Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Helping Sentient Beings and Purifying Buddha-lands (成就眾生淨佛國土)
Date: January.07. 2016
“Entering the Dharma-nature together is playing freely within spiritual powers. What Bodhisattvas practice and uphold is purifying Buddha-lands. Upon attaining Buddhahood, we will have a reward-land to make use of. Bringing sentient beings to fruition is a way of dignifying ourselves.”
As Buddhist practitioners, we must have objectives. In addition to seeking the Buddha-Dharma, we seek to bring ourselves to fruition.
In life, ignorance and afflictions cover us, and there is much we do not know. Because we do not know why things are this way, we are even less able to understand why, in our daily living, so many things do not go the way we want. Eight or nine out of ten things do not go our way. Indeed, many times our intention to pursue things does not yield the result we want. Isn’t this very hard on us?
Buddhist sutras speak of “the suffering of not getting what we want.” Unfortunately, we humans want to pursue things, and this pursuit is very hard on us. In particular, throughout this process of “birth, aging, illness and death,” each person has their own set of afflictions. How can we let go of these afflictions and make the most of our relationships, this time and this space?
Subhuti, Katyayana, Mahakasyapa and Maudgalyayana, these four elders among the Buddha’s disciples, repented and confessed what was in the depths of their hearts. Though they themselves had listened to the Dharma, they still had a long way to go before they could “enter the Dharma-nature together.” So, when it came to the Great Vehicle Dharma and “playing freely within spiritual powers in the world,” they had no interest at all.
Since they believed before that the world was impermanent, suffering, empty and without self, so why would they go into the world to contrive more karmic affinities? This being their point of view, they had no interest in “playing freely in the world”; they found “entering the Dharma-nature together” to be very difficult.
We should understand that “playing freely within spiritual powers” is in fact true liberation. To give without expectations, we must practice the Three Spheres of Emptiness. Isn’t that right? We see this from many Tzu Chi volunteers; even when they join international relief efforts, they must cover their own expenses. They may have to take a very long journey and travel by land, sea and air. No matter how high up into the mountains or how difficult it is for vehicles to get through, though the journey may be very difficult, they will complete their mission of giving to and comforting suffering sentient beings. Having completed this task, they return home happy and at ease.
[I say,] “You all must be so tired!” [They say,] “Not at all! We are grateful that Master has given us this opportunity.” See, there are many such Bodhisattvas in the world. They give to others no matter how tiring it is and then return home filled with Dharma-joy. They have entered the Dharma-nature, “taking the Buddha-mind as their own and taking their teacher’s mission as their own.” Though making the round-trip journey is tiring, because they make it willingly, they feel as if they are playing.
So, “What Bodhisattvas practice and uphold is purifying Buddha-lands.” What Bodhisattvas practice and uphold, their goal; everything they cultivate and create, is for the sake of “purifying Buddha-lands.”
We learn the Buddha's Way to attain Buddhahood. To attain Buddhahood, we must first create positive affinites.
Every single Buddha and Bodhisattva has spent countless kalpas, lifetime after lifetime, in the Six Realms. Wherever there are sentient beings, there will be Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
I saw a [story about ] a dog in Taiwan. A perasn had bought some fish and left them on the ground. They were still alive and struggling wildly. This dog quickly found some water close by that had accumulated in a depression. Then the dog used his snout to splash water from the puddle onto the bodies of the fish. He even held his snout against the fish's mouth as if checking to see if the fish was breathing. He continued splashing water, even though the shallowness of the depression meant his snout was damaged by its impact against the ground. Yet he kept splashing water to keep the fish alive.
All sentient beings have Buddha-nature! On Facebook, there was a vaterinarian who said, "This dog is a very spiritual being! He may be the Buddha reborn." When I heard this, I was really moved. You see, the Six Realms are the realms of sentient beings and dogs are sentient beings in the Six Realms. By acting in the way that he did, with such compassion, you can see how he is forming affinities with sentient beings on his way to attaining Buddhahood.
