Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Dharma-joy Blooms in the Heart(心花心樂迴轉法音)
Date: March.04. 2015
“The flowers offered to the Buddha signify the simultaneous existence of seeds and fruits. Whirling in the air, the flowers spread the sound of the Dharma. Naturally, Dharma-nature leads to a turning of the Dharma-wheel so all beings will turn from the Small to the Great, to the Bodhisattva-path.”
With what we have seen and heard in these past few days, have we attained any realizations? Heavenly beings, humans and the eight classes of Dharma-protectors all came together at this Dharma-assembly to celebrate that one of those who had listened to the Dharma already understood it. Not only did he understand, but he also formed great aspirations to walk the Bodhisattva-path and realize the Dharma deep within the Buddha’s mind. The Buddha was happy and praised Sariputra, at the same time promising that he would attain Buddhahood in the future. As long as he can realize the principles, as long as he forms aspirations and makes vows, he will ultimately attain Buddhahood. This was how the Buddha affirmed Sariputra and bestowed this prediction upon him.
When one receives a prediction of Buddhahood, the entire Dharma-assembly is happy for him. This pure and wondrous state is like lotus flowers in the mud, which always bloom. Furthermore, when the flower opens the seeds have formed. This means that in this turbid Saha World, lotus flowers are already blooming. So, “Flowers offered to the Buddha signify the simultaneous existence of seeds and fruits.” What kind of flowers does this refer to? Lotus flowers. Actually, there are also soft celestial flowers whirling in the air. When celestial flowers bloom, everyone’s heart also open up.
This is confirmation that, in this world, people can come to a deep realization of the Buddha-Dharma. Overall, [when the Buddha] turned the wheel of His mind, it was as if flowers were whirling in the air this means that the sound of the Dharma can be transmitted. By turning the Dharma-wheel in this way, people’s minds could open up and be happy and joyful. This comes from the True Dharma.
So, the sound of Dharma spreads through the air. This bears witness to the Buddha-Dharma in the world. Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, so when they realize the Buddha’s principles, the heavens and earth will rejoice.
Right now, we have not yet understood the Dharma. We all know that “everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature,” but what exactly does Buddha-nature look like? Similarly, in our daily living, there may be Dharma that is very important to us; it may even be essential to our lives. It is something we need every day, but we end up neglecting it every day.
For example, there is a story about a young monk. He went to a big monastic community. He asked Master Yi Shan if he could learn the Dharma from him. Master Yi Shan happily accepted him and assigned him to work in the bath house. He was responsible for heating and providing water for everyone’s baths. One day, Mater Yi Shan came to the bath house to take a bath. The water was very hot, so the young monk quickly brought a bucket of water over and started pouring. “Enough, you do not need to pour all of it.” So, he stopped.The water temperature was just right.
Since the bucket still had some water left, he causally dumped out the rest of the water.
Master Yi Shan was displeased and said, “Don’t you know how precious water is?”The young monk replied, “But there wasn’t much left, so I just dumped it out.”Master Yi Shan told him, “Even if it is only one drop of water, it is still very precious. If you give one drop of water to a flower, the flower will benefit. One drop of water, to flowers and plants, is still very important. When you dump it out like this, the water is useless; it will be wasted. Flowers and plants cannot benefit from it. So, this drop of water is wasted. Even one drop of water is needed by the air and by the land. People need it; flowers and plants need it. How can you say a little bit of water is useless?”
Form this beginning; this young monk eventually attained realizations.He meditated on the concept of water until he finally realized [its truths].Though we are unaware of it in our daily living, it is something absolutely essential.So, from then on, he changed his name to “Water Drop”.
Later on, Master Drop became quite famous.No matter what people asked, he answered with, “A drop of water.”A drop of water meets the needs of all things.Indeed! This is how important a drop of water is.A drop of water can encompass all things and fill the universe.When we think about it, this is true.
If water did not exist in this world, how could people live on this planet?How could our world exist?Thus, we should know that though we are unaware of the Dharma, the Dharma is all around us.Those who awakened can realize this.Those who are deluded cannot realize it.The awakened ones will cherish everything.The deluded ones will waste everything.
