Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Firm Aspirations Need a Deep Root of Faith (堅定信根速出火宅)
Date: April.23. 2015
“Sadly, in life we are deluded and attached. If our Root of Faith is not deeply planted, our spiritual aspirations will not be firm. Then we will not understand all Dharma and will obstruct the Path and hinder the Dharma.”
Indeed, [much of] life is lamentable. Our life is inherently short, but we cling to it as though it is everlasting. Thus, we continue to have insatiable greed for everything in the world. Seeking fame, profit, status and so on replicates our ignorance and delusion. You and I may have been family or loved ones in a past life, but have become enemies in this life. [Examples] of this are found in Buddhist sutras. The Buddha continually spoke of causes and conditions and used analogies for the sole purpose of helping us understand that this life is not the only life we have lived. Since the distant past, countless kalpas ago, we have lived many past lives.
The Buddha often spoke of how He himself had spent a long time transmigrating in the Six Realms. However, in every realm, He had the chance to form aspirations. We can recall a story about Him in the hell realm. He had seen someone suffer unbearable torture there. There was a burning red cart. It was completely made of iron and it was on fire. A person was forced to pull and push it. This was unbearable suffering. So, the Buddha was willing to stand up before the ghost king in charge and tell him, “I will take his place pulling the cart.” The ghost king said, “Your own karma is already so severe. How could you possibly take on another person’s suffering?” He said, “I cannot bear to see this old man [pulling] the red hot iron cart. His body has completely rotted away, and yet he has to continue pulling it. I cannot bear to see this. I am willing to push and pull in his place.”
The ghost king thought, “He can’t even take care of himself. How can he possibly do this?” In a range, the ghost king killed him with one blow. In fact, this sutra passage is about the Buddha forming an aspiration. When the ghost king struck him down, he was able to transcend hell. He had also descended into the animal realm. The Deer King Sutra and Elephant King Sutra both describe the past lives of the Buddha.
So, we all live and transmigrate in the Six Realms, following the good and bad karma we have created. We take our good and bad karma to every realm, but if we give rise to a thought of goodness in any of those realms, if a good thought arises, we can more quickly exhaust our bad karma. The Buddha, in the Agama sutras, said to His disciples, “When you engage in spiritual practice, you must seize the moment. You must constantly contemplate impermanence. Life is eternal, but our bodies are impermanent. Life is what endlessly transmigrates in the Six Realms. We are unable to control where we go because we do not understand the principles.
So, now that we understand the principles, we should understand how long life lasts. When we are alive, we can hear the Dharma. Therefore, we must always be mindful. For countless kalpas in the past, over an incomprehensible amount of time, we have repeatedly come to this world.You could have been born in any place. You could have died in any place.”
Indeed, no matter where, east, west, north or south, any country or any place could have been where we were born and could have been where we died.This indicates how long our life stretches on.
We endlessly transmigrate upon this earth, and we endlessly transmigrate in the Six Realms.So, we must quickly put our hearts into realizing the truths of life.If we can understand the principles, then we will not be at a complete loss about [where we are going].Our Root of Faith must be deep and long.
If our Root of Faith is not deep, it will be hard for our spiritual aspirations to be firm.If our spiritual aspirations are not firm, we will be unable to understand any Dharma and if we do not understand the Dharma, this will obstruct our practices to enlightenment.
The Buddha constantly admonished us that in this world, as soon as we become deluded, as soon as we give rise to an ignorant thought, even if it is only a single desire, our ignorance will multiply endlessly and cover our way out of this burning house as well as the door of wisdom in our minds.In this way, it will be hard to exit one door and go into the other.This is due to obstacles.Therefore we must promptly seize the moment to “comprehend the great path” and form the supreme aspiration.Only then can we understand all Dharma and comprehend our past lifetimes and our future direction.
If we do not understand the past, we will be unable to understand our direction in the future.So, in a previous passage, the Buddha said, “I must tell them of these fearful matters.”
In the past, He taught with various methods, yet still people did not thoroughly understand.Now things were becoming urgent, so He began to explain to them about this fearsome situation.
