Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Continuing the Buddha’s Wisdom-Life (持戒清淨續佛慧命)
Date: December.09. 2015
“Sentient beings who accept the Buddha’s precepts are called Buddha-children and will certainly become Buddhas. Those who rely on the Buddha’s noble teachings are all called Bodhisattvas; they continue the Buddha’s wisdom-life. They carry on the seeds of Buddhahood and prevent them from being eradicated; sincerity makes them children of the Tathagata.”
There is such a sense of closeness here. The Buddha is indeed very close to us. If we look mindfully, it seems the relationship between the Buddha and His disciples is like the relationship between a father and his children. We all talk about our parents. Our parents are very close to us because our physical bodies come from the union of our father’s sperm and mothers’ egg. Our mother was pregnant for nearly ten moths before giving birth to us. When causes and conditions came together, we left our previous life and entered this one. Neither the one being born nor the one giving birth know what kind of karmic affinities brought them together. We are unable to completely understand each other, but when parents look at their child, they hope their child will follow their wishes. “I hope that my child will learn these skills, attend this college and follow this career path.” They want the child to follow the course they choose.
But when it comes to fulfilling expectations, eight or nine times out of ten, things do not go as they wish. Most children ask, “Why do I need to do what my parents say?” Many parents say, “I feel helpless. How did I give birth to this kind of child who never listens to me?” Thus they complain about each other. This is what life is like; it is filled with ignorance and confusion.
But our relationship with the Buddha is different; we chose it ourselves. We are willing to offer our great love to the world. This is the choice we made. Since this is our choice, we take responsibility for the Buddha-Dharma, for continuing this Dharma-lineage. We must have this sense of responsibility and take this Dharma-lineage to heart.
The Buddha used compassion and love to inspire us. He also hoped that every one of us can return to our pure nature, that we can become the master of our own lives, choose for ourselves, and be able to realize the truths of all things, to be one with the universe. It is not that He instituted some kind of iron-fisted system. He helped us develop a deep understanding so that we would be self-motivated and realize things for ourselves.
We sentient beings have ignorance because of one mistaken thought that arose. This caused us to transmigrate in the Six Realms. Once we fell into the unenlightened realms, we were unable [escape] because we unceasingly replicate our afflictions. Since we have had the chance to learn that we should try to leave this turbulent world of temptations, once we are Buddhist disciples, we must uphold the Buddha’s precepts to pass on this Dharma-lineage, thus we are called the Buddha’s children.
So, we regard precepts as our teacher. We must follow the Dharma to develop our Dharmakaya. So, we must earnestly make an effort to take care of our wisdom-life.
Then, we “will certainly become Buddhas.” We learn the Buddha’s Way to become a Buddha; one becomes an apprentice in the hope of becoming the master some day. The principle is the same. We “accept the Buddha’s precepts” and “are called Buddha-children and will certainly become Buddhas.” This is our goal.
Each one of us must make this vow to return to our pure nature of True Suchness and form many good karmic connections so we can return to the human realm to transform sentient beings.
Thus, “Those who rely on the Buddha’s noble teachings are all called Bodhisattvas”.Though He used all kinds of skillful means to guide us, in the end, at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, it was time to let everyone know that what He taught in the past were skillful means; only now was He teaching the True Dharma.
The True Dharma is going among people and walking the Bodhisattva-path.Being among people without becoming contaminated is true mastery.This is the way to truly discover our pure nature of True Suchness.
We all intrinsically have this nature of True Suchness; this is our wisdom-life.However, our wisdom-life, this pure nature, has already been covered by ignorance.At this assembly, the Buddha was trying to help us understand that for our wisdom-life to continue, we must continue on the Bodhisattva-path so we can connect with our nature of True Suchness.
The myriad sentient beings are filled with afflictions, and Bodhisattvas can reliever [their suffering] without being contaminated by their afflictions.This is true wisdom-life.
Next we discuss “those who carry on the seeds of Buddhahood and prevent them from being eradicated”.I always talk about recruiting Living Bodhisattvas.We must make an effort to be mindful and transform both ourselves and other people.
We want to give everyone a chance to encounter the Dharma and develop their roots of goodness.Then the seeds of Buddhahood will be “prevented from being eradicated”.When we help people enter the Bodhi-path, these seeds will be able to sprout, grow into seedlings and extend their roots.We must earnestly become close with people to provide them with these karmic conditions so their seeds will not be cut off.This is how “Sincerity makes [us] children of the Tathagata.”
