Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Practice Diligently and Rejoice for Others (勤修且隨喜)
Date: March.10. 2015
“All beings intrinsically have pure Dharma-nature, but their habitual tendencies lead them to go against wondrous true principles. Bodhisattvas vow to spread the seeds of goodness. By diligently cultivating Bodhi, their roots grow deeply and solidly.”
This pure intrinsic nature is something that we often hear about. But when [the discussion] is over, do we attempt to seek it out? What does this intrinsic nature look like? In what way is it pure? If our intrinsic nature is as pure as the Buddha’s, what does it look like? If you ask me, my own answer will be that it is formless and leaves no trace; it is not long or short, but it is always connected to our lives. It is just that it is deeply concealed. Still, we often misunderstand the pure potential we have.
What is it that has the power of cause us to misunderstand our nature of True Suchness? Our habitual tendencies. Because of our habitual tendencies, we have transmigrated in the Six Realms since Beginningless Time. Therefore, our original, pure intrinsic nature has been defiled by external phenomena, and our consciousness gives rise to much ignorance. This obscures the potential of our nature of True Suchness. Thus our habitual tendencies lead us to go against the wondrous true principles. If we can change them, then our nature of True Suchness will emerge.
Are we working on changing them? All we need is the aspiration and contact with the Buddha-Dharma. We must have the will to do this. We must have faith and a penetrating mind. With faith and a penetrating mind, we make the [Four] Great Vows. Bodhisattvas make these vows to never leave sentient beings behind. Only by being among the many lost people will we have the opportunity to become awakened. So, as we make these [Four] Great Vows, we must vow to walk the Bodhisattva-path. Because we are learning the Buddha’s Way, we must thoroughly absorb and be permeated by the Buddha’s undefiled compassion. We often say that if we want to obtain a doctorate, we must conduct research and write a thesis. We must understand what we want to do, then mindfully conduct practical research and analysis in the lab. Then we must meticulously write a thesis so that our experience and understanding is completely explained through our writing. After conducting experiments, attaining an understanding and writing the dissertation and so on, the thesis must still be reviewed and accepted by a committee before we can receive our doctorate.
Clearly, whatever our aspiration is, we must dedicate ourselves to it and work to achieve it. As we do the practical part of our research, in order to learn new things, we must continually conduct experiments. When we walk the Bodhisattva-path, these experiments are conducted among people, because to realize the Buddha’s awakened nature we must interact with people. Only then can we experience that clear awakening of our own intrinsic nature.
“Wisdom comes from experience.” By examining one delusion, we can reach one awakening. We hope to awaken to more things, so we must go among the delusions of sentient beings to attain more awakenings. When we hear something, we may say, “I know this.” But knowing is only a small part of it. “I understand; I have experienced it.” Yet this is still different from talking the true principles into our ocean of enlightenment. When someone is carrying a glass of ice water on a very hot day, the person carrying that ice water may tell us, it is very cold.We believe him, because ice is indeed cold.But how cold is it really?The coolness that he feels from holding the glass and our knowledge that the glass is cool, are not the same.
“Only the person who drinks the water knows the temperature of the water.”When one has truly experienced awakening, the world that He sees,. The people, matters and objects, is the same as our world, but He will perceive them differently.The way ordinary people see conditioned phenomena and the way the Great Enlightened One sees tangible, conditioned phenomena are completely different.
Ordinary people pursue what they see and discriminate based on what they like.What the Buddha sees, what the Enlightened One recognizes, is that we must be grateful for these material things.
We must feel a sense of gratitude, not ownership.Without these things, we cannot survive.These material things also adorn the human realm with beauty.
So, people who are awakened cherish all things on the planet with love.But when deluded, ordinary people see precious natural resources, they want to possess them.Cherishing them and pursuing them out of the desire to possess them are not the same.
How can we reach a level where all the conditioned phenomena that we see leads us back to unconditioned Dharma and we see all things as inherently equal, thus not giving rise to afflictions because of conditioned phenomena or material things?This certainly requires training.
If we want to train ourselves to do this, where should we go?
We must train ourselves by going among people.So, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path.This is the vow to go among people and spread the seeds of goodness.We must diligently cultivate this Bodhi-path and deeply and firmly plant our [Bodhi]-roots.
Only then will society and the world be peaceful.
