Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Buddha’s Virtues Help Sentient Beings Attain Bodhi (佛德普令眾生成菩提)
Date: August. 20, 2013
To learn the Buddha’s Way, we must be mindful. Every day, I talk to everyone about the mind. Our minds can bring all things for fruition. Our minds can also lead us to creat much negative karma. Everything is created by the mind. We previously talked about the Well-Gone One. The Well-Gone One is also a [state of mind]. The Buddha was endowed with the ten epithets, which means He was replete with the ten virtues. Virtue is attained through spiritual practice. So, we must always be mindful when dealing with people and matters in our daily living. When we are mindful, we can come and go freely [in this world].
The ten epithets of the Buddha: Tathagata, Worthy of Offerings, Completely Awakened, Perfect in Wisdom and Action, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Guide, Tamer, Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans, Buddha the World-Honored One.
The Buddha can “skillfully enter infinite worlds”. He can come and go freely in infinite worlds such as worlds of sentient beings, worlds of material things, etc. We are influenced by the world around us, so our minds are not free or at ease. But the Buddha was enlightened, so He could come and go freely and teach according to the needs of sentient beings. He understood the suffering of the world and this was reflected in the order of His teachings, which began with “suffering, causation, cessation, and the path.” The Buddha understood the truth of suffering in the world. For any person who comes to this world, suffering is inevitable. In particular, suffering is created by the desires of sentient beings. Isn’t the origin of our birth into this world found in our parents’ desires? Isn’t found in the karmic connections we created with them in our past lives? So, the sufferings of sentient beings are created by the desires in their minds.
The Well-Gone One: The Buddha is skillful in entering infinite worlds to expound the Dharma in accord with the desires of sentient beings so they can clearly understand that suffering in this world is created by their desires. Therefore, though sentient beings are immersed in the afflictions of life and death, He can lead them to feel joy upon hearing the Dharma and guide them ably toward unsurpassed Bodhi.
The Buddha’s virtue enables Him to understand that the origin of sentient beings’ sufferings is desire. In this world, the habitual tendencies and desires of the myriads of sentient beings are all different. We are born into this life, then we create karma during entire lifetime, and finally we die. In between, we suffer constantly from afflictions. And because of our habitual tendencies, getting us to hear the Dharma is truly difficult. After we hear it, accepting it is also not easy.After we hear it, accepting it is also not easy accepting the Dharma into our hearts is even harder.
But, the Buddha exercises both compassion and wisdom so His teachings are not obstructed by the afflictions of sentient beings.Therefore, though they are immersed in the afflictions of life and death, He enables them to feel joy upon hearing Dharma.This is why the Buddha is the Well-Gone One who can come and go freely.No matter what kind of sentient beings He encounters, He can enter and leave their states without difficulty.His goal is to enable sentient beings to feel joy upon hearing the Dharma and then “guide them ably toward unsurpassed Bodhi”.Out of His compassion, He has accumulated many good affinities with sentient beings so everyone feels joy when they hear Him teach.
As we have discussed in the past, is we have [good] connections with people, everything they say is Dharma.If we have [bad] connections with people, no matter how wonderful their words are, they become [a source of] conflict and hearing them makes us unhappy.If we have a [good] karmic connection, we are joyful and accepting.Then He can “guide [us] ably toward unsurpassed Bodhi” and bring joy to us all.
In the past, the Bdudha’s compassion allowed Him to form good karmic connections with everyone, and He used His wisdom to teach the Dharma among the people.This is the virtue of the Well-Gone One.
Next, we will talk about the Knower of the World.The Knower of the World refers to how the Buddha fully understands all kinds of desires, delusions and karmic retributions in the world of sentient being sand formation, existence, decay and disappearance in the world of physical objects.
The world of sentient beings includes all things with life; all living beings are sentient.All sentient beings have desires.Is there any animal that does not reproduce because of desire?No matter the size or shape of the animals, they can reproduce, generation after generation.Think about this Regardless of the kind of animal, it lives in a word of desires, which lead to all kinds of delusions and karmic retributions.The mind has many afflictions and delusions, so it is filled with darkness; there is no light.This is due to our karma and afflictions.
“[The Buddha fully understands] formation, existence, decay and disappearance in the world of physical objects”.This is the Buddha’s wisdom.He can understand the worlds of sentient and non-sentient beings.Anything that our eyes can see, including the space we live in, is called the world of physical objects.Everything within this world forms, exists, decays and disappears.Nothing lasts forever.