To have "a reward-land to make use of," we must now form affinities with sentient beings. No matter the realm and the kind of being, we must help them. Even that dog could touch so many people. So, as we learn the Buddha's Way, we hope that one day we will [attain Buddhahood]; not knowing how much longer it will take, [we hope] one day we too can attain Buddhahood. If in this life we form many positive affinities, in a future life, in the reward-land we have, we will be well-liked by everyone. Every word that we speak, people will believe. Everything that we do, people will affirm. This is "having a reward-land to make use of".
We all have both circumstantial and direct retributions. But as for how our lives turn out in the future, that depends entirely upon us. Will we face good or evil? If we have formed positive affinities, everything will be very joyful. If we have formed negative affinities with people we must willingly repay our debts to get a discount. This is how life works. The environment we experience now as retribution is "a reward-land [we have] to make use of". Helping to bring all sentient eings to fruition "is they way to dignify ourselves.
Wisdom comes from experience"; when we go among people and learn what they suffer from, what their needs are we will know how to serve others. "Oh, so this is the method we can use to help sentient beings who suffer in that way." When people have been helped, we feel happy. This strengthens our knowledge and wisdom of walking the Bodhisattva-path.
So, on one hand we are "bringing sentient beings to fruition"; on the surface we seem to be helping people, but in fact we are learning the Buddha's Way. This is actualizing the Bodhisattva-path. Doing this "is the way to dignify ourselves".
In the previous sutra passage it states, "[As for] purifying Buddha-lands and bringing sentient beings to fruition, we took no joy in these". Those four elders said they "took no joy in these". They were unwilling, they did not want to. Why was this? After listening to the Dharma for so long, they were feeling tired, and they were quite old as well.
It was for these reasons that when it come to "freely playing within spirital powers, purifying Budda-lands and bringing sentient beings to fruition, they were unwilling and uninterested. " "Why was this so? " " Why was this the case? The following passage states, "Why was this so? The World-Honored One had helped us to transcend the Three Realms and attain realization of Nirvana."
Didn't the Buddha tell; them this at the beinging? He wanted to help them escape the Three Realms and attain Nirvana and the fruits of realization. When they heard this, they put [the Dharma] into practice. From the time they were young until now, they worked to escaped the Three Realms and move in the direction of realizing Nirvana. This is what "Subhuti and the others" expressed. Now let us explain "bringing sentient beings to fruition"
Bringing sentient beings to fruition: The Buddha transformed and delivered sentient beings through the Dharma. He enabled those who had not yet planed roots of goodness to plant them, those whose roots were not mature to mature and those whose roots were mature to be liberated.
The Buddha hopped to first help everyone plant roots of goodness, to help them understand they must “refrain from all evil and do all that is good”. The world is filled with suffering; people have accumulated much negative karma, so they have experienced much suffering.
The Buddha told everyone not to commit evil; ever since the beginning, in the Agama period, the Buddha constantly told us this “[He enabled] sentient beings whose roots were not mature to mature”. For those who have planted roots of goodness, it is not enough simply to sow a seed; we must continue to work hard. We must take good care of the soil, make sure it gets adequate water, sunlight and fresh air. Then the seed will sprout and grow into a tree. We must help it mature, then, “Those whose roots are mature can be liberated”. We first help everyone plant roots of goodness and take the Dharma deeply to heart. After they take the Dharma deeply to heart, they will attain liberation.
These four elders had not yet developed a very deep understanding; in fact, “Anywhere sentient beings are “is a pure land were Bodhisattvas practice”. Actually, any place with sentient beings is a place for spiritual practice. This is not only about humans; even the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms need Bodhisattvas to relieve the suffering of sentient beings. This was the Buddha’s goal.
However, Small Vehicle practitioners did not recognize this.
