Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Guard Your Buddha-mind (持心自守 佛心已心)
Date: October. 07, 2013
“When one enjoys only hearing about the Way, the Way is hard to attain. When one upholds vows and follows the Way, the Way is truly great.”
Isn’t this what the Sutra of 42 Sections tells us? We truly must focus on the Dharma taught by the Buddha. If we guard our vows and follow this path, it will become the widest path. So, are we all guarding our vows with our minds? Are we following this path? We must constantly ask ourselves this question. The Sutra of Infinite Meanings reminds us to always take good care of our minds. A very important part of spiritual practice is our minds. If we take good care of our minds as we learn the Buddha’s Way, we will not go astray. Thus, as the Sutra of Infinite Meanings states,
“He trains heavenly beings and humans like a trainer of elephants and horses. Like wind and fragrance, His cultivation and virtues permeate everything.”
To follow the Buddha’s Way, we must abide by and practice His teachings. We must be earnest and diligent for our minds to stay on this Way. So, the Way is like wind; “it can transform people the way the wind sways the grass.” It is like the blowing of the wind. Blown by the wind, the rows of grass softly bend down. Wave by wave, the grass ripples. This is very beautiful. This is an analogy. It compares the wind of spiritual cultivation to the way that grasses and flowers, as soon as the wind blows, we will bow in that direction. Education has a similar effect. Let us consider our etiquette. It represents the principles we follow “like the wind sways the grass.” This is the path we want to learn. When we act in accordance with the teachings, we exhibit etiquette. Etiquette is very important for the process of our spiritual practice. Depending on our circumstances, and the education we have received, we express certain courtesies. It is the same for us Buddhist practitioners. We know that our past is not what we want to continue pursuing. Now that we understand life’s suffering, its causation, its cessation and the path to its cessation, we want to learn to walk this Path. We try to figure out how to change our surroundings because this world is part of our spiritual practice. How we accept and uphold the Way is our method of spiritual practice. So, the Way and virtue are like wind and fragrance.
Whatever [He] taught, we need to accept. What the Buddha taught are ways to purify our minds.Spiritual cultivation is about purifying the mind [and returning to] our original, intrinsic, pure nature.How do we follow this road directly to Buddhahood?In this process, we certainly must completely eliminate our greed, anger and ignorance.This is known as the fragrance of virtue.Remember?It came from the following story.
Ananda asked the Buddha “Venerable Buddha, sometimes when we walk past gardens where many fragrant flowers are planted, when a wind blows, we can smell the fragrance”.
“Yet, Venerable Buddha, this fragrant smell was blown here by the wind; it came downwind.”
“But in this world, is there a fragrance that can go against the wind?”The Buddha said, “Yes”
“There is one kind of fragrance we can still smell.”Ananda then asked, “What fragrance can go against the wind so that we will be able to smell it?”The Buddha said, “The virtue of spiritual practice.”“No matter which direction the wind blows, the fragrance of virtue can still be sensed in all directions.”“This is the fragrance of virtue.”
So, at the state of unenlightened beings, our minds are not disciplined.If we learn something good, we will be good.If we learn something not good, causing our minds to stir, we will quickly become defiled again.These are the undisciplined minds of unenlightened beings.
Yet, if we are accomplished, the fragrance of our virtue can permeate everything.No matter which direction [the wind] goes, we can still smell that fragrance.“Like wind and fragrance, the Way and virtue permeate everything.”This depends on our level of practice and [how disciplined we are].When things go well, we develop aspirations.When things are unpleasant, our thoughts stir.Isn’t this what happens?If this is the case, we must pay careful attention.We must find a way to bring the virtues we gain from teachings into our minds.Then we must pass on our understanding by teaching others.This is how the fragrance of virtue permeates, so we can awaken ourselves and others and can transform ourselves and others.This is the fragrance of spiritual cultivation.
“He trains heavenly beings and men like a tamer of elephants and horses.”“Tamer” is one of the Buddha’s ten epithets.Tamer and Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans are each among the Buddha’s ten [epithets].
The Tamer: By exercising the strength of great men, one can expound all various kinds of teachings, in order to train all sentient beings, so they can transcend defilements and attain great peace and joy.
Thus, we want to “exercise the strength of great men, who can expound all various kinds of teachings to train all sentient beings.”Because sentient beings are unyielding, they are difficult to train and subdue.Training sentient beings requires great strength.This is similar to an animal tamer.Tiger, lions and other beasts are well-behaved in front of their tamers, Indeed, when the Buddha was among multitudes of people, the minds of human beings were most unyielding.Only the Buddha had a way to tame them.In the Lotus Sutra, isn’t there a similar passage?
After the Buddha expounded these teachings, He hoped someone could pass down the Lotus Sutra.He hoped that someone among His disciples would be capable of shouldering this task.
Among His disciples, nobody dared to.Yet, a Bodhisattva from another place came.Some of the disciples understood His intent and stood up and told the Buddha, “Venerable Buddha, we want to pass it on, but we are very scared.”The Buddha asked, “ What are you afraid of ?”
“Beings in the Saha world are difficult to train because they so unyielding. We are afraid we lack the strength to train these of sentient beings.”
