Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Buddha-light Illuminates the Mind (佛光普照心靈之光)
Date: June. 28, 2013
Every day we engage in spiritual practice, solely to discipline our minds.
The nature of [the Buddha’s] mind reached absolute perpetual tranquility. The light between His brows was the concentration of spiritual light.
This tells everyone that when the Buddha was meditating, He radiated light from between His brows; this was one of the 32 Marks of the Buddha. But we all inherently have this inner light. It is just that our minds are normally relaxed and scattered, so that light cannot be concentrated. See, when we put a magnifying glass under the sun, the natural ability of the magnifying glass is to concentrate the energy from the sun; it then radiates light and heat. See, when you focus it longer, dried leaves can also be burnt. When paper is put under this concentrated energy, it can also be lit on fire. It is clear that in nature, as long as this energy is concentrated, light and heat can be generated. We say that the energy of the mind is the same. If we do not allow it to be scattered, then our wisdom can be condensed. As for our energy, each of us has a certain amount of energy; when it is concentrated, it naturally has the chance to radiate light.
The Buddha’s mind is always focused and remains in its ultimate state the realms of perpetual, peaceful illumination. So, I often say to practice the Flawless Studies. Practicing the Flawless Studies ensures that our minds do not leak. When our thoughts are not scattered, we can gather together the principles of the universe we have learned. So the Three Flawless Studies, precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, should all be familiar to everyone. How do we make sure our minds have no Leaks? We must abide by precepts.
There are many desires in this world that tempt our hearts and influence our thoughts, so our thoughts become easily scattered. Therefore, we must abide by precepts. The precepts help us know what not to do and help us guard against doing it. A minute deviation causes a great divergence; with one Leak, everything will leak out. So, precepts are very important. With this discipline, we can enter Samadhi. Only then can we enter perpetual tranquility. In this way, when we encounter conditions and challenges, we will use our wisdom, not our knowledge. Wisdom is that which transcends knowledge. We gain wisdom when our minds are always in Samadhi and are not tempted by discursive thoughts, thus we will see things correctly. With His wisdom, the Buddha was able to teach humankind. He gathers and radiates [the light] freely. This is His wisdom. When His spiritual light needs to be radiated, He radiates it. When it needs to be held back, He holds it back. When dealing with others, He uses [the light] according to their capacity.
This is one of the 32 Marks of the Buddha, it responds to capabilities and conditions.
In the Dharma-assembly of the Lotus Sutra, He made a special effort to radiate this light from between His eyebrows.Actually, the Buddha had a special tuft of hair between His eyebrows.
So, when outside light reached it the light would be reflected, as if it was radiating from between His brows.This is [a form of] concentration.All the Buddha’s energy was concentrated, [so this was] the light of His spirit.We ordinary people cannot manifest this appearance.With ordinary minds, we have ordinary appearances.What about the Buddha?[He has] Buddha-mind and Buddha –appearance.
Of course, the Bdudha says all sentient beings can attain Bdudhahood; this shows we have this nature.But we have let our minds become scattered and dispersed, so our wisdom regularly leaks away.To summarize, when learn the Buddha’s Way we must learn to focus our minds.We must use it when it is appropriate and avoid losing focus when it is not time to use it.
The next verse says,
“At that time the Buddha radiated a ray of light from the tuft of white hair between His eyebrows which illumined the 18,000 worlds to the east, omitting none of them, reaching down to Avici Hell and up to the Akanishtha Heaven.”
This passage says that at the moment when the Buddha was meditating, a ray of light radiated from the tuft of white hair between His eyebrows.It radiated out all the way to the east.The 18,000 worlds to the east, in this vast expanse, these faraway places could all feel the light of the Buddha.“Omitting none of them” means the light was everywhere, there was no place it could not reach.Thus, the light of the Buddha “reaches down to Avici Hell and up to the Akanishtha Heaven”.Akanishtha Heaven is the highest heaven of the form realm; it is the highest place.
So, it reaches all the way up to the highest heaven of the form realm and down to hell, the darkest place.All could feel the Buddha’s light.
Whenever the Buddha expounds sutras, there is an auspicious appearance of radiating light.
When others see the radiance of His virtue, they know the Buddha is the most extraordinary of both the worldly and world-transcending.
The light manifests specifically in response to various capabilities of sentient beings.
“Whenever the Buddha expounds sutras, there is the suspicious appearance of radiating light.”
Whenever the Buddha is about to expound sutras, there is the auspicious appearance of radiating light.This is so that when people see the Buddha, they feel reverence and respect for Him.
Because of the Buddha’s virtuous appearance, even if He just sits there, others will feel His magnificence and will be able to tame their afflictions.Sentient beings of various capabilities become joyous just seeing the Buddha, and naturally their inner afflictions are eliminated.
Or, when some see the virtuous appearance of the Buddha, they feel repentant.
When some see Him, they become inspired.Because of the Buddha’s virtues, naturally what sentient beings see are these kinds of auspicious appearances; so joy arises along with all sorts of other feelings.
“When others see the virtue of His light, they know the Buddha is the most extraordinary of both the worldly and world-transcending.”This light is one representation of the Buddha’s virtues.To see the Buddha’s appearance is to naturally know that the Buddha is the most extraordinary of both the worldly and the world-transcending.He is the most extraordinary.There is no worldly or world-transcending teaching that the Buddha does not grasp.
So, what are worldly teachings?They are principles of how to live. He said to people , “To live as a [ good person], you must be harmonious . So, you must uphold the Five Precepts. For those who could uphold the Five Precepts, the Buddha further instructed. You have to practice the Ten Good Deeds. Uphold Five Precepts, practice Ten Good Deeds; there are all worldly practices that everyone needs to follow. If we can uphold the Five Precepts on top of practicing the Ten Good Deeds, wouldn't this world be very harmonious? When each household is moral and ethical, then the society will be peaceful and harmonious. This type of worldly teaching is how the Buddha guided sentient beings.
