Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Advancing from the Small Fruit of the Past (昔住小果今復進求)
Date: December.31. 2015
“Continually abiding peacefully in the fruit of the Small Vehicle, they had not yet aspired to attain Buddhahood. But now hearing His skillful means of analogies, they had awakened to the Buddha-mind and opened up the Buddha’s understanding and views. Now they had faith that they themselves could attain Buddhahood, so in them arose great joy and a mind of faith and understanding.”
Gradually, during the Lotus Dharma-assembly, the Buddha’s disciples who were Hearers slowly bean to attain this realization. As they reflected on themselves, they realized that in the past they had been abiding peacefully in the fruit of the Small Vehicle and only seeking to awaken themselves. They felt they had attained the Buddha-Dharma; they had followed the Buddha and listening to His teachings.
As the Buddha said, “There is delusion and suffering in life because of afflictions and ignorance. Only by eliminating our afflictions can we return to our intrinsic Tathagata-nature.” Having heard this, everyone was happy. While engaging in this kind of spiritual practice, “They had not yet aspired to attain Buddhahood.” They just abided peacefully in that state. So, when it says, “now”, it refers to when the Buddha began expounding the Lotus teachings. Thus, it says, “Now [they were] hearing His skillful means of analogies.”
Sariputra, at the time of the Lotus [Dharma-assembly], heard the Buddha praise all Buddhas’ extremely profound and infinite wisdom, and he was inspired to deepen his understanding and go to the next level. Because he listened mindfully, he asked the Buddha three times to expound on this. He requested that the Buddha fully open up the depths of His profound Buddha-wisdom.
Yet in the Chapter on Parables, we saw several times how, though the Buddha continuously praised and encouraged everyone to set aside the sheep-cart and deer-cart in favor of the great white ox-cart, He also told them many times that even though this Dharma is the True Dharma of the One Vehicle, they should only teach it to the [right] people. Several times He said that this sutra could not be shared with certain kinds of people because their causes and conditions were not right and had not matured yet.
Clearly the Buddha [had waited] more than 40 years until this time [to express] His original intent and help everyone be very clear that, to understand the extremely profound, supreme and infinite Buddha-wisdom, to return to the wondrous Dharma, they must all be very firm in their faith. [Developing] this firm faith was not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of all sentient beings. Only with this strong determination could they realize the extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma.
So, “They had awakened to the Buddha-mind and opened up the Buddha’s understanding and views.” We must learn to understand the Buddha’s true mind, His original intent. He came to the world for one great cause; what was this goal?
As I mentioned many times yesterday, that era more than 2000 years ago was so simple and pure, so why did the Buddha give such complicated teachings? Why did He teach with so many analogies? It was for the sake of what He saw as the future, which is the era we currently live in and the eras that will come after us, which are even more frightening and filled with evils and turbidities.
The laws of nature and the karmic forces we create through the ignorance in our minds are what He wanted us to clearly understand; this was what the Buddha wanted to teach us. In the Lotus Sutra, [we learn that] people who followed the Buddha and abided peacefully in the fruit of the Small Vehicle, the stage of Hearers, had begun to awaken to the Buddha-mind, to realize the Buddha’s intent and open up the Buddha’s understanding and views.
“Now, they had faith that they themselves could attain Buddahhood.”Now they had begun to believe that the Buddha was not so far-removed from them and that everyone could attain Buddhahood.Thus, they gave rise to great joy, and their faith and understanding had manifested.
Now, they were very happy and wanted to advance to practice the Great Vehicle Dharma.
They were inspired to form great aspirations, which means joy, faith and understanding and all arisen in their minds.
Thus, they rose from their seats, straightened their clothing, bared their right shoulders and touched their right knees to the ground.
They wholeheartedly put their palms together and bowed out of respect.They gazed reverently upwards and spoke to the Buddha.
The previous sutra passage states that four of the leaders of the Sangha,Subhuti and the others, rose from their seats.Their hearts had already been inspired to have faith in the wondrous Dharma that the Buddha would further teach.
They began to joyfully accept those teachings.
Therefore, they “straightened their clothing”.
By standing up and straightening their clothing, they showed their respect [to the Buddha].
“Baring their right shoulders” demonstrated their great sincerity and admiration.With their physical actions, they expressed their utmost genuine respect.They did that by “baring their right shoulders and touching their right knees to the ground”.By putting their palms together, they expressed their wholehearted sincerity.