Everyone’s minds fluctuate. Forming aspirations is easy. It also seems there is always another with, a more unyielding disposition, who is even harder to train than the previous person. Sometimes while reading this section, I am also very afraid. What is the best way to transform the myriad beings of this land? So, training sentient beings is not very easy. We need to “exercise the strength of great men, to be able to give all the teachings to transform sentient beings and train them to transcend defilements. Sentient beings are unyielding because there are defilements in their minds such as greed, anger and ignorance, along with other very bad habitual tendencies. So, they are very difficult to train. We must use various method to slowly convince and educate them. So we need the wisdom and strength of a tamer.
If we want to know how to train sentient beings we must first tame ourselves. We also have many unyielding and difficult-to-tame habitual tendencies. If we want to train others, we must first tame our habitual tendencies. Only after taming them can we tame others’ habitual tendencies. This is spiritual practice. If we attain virtue, then our strength can manifest. So, as we engage in spiritual practice our attitude [is very important]. In the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, there are multitudes of phrases, one after another, that are used in hopes that our minds accept what the Buddha taught, the Dharma guarded by His mind. The Buddha’s mind is [focused on] taming the minds of sentient beings.
I have already discussed this next passage of the Lotus Sutra. As a Tathagata began to expound the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, a Mahayana teaching, Dharma Master Wondrous Light began to receive this teaching then he used it to transform everyone form the 800 disciples to the eight princes. He helped each one attain [enlightenment].Manjusri Bodhisattva told Maitreya Bodhisattva that diligent ones can achieve Buddhahood quickly [as opposed to the ones] who are lax. As the Buddha said, we all have an intrinsic Buddha-nature. We just need to always have this belief and this sense of respect and constantly plant roots of goodness. In the same way, we created every bit of merit and virtue we possess, if we had already eliminated our craving for offerings of wealth, made offerings to Buddhas in the past and planted roots of goodness we might have attained [Buddhahood] long ago. But because we still crave offering of wealth, it will take longer for us to attain [Buddhahood].
As I explained before, we may remember how all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas made a great effort to teach and transform sentient beings. Manjusri Bodhisattvas and Maitreya Bodhisattva assisted Sakyamuni Buddha to help His Dharma assembly be successful receive teachings based on the Way and uphold their vows while following the Way. In order for that to happen, in the middle of those circumstances, they played the parts of initiating and providing opportunities for teachings.
As the next section of the sutra states, “At that time ，Manjusri, in the midst of the assembly, wishing to restate these principles, spoke the following verse.”
From before, we all know that Seeker of Fame Bodhisattva was the present Maitreya Bodhisattva.And Dharma Master Wondrous Light was now Manjusri Bodhisattva. After he explained all these matters clearly, he repeated [those teachings] again.Earlier, in the long text of this sutra, he gave us this explanation. Because this is a Mahayana teaching, after it was explained, he was concerned that people would forget, so he repeated it in verse form for us once more.
In this verse, the time is extraordinary. The Dharma is extraordinary. The benefit is extraordinary.
Thus, several extraordinary things were mentioned. Now, the next section repeats what had been expressed in prose. Because [this teaching] is very precious, he wanted to repeat it again. Similarly, as I teach every day, I often say things again. This is repetition. Verse form uses a different syntax to restate the Dharma.This moment is very extraordinary because it had to happen at just the right time. Teachings have to be given according to the time, people and place. Thus, “With this verse, the time is extraordinary.” So, we have to seize this moment to repeat the Dharma. This moment is really extraordinary.
“The Buddha’s epithet is extraordinary.” In the middle of Sakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, Manjusri repeated again the story from countless kalpas earlier about Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddha. That was also a very extraordinary occasion. All Buddhas share the same path. There is a reason for explaining the Buddha’s epithet again, which is truly extraordinary.
Next, “the Dharma is extraordinary.” The Buddha has protected the Dharma He had originally intended to teach for over 40 years. From the moment He attained enlightenment, He wanted to share with everyone that spiritual state, the true principles. Of all things in the universe, of how human life comes and goes, of the karmic law of cause and effect and so on He always wanted to share these with others, but the time was not right.After over 40 years had passed, He wanted to freely carry out His original intent. Thus, “the Dharma is extraordinary.”
Next, “the benefit is extraordinary.” This Dharma could benefit sentient beings. For over 40 years these beings had been following the Buddha and listening to His teachings, from the Agama period, through the Vaipulya period, to the Prajna period.Now the teachings have returned to the Avatamsaka and lotus states. All five period had to occur for this Dharma to manifest. Thus, the Dharma that benefits sentient beings is extraordinary.
Everyone, as we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must truly and thoroughly understand its essence from the bottom of our hearts. I often tell all of you that we must try to understand the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. The Lotus Sutra is very long, but it is actually explaining the principles of the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. So, the Sutra of Infinite Meanings is the essence of the Lotus Sutra. Again, why do we refer to the Sutra of Infinite Meanings in explaining the Lotus Sutra? Because it is the [essence] of the Lotus Sutra and contains infinite principles. The explanation of the Sutra of Infinite Meanings is found in the Lotus Sutra. So, I hope we all make an effort to [practice] this pair of sutras together, to refine our inner essence and outer conduct. Everyone, please always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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