Do mountains, rivers and land formations never change?No, they will also change.The law of nature, or the four elements of nature, are very powerful.If the four elements are in balance, the weather will be favorable and everything will be safe and sound.If one element is not in balance, the rivers, mountains and land, can be damaged and altered overnight.So just think; the Buddha fully understands the desires and sufferings of sentient beings, and that birth, aging, illness and death are part of the natural course of life.In this human realm, and in all the Six Realms of sentient beings, there is nothing He does not clearly understand, particularly this world of physical objects. He understands the state of all material things as clearly as we know the backs of our hands.
So, the Buddha understood humans and this world very well. When He taught, He also applied His wisdom. Once, during the Buddha's lifetime, a disciple from afar came to pay respect to the Buddha not long after the summer retreat had ended. The Buddha knew this disciple came from afar, so after he sat down, He asked “Where did you come from?” The disciple answered, “I came from Mount Wei.” “That is a long ways!” “It took me a while to get here and I started walking after the summer retreat ended because I have been thinking about You. I have finally arrived and have come to see You and pay my respects.”
So the Buddha asked him, “Did this year's summer retreat go well?” The disciple replied, “Thank you for Your care and compassion. This year, our summer retreat was near Mount Wei. The surroundings were very nice. When we were there our minds were quite tranquil. We could get by and come and go safely. We could get by and come and go safely. There was only one drawback.”The Buddha asked, “What was the drawback?” He said, “When the sun set, many birds congregated around where we lived. They were very noisy. During the evening, when we wanted to meditate, we could hear the birds chirping loudly.”
So the Buddha asked him, “Would you still want to go back and live there? Would you still like this place?” The disciple replied, “This place was really suitable for our spiritual practice; the only drawback was the noisy birds. In the evening, it was more difficult to keep our minds at peace.”So the Buddha taught him a method, “When you go back and hear the birds approach at sunset, you must reverently place your palms together and say to the birds, Oh birds, I really need your feathers. I need you to offer us your feathers.” At the beginning, only a few birds heard the requests from these bhiksus asking them to give up their feathers as an offering. So, the birds quickly convened a meeting with the rest of their flock. “The bhiksus now expect something from us. They wish to have the feathers from our bodies. Everyone, think clearly. Do we want to give our feathers as an offering?” All the birds heard this and said, “Our feathers are the most precious things on our bodies. How can we give them as an offering? If we cannot make this offering, then let us not congregate in this place anymore. Since we cannot fulfill the bhiksus' request, we should leave right away.”
Sure enough, from that night on, the evenings became quiet and peaceful. No bird dared to come near. Not long after, the bhiksu went to the Buddha to express his gratitude form this method.
“With clear days and quit evenings, this is truly the best place for spiritual practice.”Then the Buddha gave another teaching “Bhiksus, we all need to recognize that oven birds are sentient beings. They know to cherish their feathers, so we humans [must do the same. We should really care for ourselves and cherish our wisdom-life. Time and Dharma can nurture our wisdom-life. Can we really care any less about ourselves than those birds about themselves?”
In His wisdom, the Buddha used sentient beings’ surroundings to teach them. So, in this world of physical objects, the environments sentient beings live in each have their own strengths and weaknesses. All sentient beings seek to satisfy their desires and protect themselves one of haze and delusion. So, the Buddha repeatedly comes back to the world to expound His Dharma. He has to have blessings and wisdom in order to guide [beings in] this world and teach them the Dharma.
Next is Unsurpassed Guide. This epithet is one of the Buddha’s virtues.
This refers to how He uses all kinds of methods to lead all sentient beings so those who have not planted roots of goodness can plant them, those roots that have not matured can mature, and those with mature roots can attain Bodhi.
I often say that the Buddha comes to the world for one great cause, to spread the seeds of love and pave a path of wisdom. Then everyone can walk this path. He sows seeds of enlightenment in everyone’s hearts so they can cultivate enlightened love in their minds. We often talk about trailblazers. The Buddha comes to guide sentient beings through the confused wilderness of their minds, to teach them how to clear up their minds, to open up this wilderness and eliminate their confusion.
He also comes to teach them ways to create a wondrous state of mind, to plant and cultivate the seeds of goodness in their hearts. With His wisdom, He uses all kinds of methods to deal with sentient beings, so those who had not planted roots of goodness can plant them; those immature roots can quickly mature; and those with mature roots can attain Bodhi.
Fellow Bodhisattvas, the Buddha has both wisdom and compassion.Only with compassion can we form good affinities. Only with good karmic affinities will sentient beings be able to feel joy, and thus accept the Dharma. Then sentient beings can awaken from their haze. That awakening enables them to understand the various principles of the world of physical existence.
When the Buddha attained enlightenment, everything, sentient or not, was known to Him like the palm of His hand was known to Him like the palm of His hand. But we sentient beings are still confused. So please, everyone, we need to awaken our true nature. This is not difficult as long as we are always mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