We do this with utmost sincerity.Engaging in spiritual practice is what we ourselves have aspired to, what we have chosen to do, so we must do it with sincerity.We must have “sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness” as we interact with people and matters.Living among people, we make the Four Great Vows to deliver all sentient beings.To do this, we must have sincerity.
“Sincerity makes [us] children of the Tathagata.”
With “sincerity” and “compassion,” we can form good connections with sentient beings and go among the people with genuine sincerity.Thus, “[We] carry not eh seeds of Buddhahood and prevent them from being eradicated. Sincerity makes [us] children of the Tathagata.”
I hope we all exercise this utmost sincerity.We are inheritors of the Buddha’s wisdom-life.
Though we are more than 2000 years removed from Him in time and space, this connection cannot be severed; we will never be cut off.
But we must have the resolve to open up this [Dharma-lineage] and apply it as we interact with people to save the macrocosm and microcosm.
As Buddhist practitioners, we must make use of this connection between us and the Buddha, this Dharma-lineage.Thus, we are very close to Him; He is not far removed from us.
All of us are Buddha-children because we observe the Buddha’s teachings and have accepted this Dharma-lineage in order to develop our wisdom-life.So, I hope all of us can have this resolve to carry on the Buddha’s teachings and teach and transform sentient beings.
The previous passage in the Lotus Sutra states, “Again, Sariputra, if you see those who let go of harmful friends and draw near virtuous friends, for people like this, you can teach this sutra.”
Whether we are explaining the Lotus Sutra or listening to the Lotus Sutra, we must be very mindful.The Lotus Sutra is the path to Buddhahood.How can we learn the Buddha’s Way such that we can attain Buddhahood?
At first, we did not understand the principles of the Lotus Sutra, so He patiently taught us with the assistance of Bodhisattvas.
Where is the Bodhisattva training ground?
It is among people.Where is it?It is in matters and things.Without experiencing things, our wisdom will not develop.It is among people, matters and things that we find the Bodhisattva training ground.
But for the average spiritual practitioner, full comprehending the principles is in fact very difficult.If we cannot comprehend these subtle and wondrous principles, if we misunderstand or misinterpret them,that will be problematic.
So, earlier the Buddha described how certain kinds of people, with certain kinds of views and perspectives, who behaved in certain ways, would still be unable to accept this sutra so we should not teach them. Now He had begun talking about the people to whom we can teach the sutra. He told Sariputra, for people who can “let go of harmful friends and draw near virtuous friends”, for people like this, we can then teach this sutra; we can teach them the Lotus Sutra, as people are easily led astray by harmful friends. Haven’t we talked about acute and chronic afflictions?
Chronic afflictions are greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. People nowadays have many mental ailments. Some spiritual practitioners think, “I have a high level of education. I understand so many things. The people I interact with mostly cannot compare to me. But the things I’ve done have not been acknowledged by others, praised by them, nor admired by them. With afflictions and ignorance in their minds, people become physically ill. These are the chronic afflictions.
If we say we want to seek teachings, there are so many religious teachings. If we enter the wrong door, our beliefs will be [incorrect]. Perhaps we may deviate in our views and perspectives. As we engage in spiritual practice, we may easily deviate. These are the five actue afflictions and the five chronic afflictions, which are constantly leading us astray as we engage in spiritual practice. Thus they are like “harmful friends”.
“Harmful friends” sometimes arise from our minds and sometimes from our surroundings. Therefore, we must be mindful so we can distance ourselves from “harmful friends”.
The previous sutra passage tells us that “those who let go of harmful friends” must “draw near virtuous friends”. We need to spend more time with diligent practitioners. Thus we can maintain the purity in our minds and can accept the pure Dharma, the Dharma of sincerity and compassion. With deep sincerity, we find a way to go among the people, and while doing so, we build up our pure and undefiled compassion, that awakened love. We must be very cautious and not be led astray by harmful friends. This was in the previous sections of the sutra.
The following passage states, “If you see Buddha-children who uphold the precepts and purity like clean and radiant pearls and seek the Great Vehicle sutras, for people like this, you can teach this sutra”.
“Precepts” are very important. Precepts guard against wrongs and stop evil. Before we engaged in spiritual practice, we did not know about violating precepts. Not knowing that, we did as we wished. We followed the negative practices of this world, such as bullying the weak. From a young age this is how we lived. After we understood the Buddha-Dharma, we began to take preventative measures to keep ourselves from making mistakes such as killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, lying and drinking alcohol. These precepts are what lay Buddhist practitioners must accept and uphold.