In this world, all things contain the Dharma.Not being able to see something does not mean that we should not believe in it.We must believe.What kind of mindset do we need to do this?One that is pure and genuine.A genuine mind is where spiritual training takes place.Besides being genuine, we must also have deep faith.Along with deep faith, we must also be on the right course.If our course is not right, then when our minds go astray, our deep faith becomes stubbornness; then, even if we want to change, we cannot change our habitual tendencies.
So, to realize the Dharma, we must first meet Meany conditions.
We must now let go of our past attachments.Only when we purify and empty our minds will we be able to establish the pure Dharma in our heart.
To take the pure Dharma to heart, we must have deep faith.
With a genuine mind, we can deepen our faith and then the Dharma will gradually enter our minds, a drop at a time, and nourish the fields of our hearts.Otherwise, we may be immersed in the Dharma without being aware of what a treasure it is.
So, being “deluded” means we know nothing.If we are awakened, then we will know that everything around us is Dharma.Even a drop of water is also Dharma.The Dharma is such a natural part of things that it is all around us in our daily living and is always turning the Dharma-wheel for us.If we can mindfully realize and accept the Dharma, then everywhere can be a place for spiritual practice.Wherever there is Dharma, it is a place for spiritual cultivation.So, in a place like this, everyone can open up their minds.
This is like the moment when heavenly beings, humans and all of the Dharma-protectors came together and the flowers of joy bloomed in their minds.They scattered celestial flowers, made offerings of garments and other goods.These are analogies for this state of mind.So, we must make use of our minds in our daily living to deeply contemplate and comprehend this.
In this case, seeds and fruits exist simultaneously.If we listen to the Dharma now and realize it now, then the seed and fruits exist at the same time.Like the lotus flower, when the flowers in our minds bloom, we can see the fruits inside.That is the True Dharma.
Within the filthy mud, this evil world of Five Turbidities, we truly need many lotus flowers to bloom to beautify this mud pit. Thus in an era with a turbid world, we need even more Bodhisattvas to appear and turn the Dharma-wheel to purify people’s hearts. If we can truly experience it, then the Dharma is all around us.
We must apply our minds to the Dharma. After we hear it, we must focus on understanding what the Dharma we heard today was about. If we put aside what we have heard today and turn our minds to other things, then, of course, today’s Dharma will be like the rest of the water in that monk’s bucket; it will be discarded in the same way. We must remind ourselves to be vigilant of this. The previous passage states,
“Sakro-devanam Indra, King Braham and so on, with countless heavenly lords, also used wonderful celestial garments, celestial Mandarava flowers, Mahamandarava flowers and so on to make offerings to the Buddha.”
They were scattering celestial flowers. This shows the joy in the heavens and in this world. This Dharma-assembly was magnificent. People’s hearts were gentle and pliable.
“The celestial garments they tossed aloft remained suspended in the air and spun around by themselves”.
In this state, celestial garments and celestial flowers were tossed aloft and scattered by heavenly beings, thus filling the air. Then the next passage states,
“Heavenly beings played music. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of varieties were played all at once throughout the universe. They rained down celestial flowers as they spoke the following words”.
These heavenly beings were scattering flowers while music could also be heard at the same time. Celestial music, the sounds of nature, all these sounds were very subtle and wondrous. As I told you before, in the early morning, I stand outside to quietly look at the sky and listen to the breathing of the earth. These subtle and wondrous sounds of the heavens and the earth are like the sounds of celestial music.
So, with this sound, in this state, in the midst of this all these heavenly beings “spoke the following words. The Buddha, in the past at Varanasi, first turned the Dharma-wheel. Now He turns the wheel again, the supreme, greatest Dharma-wheel”.
Those there saw celestial flowers and garments aloft in the air. Everything they heard was celestial music which was well-matched with the rhythm of flowers being scattered and suspended in the air. This is a very beautiful and wondrous state. This signified all the various skillful means of provisional wisdom.
“Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands varieties of music swirled throughout in the universe, signifying that all the various skillful means of provisional wisdom the supreme empty nature of all things”.
