Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Everlasting Wisdom-life With Fivefold Dharmakaya (五分法身慧命永恆)
Date:June.02. 2015
“The lifespan of the body given to us by our parents is limited. When ordinary people’s desires arise, they create afflictions and turbidities. By purifying our awakened nature, our wisdom-life can last forever. Our awakened nature of True Suchness will enter the ocean of wisdom.”
We are all brought into this world by our parents. The length of our physical life is limited. If we use the body given to us by our parents in pursuit of the many objects of desire in the world that are constantly tempting us, our minds will be led by our external conditions. Thus we reproduce afflictions, so they constantly multiply. They repeatedly arise and cease, cease and then arise. We continue to reproduce them over and over. These are turbidities, the impurities and defilements that we are endlessly reproducing. This is what we ordinary people do. If we recognize how rare it is to be born human, how rare it is to encounter the Buddha-Dharma and how hard it is to walk the Bodhisattva-path, we see that we have overcome many difficulties. We have attained this precious human form and heard the precious Buddha-Dharma. As for the difficult-to-walk Bodhisattva-path, since these causes and conditions have come together, we must earnestly seize this opportunity to direct our mind and body to become immersed in the Buddha-Dharma and [return to] our pure awakened nature.
As we continue to purify our minds, we gradually allow our wisdom-life to last forever. As we eliminate our afflictions, our wisdom-life will grow. With each little bit of afflictions we eliminate, our wisdom-life grows by a little bit. If we lose a certain amount of our wisdom-life, we will increase our afflictions by that same amount. This is an inverse correlation. Therefore, we must be mindful and make use of our time as human beings in this world to listen to the Buddha-Dharma and experience the truths of life by going among people. These truths must be attained by going among the people. When wisdom manifests, we can see our wisdom-life.
By maintaining True Suchness, our wisdom-life can last forever. “Our awakened nature of True Suchness will enter the ocean of wisdom.” If we can awaken our nature of True Suchness, won’t our ocean of wisdom be equal to the Buddha’s? The Buddha, from the very beginning, realized sentient beings have limited capabilities. Therefore, He made use of various methods in order to guide and teach us.
So, how do we attain wisdom-life and the awakened nature of True Suchness? By tapping into our ocean of enlightenment. The Buddha applied His wisdom to awaken our ocean of enlightened wisdom. This was how the Buddha taught us with great care.
As we have already mentioned, the previous sutra passage states, “Sariputra, what would you say? Did this elder, in giving his children these precious great carts, speak any falsehood?”
When the elder first saw his children lingering in the burning house without trying to escape, he quickly told them, “There are three kinds of carts outside that can meet your needs. Hurry up! Come out!” These children saw that the things they wanted were outside, so they rushed out without any hesitation. After they all came out, the elder told the children, “Look at the sheep-cart and deer-cart. They are very simple and can only be used to transport one person.
Look at this ox-cart. See how beautifully decorated it is! You can also bring companions with you, as this cart can carry many people. And the ox pulling it is especially healthy and strong. The color of its coat is so beautiful. Why don’t all of you quickly make the decision to choose the cart drawn by the great white ox?”
They all looked at it.Indeed! It was very wonderful.
Moreover, they would not get lonely on the road.This cart would not just carry one person; it could carry many people.
Therefore, everybody abandoned the sheep-carts and deer-carts and headed toward the great ox-cart.This was an analogy made by the Buddha.
He then asked, “Sariputra, [the elder] was originally going to give the children there kinds of carts. After everybody understood [the situation], they chose the one drawn by the great white ox. In this case, did the elder speak a falsehood? Did he deceived these children?”
Sariputra responded in the next sutra passage.
“Sariputra said.No, World-Honored One. This elder only wanted his children to escape from the fire and keep their bodies intact. Thus he did not speak a falsehood.”
Sariputra said, “No, why would that be called a falsehood?. World-Honored One, the elder saw that his children were still in the house and in great danger, and no matter how he yelled, they would not leave. Therefore, in his wisdom, he put what they wanted outside the door.”
What did these children really want?No one knew them better than their father.Simply to entice the children out of the house, he gave them what they craved and pursued.
However, the intention of the elder was to preserve the lives of his children so that they would not be destroyed by the fire.Thus, to “keep their bodies intact” means the elder used skillful means to entice them to come out.So, “How could he be said to have spoken a falsehood?
