Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Door of the One Vehicle (一乘教門)
Date: March.31. 2015
“The Buddha, with wisdom, can transform all afflictions into merits and virtues. He is like the owner of a great house. With the power of clear sight and wisdom, even treacherous servants will follow him and be tamed. All the servants will be loyal to he who upholds the Dharma.”
Who can transform sentient beings’ afflictions into merits and virtue? “The owner of a great house” who has “the power of clear sight and wisdom.” [The Buddha] is like the owner of a great house. If the owner has clear and radiant wisdom along with a pure body and mind, this will give him the power to manage his household so that things run smoothly; it will be very harmonious and organized.
For instance, if a servant of this household, or any member of the family, is treacherous, the head of this great house has ways of training them so that they remain obedient. Just as trainers can tame fierce animals, these servants will obey their master. They will accept and do whatever he tells them.
For instance, one time, the Buddha was teaching at Jeta Grove. Before the Buddha began to teach, everyone was talking about how there were so many people there and all had such great respect for the Buddha. Whatever He taught, everyone joyfully accepted and believed. They wondered what kind of karmic connections the Buddha had formed with sentient beings, that gave Him the amazing power to tame their hearts and minds.
The Buddha told those gathered the following story. Countless kalpas in the past, there was a kingdom with a king named Mahaprabhasa. He had radiant wisdom and governed his kingdom with virtue. His people enjoyed favorable wealth and lived in peace and prosperity. Meanwhile, this king and the king of the neighboring kingdom developed a close friendship.
One time, when the neighboring king was hunting in the forest, he saw a very beautiful and strong white elephant. The presence of a white elephant like this was an auspicious sign for any kingdom. Therefore, he arranged for the elephant to be carefully groomed and draped in beaded necklaces and fine silks, and he presented the elephant to King Mahaprabhasa. When King Mahaprabhasa was this white elephant, he felt very happy.
So, the king hired an animal trainer. The animal trainer, Scattered-Darkness, put his heart into the training and trained this elephant well. The king was happy to hear this, so he immediately issued an announcement to everyone in the city to let them know that he had a white elephant everyone was invited to come and see it. The elephant was led toward them. He was truly beautifully adorned. The king himself rode on his back. The kind was already tall and broad, so when he sat on top of the large white elephant, he truly looked formidable and magnificent, and like the sun rising above the horizon, he radiated power and light.
The sight caused a sensation and everyone was joyful. The trainer was riding another elephant, and they were followed by many attendants as the king rode the elephant out of the city.
Far away, they saw a herd of elephants.These wild elephants were right by a lotus pond, chewing on lotus roots.Within this elephant herd, there was a particular female elephant.The white elephant’s animal nature took control of him, and with his lust aroused, he charged after her.
The king could barely stay on his back everyone could see that the king had even lost his crown.His hair was loose and scattered, his outer garment had been ripped and torn by being caught on tree branches, and his body was covered in cuts and bruises.
The trainer was not about to catch up, so he yelled, “You’re Majesty! If you see a tree branch please quickly grab and hold on to it.”The king happened to be passing under a very thick branch, so he grabbed on to it with both hands.
As the elephant kept charging, the king remained hanging rum the tree before he gradually slid down the tree trunk to the ground.He was in a state of complete shock and looked very haggard.
The elephant trainer rushed up to him, threw himself to the ground, and begged forgiveness.He said, “You Majesty, please don’t be angry. Put your mind at ease. Soon, this elephant will come back to the parlance on his own, because during his time at the palace, the food he ate while he was being trained was food of the best quality and he lived very comfortably. I believe that if he tries to stay outside the palace, he will be unable to adjust to life outside. This elephant will certainly return.”
The king was still very angry and was still suffering a great fright.
He replied, “I never want to see you or that elephant ever again.”
At this moment, his followers finally caught up to them.The servants immediately helped him up and escorted him back to the city.