This talks about how the Buddha had spent more than 40 years teaching. He wanted to first awaken people, so they could recognize suffering. In this world, they should know that suffering can take many different forms. Starting with our physical body’s birth, aging, illness and death, we can begin to experience this. So for over 40 years, the Buddha’s teachings were all related to worldly matters and the Four Noble Truths. This is an important layer of the Buddha-Dharma, taught with various skillful means of provisional wisdom.
“Provisional” refers to skillful means; the Buddha had to teach the Dharma with wisdom. Though He used provisional teachings and skillful means for the first 40-plus years, He ultimately brought them back to true wisdom, the teaching of the supreme empty nature. If He did not first give those teachings, 42 years later He would not have been able to reveal the True Dharma. So, the flowers in the air and the music represented all the provisional teachings, these tangible and intangible means. Now these were all being brought back to the True Dharma.
Heavenly beings, humans and the eight classes of Dharma-protectors all shared a common feeling. This feeling was Dharma-joy. They had already understood the Dharma taught by the Buddha in the past. With the principles they comprehended now, they all felt Dharma-joy. Thus, besides the visible celestial flowers and garments, “hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of varieties of music were played together”. This has two meanings.
The first is that heavenly beings and humans together experienced the same karmic effect. As they listened to the Dharma together, they all felt Dharma-joy, this was the effect coming to fruition. After listening to the Dharma for decades, things were finally coming to fruition. They were happy, so this sound appeared in their minds. The music in their minds came from they joy of thoroughly understanding the Dharma.
“hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of varieties of music were played together.” This has two meanings:
1.Because heavenly beings and humans all experienced the same karmic effect,music naturally began playing in the sky at precisely the right time.
2.Among the heavenly beings, the kinnara kings and others began playing many kinds of celestial music together at once.
The second meaning is that, among heavenly beings, kinnara kings and others began to play various celestial music.
The kinnara kings are heavenly beings, one of the eight classes of Dharma-protectors. They are gods of music. This also shows that the heavens and earth were full of joy.When everything is in harmony, beautiful music will naturally begin to play. So, this state is very beautiful. It is not something we can express in words. This is why the Buddha used various analogies to describe hearts filled with Dharma-joy, their hearts bloomed like flowers. And when these flowers bloom, fruits can be seen; this is a state filled with Dharma-joy.
At this moment, questions arose in the minds of heavenly beings and humans. They began to ask questions and thus “they spoke the following words.” This was the voice in everyone’s minds. This was also the question in the minds of all heavenly beings. “The Buddha, in the past at Varanasi, first turned the Dharma-wheel.” “Now He turns the wheel again, the supreme, greatest Dharma-wheel.”
This was the start of everyone’s question. So, the discussion of the fourfold assembly came out of these questions. Otherwise, everyone would be mindfully listening to the Buddha teach the Dharma. But while their ears were listening to the Buddha, there were other voices in their minds. Now, everyone’s minds were recalling the time when the Buddha first began to teach. Where did the Buddha begin to give teachings? It was in Varanasi that He first began to turn the Dharma-wheel. At this Dharma-assembly, even though they had listened to the same Dharma as Sariptura for all those decades, as Sariputra for all those decades, they were still not able to attain the same understanding as Sariputra.
This is like all of you.As I describe again the state of the Buddha at that time, each of you is thinking something different.
The fourfold assembly discussed this: Though they listened to the same teachings as Sariputra, they did not attain the same understanding. Seeing Venerable Sariputra receive predictions of Buddhahood, the assembly began to believe in these truths.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, this was also the case. Though they had listened along with Sariptura, they did not attain the same understanding. Everyone listened but understood it differently. But then they saw that Venerable Sariputra received the Buddha’s predictions of Buddhahood. So, they began to understand.
Dear Bodhisattvas, as we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must understand it one stage at a time. We must understand the Buddha’s efforts. So, the Dharma has always been in our lives, but we are just not aware of it. Therefore, we must be mindful and apply the Dharma in our daily living. If we can realize the Buddha-Dharma, these seeds and fruits exist at the same time; as we listen, we can awaken. Because we are listening now, we can awaken right now. Why would this take a long time? But we must continue to accumulate [realizations].
An instant is a kalpa, and a kalpa can also exist in an instant. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
