Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Develop Wisdom and Illuminate the Mind (啟慧明心)
Buddhist practitioners follow the Dharma and uphold the rules. As Right Dharma abides in the world, people’s hearts will lose their selfishness. Teach others to create blessings, develop wisdom and illuminate their minds.
This is the mindset we need as we learn Buddha’s teachings. If we can follow the teachings, uphold our responsibilities, and conduct ourselves passed on precepts and rules, then the Right Dharma will abide in the world. The Right Dharma will be ever-abiding. Then, people will be unselfish.
If people abide by the Dharma, it will be impossible for them to be selfish. Love is boundless and limitless. As we treasure our own Wisdom-life, we also cherish others’ altruistic aspirations and are not selfish when interacting with them. Thus, the Dharma will always abide in this world, and the Dharma-lineage will be passed down.
If we have unselfish hearts, we will teach others to create blessings and awaken their wisdom. We want to create blessings ourselves, and teach others to create blessings. We create blessings through love. Unselfish love creates blessings for humanity. Everyone can develop wisdom and clear their mind. Our mission is to awaken their wisdom so they can illuminate their minds and recognize their true natures.
Buddhists uphold the rules and precepts. This is how Buddhist communities can be harmonious. The harmony of a Buddhist community is beautiful. With such a beautiful group, when we talk to other people, we can more easily transform their minds. So, this is very important to us.
These past few days we have been talking about how to protect the Dharma, so it may always abide in this world. We respect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sutras, and even those who promote the Buddha-Dharma.
This section of the repentance text states, “We may have hurt those who give rise to the unsurpassed Bodhicitta, completely destroyed the seeds of Buddhahood.”
When people begin to find joy in and seek the Dharma, or even vow to pursue spiritual cultivation, once these thoughts and aspirations arise, let us quickly welcome these people. Earth Treasury Bodhisattvas went to Hell to be with those who committed all kinds of evil deeds. With an open and accommodating heart, he followed sentient beings to Hell, solely to save them from suffering. Sharing the Dharma with them can help them leave that most painful and tortuous place sooner.
This is the Bodhisattva’s vow, to go on behalf of the Buddha to those suffering most to promote the Dharma and teach them. We are already the Buddha’s disciples, so we should shoulder the Tathagata’s mission and pass it on to others. We will pass down the Buddha’s love, His unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion.
We establish a training ground for the Four Immeasurable.
We especially need to open our hearts so they can be infinitely encompassing. With an open heart, we can welcome any kind of sentient beings with love and sincerity.
Ordinary beings are stubborn and hard to train. The Buddha was also concerned about this. So, at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, He was concerned about the future. “Once I leave the world, who will pass down the Mahayana Dharma?” Mahayana is the teaching of the Bodhisattva-path.
Who would undertake this? Even Sariputra, the wisest man in the Saha-world, did not dare. But the Bodhisattvas from outside the Saha-world were very brave.
They said, “We will accept this responsibility.”
But the Buddha did not allow those from other worlds to take up this duty. Aren’t the Mahayana teachings supposed to benefit the Saha-world? These Bodhisattvas were not part of the Saha-world. The opportunity to develop the will to practice only exists in the Saha-world, a place where one must endure much suffering.
Once the will to practice is awakened, others are needed to help promote the teachings. But those around the Buddha were afraid of the difficulty. This caused the Buddha the most concern.
Why were they afraid of the difficulty? Because of their sense of “self” I do not dare. Everyone is so stubborn. I dare not shoulder this responsibility.” So, even Sariputra, the wisest in the Saha-world, still had attachment to “self.” If the Mahayana Dharma could not be passed down, we would experience the Eras of Right Dharma, Dharma Semblance and Dharma Decay. But Right Dharma could abide in this world, as long as people were unselfish and opened their hearts. Then, the Bodhi-seeds would not be destroyed.
Of course, this would require everyone to welcome those who arouse unsurpassed Bodhicitta. Therefore, let us welcome them so. Bodhi-seeds will continue to exist in an unbroken line. We cannot be a person who eliminates the seeds of Buddhahood.
When we learn Buddhism, we must follow the rules. We should maintain a mindset of hoping that the Right Dharma will be ever-abiding, that we can all be unselfish and expand our minds. Our spiritual training ground is the practice of the F our Immeasurable. Our hearts need to be open for us to save people, create blessings, develop wisdom and illuminate the mind.
So, we cannot allow thoughts of eliminating the seeds of Buddhahood to arise in our minds. That prevents the spread of the Right Path. That is wrong.
This section is about breaking people’s will, causing them to turn away from their practice. This is destroying the seeds of Buddhahood.
It is not acceptable.
This section states, “We may have whipped or beat Sramana, manipulated or slandered them with bitter words, cause them to break precepts and regulations.”