If he had spoken a falsehood, they would not have gotten anything. If he spoke without purpose and cause harm to people, then he could be said to have spoken a falsehood. If you tell people you have something for them but ultimately give them nothing at all, then that would be considered deceptive. However, he did more than achieve his own aims; he kept his children safe. Since they are safe, there was no falsehood.”This was Sariputra’s answer.
The reason the elder first spoke of three carts was so that all of his children could escape the disaster of the burning house and reserve their lives.Since their bodies remained intact, was there anything false in what he said？Therefore it says, “He did not speak a falsehood.”
After the children came out of the house, with the elder’s continued encouragement, they picked the cart drawn by the great white ox.Concerned that [His disciples] might have doubts, the Buddha purposely asked Sariputra this question.This was because Sariputra was the designated recipient of these teachings.
Because the [Buddha-] children might question that what was said was a falsehood, the World-Honored One followed Sariputra’s answer with further explanation.
When the Buddha was teaching the Dharma, He
considered Sariputra the recipient of these teachings.
The Buddha asked Sariputra this question, hoping Sariputra would answer for everyone.It was because the elder said those things in order to preserve the lives of his children that he therefore did not speak a falsehood.But the Buddha was worried that those of us learning the Dharma in the future, when reading this sutra passage, would wonder, “Was the elder deceiving the children?”
We might also criticize the Buddha, “If He wanted to give them the grit ox-cart, to deceptively lure them out?”
The Buddha was worried that people in the future would doubt Him, would doubt His teachings, so He wanted to explain away any question that might cause them to have the slightest doubt.This was similar to how, after the Buddha had attained enlightenment, He originally wanted to share the entirety of [the truths of] all things in the universe and His ocean of enlightened wisdom with everyone, but people had limited capabilities and could not accept this incredible Dharma.So, He had to teach with the Three Vehicles.
He had to use various methods to teach them according to their capabilities.Thus, the Buddha carefully considered the capacities of sentient beings.Would this analogy cause people in the future to get into debates and develop doubts? Therefore, He asked this question. Sariputra’s answer was that this was “provisional teaching”.
Because sentient beings could not accept the Buddha’s teachings that directly pointed to their minds and true nature, He was not able to fell them directly, “Your mind already has the intrinsic nature of True Suchness”, and you are already a Buddha”. They were clearly still unenlightened beings living in a state of confusion, so He could not tell them, “You are a Buddha”. But what is the state of Buddhahood? It is definitely not a state of confusion. The state of the Buddha is absolutely pure and free of afflictions.
However, the minds of ordinary people are obviously filled with afflictions. Clearly, they were living in state of confusion, so even if the Buddha told them [they were Buddhas], they would still be afflicted and not understand. So, the Buddha had to teach the Three Vehicles. The Buddha “first gave provisional teachings to protect the Fivefold Dharmakaya of Small Vehicle practitioners”.
“This is an analogy for how the Buddha first gave provisional teachings to protect the Fivefold Dharmakaya of Small Vehicle practitioners so they could enter the wisdom-life of emptiness. Thus, they attained the Dharma which suited their desires and made them joyful. Since their bodies were saved from the fire and they had new lives, how could what he said have been false?”
The Fivefold Dharmakaya is explained in detail in the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. The Fivefold Dharmakaya is precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation, liberated understanding and views. This is the Fivefold Dharmakaya.”
With precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, etc., the wisdom-life of our Dharmakaya has already transcended the Five Skandhas.
The Five Skandhas are the Five Aggregates. What are the Five Aggregates? What are the Five Skandhas? They are the same teaching; it is just one of them is an older translation. The five are form, feeling, perception action
and consciousness”. “Precepts” deal with “form”.
By upholding precepts, nothing of any shape or size will be able to disturb our minds. If we ordinary people do not abide by precepts, when we see this thing, we crave it; when we see that thing, our minds are excited. This leads us to become deluded and to lose sight of the precepts. In learning the Buddha’s Way, precepts can guard against wrongs and stop evil so we can transcend “form”.
Therefore, we say “Precepts transcend the aggregate of form”.
With “precepts,” we are able to transcend the skandha of form, which is also the aggregate of form. An “aggregate” is an accumulation. To transcend our desires for various forms, we have to rely on precepts, we have to rely on precepts.
