Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Transforming Others as We Transform Ourselves (度人先度已)
Our pure love can transform others as it does us. Bodhisattvas abide in enlightened love and relieve sentient beings everywhere from suffering. Having done this, they again expound the Dharma.
I often say, “Everything is created by the mind.” So, always keep your minds calm, clean and pure. There is love in purity. Love can transform others as it does us. There are countless sentient beings, so we must not only save ourselves, we must also help save others. We not only transform ourselves, we also help others transform. So, we are interconnected with all other beings.
Bodhisattvas’ minds abide in enlightened love. We have to attain realization. We must learn from the past, and maintain our determination for the future. We know that all life is interconnected. I often say, “In the entire universe, Earth is the only planet we know to have life.” So, we are interconnected with all living beings on Earth. We have to be enlightened and have pure and undefiled love.
We should relieve the suffering of sentient beings. Since we are born into this world with all these varied living beings, we should peacefully abide here, and help pained, tormented sentient beings by relieving their suffering. Each living beings has its own world. As humans, we should protect all habitats. So, we must peacefully abide in this world and relieve everyone’s suffering.
Humans are called the most sentient of all; only we can relieve sentient beings’ sufferings. After that, we again expound the Dharma. We can help them resolve urgent problems and relieve their pain. We can eliminate their difficulties and relieve their suffering. This is what we humans can do. As long as we have the will, it is easy. Let us create more good affinities with others. “Abandon hatred and resentment, eliminate thoughts of killing.”
Not only must we not kill or harm others, we cannot even give rise to thoughts of killing. On top of that, we should “treat all sentient beings as our children.” So all sentient beings are our children, or we are children to all sentient beings. There are parents above us and children below us. When the Buddha was near a huge pile of bones, He bowed to it with respect. The bones belonged to the parents or children He had over many lifetimes and Kalpas. So we must always treat everyone as family.
All sentient beings are our elders and all living creatures are our children. If we understand this, we will always be loving. Not only can we protect others’ lives, we can help them understand the truth and forever transcend the suffering in the Six Realms. We can also end their cycle of enmity. The Buddha taught us to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
The Bodhisattva-mind abides in enlightened love. So in the sentient beings’ worlds, we relieve their suffering an expound Dharma so they can understand karmic retribution.
Let’s look at this next section, “If we see people in great difficulty, we will be selfless and save them with skillful means, and then expound wondrous Right Dharma to them.”
This passage is like the one before. When sentient beings are in great difficulty, we selflessly help them transcend it. This is like our charity work. No matter which country is experiencing a disaster or how far way it is, we gather there to provide relief no matter how difficult it may be.
We still remember the South Asian Tsunami. Tzu Chi volunteers, including those outside Taiwan traveled to Sri Lanka and Aceh to help, to provide disaster relief, hold free clinics, and rebuild schools and villages. At the height of the emergency, Tzu Chi volunteers quickly gathered in the affected areas. They saw corpses strewn all over. The smell was terrible. Many people were hurt, ill and broken-hearted. We sent many medical personnel there. We provided medical service and relief. At one time, we had volunteers from eight countries there in Sri Lanka. Among them were doctors, nurses and other volunteers. This is “seeing people in great difficulty” and “being selfness, saving them with skillful means.” We rushed to get there quickly. Some volunteers even stayed long-term and got to know the local residents well. Some young people took turns staying there, to see to their needs, to protect the poor and treat their illnesses at the free clinics. Even if we had to go to a town six or seven hours away, we still rushed there to save lives. We spared no effort. In helping sentient beings, we can abandon them in their time of need. This is what it means to be a Lining Bodhisattva.
Volunteers even befriended them and helped them understand the Tzu Chi spirit and invited them to volunteers with us. In Hambantota, people understood the Tzu Chi spirit. Even teachers helped with fundraising. When we were providing relief or handing out goods, they also joined us. Therefore, not only did we give tangible material goods, we intangibly helped them elevate their spirits. This is all wondrous Dharma.
Next it says, “Let our forms and shadows bring sentient beings peace and happiness. Let our names and the sounds of our voices dispel their fears. Today we reverently take refuge with the Buddha.”