“I must tell them of these fearful matters. This house is already in flames, and this is the time for them to quickly leave so they will not be burned in the fire.”
As I have been saying recently, the four elements have become out of balance and manmade calamities are occurring endlessly.All this is happening in the Three Realms.Amidst the Five Turbidities, [disasters] seem to arise unceasingly, causing everyone to be surrounded by danger and many kinds of traps.This is the time for everyone to heighten their vigilance.
The Buddha wanted them to “quickly leave” because this house was burning.Then those in the Three Realms “will not be burned in the fire”.They had to quickly get themselves out, otherwise they would be burned.
The following passage states, “Having thought in this way, [the elder] told his sons. All of you must come out quickly!”
Everyone must make haste to get out.They cannot remain in this danger any longer.Though this kind father had a sense of urgency in his voice, “Quickly get out! There is a fire inside!” though the elder repeatedly warned them of these fearful matters, they still remained unmoving.
After having these thoughts, the elder said to his children,
“All of you must come out quickly!”But “Although the father, in his compassion, used kind words to persuade them, his sons happily indulged in their playing and refused to believe him. They were not alarmed nor afraid and had no intention of leaving.”
In this section, the children are very naughty.They do not hear their father’s concern.He was very worried and called to them with deep sincerity, but the children still did not promptly leave.Once again he had to think; he had to contemplate again.If he could not convince them to come out this way, what could he do?
He had to think of another method, and so, “having thought in this way,” he spoke to his children again.
Having thought in this way, he told his sons:
This means the elder is compassionate, so he explained that cyclic existence is a fearful matter.Therefore, they must quickly seek to escape the burning house of the Three Realms.
“The elder is compassionate.”The elder, this kind father, had great compassion.He said that cyclic existence is a fearful matter. He gave many teachings about how fearsome cyclic existence is. Every place is a place where we have been born and where we have died. Everyone has, at one time, been our mother and our father; everyone has, at one time, been our brother and our sister. Every person has harmed and killed us, and we have also killed and injured them. We have shown each other kindness and resentment, love, hate, passion and animosity. All of this has occurred between all of us, as if we are actors on the stage. This cycle of love and hate, passion and animosity entangles us endlessly. Back and forth, lifetime after lifetime, we play these roles. Right now, we are so close to each other, but in the next act, you and I may harm each other, giving rise to hate. In this way, over the course of many lives, our feelings for one another constantly change.
As our cyclic existence stretches on, we show kindness and animosity to each other. Moreover, it is only a short time before we transmigrate again in the Six Realms; this is terrifying. In this world, is there anything that lasts forever? Absolutely nothing.
So, the elder used various methods to “tell them of these fearful matters”. With various methods, he urged them to quickly get out. He used various methods to coax them out, teaching by analogy.
“All of you must come out quickly! Although the father, in this compassion, used kind words to persuade them:
This refers to wondrous, provisional teachings, and to the Great Vehicle. However, ignorant sentient beings did not know to be alarmed and afraid, so he had to teach with parables”.
This refers to the mindset the Buddha had when He first attained enlightenment. Once He realized that the awakened state was like this, He wanted for everyone to attain Buddhahood and hoped that everyone could become awakened. However, sentient beings are too stubborn. If their capabilities were so limited how could they possibly accept the Great Dharma? He had no choice but to use provisional teachings. He established all kinds of skillful means to teach according to their capabilities. Though these were skillful and provisional means, they also contained the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle.
The truth of the Great Vehicle is that everyone can attain Buddhahood, that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. He pointed us directly to our minds so that we could see our true nature. But we have many afflictions, and we are stubborn. We are obstinate and afflicted, so we cannot immediately accept the teachings. So, there was no way this could happen; there was nothing He could do.
I once heard about an entrepreneur who ran a large business, one that is internationally ranked, but behind it all was a big pile of debt. He owned money all over the world and not in the hundreds of millions, he had billions in debt. He was already in so much debt; how could he repay it? However, he did not think of this at all. He felt that he would just continue to expand because his desire was without bounds. Actually, even if he became the top businessman in the world, in the end, doesn’t it come to nothing?
