Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Six Practices: Ten Dedications Part 1(六行~十向行一)
Can our minds be tranquil and peaceful in any environment? Whether we are alone or among others, can our minds remain innately pure? That is what we should constantly ask ourselves. As we learn Buddhism, we must constantly reflect and ask ourselves, “Are our minds always aligned with our true nature?” True means there is nothing false in our spiritual practice we must cultivate what is truthful, not false. Don’t we start with the source? The source is Buddha-mind.
Therefore, when learning Buddhism, we must first learn to attain Buddha-mind. We must individually wash away each defilement and ignorance. We need to expend a lot of effort to return to that pure innate nature. To reach Ultimate Reality, we progress from the Ten Faiths, the Ten Abiding Conducts and the Ten Actions to the Ten Dedications.
The Six Practices:
1 Ten Faiths. 2 Ten Abiding Conducts. 3 Ten Actions. 4 Ten Dedications. 5 Ten Grounds. 6 Equal Enlightenment.
The Dedication of Merit from Small to Large is the goal of the Ten Dedications. First we must transform all sentient beings. To do so, we must live among others. Complications often arise in groups. There are many conflicts and even more worries. What should we do? The first method is to “part with the form of sentient beings, return to the unconditioned mind, and move toward the Path of Nirvana. That is dedication to save all beings.”
To save sentient beings, we must part with the appearance of sentient beings. We have mentioned this in the Practice of Non-attachment as well Buddha has no View of Self, Sentient Beings or a Soul. He transcends all appearances, so He is not attached to them. We must learn this as well. As we look at all the different sentient beings, if our affinities with them are weak, then just seeing them will upset us. To practice the Bodhisattva-path, when we see these people, we must be compassionate, pity them, and feel sorry for them. Once we feel compassion, we can be more tolerant. We must free ourselves from the View of Sentient Beings and stop discriminating against those who upset us on sight. We have great compassion.
But if our affinities with someone are strong, should we love them? Yes, we should, but do not be biased. If we are biased in our love, them we are still attach to the View of Sentient Beings. If we favor those with whom we have an affinity, or those we desire, then we are still attached to the View of Sentient Beings. If we become worried and greedy, and discriminate against those we have a poor affinity with, then we are still attached to this View. That is resentment. If we are not resentful or greedy, we will have a pure Buddha-mind, an Unconditioned Mind.
Do not reject or resent those you have no affinity with. Do not be greedily attached to or crave those you have good affinity with. We possess a pure Buddha-mind that is unattached to the View of Sentient Beings. Such is the Unconditioned Mind.
We must emulate the Buddha and constantly take good care of our minds. We often hear the phrase, “It doesn’t matter.”
“Won’t this cause you a lot of harm?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You treated him so well, how can he do this to you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Is this Non-attachment? An Unconditioned Mind is free from attachments and worries, it is a pure mind.
The Buddha possessed this pure nature. He unlocked supreme wisdom and founded a religion for the strong-willed beings in the Saha World. Thus we must “part with the View of Sentient Beings, return to an Unconditioned Mind.” We must have a pure mind like the Buddha, free from attachments and conditions. “Practice the Path of Nirvana” so your minds can be tranquil forever.
Some people ask, “Is Nirvana the same thing as death?”
No. The major characteristic of Nirvana is a tranquil mind. It is “the Land of Calm Illumination.” It is a place where the mind can be tranquil. Thus it is called “the Land of Calm Illumination.” It truly is silent and tranquil. This unmoving state of calm and illumination is the Path of Nirvana.
When the mind is tranquil, it is in the Land of Calm Illumination. This silent, tranquil, and unmoving state of calm illumination is called the Path of Nirvana.
Only with this mindset can we truly “save all sentient beings.” To save them, our minds must be pure, freed from attachments, conditions and the View of Sentient Beings. Only then can we not get caught up in the joys and sorrows of sentient beings, which is truly painful. Being entangled in hate or passion is very painful.
In the past we used many methods to strengthen our desire for spiritual cultivation. We have already paved the way, so now we must continue on this Bodhisattva-path. The Dedication to part with the View of Sentient Beings is a Dedication from Small to Large.
Dedication is about “turning back.” I often say, athletes run around a circular track. If we watch a relay, we see a race run in segments. The same principle lies behind Fragmentary Samsara. As we begin our practice, we cannot instantly jump to the starting point. As I often say, the Buddha set an example for us and demonstrated his principles for us. When He first made his vow, He took the appearance of an ordinary person. When we read the Sutras, we often see Buddha take on various forms in the world to inspire the aspiration for spiritual practice. Actually, we already have this aspiration. But to teach us, he turned principle into action and gave form to the formless. He actions were meant to teach us about “turning back.”