Aside from the Five Precepts, modern-day people overlook certain things and commit certain wrongdoings. In Tzu Chi, we have precepts for these as well. We remind people not to drink alcohol, not to smoke, not to chew betel nuts. Drinking alcohol, smoking and chewing betel nuts are harmful for the body. They also give people a very negative overall impression of us. Not only are these habits harmful to our health, they are damaging to our appearance.
We must also pay attention and adhere to traffic laws. They are there to protect us and keep us safe. Many people today are also lacking in etiquette and moral principles. Thus we must especially remind people to be filial to their parents, to be gentle in their speech. We also remind people to take good care of their hearts and minds so that they will not get stirred up by the turbulent politics in society. So, through upholding the Ten Precepts, I hope everyone can guard against wrongdoings and stop evil. So, upholding precepts preserves our purity, and this gives rise to wisdom. With precepts, our lives will be safer and more peaceful. Moreover, our hearts will remain pure, undefiled by so many afflictions.This will awaken our wisdom. When we take the Dharma to heart, we will manifest it in our actions. So, we must live a life of discipline.
Those who purely uphold the precepts have wisdom and seek only the Great Vehicle sutras. You can teach this sutra to Bodhisattvas like this. “Seek only the Great Vehicle sutras.”
After we understand the Buddha-Dharma, we should try to better understand the Great Vehicle sutras. “The sutras are a path, this path is a road to walk on.” The road we are walking is a bright and broad path. It is the Bodhisattva-path the Buddha opened up for us and taught us to walk. Thus people who are willing to understand this sutra more deeply are Bodhisattvas for whom this sutra can be taught. If people can abide by the precepts and aspire to walk the Bodhisattva-path, we can share this sutra with them.
To what degree must we abide by the precepts? To that of being “like clean and radiant pearls.”
Like clean and radiant pearls: The precepts are like a mani-pearl. Like the rain that moistens the earth, they help the world and benefit all things. With them, we benefit ourselves and other. Upholding precepts is like guarding a pearl. With purity of the Six Roots as the cause, we seek the Great Vehicle Dharma.
Ancient people said you could take a radiant pearl and place it in turbid water, and the water would become clean. The potassium alum used in the past resembled a pearl. After it is placed into the water, by the next morning, the filth in the water would have sunk to the bottom, and the water would be clear. This might be the radiant pearl referred to in the sutras. Perhaps at that time, to have clean drinking water they dropped something like potassium alum into the water to clear it up.
In our world, when there is this kind of problem, there is a way to deal with it. For filthy water, there is potassium alum that can turn-it into clean water so that people can drink it. Where does water come from? Rain. The rain nourishes the land, benefiting the world and everything in it. The Great Vehicle Dharma is like the rain, it can nourish the land, benefiting the world and everything in it, with it we can benefit ourselves and other. We must earnestly make an effort to engage in spiritual practice to benefit ourselves and others.
So, “Upholding precepts is like guarding a pearl; we must uphold precepts as if guarding a pearl.” When our six senses connect with our external conditions, we give rise to many afflictions. If we uphold precepts in our spiritual practice, our external conditions will not trouble our minds at all. Thus, our hearts will naturally remain pure. This is the underlying cause.
We need to have this kind of seed as a cause to seek the Great Vehicle Dharma. Our intrinsic nature is pure, we must guard it well and seek the Great Vehicle sutras.
[They] seek the Great Vehicle sutras: To open the Buddha’s understanding and views and realize and enter the Buddha-mind, compassion and wisdom are the conditions. Within their minds, they earnestly seek, cultivate and uphold teachings. Outwardly, they express towards others an attitude of subtle understanding of the principles. For people like this, you can teach this sutra.
“To open the Buddha’s understanding and views….” The Great Vehicle sutras are to help us develop the same understanding and views as the Buddha, so we “open the Buddha’s understanding and views and realize and enter the Buddha-mind.” With the Buddha’s understanding and views, we can realize the Buddha’s mind. “Compassion and wisdom [are] the conditions.”
When we see suffering, we cannot bear it. This sets our pure hearts in motion so that we dedicate ourselves to helping suffering beings. So, “Compassion and wisdom [are] the conditions.” Without these suffering sentient beings, we would be unable to complete the great Bodhi-path.
“Within their minds, they earnestly seek, cultivate and uphold teachings.” Inwardly, we earnestly seek the Great Dharma. Outwardly, we express toward others an attitude of subtle understanding of the principles. With a true understanding of the principles, we will be able to help others. This depends on our compassion and wisdom and how we go among people to give to them.
When we walk the Bodhisattva-path, we must put it into practice and. Continuing this wisdom life is part of our fundamental responsibility. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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