So, he does not understand the principles of suffering, emptiness, impermanence and no-self. He does not know enough yet to be afraid. He feels no alarm and no fear. The flames are practically on top of him, but he does not realize it yet. So, the Buddha used analogies to help everyone understand the principles and cultivate [ultimate] “permanence, joy, self, purity”. However, ordinary people think that “permanence” means that they can possess all of the fame, profit and status in the world. They believe these are permanent. We spiritual practitioners know that there is indeed something that is permanent and everlasting. Life is everlasting; after we leave this body, we will be reborn. This pure, permanent and everlasting life is our wisdom-life. Wisdom-life is pure and undefiled. It is our Buddha-nature.
Buddha-nature is everlasting. Lifetime after lifetime, we bring this permanent, intrinsic nature with us. In every person, there is this True Suchness; this principle is pure and everlasting. It is the “permanence, joy, self and purity” of spiritual practitioners. This is a clear and tranquil state. But unenlightened beings have gotten these qualities backwards, “clinging to the impermanent as permanent”. Ordinary people have this kind of view, so they create much karma.
When the Buddha made analogies, could sentient beings actually understand them? All of us have formed an initial aspiration. The Buddha also started with an initial aspiration. “If we sustain our initial aspiration we will surely attain Buddhahood,” because we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. It is just that it is covered by ignorance, which fills our minds with afflictions. Since we have formed an aspiration, we must try to eliminate our afflictions.
In our spiritual practice, we must “retain all teachings” and uphold all good deeds.We must practice good deeds, lifetime after lifetime. Even in the Six Realms, we must have this resolve. Life after life, we must resolve to attain Buddhahood, to transcend the Three Realms and escape our afflictions. Only by doing this can we escape the Three Realms.
So, sentient beings must quickly attain Bodhi. We must seize the moment [to walk] this Bodhi-path to enlightenment. We must earnestly accept the Dharma of this path.
The Buddha could enable sentient beings to readily attain Bodhi. This is why the elder told his sons, “All of you must come out quickly!” The following text immediately explains what it means for them to come out quickly.
For this reason, [the elder] told his sons, “All of you must come out quickly!” He wanted for them all to come out quickly. That is what this passage says. We must hold fast to our initial aspiration, like the story we just told. Even though the Buddha was in hell and suffering, when He saw another suffer, He still said, “I will take his place.” This thought was one of great kindness. Such is the Buddha-mind, the nature of True Suchness.
“Retain all teachings and uphold all good deeds.” This is the only way we can reach the Bodhi-path to enlightenment. This is the only way we can escape this place where the fire is closing in around us.
In the next passage, it states, “His sons happily indulged in their playing and refused to believe him. They were not alarmed or afraid and had no intention of leaving.”
They did not want to leave. They were attached to by worldly fame, profit status. Their suffering was truly unbearable. The Buddha could not do much about it, so He “thought further about how to reveal the door of the causal practice of the Great Vehicle.
He thought further about how to reveal the door of the causal practice of the Great Vehicle, but sentient beings could not give rise to faith, so they had nowhere to begin their practice.
Through the door of the Great Vehicle, we can all attain Buddhahood. We sentient beings must reflect on ourselves. Our intrinsic nature is Buddha-nature. But when the Buddha gave gradual teachings, sentient beings remained unafraid. Therefore, He pointed directly to our minds so we could see our true nature.Can sentient beings give rise to faith in time?
If “sentient beings cannot give rise to faith, they have nowhere to begin their practice.” If they cannot rise to faith, naturally, they will not practice diligently. So, we certainly need to have faith. Our faith must be deep. Only with a deep faith can we quickly begin our practice and leave the burning house of the Three Realms.
Thus, our initial aspiration is most important; after we have formed that initial aspiration, we will begin to “retain all teachings and uphold all good deeds.” If we can do this, then we can do good deeds, benefit others and create good karmic connections. This is what I have been telling everyone recently. This is the only way we can open the door that is obstructed. Only when our path is free of obstructions can we directly reach state of the ultimate reality of all Dharma. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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