of wise faith, we will not deviate [from the Dharma]. We will not need to find ways to understand. Naturally, we hear one thing and have thousands of realizations; we understand it all. So, this is “true understanding”.
We truly comprehend the great path. Otherwise, [when we say], “I understand, I know, do we truly understand? We must have earnest faith to have true faith. We must thoroughly comprehend [the Dharma] to have true understanding.
So, “A single thought of goodness gives rise to faith and understanding”. This means we must start from one single thought. I often tell everyone that we must guard our thoughts well. So, when it comes to blessings, we create and cultivate blessings among people. What are considered “blessing”?
Blessings: This refers to the Five Paramitas of giving, precepts, diligence, patience and Samadhi. Wisdom: wisdom is prajna, which is one of the [Six] Paramitas. The Five Paramitas sustain wisdom, whole wisdom guides the Five Paramitas. Like our eyes and feet, they cannot be without the other.
Giving, precepts, patience, diligence and Samadhi are all [ways of] cultivating blessings. When we refrain from doing evil and do good instead, we naturally will slowly accumulate goodness into great good deeds. Anything that creates good benefits and creates blessings for people. The principle is the same.
So, when it comes to wisdom, “wisdom is prajna”. The first [paramitas of] giving, precepts and so on are the Five Paramitas. The Five Paramitas are what come first. After them comes wisdom, which is a paramita. So, one plus five makes the Six Paramitas. If we were to only practice the Five Paramitas, we would still be lacking. We would not have opened our door of wisdom. We must add wisdom. So, why is that? The Five Paramitas sustain wisdom”. We must [practice] the Five Paramitas; it is not enough to have wisdom. With wisdom, we must practice the Five Paramitas. We need the paramitas to reach the other shore, and we cannot lack any of them. The most important are the first [five]; [we must practice] giving, precepts, patience, and diligence, and we must be in Samadhi. We cannot lack any of them, because these five are how we create blessings for people. Those who benefit people are called Bodhisattvas.
However, Bodhisattvas still have subtle afflictions that they have yet to eliminate. So, they must further advance and continue to cultivate [themselves] until they completely eliminate all their afflictions. That is when they perfect the Bodhisattvas-path and “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions”. This is attaining the state of Buddhahood. So, to reach the state of Buddhahood, they cannot any of the paramitas. First, they must practice the Bodhisattvas-path, but they must go toward the path of Buddhahood. Otherwise, these good men and women, for countless kalpas, would have virtuous thoughts, but would still be lingering outside and still have no way to open the door to the path. The principle is the same. So, “The Five Paramitas sustain wisdom”. [For those with] wisdom, to attain Buddhahood, they also have to widely transform all sentient beings and form affinities with sentient beings. Only when causes and conditions mature will they be able to attain Buddhahood. In the past, I have continuously tole everyone that in order to attain Buddhahood, Bodhisattvas cannot lack good affinities with sentient beings. We must have affinities with sentient beings in order to be able to attain Buddhahood.
So, we must cultivate both blessings and wisdom. The Buddha is “the Two-Footed Honored One”; He is the Two-Footed
Honored One replete in blessings and wisdom. So, we must be very mindful. These five practice are here to sustain wisdom. “Wisdom guides the Five Paramitas”. Only by guiding these five practices with wisdom will we not deviate and be mistaken in our direction. Otherwise, we will be mistaken. A slight deviation takes us far off course, causing us to remain in the Six Realms, continuously transmigrating in a confused manner. We need wisdom to guide us. So, “Wisdom guide the Five Paramitas. Like our eyes and feet, they cannot be without the other”. For us to walk, we need eyes and a pair of legs in order to do so. If we had a pair of legs but did not have eyes, we would not know where to go. So, we must have good eyesight and strong legs. Then we will naturally be able to walk far. We must mindfully seek to comprehend this.
Dignified by wisdom, we will fulfill our vows of great compassion and complete the righteous work of relieving people’s suffering. Dignified by blessings and virtues, we will fulfill our vows of great loving-kindness and complete the righteous work of giving joy. Thus, He first used blessings and wisdom and then loving-kindness and compassion to explain this.