With body, speech and mind united, they expressed their reverence.“They bowed out of respect.”They manifested the appearance of respect, especially by kneeling in front of the Buddha and gazing reverently upwards; that kind of gaze expressed their eager hope that the Buddha could understand what was in their minds.They demonstrated utmost sincerity and respect, hoping the Buddha could see into their minds.Thus, they “gazed reverently upwards”.
The following sutra passage states, “We have been the heads of the Sangha and are already old and decrepit. We said we had attained Nirvana, that there was nothing more to endure, thus we no longer sought to advance to
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”
With these words, they began to express their true feelings.These four elders shared the same thought, “We have been the heads of the Sangha and are already old and decrepit.”
Subhuti and the others were the leaders of the Sangha.They rose from their seats at the same time, all having the same thought, “We have been the heads of the Sangha and consider ourselves to be old and decrepit.”
Soon after the Buddha attained enlightenment, these elders had come in succession to follow the Buddha [as disciples].Thus, they had been with Him from youth into middle age and now old age.
Because the Buddha had taught them the Dharma for more than 40 years, not only were they experienced in terms of listening to the Buddha-Dharma and spreading the Dharma on His behalf, within this monastic community they were “the heads of the Sangha”; they were the leaders.
Subhuti and these others were the leaders of the Sangha.But these people were “already old and decrepit”.They were already very advanced in age; therefore, they “considered themselves to be old and decrepit”.By now, everyone here should know that we must have a sense of mission.
These of us who have greater depth of experience should engage in self-reflection and examine ourselves.We need to pass on the teachings; since we are in our old age, we must be mindful, for, aside from leading people, we must also seize the moment to teach them.
Because we are already advanced in years, we have the seniority to lead others; but most importantly, we must teach them.
[Our mindset] is not that, I have seniority, so I can tell you what to do. You are following my lead, so you must listen to what I say.Instead, it should be, “I am taking responsibility.As I am leading you, I should teach you”. This is the aspiration we should form.
When it comes to time, we must always think, “Time is running out”. We should all be able to realize this, so we should seize every moment to teach according to conditions. This is what we must be mindful of.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, these elders “said [they] had attained Nirvana, that there was nothing more to endure”.
“They thought that they were equal to Sariputra in having achieved the two virtues, the virtues of wisdom and ending [afflictions]. Therefore, why was Sariputra first to receive a prediction of Buddhahood, and why did Subhuti and the others awaken after him?”
They felt, “I have already attained the fruits [of Arhatship] through spiritual practice. I have no wish to contrive further affinities.” They only practiced for their own sakes; “The things that go on in the rest of the world have nothing to do with me”. Thus, it says that they thought they were equal to Sariputra. Up until the Lotus Dharma-assembly, they all felt, “Sariputra is just like me. Even though he is called ‘foremost in wisdom’. In fact, I am in the same state as Sariputra”.
So, “They thought that they were equal to Sariputra in having achieved the two virtues of wisdom and of ending [afflictions]”.
Sariputra had the “virtue of wisdom” and the “virtue of ending”. The virtue of wisdom is being able to illuminate all phenomena, while the virtue of ending. Sariputra had eliminated all afflictions and could illuminate all phenomena, and they did too! They were all leaders, so why did Sariputra receive the prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha first? Subhuti and the others, the four of them, “awakened after Sariputra”. They attained realizations after him.
Sariputra, during the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, understood those teachings, but he still felt he was missing something. What the Buddha taught was more than “All things are empty”. Within “All things are empty”, there should be more wondrously profound truths. Sariputra began to have these thoughts. Thus, he formed doubts and regrets ahead of the others. While everyone was still peacefully abiding in the fruit of Small Vehicle realizations, while their minds abided in that state, Sariputra, at the beginning of the Lotus assembly, had major doubts and became increasingly frustrated with himself. “Clearly, the Buddha’s teachings encompass extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma, so why can’t I realize this?” So, Sariputra was the first to begin to awaken.
“In the Chapter on Skillful Means, Sariputra, regularly filled with self-doubt and self-reproach, was unwilling to linger on the small path. Upon hearing that the wisdom of all Buddhas was infinitely profound and that Hearers could become Buddhas, he was able to faithfully accept this”.
In the Chapter on Skillful Means and the Chapter on Parables, we saw that Sariputra’s mind had begun to differ from those who abided in the fruit of the Small Vehicle. He reflected on why he had stopped at the state of the Small Vehicle. So, he became “unwilling to remain at the fruit of the Small Vehicle. I should be able to attain Buddhahood. I do not want to forever remain in the fruit of Small Vehicle realizations, practicing the Small Vehicle Dharma. I should also be able to benefit all sentient beings in the world.”