In a Sangha, besides hindering others’ spiritual aspirations we may not take joy in other’s accomplishments, and may even cause them to lose their will to practice. In our behavior, not only do we abuse others, we may attack them physically. “We may have whipped or beat Sramanas.” Religion guides the mind onto the right path. It brings harmony to society.
So, as long as it is a proper religion, it should be protected. Some people damage religions, instead of protecting them. They “whip Sramanas” or “beat, manipulate” or even slander them with poisonous words. Thus, they “slander with bitter words.” They use very harsh language to slander the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We may force others to “break pure precepts.” We may force monks to leave the temples, return to the laity, get married, have kids, etc. These actions bring very bad karma.
We may cause them to compromise their regulations. As monastics, we must cherish ourselves. We must cherish our minds, cherish our bodies, and cherish our actions. We must take good care of or will to practice. We must be very aware of our actions. Every word we speak and very move we make are all considered our actions.
Besides doing good deeds with our bodies, we also must not damage people or objects. This is unacceptable. At the same time, we must take care of how we carry ourselves. So, we follow the regulations. We monastics, and all of Buddha’s disciples, should pay careful attention to our actions or we may compromise our dignity.
Besides our conduct, our appearance also affects our demeanor. We wear the proper clothing for each occasion. In the morning when we come to the Buddha-hall, we put on the formal long robes. That is our respect-inspiring demeanor. When we are working outside, we wear short- or medium-length robs. This is what monastics wear when we labor. If we go out, we need to neatly wear our long robes.
For Tzu Chi volunteers, based on what they are wearing, one will know what job they are doing that day. If there is a large-scale activity, they would all wear suits and formal dresses. When they wear the “Eightfold Noble Path” dress, they are holding a meeting or out volunteering. When they wear the blue shirt and white pants, we know the activity is to distribute relief aid. We know the activity requires more physical labor. They have three regular outfits, and so do monastics.
Thus, when our group comes together, our harmony is very dignified. If they are not uniform, the group is not beautiful. So, we know that we should respect monastic practitioners. How could we whip, beat or manipulate them? That is not right. Sramana is another name for Bhinksu , it means diligence and cessation , one who diligently practices precepts, Samahdi, wisdom, and extinguishes greed, anger and ignorance. That is a Sramana. This is also the basic duty of Bhiksus.
We ourselves need to diligently cultivate discipline, Samahdi, wisdom, and extinguish greed, anger and ignorance, when we deal with others, we diligently practice all good, extinguish all evil. Let us diligently create blessings for the world and guide others to good aspirations and good thoughts. When we lead others, we must inspire their goodness and help them eliminate evil, those negative thoughts and practices. This is like what usually tell everyone, to internally cultivate sincerity, integrity, faith, and steadfastness to externally practice loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity. The meaning is the same.
Whether we are monastics or lay disciples, we need to follow this mission. We need to focus on our practice and also guide others well. This is our mission, especially for monastic practitioners, Bhiksus, or Sramana.
Monastics are the fields of blessings in the Era of Dharma Decay because
in this era morals and ethics and about to be lost. As long as monastic communities, temples and images of the Buddha, the Sutras and practitioners still exist, we can return from Dharma Decay to the Era of Right Dharma.
So, like I just said, as Buddhist practitioners we follow the Dharma and uphold the precepts. This is the most important part.
If we do so, Right Dharma abides in the world, and people’s hearts will have no selfishness. If Right Dharma abides here, humans will no longer always act according to selfish desires or become greedy, angry, ignorant, arrogant or doubtful. These all arise from selfishness.
Right Dharma must be passed down in monasteries, in monastic communities. Our duty is to teach others to create blessings, develop wisdom and illuminate their minds. Then we are truly the fields of blessings in the Era of Decay. In this era , we cannot be without monastic communities and monastic practitioners. We follow the path of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
We must pass down the Buddha’s teachings. We all need to abandon selfish minds, then we have unconditional love. This is our mission. Since monastic practitioners have this great sense of mission and put it into practice, they deserve the respect of other Buddhists and people in society. If we have this kind of respect, how can we hurt them? How can we manipulate them? We cannot. So, we must be respectful.
Everyone, learning Buddhism is training the mind. In Dharma as Water, the Water Repentance text, subtly reminds us and allows us to understand whether we have committed these violations in our living, mindsets or behaviors. We are all very blessed. We have obtained human form, heard Dharma, entered the Buddha’s door, practiced His way. How can we not seize this moment? Life is impermanent. We need to become enlightened without delay.
If we do not change our habits today, will we have time to adjust them tomorrow? If we do not immediately make a vow and decide to change our habits when we hear this, will we have another opportunity? So everyone, please always be vigilant. Time flies by; it keeps passing constantly.
I hope we all remember to take good care of our minds as we learn Buddhism. One stray thought can lead to endless mistakes. So , we must take proper care of our hearts. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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