Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Universe Is Endless, the Dharma Ever-present (宇宙無邊 諸法源遠)
Date: March. 26, 2013
To get to the Dharma-essence, I have always wished to concisely expound the Lotus Sutra and capture it in the words, “Jing Si is like the wondrous lotus, pure, clear” and “Tzu Chi is the Bodhisattva-path in the world.” This is what I really hope to see. In the Buddha-Dharma, we see that the Buddha taught us to walk on the Bodhisattva-path. So, in our spiritual training ground every day, I hope all our minds can attain a state of purity and clarity like the lotus by practicing the teachings of the Jing Si Dharma-lineage. Moreover, we must make great aspirations and vows. “Tzu Chi is the Bodhisattva-path in the world” This is internal and external practice. We hope to be able to combine the Dharma, our thoughts of spiritual cultivation, and the practice of these teachings in working with others. We wish to manifest the spirit of the Lotus Sutra. Indeed,
宇宙無邊際
諸法無疆界
天長地久
諸法源遠
無始來今
淵博源頭難測
“The universe is endless. Dharma is boundless and has lasted as long as heaven and earth have existed. The source of all Dharma can be found in the distant past. From Beginningless Time until now, the broad and profound source is incalculable.”
This is what I want to share with you. Indeed the universe is big and endless. The Earth exists in that vast space. Consider a solar eclipse. The Earth spins along its orbit and when it is aligned with the Moon and the Sun in their orbits, from our angle, our line of sight, it looks like the Sun has disappeared. At the beginning, only a tiny part is missing. Then very gradually, that missing part grows bigger and bigger. When half of the Sun is missing, it seems the Moon is lighting up the sky. Then the event progresses quickly. Soon, the Sun becomes just a halo, a right of light, and we do not see the Sun.
I also saw a news report about Greater Shanghai. Suddenly during the day, while the Sun lit up the sky, the Moon began covering up and Sun and it became dark as night in Greater Shanghai. There was an absence of sunlight. Look at the vast universe and its sights. Look at how it changes all the time. Every planet has its own orbit and is continuously spinning along. Each planet, at any point, whether it is revolving or rotating, stays in its same orbit. Here on Earth, when we look up from this perspective, if the Moon and Sun line up exactly, we see that the entire Sun is covered completely by the Moon. This is a total solar eclipse. What a marvelous sight in this universe! The vast and boundless universe shows us the Aggregate of Action(行蘊) that the Buddha spoke of.
Imperceptible to us, the Earth is turning. It rotates and revolves. So does the Moon. It is constantly revolving and rotating. The Sun does this too. In this entire universe, galaxies also each have their own orbits, their own positions. They are immense. It was only a few decades ago that astronauts first landed on the Moon. When we looked up from Earth, we saw the Moon. But when the astronauts on the Moon looked up, they saw the Earth. So was the Earth or the Moon hanging in space? What do we see when we look up? This teaches us to view the world with a scientific perspective. Things are constantly changing. So this is the wonder of the universe. This wonder is part of wondrous existence in emptiness, true emptiness in wondrous existence.
When the American astronauts went to that place and proved that the Moon is its own world, what they found there was a vast, endless stretch of dry land. They did not see water, or grass, trees, etc. They did not discover any life forms. So up till now, that world is a place without living things, yet it is still constantly spinning. It truly has a wondrous existence. It is in the sky. When we humans look at the moon, it is a round object hanging in emptiness. In ancient times, if a child pointed at the crescent moon, an adult would say, “Hurry up. Bow to it and pay respect, or the crescent will slice your ear.” The Moon seemed auspicious and very mysterious, as if it, from high above the sky, was watching the good and evil of humankind, which was fascinating.
Now when we study it scientifically, it is still an object, a world with its own land. But to people's minds, in the past, it was a mysterious thing. But now we can perceive it with scientific instruments and take pictures of it. After the pictures are shot, the images are transmitted to people on Earth. Technology can display it right in front of us. Think about it, we can all look at the image and feel like we are right there. But in fact, it is still far away. It is still out of our reach. So to us, is it still “empty”? But when it is displayed in front of us, is that considered “wondrous existence”? This image of wondrous existence is actually empty.
For example, I am now sitting here and looking at the screen ahead. If the screen is shut off, if the power source is cut off, there will be nothing in front of me. But I see something right now. I do! It is there. This is wondrous existence. Something that exists can quickly vanish, and there will be an empty screen. Once we use technology to display something in that empty space, something will exist again. Isn’t this wondrous existence? Within wondrous existence is actually true emptiness.