In Tzu Chi we often see Living Bodhisattvas who live in this world of turbulent turbidities but remain solid in their spiritual aspirations.This is not an easy matter.One the day of September 9, in Zamboanga, Philippines, rebel forces moved into the heart of the city.When they attacked, there was armed conflict in the streets, and shots were fired.
The Tzu Chi volunteers in Zamboanga, ten of whom were Commissioners, were concerned that I would worry about them.
They called here soon after things calmed down to report that they were safe.“The Tzu Chi volunteers are all safe.”
However, part of the city had already been surrounded and occupied by rebel forces.Hundreds of people had been seized as hostages, Tzu Chi’s Eye Center in Zamboanga had been in operation for many years.Both Tzu Chi staff and patients were there when a nearby area, only two to three km away from the clinic, was occupied by rebels.It was practically next door, very close, so it was considered part of the occupied area.
Quickly, the parents, doctors and nurses were evacuated in cars.
They were settled in the indoor arena of a university.By this time, the arena was already filled with tens of thousands of the displaced.
Some people’s homes had been destroyed in the fighting.People were hurt, some had been killed, and some had even been kidnapped.What the rebels were asking for was to establish an autonomous Muslim region.Because of this, there was a stalemate.This made everyone very nervous.
In fact, 15 years ago in Zamboanga, we held our first free clinic there and were able to help many people.
At that time, in that place, there was a man named Yang Weishun, a devout Catholic.Actually, most people in Zamboanga are Catholic, Weishun was as well, yet he was moved by the love shown by Tzu Chi, so he courageously took on the responsibility
and began to do quite a lot of Tzu Chi work there. He took charge of training volunteers and caring for people who were suffering.
In Zamboanga, they also established a prosthesis center, which manufactured prosthetics. The reason was that, in Zamboanga, there have always been rebels lurking around. With all the gunfire and exploding landmines, many people had lost their hands or feet and become disabled.
The way to help them was to provide prosthetics so they could walk on two feet again or use their two hands. So, Tzu Chi established a prosthesis manufacturing [and rehabilitation] center to help them. This was all provided free of charge. They could also work in a “cash for work” program. If we could successfully treat them, we could teach them how to make prosthetics so they could, in turn, help other people. Then we could pay them a salary.
By using this method, the prosthetics center has fitted over 600 people with prosthetics; all of them are now able to walk on their own. Among them, there was one family with a man who had lost both feet. However, he had not lost them to gun fire. It was that he smoked so much that his arteries hardened and his feet turned black. One day, seeing how black his feet were, he scraped away at them until, without noticing, his nails and toes fell off. Only then was he aware of how serious this was. He went to the doctor, who amputated both his feet. Thus his family fell into poverty and hardship.
His eldest child was only 13 at the time. His 13-year-old daughter had to go to Manila to do odd jobs in order to earn money to support the family. From the year we helped fit him with prosthetics until today, he has been able to walk without anyone realizing that he was wearing them. He walks very well with those two feet. So, he has also joined our “cash for work” program, which taught him how to make prosthetics ad fit them for other people. This has changed his mindset.
Although he was physically disabled, his mind became healthy. He is willing to help others, improve his family circumstances and improve the lives of other amputees. His daughter was also able to return home. They became a happy family again. Seeing something like this, people can feel that lives can truly be changed. And the volunteers who were willing to dedicate themselves to helping others, the people who were willing to give back after they themselves had received assistance, were quite numerous. This shows that mindfully sharing the Dharma can deliver it to people’s hearts and transform the suffering they face in life. It can even turn their suffering into joy. Doing this requires Living Bodhisattvas.
In this world, only by seeing the disharmony in people’s minds, can we comprehend what the Buddha taught about the mind. Our minds can lead us to heaven or hell. Our minds can make us unenlightened or lead us to Buddhahood. Everything is determined by our minds. We must become awakened sentient beings. We must take the suffering of ordinary people into our minds and contemplate how we can awaken to the suffering of life and what methods we can use to transform the suffering of life into the joy of living. We stand between awakening and delusion. Turning one way, we can help others.
Turning the other way, we will need help from others. In summary, this is determined in the space of a thought. Bodhisattvas vow to spread the seeds of goodness. In this place of great suffering, the seeds of goodness (volunteers) still persevere. In these past two or three days, they have delivered food and necessities to the emergency shelters. They bring comfort in these times of crisis. This makes them Living Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas must diligently cultivate the Bodhi-path. Their roots must be deep and solid.
