Lecturer: Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Vow to Build a Bridge for Sentient Beings (願為眾生拱橋)
Be mindful when learning Buddhism. We must mindfully practice the Dharma, so we need to always use the Dharma to condition our minds.
Contemplate the Dharma of the Right Path. Be mindful, unselfish, pure and diligent in paving the Right Path with Great Love. With the power of our vows, we will build a bridge to the other shore.
Everyone, this is telling us that we should control our minds. Let us practice Right Thinking and follow the Right Path with our actions. We must not lead empty lives. I remind you over and over that a slight deviation can lead us far astray. So, we must always practice self-restraint and think according to the Right Path. We must always be mindful. If we are consciously unselfish, our thoughts can be innocent and pure. Then we can all practice and advance together. To progress diligently and foster love is our fundamental responsibility. As we live through each day, we are practicing. Spiritual practice is like paving a road, we work on the road before us. Although time is constantly passing, if we work hard at paving this road, we will continually expand it and smooth it out. So, we must pave the road with love. The longer we do this, the straighter it becomes. So, with Great Love we pave the road of the Right Path. Everyone must have the power of vows. Where there is a will, there is a way. When we engage in spiritual practice, we need the strength of vows. We must be willing to be a bridge, to connect this side with the other. We must be willing to become the bridge to help others walk across, from this shore to the other. If we want to have the spirit of being a bridge, we must strengthen our resolve to practice. So, I hope everyone does not fear hard work as we practice. The difficult part of spiritual practice is cultivating our minds. We vow to help deliver others. With the strength of that vow comes the spirit of being a bridge to deliver ourselves and others. So, everyone must always keep this mindset. As we said yesterday, we should always care about others. We must care for others as they face difficulties. We need to have universal compassion; other’s difficulties are our difficulties. We should help relieve some of the pressure of their burden. We should be concerned about their daily living.
“Are you cold? Have you eaten?”
We should always care for each other.
This should be part of the courtesy of our daily life.
We practice to overcome ourselves and have the courtesy to care about others.
The next section states, “We may have burned bridges or cut off the path.”
“For these and other transgressions today we repent completely.”
This is about more than just being disrespectful to others.
Let us look at our actions.
If something does not go our way, we selfishly “cut off the path” and keep others from getting what they want either.
This is wrong.
People used to say, “Build bridges as good deeds”.
But some people “destroy bridges”.
Not only do they not build bridges or roads, they actually destroy them.
If we cut off people’s paths, that is wrong.
Roadways are very important.
If there is an emergency, we must respond to it using our roads.
If a bridge is destroyed, we can only stand on the bank and sigh, “I am so worried!”
“The bridge is broken and we cannot pass.”
“What can be done?”
Let us not have this mindset.
It is a transgression.
Cutting off people’s path can mean breaking actual bridges and roads, or it can mean breaking people’s will to practice.
We must always help others to succeed in their practice.
If people want to engage in spiritual practice we must not hinder them.
Blocking the path of someone’s spiritual practice is not right.
This creates even more serious karma.
Breaking someone’s will to practice is intangible, while destroying actual bridges and roads is tangible act.
The karma from breaking someone’s will to practice is greater than that of breaking bridges.
So, be very attentive and mindful.
The repentance text continues, “We may have been indulgent tan unrestrained in a state of uncertainty and disruption.”
“”We may have played Chu-pu or Go and caused a crowd to gather around, or drank alcohol, ate meat, imposed upon each other to play host, or criticized everything with meaningless speech.
This passage is saying that if we cannot practice self-restraint, we over indulge and play all day; we abhor labor and love leisure.
We do not want to be active or go to work.
We do not want to do any proper work, but we indulge ourselves in seeking our leisure and avoiding any work that requires labor.
Being afraid of work and leading empty lives is being “indulgent and unrestrained.”
Next is “a state of indeterminacy and disruption.”
Indeterminacy is confusion.
If we are unclear on the principles, we do whatever others tell us to.
So we “follow the piper” and do not discriminate between right and wrong.
This is indeterminacy.
Some talk about moral indeterminacy.
These people cannot distinguish right from wrong.
If we spend time with good people, it is very easy to do good.
If we are with unwholesome individuals, we may form gangs and do bad things.
The minds of sentient beings are like this.
This happens when we cannot tell good from evil.
Look at your own causes and conditions.
When negative conditions appear we may walk towards evil.
When positive conditions appear we will move towards goodness and practice good deeds.
We are all ordinary people so before we are firm in the strength of our vows, we are in a state of moral indeterminacy.