So, [we are] “dignified by wisdom”. [We should] use wisdom to dignify and guide our loving-kindness and compassion. [We must] use wisdom to guide our compassion. Have we not said this in the past? We use wisdom to inspire compassion and to guide loving-kindness. So, dignified by wisdom, “we will fulfill our vows of great compassion”. We practice great compassion. Great compassion is universal compassion. I often tell everyone that we must, co-exist and become one with all things in the universe. This is called “universal compassion”. “We feel pain when others hurt, and we grieve when others suffer.” If every one of us has this mindset, naturally we will be unable to bear the suffering of sentient beings. We would think about how to create blessings for the world. This is certain.
So, we must have wisdom and then dignify this path of great loving-kindness and compassion in the world. So, “We will fulfill our vows of great compassion”. We must make vows. We have discussed the Four practices of Bringing Peace and Joy. Apart from [guarding] our body, speech and mind, we must also make great vows. Making great vows is very important. Great vows inspire great compassion. So, for our great compassion and great vows to be complete, we need to be dignified by wisdom. We need to use wisdom to pave the way of great loving-kindness toward the world. Then, we “complete the righteous work of relieving people’s suffering. We must relieve the suffering of sentient beings. It is not just a slogan; we must truly put the principles into practice for sentient beings to turn suffering to peace and joy. “Having relieved them from suffering, [Bodhisattvas] then expound the Dharma for them. Is this not what the Sutra of Infinite Meanings says? So, this is to “complete the righteous work of relieving people’s suffering”. We need to relieve sentient beings’ suffering. This is not just a slogan; we must truly eliminate their sufferings and turn their life’s suffering into peace and ease. This is the Bodhisattvas-path. Take a look at how many lives Tzu Chi has turned around. [We must be] “dignified by virtues”. In this way, we also dignify [ourselves] with blessings. Those who create blessings and dignify themselves with blessings and wisdom in parallel are called the Two-Footed Honored Ones. “We will fulfill our vows of great loving-kindness”. This means we have fulfilled our vows of great loving-kindness. We complete the righteous work of giving joy;” we make everyone very joyful. Loving-kindness is to give everyone happiness. Compassion is to relieve everyone’s suffering. We relieve suffering and give joy. We have truly done it. This is [practicing] the Bodhisattva-path; it is to truly “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions”. “Thus, He first used blessings and wisdom and then loving-kindness and compassion to explain this.” These are blessings and wisdom. We use blessings and wisdom to perfect loving-kindness and compassion. So, everyone must mindfully seek to comprehend it. The principles are so simple, so we must use easy-to-understand ways to practice the Dharma.
Next, the sutra passage says, “When good men and good women hear me discuss my lifespan…”.
When good men and good women hear me discuss my lifespan: Good lay men and women of faith understand its length upon hearing the Tathagata discuss. His long and extensice lifespan.
“Good lay men and women of faith” refers to people [who practice] at home, who can draw near to the Buddha and do what the Buddha would like to do. They do whatever the Buddha would like to do. They are called lay men and women of faith originally describes. They “understand [the Buddha’s lifespan].” We can understand its length; from what the Buddha said previously in the Chapter on the Tathagata’s Lifespan, we can comprehend this. The Buddha was clearly in the world until He was 80 years old, so why do we say “infinite lifespan”? It was because He has “infinite wisdom-life”. We all know that each of us has the nature of True Suchness. Everyone possesses the nature of True Suchness. We have always had it, since Beginningless Time. So, at this time, we must earnestly understand how to awaken our wisdom-life. Once we awaken our wisdom-life, the principles will forever exist [in our minds]. This is [what it means to have] a long lifespan. We have taken this Dharma to heart and understood it, so we must not waste our time. Even in our last thought, we must not deviate and waste [our time]. This is our lifespan and how we utilize our lifespan and wisdom-life.
Next, the sutra passage says, “[When they] give rise to even a single thought of faith, their blessings will surpass those of the others.
…give rise to even a single thought of faith, their blessings will surpass those of the others: The merits and virtues they attain through this single thought of faith and understanding will surpass [those attained] by practicing the Five Paramitas throughout long kalpas. Through, the Five Paramitas, we cultivate blessings. Blessings are conditioned phenomena. Wisdom transcends cyclic existence, so how can anything compare to the blessing of this thought?
