Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Peacefully Attain Bodhi (輕安自在得菩提)
We should nurture a generous and open heart. Be content with few desires to be accommodating. Take joy in giving to receive wondrous Dharma. Be peaceful and at ease to attain Bodhi.
To reach this state, we must nurture a heart that remains in the state of permanence, bliss, self and purity. We must have an open heart and simple thoughts. If we do this in our daily living, we will be free of afflictions and be able to live in abundance.
We must nurture a giving and open heart; our heart must be pure and find joy in giving. To be giving is to be without greed. Without greed, the world will seem wide open. Some people own big houses that are well-furnished yet they are still not content. Can they be happy with such a mind? Instead of being discontent even with a large and lavish house, we should have a large and open heart. Spend the money used for indulgences to benefit society. By transforming our mind, we can have great strength to help others and create good affinities with them. By maintaining a giving and open heart, we can become spiritually enriched.
We must also reduce our desires and be content. Then we will be able to accommodate everyone and everything. There are many difficulties in life. It can be truly worrisome and heartbreaking. There are many people who are suffering and those who try to help them also endure hardships. When they think of all the people suffering, those with open, loving hearts will go help them. They often face danger and must have courage and determination in order to help others. They have hearts that embrace everyone; they take the suffering of others as their own. This is a heart that embraces everyone. When we are content and have few desires, our hearts are large and open.
In this way won’t we always be joyful and want to share this joy with others? Thus, we find joy in giving. This includes the joy of sharing the Dharma. When someone shares their personal realization, others hear and feel that it is the Dharma. Whether an old person says it, or a small child says it, if it has truth, it is the Dharma. So, when we hear something that makes us happy, we should quickly share it with others. When I hear the sound of birds and become joyful, I also quickly share it with others. You may wonder how the sounds of birds can make me joyful. What is joyful about it? You may not be able to comprehend it. I may not be able to comprehend why the birds are so happy. However, I feel happy, that experience led me to become joyful, so I wish to share my happiness with everyone. We should share our joys with others and in this way create good affinities.
We should share more than just our difficulties, afflictions and anger. When I speak with you, I do not want to share those things. We should share our joy. Of course, we can still share our problems, so that we do not keep them bottled up inside. To minimize our problems and maintain constant joy in our minds so we will be happy under all conditions requires a long period of training.
I often emphasize training the mind. Indeed, we can use situations we face to train our minds. We should do this in stages. Initially, our minds are easily influenced by external states. When desirable states arise, we allow greed to arise, and when undesirable states occur, afflictions appear. We must learn to be understanding, so when we experience desirable situations we feel joy instead of greed. Then worldly conflicts will be educational. When conflicts become teachings, love will fill our hearts. This is spiritual practice.
I often ask, “What else is there to practice?” The mind, Buddha and all beings are equal; we all posses the same Buddha-nature. But we must practice because we have habitual tendencies. So, we must treat all external phenomena as opportunities for cultivation and carefully nurture our minds. We can turn our greed into a spirit of giving and turn an afflicted state into one of peace and freedom. It takes time to cultivate the mind and character. One who maintains an open mind can be understanding. An understanding person can be accommodating. One who is accommodating finds joy in giving. One can give many things: material things, Dharma and courage. Those who share their joy with others are giving the Dharma. If others are afflicted, when they hear our words, they will not be frightened, and their hearts will be freed. If we always give joyfully, we will naturally be joyful. When we see others eliminate delusions and attain Dharma-joy, we attain wondrous happiness. This way, we peacefully and freely attain Bodhi. It is this simple.
So, we should always nurture a giving and open heart. Then we will attain Bodhi, a state of peace and freedom. This is spiritual practice. Then, when will we ever not be joyful? With no thoughts of greed, we will naturally be joyful and happy.
In the past, we may have had many afflictions because of greed, because we were not at ease. So, we talk about repentance every day. We repent daily to eliminate our afflictions. We need to repent all of our past wrongs so our minds will become pure. A pure mind naturally creates merits. When the minds pure, defilements cannot enter. An undefiled mind is clean and free of the weeds of vexation. The seeds one sows create merits, so that, “life after life we will obtain the wish-fulfilling jewel.”