Then we are easily disrupted. Because our minds are in darkness, they are easily disrupted. So we “may have played Chu-pu or Go”
These are two kinds of games. We may have played Chu-pu or Go. Go is a traditional Chinese chess game. When they are played, “crowds gather around”. People gather and form groups based on liking these games or on their own interests.
When people are in a state of indeterminacy, they become attached to games and form crowds and gangs. Some people love to eat, drink, play and have fun.Food is important to them. They go wherever there is great food.
They fly to another country just to eat the delicacies there. We can see many of these conditions in the Water Repentance, with each delusional mindset brought up one by one. Some people lie as if in a game or a fantasy.
They cannot turn back. Some create much karma from drinking and eating.Drinking alcohol and eating meat does not only create karma by disrupting others; it also cause us to damage our bodies and take lives. With modern science, we already know that when we feed and raise livestock like cows, pigs, etc. it greatly pollutes the air and the earth.
Some people say, “We raise pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, for people to eat. If we not kill them, what happen when they reproduce too much?” Why would we think of it that way? What about people? We are reproducing too, one generation after another.
We reproduce according to the laws of nature .The same applies to other living beings. So why go out and raise and kill living beings? If we raise them, they reproduce more. Then we need to produce more feed for these animals to eat.
The earth will be polluted by their waste, too. Then there is also air [pollution] .I often say, people already create a lot of pollution just breathing in and out. We breather in clean air and breath out carbon dioxide. That is already a lot, and it does not take other animals into account.
Cows are very big. When they sneeze, [their air intake] is very big. The amount they exhale is more than 30 times that of humans. Their gas creates a lot of pollution too. The same goes for people.
But we keep breeding those animals ,which affects the earth and air ,all so we can drink and eat.
We add so much pollution.
We kill so many creatures in just one day.
We keep breeding them and increasing their numbers by so much just to provide ourselves with food.
So indirectly and directly ,this is creating karma.
Besides finding people to drink and eat with ,we “impose upon each other to play host “
When we socialize ,one day you invite me ,tomorrow someone else does.
Or we find an excuse such as someone leaving so we need to send him off and
get everyone to come drink and eat.
People invite each other back and forth to weddings ,funerals , etc.
These are social engagements .They are all about food and drink.
In this typeof socializing ,there is nothing that truly benefits humanity.
Next ,
we “criticize everything with meaningless speech “
Some people always gossip.When they get together ,they do not say anything productive.
They criticize everyone from head to toe, talk about shortcomings ,and gossip about them
All of this is hurtful.
This section talks about what it means to truly learn Buddhism and pass on the seeds of Buddhahood.
As we said previously ,if we have abushed servants ,lacked compassion , destroyed roads ,
broke others will tp practice ,were indulgent and unrestrained or were confused and disturbed ,or if we played games ,drank alcohol , were lost in pursuit of enjoyment,
criticized others , gossiped and so on ,we did not benefit others.
These actions destroy the seeds of Buddhahood.
We exist as ordinary beings ,we all possess Buddha –nature and the seeds of Buddhahood
But in the fields of our hearts ,we bury these seeds with weeds of afflictions , karma ,etc.,
so that these seeds have no opportunity to grow.
Time is limited .
The seeds in our hearts need farmers.
We are the farmers for the fields in our hearts .
Some people are very lazy farmers.
Not only do they not take care of these fields,they willfully destroy them.
We sentient beings live on this Earth together.
There are so many of us ,yet we do not cherish the Earth.
Instead , we destroy it.
I often use the analogy of macrocosms and macrocosms as an example.
Compared to the macrocosm,we sentient beings are like tiny bacteria.
Our immune system is also supported by different types of bacteria.
How can we make our bodies healthy so that after we eat ,we can digest everything and
use it to meet our bodies needs?
This also requires the good bacteria in our bodies.
But if these bacteria are weak and germs arise ,our immunity is compromised , and we get sick ,just like when the weather in the macrocoosm becomes imbalanced.
So ,if we do not know how to care for ourselves ,and cherish the fields in our minds ,
then we are effectively destroying them.
Even if a seed exists it has no opportunity to grow.
Thus we destroy the seeds of Buddhahood.
This is the worst type of transgression.
Do not ignore minor transgressions.
They may be minor , but they slowly grow until they cannot be contained.
Everyone ,we must truly be mindful.
When learning Buddhism.
Practice self –restraint;contemplate the Right Path.
We must be consciously unselfish and think pure thoughts.
At the same time , we must be diligent and pave the road of the Right Path with Great Love.
Use the strength of your vows to be a bridge for others so they can cross from being unenlightened to being a sage.
This all depends on us to transform ourselves and help others transform.
Everyone ,please always be mindful.
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