After hearing about [the Tathagata’s] lifespan previously, we understand that to grow our wisdom-life, we must form good affinities in the world. We must grow our wisdom-life; we know about this. When they “give rise to even a single thought of faith,” even if it is just a brief moment of faith, their blessings will surpass those of the others. With right understanding, right faith and right mindfulness, “the merits and virtues they attain through this single thought of faith and understanding will surpass [those attained] by practicing the Five Paramitas throughout long kalpas.” We must be replete with this single thought of true faith and understanding. We must have complete wisdom; we must not lack blessings and wisdom. The first Five Paramitas are to aid this wisdom. Wisdom is what guides the Five Paramitas. In this way, we are replete with the Six Paramitas. We must have faith and understanding in this. This is how we grow our wisdom-life. So, “Through the Five Paramitas, we cultivate blessings.” We must have faith that the Five Paramitas benefit people. Blessings are conditioned phenomena.
In the past, there was a period of time when I constantly told everyone [about] conditioned and unconditioned phenomena. At that time, I spoke of it for a very long time, and everyone comprehended [it]. So, at this time, we know that giving, precepts, patience, diligence and Samadhi are all encompassed within conditioned phenomena. “Wisdom transcends cyclic existence," so how can anything deliver us but “the blessing of this thought”? If we remain attached to this place, how can we get close? How can we get close to this wisdom and truly transcend cyclic existence?
Only wisdom can truly guide the Five Paramitas and truly end cyclic existence. In addition to “the fragmentary samsara” of our life, we must also end arising and ceasing. We must mindfully seek to comprehend this.
“If people can be completely free of all doubts and regrets” [means that] everyone must eliminate these doubts and regrets and not have any doubts and regrets.
We must eliminate our delusions of views and thinking. We must eliminate the minute delusions in our views and thinking. If we can do this, then we have truly comprehended [the Dharma]. So, we must “give rise to a moment of faith deep in [our] hearts. [Then, our] blessings will be like this.”
[And if they] give rise to a moment of faith deep in their hearts, their blessings will be like this: Belief in the Buddha’s wondrous Vehicle and the vow to seek the path to Buddhahood [come from] the depths of the heart. Suppose that there are also people who give rise to great faith for only a moment; the blessings they attain from this surpass those of the Five Paramitas.
We must put effort into believing in [the Dharma] in the depths of our heart; we must have true faith and understanding. We must have true faith and true understanding. [We believe] “in the Buddha’s wondrous Vehicle.” Here, when we say “blessings,” it refers to believing in the Buddha’s wondrous Dharma of the Great Vehicle. This is “belief in the Buddha’s wondrous Vehicle.” When it comes to this Great Vehicle Dharma, we utilize it in our spiritual practice. “[We believe] in the Buddha’s wondrous Vehicle and [vow] to seek the path to Buddhahood.” We must go toward the Great Vehicle Dharma from “the depths of the heart.” Our minds must be dedicated wholeheartedly. We must dedicate our minds wholeheartedly and [have faith] in the depths of the heart. “Suppose that there are also people who give rise to great faith for only a moment.” Some people, in a short time frame, can comprehend and understand. When it comes to this “moment,” it does not mean to have faith for only a short time; that is not it. [The understanding] builds up from the past. “Oh, I finally understand. All of a sudden, I understand.” This understanding is very thorough. In the past, we practiced the Five Paramitas. Now we only have to open another door to our hearts. This is very easy. As long as we know the method, once we unlock the door, the door will open. To “give rise to great faith for only a moment” [means that], since we have traveled on the path and arrived at this last obstacle, as long as we can change our perspectives, the door to our heart will open, as will the door to our faith. This is called “great faith.” This is [faith] “in the depths of the heart. The blessings they attain from this surpass those of the Five Paramitas.” All these things sound very simple. However, this deep faith is built up from the past. With what we have had since the past, we must advance forward with the Earnest Efforts. So, Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas must also practice the Four Earnest Efforts. For everyone to understand this is very simple, but for us to put it into practice and have deep faith, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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