This section tells us to create many good affinities. We have nurtured the Threefold Karma of our body, speech and mind. So when we speak, when people heart our voices, even before understanding what we say, they are open and understanding. They are happy. Or they may feel peaceful when they see “our forms or shadows.”
There was this story in the Sutra. When the Buddha and His disciples were under a big tree in the fields, the sun began to set. There was a flock of birds. When the Buddha drew near to them, they became very peaceful and quiet and hid under His shadow. If the Buddha moved and Shariputra followed him, so that Shariputra’s shadow fell across the birds, the birds would get nervous and fly off a little. Where did they go? To be under the Buddha’s shadow again. They congregated under His shadow. Whenever the Buddha moved and Sariputra took His place, the birds would again become uneasy and move to be in the Buddha’s shadow. It was like protection; they felt safe.
Some disciples found this strange. Why did the birds follow the Buddha’s shadow? When they waited under His shadow, they were quiet and peaceful. The Buddha smiled and said, “Don’t you know?”
“This is a ‘mind’ shadow. We cultivate both body and mind. Some have not eliminated scattered thoughts. They are still ordinary people; other creatures are afraid they will kill them. So, those birds feel unsettled. They are calm under my shadow because my mind is pure, free of scattered thoughts.”
Everyone then looked at Sariputra. He was Buddha’s wisest disciple. Wasn’t his mind pure? Sariputra saw everyone starting at him, so he told the Buddha, “Truly, there are scattered thoughts in my mind. My thoughts wander to the past and future. When I see the birds move, my mind also moves, so I admit there are random thoughts in my mind.”
So the teacher and disciple were living proof that other beings react to our physical presence. We also talk about, “impressions.” Some people see someone and wonder why he has changed. He used to love arguing used to always lose his temper, etc. But when we look at him now, our impression has changed. We often hear that form arises from the mind. Whatever is in our minds manifests in our appearance. There is no physical change, just a change in the feeling we give others.
Sentient beings felt more peaceful and happy when they saw the form and shadow of the Buddha and His disciples. They felt more peaceful and happy. Not only does seeing the Buddha’s shadow bring peace, so does hearing Buddha’s names. So, we often say, “Recite the Buddha’s name.” Recite the name of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Recite it until you are at peace. Recite it loud and clear. When we raise our voices in unison and recite His name, our voices will reach all the Heavens so all Dharma-protectors will hear us. This is auspicious.
We must always say good things. So whenever we say something, others will feel at peace. Our words will not harm others nor cause disputes. So others will believe everything we say is true and not false, real and not illusory. When they hear our sound, all their fears completely dissolve. They will no longer be frightened.
Everyone, in our spiritual practice, we want to reach this level of cultivation. Our karma of body, speech and mind must be pure. Then when all sentient beings see our shadows or our forms, or hear our voices, they will feel peaceful and happy, without fear.
To reach this point, we must eliminate those evil acts we spoke of. We must do many good deeds. We must follow and practice the Buddha’s teachings. Since we are His disciples, we accept His teachings and change our behavior and thoughts accordingly. Then shouldn’t we be very sincere? So “today we reverently,” or very sincerely, “take refuge with the Buddha.” Our minds are never apart from the Buddha. By taking refuge with Him, we rely on Him. Then evil thoughts will not arise. If we are close to Him, We will always think good thoughts.
Haven’t you heard me talk about taking refuge? We are turning from darkness to light. When we take refuge with Him, we have already eliminated our old bad habits and from this moment on, we nurture the habit of always thinking good thoughts. So, we take refuge with the Buddha to let the Buddha-mind become our mind.
I always say we must Keep the Buddha in our hearts, and the Dharma in our actions. We go among sentient beings to help transform them. The Dharma is taught through our speech. Everything we say must be In line with the principles. Keep the Dharma in your actions and remain in a state of meditation. Meditations is Samadhi; it is a pure and undefiled state. So everyone, in learning Buddhism we must learn to calm our minds and the minds of others. If we are happy and peaceful, everyone is at ease. So everyone, please always be mindful.
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