That means we must start from the right place. We start running from this point. Similarly, even though the Buddha attained enlightenment, He still assumed human from this world. He lived to the age of 80. Was he always in the Land of Calm Illumination? As I said, Nirvana is a state of calm illumination, a spiritual mindset. The Buddha is a venerable teacher of humans, the kind father of the three realms. Our Founding Teacher Sakyamuni Buddha will never leave the Saha world, so He repeatedly returns to the Human Realm. He repeatedly returns to the Human Realm. I often share this with you. Dedication is about turning back.
The Buddha lived until He was 80, but who knows how many times He has returned. Some ask, “Does he always live until he is 80?” Let me tell you No, He doesn’t. Maybe He is a toddler, a baby right now. If we go to a nursery and see a baby in the incubator, we might say, “Congratulations! You must be very happy. Bless this child.” Since he is in an incubator, we think, “It’s so sad, why was he born this way? Life is miserable.” Perhaps that is one of his forms. He manifested a short miserable life, an appearance of suffering, to inspire realization in people who see him. This is called Enlightenment by Degrees.
If this caused someone to say, “I see it now, I understand. Life is this way.” it may just be a manifestation of his form. So, we often say, “Face suffering sentient beings with gratitude” because everyone is a Buddha. When we are giving, bring relief to people, we do not say we are saving them. Sometimes we say we help, or bring love to the recipients. The Buddha taught us that in the multitude of sentient beings, Buddha may manifest as one of the suffering to let us have an opportunity to give. That is how we learn. Suffering beings are teachers to spiritual practitioners as illnesses are teachers to doctors.
I often say, “Illness is our teacher. We learn a lot from the patients.” Treat illness as a teacher. Everyone is teaching us at all times. No matter when this life ends, we will return in a different form. As long as we maintain a pure and undefiled mind, no matter what form we take, we must Dedicate from Small to Large. We keep turning like this, so we call it turning back.
No matter when, as long as we have a pure and undefiled mind, we can always start over from the beginning. That is called turning back.
We often say, “If not for this life, do it for the next.” We must be willing to give, not just for this life. Some people say, “I am so old, it’s too late. I’ll practice in the next life.” No! If not for this life, do it for the next. If you not sow a seed for the next life, and claim be too old or too busy to practice now, how can you create the conditions for these opportunities to arise in your next life?
We should just do it, just practice, if not for this life, then for the next. This is turning back from this life to the next. But when we talk about turning back, you must listen very carefully. The Buddha had a pure and undefiled mind. From the starting point, we advance one step at a time. With our practice, we turn back toward our starting point. The starting point is undefiled, pure and unconditioned. We try to turn back to that place.
Turning back requires having a Buddha-mind, and the Bodhisattva-resolve. That is our destiny. We will not leave the Saha World until all sentient beings have been transformed. That is our destiny. “Invoke the heart of great compassion and save all sentient beings. Turn back to the goodness of the Ten Actions and return to the Three Place.”
From this passage we can understand that we keep practicing good deeds for sentient beings. As we practice, we head toward the Three Places. What are those Three Places our minds turn to? First we “realize the genuine Ultimate Reality.” The destiny that we pursue is the genuine Ultimate Reality. That is the destiny we vow to pursue. Second we “seek the supreme enlightened wisdom.” The goal of our destiny is to realize genuine, Ultimate Reality.
To realize this, we must seek enlightened wisdom. We “seek supreme enlightened wisdom, which is the Bodhi-path. We all know that we need to walk this path to reach our goals. So we seek supreme enlightened wisdom to transform all sentient beings.” We take the Bodhi-path to transform sentient beings, if we do not transform or benefit them, then we are not walking the Bodhisattva-path. That is why we learn Buddhism. It is truly this simple. It is not separate from our normal lives or innate nature. With a pure, unselfish, unattached and un-abiding mind we resolve to walk the Bodhisattva-path and save sentient beings.
Realize the genuine Ultimate Reality. Seek the supreme enlightened wisdom. Transform all sentient beings.
Everyone, when we learn Buddhism, we must learn to have this resolute mindset and maintain this pure, undefiled mind. Everyone should walk this Bodhisattvas-path. Everyone should invoke altruistic intention and vow to help sentient beings wherever they live. Sakyamuni Buddha is the great teacher of the Saha World. He will never leave these stubborn sentient beings. So, everyone should be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
首頁 