“Samadhi” can help us transcend “feelings”, our sensations.
We may see something and be unable to control ourselves; that is a kind of feeling. We all understand that some people are very rich and lack for nothing, but when they see something other people have, they cannot control themselves. That is the feeling they have. It means they are no longer in a state of Samadhi. Our belongings are ours. Other people’s belongings are theirs. We cannot cross this line, but we have these improper feelings. If we are in a state of Samadhi, we will not have this inappropriate feeling. Doing things that we should not do is wrong.
“Wisdom” transcends “perception”. It transcends “the skandha of perception”.
Though we know we should not take other people’s possessions, due to our “perceptions”, our thoughts still lead us astray. We know that this thing belongs to someone else, and we must not cross the line. We must concentrate on the rules so that we can carefully abide by precepts. We cannot even have this kind of perception about these objects. Not only should we not break the precepts, we must not allow our minds to even focus on this. This takes wisdom. Wisdom is something that transcends our feelings for material things so external forms and afflictions cannot penetrate our minds. This is wisdom.
Then, with liberation, we transcend “action”, the skandha of action.
This kind of [mental] action takes place without our conscious awareness. Even though we can control our physical actions, this “action” means things are constantly changing, such as the very subtle afflictions that continue to arise in our minds. This “action” takes place in all things. There is nothing that does no undergo “action”. When it comes to our physical body, it is constantly undergoing infinitesimal changes. In the time from birth to death, there is not a single second or moment of thought where we are not experiencing “action”.
The “aggregate of action” refers to these constant, infinitesimal changes. For instance, in this universe, our plant is constantly orbiting in our solar system. We live on this planet, yet this is not within our awareness. Day and night are inseparable from this [action], and it never stops, even for a second. These are the infinitesimal changes of Earth; its orbit must be very precise as it constantly experiences this “action.” This “aggregate of action” works the same way in the microcosm of our body. We must become liberated; liberation is the only way to transcend the aggregate of action.
To transcend birth and death and the thoughts in our minds, we must practice precepts, Samadhi and wisdom and then need to seek liberation. We cannot only have precepts, Samadhi, wisdom; it is not enough to merely control ourselves. We must be completely liberated, so liberated that the subtle afflictions [caused by] the aggregate of action will be completely washed away.
To be liberated from “action,” we must transcend the aggregate of action.
“Liberated understanding and views” can help us transcend “consciousness” and understand True Suchness.
As for “consciousness,” “only our karma follow us to the next life.” This karma is stored in our consciousness, the eighth, or storehouse, consciousness. The karma we have created is stored in the eighth consciousness. Whatever is stored in the eighth consciousness, no matter how tiny it is, is what we must work to transcend so we can return to the ninth consciousness, the nature of True Suchness, which is a very pure state it is as pure as the Buddha’s. To realize these principles, we must cultivate the Fivefold Dharmakaya, “precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation, liberated understanding and views.”
We must return to the Buddha’s understanding and views. This is why we must develop the Fivefold Dharmakaya. We must strive to answer the question, “Why is this?” Previously, we explained that the Buddha used the Three Vehicles, setting them up like sheep-carts and deer-carts. This is like the way the elder used sheep-carts and deer-carts.
The Buddha is a world-transcending awakened one. He used the Small Vehicle teachings, which are for Hearers and Solitary .Realizers, to entice everyone to go all the way to the Bodhisattva-path. The ox-cart represents the Bodhisattva-path.
Everyone, this shows the Buddha’s mindfulness. The Buddha loves sentient beings like His own children. The Buddha not only wants to protect the physical life of all sentient beings, He also wants to protect their wisdom-life by helping them use their lives to develop wisdom.
Our physical life is given to us by our parents. After we are born, we live for a limited time. Since our parents gave us this [precious] life, if we only use our limited time in the world to create afflictions and constantly reproduce them, that would be a pity indeed. We must size the time we have right away to expand the breadth and depth of our life.
We must heighten our vigilance of the desires that arise in us and be disciplined and reverent. The Dharma is like water which washes away our impurities. Only by developing our wisdom-life can it last forever. With our awakened nature of True Suchness, we will naturally enter the ocean of wisdom and return to our nature of True Suchness. We need to turn the afflictions [stored] in the eighth consciousness into our nature of True Suchness. This is why we must apply [the Dharma] right now.Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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