Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject:There Is Nothing Fslse in First Teaching the Three Vehicles Then the One (先三後一無虛妄)
Date:July.20. 2015
“All evil is inherently illusory. In everything that the Buddha says, there is nothing that is false. With this cultivation of contemplation, concentration gives rise to Samadhi. Then all can achieve perfect enlightenment with skillful means.”
This is telling everyone that all human evil originates in illusion. In fact, our lifetimes are short, but we all act as if our time in the world will last forever. So, we want all the money, material goods, fame, advantage, power and so on to be in our possession.
Thus, in our relationships, we cannot treat each other with genuine sincerity. We deal with each other on a superficial level. Actually, this is because we have all forgotten our nature of True Suchness. So, we need to return to our intrinsic nature of True Suchness.
The Buddha taught us in the hope that we can reflect on our own nature. We all have a nature of True Suchness that is pure and undefiled, in which there is nothing false.
So, “In everything that the Buddha says, there is nothing that is false.” The Buddha wants to help us all understand that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature and help us understand [the workings of] all matters, objects and principles external to us. If we can understand all matters, objects and principles external to us and realize that everything is inherently illusory, why would we, for the sake of possessing things, run around so busily, work so hard and create so much karma?
So, we need to return to our intrinsic nature. What the Buddha teaches is nothing but the True Dharma. We must mindfully comprehend these teachings and steadfastly practice them, so we can take the Dharma to heart. Only by taking the Dharma to heart can we calm our minds.
So, “With this cultivation of contemplation, concentration gives rise to Samadhi.”
In these past few days, we have been talking about Samadhi. Most people think that to attain Samadhi one must spend a lot of time in sitting meditation and that, by sitting in meditation they can empty their minds of everything. They think that is entering the state of Samadhi. It is not that easy! Yet, it is also not too profound, nor is it too difficult.
In fact, meditation can be a part of all aspects of our daily living. Meditation is a way of contemplation, it is how we think. It can help us eliminate our delusional and discursive thinking and see our lives for what they actually are. What are our lives actually like? We should start by conducting ourselves properly.
As humans, we should understand the principles behind our human existence. We came to the human realm because of the karmic law of cause and effect. Would you say you have been fortunate? Or that everything has gone the way you wanted? These are the positive causes and conditions you created in your past lives coming to fruition now in the present. We must be grateful for all these things. However, sometimes we encounter negative karmic conditions. Just as we are about to accomplish something, a setback occurs. Who caused this setback for us? Who prevented things from happening as we wish? Should we complain about them? No. We should still be grateful to the people who caused these setbacks and prevented things from going our way. After we overcome each setback, we feel so grateful. This is because we were able to “eliminate karma as conditions arise.” We have eliminated another karmic obstacle, so we must “avoid creating more disasters.”We should not from any more negative affinities.
Thus, we must understand that our past causes and conditions and karma are what encounter and deal with every day.But in our perspective, we must constantly be vigilant of ourselves.In our perspective, we must have “cultivation of contemplation”.This is meditation.
In our daily living, we need to interact with matters, objects and principles in an orderly manner.This is how we cultivate contemplation, which is a meditative state.
Since we have formed aspirations and made vows, our minds must be focused.We are unable to remain in a focused state.Because our natures are not settled, we constantly do things that are not aligned with the principles.
Thus we will easily fall into the evil realms or create [negative] karmic conditions so that in our future lives we will face adverse conditions and affinities.So, we do not want to attract further adverse conditions and affinities for our future lives.Moreover, we do not want to fall into the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm.
Therefore, right now we should use the Buddha-Dharma to cleanse our minds.We must clearly understand afflictions and ignorance, everything that is evil, false and so on, and we must eliminate them.If we do not clearly understand them, then we cannot eliminate them.
So, in order for us to eliminate afflictions, we must steadily listen to the Dharma, earnestly put it into practice and calm our minds to be still and focused.So, “cultivating contemplation” is very important, and” concentration [giving rise] to Samadhi” is also very important.If we can do this, then “[We] all can achieve perfect enlightenment with skillful means.”
We can achieve perfect enlightenment through skillful means.Take the mountains before us, for example.If we have a perfect mirror here, this mirror can capture the reflection of that large expanse of mountains.However, if we want to truly understand what the conditions are like in these mountains, we have to walk towards those mountains.Then we have to hike up their sloes.
So, now we need to employ this kind of method.This is called “skillful means”.We can use the mirror of our minds to reflect the external state before us.But even though we can see the mountains in the mirror of our minds, we must put our efforts toward walking there and climbing up the mountain to experience the true conditions of the mountain.