So, “Upon hearing that the wisdom of all Buddhas was infinitely profound and that Hearers could become Buddhas, he could faithfully accept this”. Sariputra began to have these thoughts, and thus he, among all the others, was able to attain the Buddha’s prediction of Buddhahood first. He believed, faithfully accepted and came to understand that everyone is able to attain Buddhahood.
Then, “The four great bhiksus declared…”. They knelt in front of the Buddha and spoke to Him frankly, saying, “We are nearly the same as Sariputra. Why has Sariputra already received a prediction of Buddhahood? We also recognize that we have grown old. We understand that we have become old and decrepit. What are we really able to do now? What can we still do?”
This shows that the four great bhiksus had come to accept this. And now that they could understand it, “They were happy with its meaning”.
When it came to the Lotus Sutra, the path to attaining Buddhahood, they had now accepted it and had begun to form aspirations.
“Since they were the heads of the Sangha, quite advanced in years and had already realized the fruits of Arhatship, they said that they had attained the same Nirvana as the Buddha, and so they had stopped there. They clung to the Small Vehicle as sufficient and had no aspirations to advance and seek wondrous enlightenment.”
They mistakenly believed they were like the Buddha and also attained Nirvana. Nirvana means cessation, to have extinguished everything; thus they would no longer transmigrate through birth and death. They though, “This is what the Buddha did, and we have done it too.” However, the Buddha had entered Parinivana and eliminate His affinities so that He transcended cyclic in the Six Realms. Thus He was no longer led by karmic forces. Yet, He returned to the world with His vows. They did not yet understand that the Buddha returned to this world with His vows; He was not led here by His karmic forces.
Though He had passed into extinction, entered Parinirvana, transcended the Six Realms, He could not bear for sentient beings to keep transmigrating in the Six Realms. So, they thought, “I am the same as the Buddha and have eradicated my afflictions. Having completely eliminated them, I have already achieved the state of Nirvana,” Therefore, “They had stopped there.” They simply stopped.
Where did they stop? They stopped at “clinging to the Small Vehicle as sufficient.” They had eliminated the afflictions of cyclic existence and ended their transmigration in the Six Realms. They were satisfied with this. Thus, “[They] had no aspirations to advance and seek wondrous enlightenment.” They were unwilling to advance further.
The Buddha had reached the state of wondrous enlightenment. “Wondrous enlightenment” means that the Buddha had even transcended transmigration in the Six Realms. Not only did He transcend He had even transcended “the transcendence of transmigration in the Six Realms.” This is because only one with wondrous enlightenment has truly attained Buddhahood.
These four people had realized the fruits of Arhatship early on, only a few years after Buddha’s enlightenment. At that time, the Buddha had already alluded to the realization of Nirvana. But they neither perceived nor realized it, for they were satisfied that what they had was the ultimate.
These four people had realized the fruits of Arhatship.” In fact, this happened early on they had already realized the fruits of Arhatship very early on, just a few years after the Buddha’s
enlightenment, beginning from the Agama teachings. The Agama period was when He taught the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence and so on. Then, during the Vaipulya period, these teachings on “existence” turned into teachings on “emptiness” because after the Vaipulya period. He entered the Prajna period, when He taught the Dharma about emptiness, about true emptiness. Within the Prajna teachings, He meticulously delved into emptiness and analyzed it very clearly.
Over all these decades, aside from the Avatamsaka Sutra, in the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna sutras, as the Buddha gave all these teachings, He hinted that the Dharma of the One Reality for attaining Great Nirvana was contained in them.
However, people had not perceived it. They still did not understand and had not attained realizations, so they remained at the fruit of the Small Vehicle.
Thus, they were unable to be awakened “that what they had was the ultimate.” They thought this was the ultimate. Therefore, as we discussed earlier, the four of them said at the start, “We said we had attained Nirvana.” They lamented their advanced age. They thought they had already entered Nirvana, which means they had eliminated all afflictions and transcended transmigration in the Six Realms. They thought this was the fruit of realization; they were satisfied with it. But, after saw that Sariputra could attain Buddhahood, they realized there was a state called “wondrous emlightenment” that they could still enter. Thus they began to form aspirations. Everyone, this is how the Dharma works.
I hope you can listen to the Dharma earnestly. In our daily living, the Dharma is by our side because our nature of True Suchness is inside us. So, we must seek the Dharma with genuine sincerity. After listening to it, we must actually put it into practice and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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