Everyone in the city was still gathered, waiting to see the king’s triumphant return on his white elephant.However, the king they saw was covered in wounds and looked very haggard.Everyone was anxious and very worried.
The king began his recovery.A while later, the elephant trainer could see that the elephant had made his way back to the palace.
He quickly spoke to the king again, “Please, I beg you to give me another chance. You Majesty, you must understand how rare and precious this elephant is, and not just in our kingdom. We must really make an effort to train him.”
The king’s curiosity was aroused, and so he agreed to come.
“I will see how the elephant performs once more.”The people from the city gathered to observe this.The setup in the city square included seven iron balls, heated bright red, and a circle of metal hooks.The hooks were a terrifying sight to behold.
When the king saw the elephant again, feelings of fury and anger arose in him.The elephant trainer knew that it would be hard to keep the elephant from being put to death.He felt that this was a pity, but if the elephant was going to be killed anyway, he wanted to the king to understand how precious he was.
The elephant trainer had no alternative.“[Your Majesty] if the elephant goes through the circle of hooks, it will cover every inch of his body with wounds. That would be a very painful death. Instead, have him swallow the metal balls. If he dies, it would be a faster way to go.”
He then told the elephant, “You choose the punishment, since you committed such a serious offense.”The elephant, upon hearing this, knelt down vulnerably in front of the king with tears in his eyes, as if begging the king for mercy.I spite of this, the king remained angry; he turned his head and refused to look.
The elephant trainer said, “You cannot avoid this death sentence,
so just swallow the metal ball”. The elephant stood up and picked up the burning metal ball with his truck and swallowed it. By the time the hot metal ball reached his stomach, his entire body had been scalded terribly. Soon afterwards, the metal ball burned through his stomach and fell to the ground. As the ball fell to the ground, it was still red. The people in the audience were hearbroken when they saw what happened to the elephant. Everyone was horrified, and they wailed loudly. They wept and mourned for this elephant. Because of this reaction, the king felt great regret.
When he returned to the palace, he was very upset and could not understand. “How could I have been so furious? How was the elephant trainer able to train the elephant so well that he could tell him to choose a way to die?” The king was very curious, so he summoned the elephant trainer.
The king asked, “How did you first train him? Why were you unable to tame his mind?” The elephant trainer answered, “I am only able to train his body and teach him how to obey my commands. I am not able to tame his mind”. The king then asked, “Then what kind of person would be able to tame both the body and the mind?” The elephant trainer said, “Only people who have perfected the three elements of enlightenment along with the two kids of virtues are able to tame both the body and the mind.
Of these two kinds of virtues, one is the virtue of wisdom and the other is the virtue of great compassion. What are the three elements of enlightenment? They include enlightening oneself developing self-discipline, and the ability to train others. Perfecting the three elements of enlightenment and the two kinds of virtues is the attainment of Buddhahood. Then one is called the Great Enlightened One.” When the king heard the words, “the Great Enlightened One” and “Buddha”, his mind was deeply moved.
From this point on, the king repented his ways. In addition to feeling regret, he was repentant. Every day, from a tall building in the palace, he prostrated in all directions and made this vow. “From now on, I will earnestly engage in spiritual practice so I can transform all sentient beings. I will find a way to train my mind. I will find the way to both train my mind and to train the minds of others. My hope is that everyone’s mind can be trained so they can avoid the suffering of cyclic existence in the Six Realms. Even if one person falls into hell, I am willing to go to hell and save him. I want everyone to hear the Dharma and awaken.”
At this point of the story, the Buddha stopped and told everyone. “All of you should know that this is a story about one of my past lives I, Sakyamuni Buddha, was once King Mahaprabhasa”. The elephant trainer, Scattered-Dharkness, is Sariputra in this lifetime. With the vow I made back then, from that time until now, I have been in the human realm, hell and the rest of the Six Realms. In the Five Destinies, I have unceasingly transformed sentient beings.