If we understand the principles, we will constantly feel grateful.
When everything happens peacefully and goes as smoothly as we wish, we are grateful!When we encounter setbacks, we still feel grateful because we have overcome another karmic obstacle, yet one more hurdle.When we are able to eliminate karma as conditions arise, we accept whatever happens to us with gratitude.
If we understand these principles, how can our minds not be clear, how can we not be in a state of Samadhi?
“By cultivating contemplation and concentrating on all Dharma,” we always keep our minds on our daily living.In this way, this great perfect mirror wisdom will always be before us.
Again, the previous sutra passage states, “Sariputra, I am just like that elder who first enticed the children with the three carts, then later only gave them the great carts, magnificent with precious objects and foremost in safety. In this way, that elder was not guilty of speaking falsehoods.”
I have already clearly explained this passage.
The Buddha said that this elder is an analogy for Him.The elder first used the three carts to entice the children to escape.The fire of the Three Realms was closing in, so they were in great danger.
Everyone escaped by going outside; once outside, though there were three kinds of carts, the elder hoped everyone would ultimately choose the great carts.The interior of the great carts were adorned with many precious objects.Getting into these great carts was the safest thing to do.So, the elder put his heartfelt effort into enticing the children to come out.
The following sutra passage state, “The Tathagata is able just like this; there was nothing false in what He said. He first taught the Three Vehicles to guide sentient beings. Afterwards He employed only the Great Vehicle to liberate them. The elder did not speak any falsehoods. When the Tathagata first taught three, then one, how could He have said anything false?”
He did not.In fact, He originally wanted to give us an abundance of Dharma-treasures but we laced the capabilities to accept them; we were unwilling to accept them.So, out of His compassion, the Buddha taught the Three Vehicles.
The Three Vehicles were taught first in order to guide people. They seemed true, but did not fully express the Buddha’s intent. That is why at the end He only taught the One Great Vehicle, which teaches the Bodhisattva Way.
Therefore, “The Three Vehicles were taught first in order to guide people”. They were used to guide sentient beings according to their capabilities, according to their delights and in response to their needs. So, He guided them in this way. “They seemed true”. When the Dharma was being taught, everyone thought. These must be the true teachings. If I can practice them that is good enough”. The Hearers thought, “I can attain liberation by listening to the principles”. The Pratyekabuddhas thought, “I just want to awaken myself, so I don’t want to contrive affinities with sentient beings. This is enough for me”. They thought this was the extent of the Dharma, that what they were doing was enough.
In fact, “[These teachings] seemed true. These seemed to be true teachings, just the way they were “If I hear and understand, that is enough”. Or perhaps, “I have already stopped contriving connections with other people because the law of karma is terrifying”.
Actually, this was not what the Buddha wanted to teach us. This “did not fully express His original intent”. What He truly wanted was to speak the True Dharma from His heart, but because we could not accept it, He had to use a step-by-step approach. The Buddha’s original intent was His hope that everyone realize their Buddha-nature. He hoped everyone would engage in the same methods of spiritual practice as He did. To practice the way He did, we must have a great sense of mission. We must make the great vows and undertake great missions, just as the Buddha did, giving of ourselves for sentient beings. This was how the Buddha engaged in spiritual practice in the past.
Life after life, He sacrificed Himself for people. He attained Buddhahood for the sake of all beings. He hoped more people would be like Him, follow the same course that He did and be just as willing to give of themselves. The Buddha wanted to freely express His intent, which was to tell everyone the words He had kept in His heart. He wanted to help us eliminate our negative habitual tendencies, so that as we face the world, we can nurture broad mindsets and pure thoughts, so that we can open up our hearts to encompass the universe and care for all sentient beings.
He wanted to use methods to help us return to a simple and pure state of mind. When we “cultivate contemplation”, our minds become pure and our thinking becomes very clear. This allows our minds to constantly be in a state of concentration, of Samadhi. This must be our mindset as we go among people. This was the Buddha’s hope for us.
The Buddha did not express this intent [at first]. In the end, He gave the great teachings of the One Vehicle, the Bodhisattva Way. The great teachings of the One Vehicle are the Bodhisattva Way. This is what the Buddha taught sentient beings. Indeed, every one of us should give of ourselves for the sake of sentient beings. Moreover, we must do so with no falsehood; we must eliminate all falsehood. For example, yesterday, a group of Bodhisattva-volunteers from the Philippines came back. The nearly 20 of them were in the city of Tacloban, on the island of Bohol or in the city of Zamboanga.