The ten Good Deeds are on example, but we still commit “flawed good deeds”; this means we still have a sense of separateness, we have not yet let go of interpersonal conflicts and mental afflictions. We remain in the Three Realms and Six Destinies, with no way to be free.So, the Buddha carried our His intent and manifested this state in the hopes that people could attain the same state as Him. So at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, the emptiness [He spoke of] was true emptiness. In the midst of true emptiness, we can realize wondrous existence. Realizing wondrous existence and true emptiness is attaining the ultimate nature of the mind, a state of absolute calm and quiet. This is what the Buddha most wanted everyone to comprehend.
So, He radiated light from between His brows to let everyone know that the sutra. He was about to expound would be extraordinary; it was the teaching on the Middle Way. It was not biased toward existence nor toward emptiness, thus it was called the Middle Way. The bright light from between His eyebrows was representative of the Middle Way. When the Buddha expounded the Middle Way, everyone had already seen the Buddha in Samadhi; they knew He was teaching the most extraordinary of all worldly and world-transcending Dharma.
Therefore, the light He manifested was according to the needs of sentient beings. For each sutra, He radiated light from a different part of His body.
The Buddha radiated light from a different part of His body each time. This time He radiated light from the tuft of white hair between His eyebrows. The places illumined by the light according to the three translations of this sutra were all in the east. Therefore, sentient beings in the east had the karmic connection to see the Buddha. The east is also where the sun rises. The fundamental light of the world is sunlight, so the east is the first of all directions. Therefore, the east is where all Buddhas began Their causal practices.
This time, the Buddha radiated light from between His eyebrows. Thus, everyone could understand that He taught worldly and world-transcending Dharma based on sentient beings' capabilities and expounded the ultimate truth of the Middle Way.
Next, “The Buddha radiated light from a different part of His body each time” means it was different each time He expounded a sutra. “This time He radiated light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows. The places it illuminated were in the east.
The Lotus Sutra had three different translators. Now, the most widely circulated version is the one that Dharma Master Kumarajiva translated. The three translations of this sutra all speak of the east, of how the bright light illuminated the east; this shows that sentient beings of the east had karmic connections with the Buddha. The west had noble beings, but the Dharma was spread to the east.
India is in the west, remember? The sutras were obtained from the west. Master Xuan Zang went to India from China, on his journey to the west. He went west to obtain the sutras. But, the Dharma was spread to China. [At that time] in the world, the Buddha-Dharma only prospered in the east, in China. So, the Dharma was spread to the east.
The east is source of the light of the world [because] the sun rises from the east. No matter which country you go to, the sun always rises from the east. So, the east is where the Buddha-Dharma prospers and where sentient beings have the strongest karmic connections with the Buddha. The sun rises in the east and the fundamental light of the world is sunlight the reason we have light in this world.
Thus, the Earth revolves around the Sun and the Buddha-Dharma spread eastward, so the first among the cardinal directions is east.All Buddhas also began Their practices in the east. So, the east is truly a place of strong karmic connections with Buddhas.
In the number 18,000, the 10.,000 is to signify the virtuous fruits of the 10,000 perfect virtues. The eight signifies the causal practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. Omitting none of them means to shine everywhere. This refers to the horizontal worlds. Reaching down to Avici Hell and up to Akanishtha Heaven refers to the vertical worlds.
These are the 18,000 great chiliocosms. 10,000 signifies the perfect virtues of the Buddha. It is a description of the immense breadth of this great universe. The Buddha is the Great Awakened One of the Universe and is thus adorned with 10,000 virtues. 10,000 also signifies tens of thousands of worlds, and their breath and perfect virtues. Eight signifies the Eightfold Noble Path. Whether Hinayana or Mahayana, world-transcending, the Dharma is inseparable from the Eightfold Noble path of the 37 Practices to Enlightenment.
“Omitting none of them means it was universally present. The light the Buddha’s virtue can illuminate all [directions], whether vertical or horizontal, or in the previously Three Periods of Time, the past, present and future. It also reaches up to Akanishtha Heaven, which is very high in the form realm.The Buddha’s light can be seen everywhere. It reaches down to Avici Hell; Avici Hell is the place of greatest suffering. This is to let us know the highest places, along with the human realm and hell are presented vertically. Time is [represent as] past, present, future. [The light] is universally preset and spreads cross the great trjchiliocosms.
So, Avici means ceaseless, where suffering never ceases. Akanishtha heaven is “the summit of existence;” it is the highest place of the form realm.
Hell is not a place that is fixed, nor is it a place that is not fixed; it is not a place with distinctions, Avici means ceaseless, meaning a place where suffering never ceases. Akanishtha means the summit of existence; it is the ultimate heaven of from realm.
Before expounding sutras, the Buddha radiates light in an auspicious appearance to help all minds understand and give rise to respect. By understanding why the Buddha teaches, the energy of everyone’s minds will be quickly concentrated. The mind must not be scattered. When listening to teachings, if we are not focused, we have no means to comprehend them. So, the Buddha took advantage of this time of meditation to radiate light from between His eyebrows. This reached everyone’s minds, everywhere, so that the energy in everyone’s minds was quickly concentrated. Their energy was gathered to mindfully comprehend the Dharma expounded by the Buddha. The Buddha wanted to expound the Lotus Sutra to carry out His original intent.
Now, people’s capabilities had matured. So at the time He began to expound the Sutra, He radiated light from the tuft of white hair between His eyebrows, hoping everyone could comprehend this state. At this time, we also need to mindfully comprehend and experience it.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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