By applying modern technology, we can perceive true emptiness and wondrous existence everywhere. Only true emptiness can show that there are ever-changing, unstable things. Only every-changing, unstable things can reveal that there is true emptiness, which is pure, without any defilement. The intrinsic nature of our mind is one of true emptiness and wondrous existence. Our wondrous existence, that enlightened nature equaled to the Buddha’s has existed all this time. But we were defiled by ignorance, so, many things manifested. Because Dharma is boundless, and because of wondrous existence, we possess all this ignorance. All these ignorant thoughts are actually a manifestation of wondrous existence. What is the essence of wondrous existence? It is our intrinsic nature, our original pure, undefiled nature that can illuminate all kinds of things in this world. Our mind is like a mirror that is not clean.
I often tell everyone that there exists a mirror in our minds called the “Great Perfect Mirror of Wisdom” (大圓鏡智). It is very big, very perfect so it can reflect many images. I often tell everyone, if you bring a mirror here and just look into it, it can reflect a great deal of our surroundings. The mirror is actually very small. But when we look into the mirror, we see that it can reflect mountains and oceans. Any and all sights in the world can be captured by this mirror.
Consider a video camera. Its lens is very small. But this small lens can capture all of our surroundings. Isn’t it wondrous? Truly wondrous! Our true nature, our mind, is just like this mirror. But if you put a fuzzy screen in front of the video camera lens, the images will be blurry. If you cover it with a piece of black cloth, everything will be blacked out. So I use physical objects as analogies for you. Take a look at that video camera. It performs lots of functions. But however functional it is, it cannot compare to the human mind. Our Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom can create all things. Because it perceives all things in the universe, this mirror can reflect the wisdom that is hidden deep within. But if we do not purify that wisdom, it will become knowledge, then our minds will know a lot and understand a lot. But once our minds know and understand a lot, we will begin to have desires and then greedy thoughts will arise. When true and clear wisdom has been deluded by external conditions, it acts as “knowledge” an “intellect”. Such knowledge and intellect will unleash that greed, that boundless greed.
Our greedy thoughts will be as numerous as all the things in the world. Though our Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, our mind, this mirror, can reflect all the things in the world, we need to guard it with precepts so that no external sights will be able to entice the wisdom of our minds and defile it. This is the function of precepts. Precepts can prevent wrongs and stop evil, and safeguard the purity of our minds. We all innately possess this great and perfect mirror. This wisdom is called Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom. I am talking about mirror-like wisdom, the existence of a Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom. Sadly, we ordinary people are blinded and covered by external conditions.
Therefore, the universe is endless and the Dharma is also boundless. However vast the surroundings are, the Dharma will permeate throughout all of it. Didn’t I say this a few days ago? The Great Enlightened One of the universe expresses to us that in the universe, above the heaven and earth, everything is part of our Buddhist canon. “There is no place that is not the Buddhist canon”(無處不藏經). With this phrase, I am also saying, “Dharma is boundless”(諸法無疆界). Because there is no place that is not the Buddhist canon. Whenever something exists, there is the Dharma. So “Dharma is boundless and has lasted as long as heaven and earth have existed”(諸法無疆界, 天長地久, 諸法源遠).
The source of all Dharma can be found in the distant past. Did the Dharma come into existence 2000 years ago when Sakyamuni Buddha began expounding it? No. The Buddha continuously said, especially in the Lotus Sutra, in the Chapter on His Lifespan(法華經 壽量品), that there is no beginning to the Dharma, no specific time which is Beginningless Time.
Therefore, from Beginningless Time until now the broad and profound source is incalculable, is beyond the existence of heaven and earth. The source of the Dharma is from the distant past from Beginningless Time until now. The broad and profound source is incalculable, and cannot be measured. So in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha could only compare it to His lifespan, which is incalculable.
What we need to know is that Buddha and Bodhisattvas have existed in this world for a very long, unknown, period of time. In the Chapter on His Lifespan, He has expressed that it is very long. So for us ordinary people to understand this Dharma, I need to talk about the present, about modern times I used solar eclipse to let everyone understand that although our modern technology is very advanced, it is still inseparable from true emptiness and wondrous existence. True emptiness and wondrous existence was originally taught by the Buddha. So the wisdom of the Buddha from the past is being proved by advanced technology . So every one of us in this vast, endless universe, on the Earth, must seek Dharma .So shouldn’t we be mindful? The Dharma exists in our daily living in our daily living, if we can realize wondrous existence and true emptiness, then what is there to take issue over?
Everyone, Jing Si, like the wondrous lotus, pure and clear is about taking good care of our minds. Even though we live in a defiled world, we must care for our wondrous lotus Our minds must remain pure and clear. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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