So, people who have karmic affinities with me can now hear the Dharma and be transformed.” This story is telling us that in the era of Dharma-degeneration, the minds of sentient beings are like animals. People are like this white elephant. Even after he was trained, he succumbed to his animal nature. After having gone wild, he returned to a comfortable environment, but this comfortable environment could not accommodate him, so he was subjected to this terrible punishment. This describes the way that we have to face karmic retribution in our lives. We can return to our gentle and pure Buddha-nature; however, when ignorance and affliction arise, the disasters they cause will be devastating. This is why we need to trainer [like the Buddha]. An ordinary trainer can only train us to follow rules but cannot transform our minds.
In order for the Buddha to transform sentient beings in the Three Realms, He had to perfect the three elements of enlightenment and two virtues. This is similar to what we have discussed.
The previous passage discussed states, “In a certain kingdom’s city or settlement, there was a great elder who was old and frail. He possessed limitless wealth and had many farmlands, houses and servants and had many farmlands, houses and servants. His house was spacious and large and had only one door.”
Things in this great house are very complicated, but whether the area is big or small, it is an analogy for the minds of sentient beings. “His house was spacious and large and had only one door.” “Spacious” means the size of his family enterprise and his house were very big. How large were they?As vast is the Three Realms. This represents how the whole world is one family. This is an analogy. This is the essence and appearance of the Great Vehicle. The Great Vehicle is a principle and this is the essence and appearance of this principle. So, it is an analogy.
His house was spacious and large and had only one door: This spacious house is an analogy for the Great Vehicle’s essence and appearance. The place where people enter and exit is the door. This house only has one door, just as the Great Vehicle only has one door. This expresses that the Dharma-nature of the Great Vehicle is the door of the One Vehicle teachings.
This household has only one door. This one door represents the One Vehicle. There is one door the burning house of the Three Realms, there is only door available. It represents the nature of the Great Vehicle, or the Great Vehicle Dharma; only the door of the One Vehicle can allow everyone to escape from the burning house. The burning house is the place where sentient beings have accumulated all their afflictions
This is also an analogy for the various causes and conditions, analogies and the various Dharma that He proclaimed according to capabilities, which were all for the purpose of teaching the Bodhi-path to sentient beings. Only with the Bodhisattva-path can one benefit oneself and others. By training one’s on mind, one can also save sentient beings. Thus, with the One Vehicle path to Buddhahood, [the Buddha sought to] benefit all sentient beings. Sadly, they had dull capabilities and severe obstructions. Sentient beings’ capabilities were too dull, their afflictions so severe. So, the Buddha could not do what He wanted, He had to first guide them with many Dharma-doors. To guide them back to their pure awakened nature, He had to use the true principles, so there is only the One Vehicle.
This is how the Buddha, with various methods, taught the Bodhi-path to enlightenment according to capabilities.The Buddha’s original intent was, with the One Vehicle path to Buddhahood, to benefit all sentient beings. Sadly, they had dull capabilities and severe obstructions, so He could not do what He wanted. First He guided them with many Dharma-doors to their pure and genuine nature. There is only One Vehicle to this ultimate truth. Therefore it is said there is only one door. From the perspective of teachings, there is only the One Buddha Vehicle From the perspective of principles, there is only the understanding and views of the One Reality.
Right now, there are so many manmade calamities and natural disasters. The karma created by afflicted sentient beings leads to unbearable suffering. Transcending this suffering is only possible through one path, the understanding and views of the One Reality. Therefore, the Buddha drew this analogy “His house was spacious and large and had only one door.”This is something everyone must realize.
The story I told earlier was about King Mahaprabhasa. In a moment of rage, he did something he later deeply regretted. He then repented his actions, practiced diligently and made the great vows. Even if one sentient beings was still in hell, he was willing to go to hell and deliver him. This remained his resolve for a very long time. So, from now on, we must earnestly train our minds so that the conditions we encounter will not trigger our rage. If we do things we regret, we will suffer greatly. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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