In life, things do not easily happen as we wish. But if we practice repentance and constantly create good affinities with others, then whenever we interact with people, we will be joyful. If we have a harmonious character, all matters will be harmonious, and we will be in harmony with the principles. So, we should first perfect our character, which is to create good affinities with others. While doing good deeds, every thought that enters our minds becomes a joyful treasure.
Then won’t everything in the world be precious? In our daily living, everything we encounter can be a treasure to us. If our minds are accepting, joyful, and not greedy, every situation becomes invaluable. Thus, everything will go as wish. If we are not greedy for anything, we will be joyous about everything. This is just like the group which is here visiting. I believe they are all environmental volunteers. Some of them had plastic bags containing plastic bottles, paper cups and paper. They were carrying these things around, so I believe they must be environmental volunteers. On their way they might have come across some plastic bottles, aluminum cans, aluminum cans and such. They treat them as treasures.
So, they picked them up and brought them here. These environmental Bodhisattvas have big hearts. Every day they devote themselves to their work. They cherish their blessings and benefit others. In my eyes, they are living Bodhisattvas collecting treasures. There objects are all “wish-fulfilling jewels.”
The next verses in the repentance text read, “A constant rain of the seven jewels, superb and wondrous clothing, delicious food, and all types of medicine appear immediately according to one’s needs or thoughts.”
How wonderful! “A constant rain of the seven jewels.” The seven gems are various valuables. In listening to the Buddha-Dharma we hear that before the Buddha taught, the goddesses of all directions scattered flowers, and heavenly beings and humans made offerings of treasures. This is a state of mind. Our minds can become a place for spiritual cultivation. When our minds are pure, our Buddha-natures will manifest. As we just mentioned, when we always find joy in giving, our words become treasures to those with whom we have created good affinities. When someone is suffering from afflictions we can offer such treasures to them. If we ourselves are stuck on something, and someone says something which sets us free, it becomes a treasure to us. If we are joyous, everything will be treasured. This is “a constant rain of the seven jewels.” It refers to these treasures.
“Wondrous clothes, delicious food”
If we are joyful, even simple clothing and meals are precious. Regardless of the style, if one is dressed neatly and cleanly, any clothes that cover our bodies are treasures. But in this passage it says that life after life, the environment that we will find ourselves in, whether it is the clothes that we wear or the food that we eat, will be precious. We do not need to wait for a better life.
If our minds are open; everything, even our clothes, can be treasures to us now.
Without proper clothing, we cannot go out and interact with others decently. So, if we are content, we will be joyful. If we abide by the precepts and rules, all objects and foods are precious. On the program “Grassroots Bodhi,”
there was a grandmother who lived by herself. All her four or five children were successful doctors, attorneys or teachers. They were filial and asked her to live with them, but she refused.
She said, “I don’t want to be locked up inside their homes. In my own house, I have freedom. I can do recycling. My house can be a recycling center.” She recycled and kept her house very clean.
Our reporters documented her daily living, and noted what she ate. “What I cook in the morning is enough for lunch as well.”
Her leftovers from breakfast consisted of two dishes of vegetables and rice.
She said, “I eat joyfully. Each day is the same. What I can’t finish, I can eat for dinner. Master said we need to cherish our blessings. I eat all my food. As long as I’m full, it doesn’t matter how it tastes.”
It was as if she was eating “delicious food.” She ate simply. She would eat the cold leftovers from breakfast quite happily. Her children were very filial. She offered her house as a recycling center.
She said, “My friends come over to help sort these materials and chat with me. I’m happy. Chatting is like chanting the Buddha’s name. I have no afflictions.” With a mentality like this, everything becomes precious. Her house was filled with recyclable goods, but they were all treasures to her.
They “appeared according to needs and thoughts.” What could she lack when she was content with everything? At one point she said, “We are done sorting. Why haven’t they brought more?” Soon trucks of recyclable materials arrived. Her life was enriched and fulfilled. So, sentient beings must always maintain joyful, content and giving minds. If we give without seeking anything in return and keep an open heart that embraces everything, we will be joyful and receive the wondrous Dharma. We will perceive it in everything we encounter. Thus, we will peacefully and freely attain Bodhi.
Everyone, when the Dharma enters the mind, it becomes a place of spiritual cultivation, and
we will always possess wish-fulfilling treasures. In learning Buddhism, what we are learning is how to cultivate our intrinsic Buddha-natures. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
首頁 