So, the Buddha turned the Dharma-wheel in order to help shake up everyone’s minds. Without movement, the wheel ceases to turn. So, the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle Dharma to turn the great Dharma-wheel.
The previous passage states, “Now, again, You turn the most wondrous, unsurpassed, great Dharma-wheel. This Dharma is very profound and mysterious. There are few who can believe it”.
The Dharma is very profound. Everything I just said is related to the Dharma. The Buddha-Dharma is inseparable from the working of the world. After beginning with the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha is now teaching the One Vehicle Dharma, the true wondrous Dharma of One Reality. It was not easy for some people to believe in the teachings. So, in this next sutra passage, it states again,
“From the past until now, I and the others have heard the World-Honored One teach many times. But never have we heard such profound, wondrous and supreme Dharma. When the World-Honored One taught this Dharma, we all rejoiced accordingly”.
For a very long time,everyone had often heard Sakyamuni Buddha speak.In more then 40 years, the Buddha had never opened up His heart to speak the True Dharma that was in His mind.When this True Dharma was taught, everyone was very delighted and very shocked as well because they learned that everyone could attain Buddhahood. As long as they keep walking in the right direction without deviating, they will reach the state of Buddhahood. They had never heard this Dharma before. Now that they had heard it, fully believing in it was not very easy, for it is a profound, wondrous and supreme Dharma.
Still, they deeply believed that “the Buddha speaks the truth, what is real, what is such; He does not lie.” So, everyone already believed in Him “I and the others feel very fortunate.” They all felt very fortunate. Once Buddha bestowed this prediction on Sariputra, they would also eventually have a part in this.
Therefore, they all expressed that “I and the others feel very fortunate.From long ago until this moment, we have often heard the World-Honored One teach many kinds of Dharma.” They listened often so it seemed very familiar, but they had ever heard this profound, subtle and wondrous Great Dharma of the One Vehicle.
So, “the World-Honored One said that, in the presence of countless Buddhas, He practiced the profound and wondrous path.” Everyone also believed that in the past, the World-Honored One, in the presence of countless Buddhas, had engaged in many spiritual practices over a very long time. He had accepted the teachings of countless Buddhas and was always doing good deeds, benefiting others and forming good connections among the people.
He did this for a long time, over many lifetimes. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha repeatedly talked about this. In the past, He drew near countless Buddhas and accumulated much merit so that He was now able to attain Buddhahood.
The World-Honored One said that, in the presence of countless Buddhas. He practiced the profound and wondrous path. By seeing others do good deeds and rejoicing in them, He attained extremely profound, subtle and wondrous supreme Dharma.
Therefore, after seeing the Buddha bestowing the prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra, by seeing another receive such a prediction, everyone rejoiced on his behalf.They were also happy for themselves. When others attain something and we are happy for them too, this is truly the profound, subtle, wondrous and supreme Dharma. This is also unsurpassed Dharma.
Dear Bodhisattvas, this is very simple. After we help others succeed, we also feel happy for them. This is quite extraordinary. If we see others and think, “I also work very hard, why is it that other people always get praised? Why is it that other people always get praised?” “Why do they get all the credit?” This kind of taking issue over things is a sign that we have an unenlightened mind. When we see other people doing something, we should quickly jump in to help. “We want you to succeed quickly.”
“Once you succeed, you will be joyful.” “And when you have gained something, I will also be joyful.” Having this mindset also gives rise to merit. This is a very subtle and wondrous thing. Therefore, we should try to always have the mindset that no matter how long we have helped others, we see their success as our own success. When we see other people give of themselves, we rejoice in this and praise them. If we can do this, we are Bodhisattvas spreading seeds. The seeds spread by the Bodhisattvas are the hopes that everyone can walk on the Bodhi-path and help pave the path to enlightenment. This is the Bodhi-path.
When others succeed, we rejoice. Even if we planted the seeds, if they bring them to fruition, we must still rejoice. So, “by diligently cultivating Bodhi, our roots will grow deeply and solidly.”
This type of Bodhi-root grows very deeply. So, as Buddhist practitioners, we must focus on our minds. So, I hope everyone will always mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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