In Zamboanga, last September, there was a rebel uprising. Up to now, it has been more than five months. Tens of thousands of people are still homeless. More than 30,000 houses were burned down, and many people lost their livelihood. More than five months have passed, and we are still providing care to them.
The prefabricated classrooms we sent them have been erected one after another, and the children are now using them. After that, we began to plan on creating housing for them. Right now they are living on the school athletic fields, so they are out in the open. After around five months, the tents are in poor shape and are tattered. Their sanitary conditions are terrible, and their quality of life is unbearably low.
Tens of thousands of people are crammed together. It is truly unbearable suffering. Only Tzu Chi volunteers are still in that place. These Tzu Chi volunteers are local residents, people from other parts of the Philippines and people from Taiwan who are working hard to help them. This is the situation in Zamboanga.
Tzu Chi volunteers also went to Bohol. It has been almost four months since the October earthquake struck the island. When they saw that Tzu Chi volunteers were back, the local residents could hardly believe it. “It has been such a long time; how come you’re back again? You are still caring for us.” The Tzu Chi volunteers told them, “We have always wanted to come back and help you with what you need, but because of Typhoon Haiyan, we concentrated all our efforts there. So, we apologize for this long delay”.
Yesterday they reported on everything they saw. As they made their reports, seeing the photos they projected and hearing about the situation they described. I was anxious to find ways to quickly help them. The provincial governor was there [when we went], as were the mayor and the bishop, the leader of the Catholic church. He is the Catholoc bishop of the province of Leyte. They all listened to our presentation.
The volunteers played of them a video of “The Tzu Chi Year In Review” that we show at the Year-end Blessing Ceremony. Everyone cried as they watched it and saw everything Tzu Chi has done around the world.
A principal then stood up to bear witness based on his own experience. On the island of Bohol, we visited 16 schools. The principal of one of these schools told us that his father’s foot had been seriously injured before. We have a free clinic team in Cebu with many physicians participating. At a free clinic they held on Bohol, we found that his father’s foot had to be amputated.
After the amputation, his father needed a prosthesis. Since these were volunteers from Tzu Chi International Medical Association
(TIMA), after they treated and operated on his father, they arranged for him to go to Zamboanga. In Zamboanga there is a prosthesis factory, so he went there to have a prosthesis made for him.
Now his father has recovered and can walk because he has that prosthesis. The principal verified that our organization is sincere in helping others. Because his father, so many years ago, received free medical treatment from Tzu Chi and was fitted with a prosthesis with our help, the principal bore witness for us. After everyone heard the principal talk about Tzu Chi, they had great faith in us. The Governor, mayor and bishop all hoped that Tzu Chi could help them.
Indeed, we were there to help. We have made an agreement with them to provide hundreds for these 16 schools. Right now we are putting our hearts into setting up these classrooms as soon as possible.
So, yesterday, in addition to listening to the reports from the Philippines, Faith Corps members from central and northern Taiwan also met with them to understand their situation. What should we earnestly continue to work on? These volunteers were very mindful. Then when we went to Tacloban and Ormoc this time, we also gave the survivors foldable beds. When they swathe beds, they were very happy. They could easily carry the beds back to where they lived and unfold them to sleep on. They are very comfortable.
Originally, they were sleeping on the ground, where the gravel would poke them. Everyone felt sore all over. Sometime, when the ground was wet, they would catch a cold. Many of the survivors became ill because they were sleeping in poor conditions. When the foldable beds arrived, the volunteers unfolded one and then choose five large people to sit on it at the same time. It was amazing! It remained very stable. Everyone was very happy to receive the beds.
Over 5000 beds were distributed. Their recipients were touched and very grateful. All in all backed by the power of love, we did not speak falsehoods. We said we would help them. From the beginning, we promised to help them. So, we gave to them with genuine sincerity. Therefore we did not speak falsehoods. Because we accepted the Buddha’s teachings, we must go among people and give of ourselves. When we make promises to sentient beings, we must fulfill them.
Because we are following the Buddha’s teachings, we must keep our word.Indeed, I feel very grateful every day. From within Taiwan, many of our Faith Corps Bodhisattvas, due to these three major disasters that struck the Philippines with the past six months, have been giving of themselves with such genuine sincerity. Think about isn’t this the purest and brightest Bodhi-path?
So, I am very grateful to them. We must constantly be grateful, self-disciplined and reverent. Indeed, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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