They did not realize that the Buddha taught them that every place where there are sentient beings is a place that Bodhisattvas must go to for spiritual practice; each is a pure land. So “Ever since [Bodhisattvas’] aspiration when they made the great vows, they have walked the Bodhisattva-path without retreating. Through the sentient beings they transform, they can attain a pure-land”.
When Bodhisattvas save and transform sentient beings, they do not just form affinities with them in this life; they follow those sentient beings wherever they go. Before the Buddha had attained Buddhahood, He aspired and vowed to do this. Walking the Bodhisattva-path is always like this; these are the pure lands of Bodhisattvas, where they play freely within spiritual powers.
“For the sake of dignifying Buddha-lands, Bodhisattvas return repeatedly to teach and transform sentient beings. As sentient beings are taught and transformed, they are brought to fruition in body and mind; this is their pure and positive karma”. If sentient beings constantly receive these teachings over a long period of time, naturally they will accumulate much good karma. So, “In the future, they will certainly be born with both circumstantial and direct retributions of being in a pure Buddha-land”.
Everyone is clear on “circumstantial and direct retributions”. We will follow the blessings that we created to go to these places. Because of our direct retributions, we have been able to come together with sentient beings who have purified their minds and have cultivated good karma. This is a pure Buddha-land.
“Both the helper and the helped attain purity. Those who mobilize their own strength are helpers. The receptive and affected ones are the helped. The helpers are those who transform others; they are Bodhisattvas. The helped are those transformed; they are sentient beings. Thus teaching and transforming all beings is called “bringing sentient beings to fruition”.
“Both the helpers and the helped attain purity”. As for the “helpers” and the “helped”, the “helpers” are those who can save others, and the “helped” are sentient beings who are saved. Bodhisattvas are the ones who save, and sentient beings are those who are saved. Thus, “The helpers and the helped [both] attain purity”.
The helpers, the Bodhisattvas, are pure, and the sentient beings who are saved are pure too. “Those who mobilize their own strength are helpers”. People who are self-motivated, Bodhisattvas who save people, are “helpers”.
The ones who transform are Bodhisattvas; the ones who are transformed are sentient beings. This is why [Bodhisattvas] are teaching and transforming sentient beings and “bringing sentient beings to fruition”. But “Subhuti and the others took no joy in these”. Though the Buddha encouraged them to do this, they thought, “He is only encouraging Bodhisattvas. He is not talking about us”. Only now did they realize this. Subhuti expressed this on everyone’s behalf. His tone was very repentant.
In the past, they “took no joy in these”. They had no interest in this. They only wanted to eliminate cyclic existence and afflictions; they had no interest in transforming sentient beings.
Why did they “take no joy in these?” Subhuti said, “As the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle over time, we became used to hearing it. They constantly listened. “So as they sat there, instead they became tired and lax.”
After listening so long they had become used to it. So, no happiness or jubilance arose within them, nor willingness to accept it or to give to others. We say we must “sustain our initial aspiration.”To always be happy and jubilant when listening to the Dharma and then to act on it is truly difficult.
So, we often say, “Lay Bodhisattva-practitioners are very wise.” Because lay Bodhisattvas spend time in society, they see and come in contact with many people. Thus, whenever they listen to the Dharma, they gain many realizations. This is why they are so willing to accept [teachings] and happily give to others. If people live uneventful lives, peaceful, quietly and without over suffering, it is hard to give rise to that kind of aspiration.
So, “They remained stick there in their realizations.” They stopped in that state where, “I have already eliminated my afflictions, and my days pass uneventfully. This is good enough. This is because I understand ‘emptiness’, that all things are empty.”
But they were unaware that they had attachments; they clung to their bias toward emptiness. So, they had not realized the ultimate state of “emptiness.” They now knew that, “In their bias towards emptiness, they took no joy or interest in all the work of the Great Vehicle. ”
This was what Subhuti repented. He expressed this to explain what was in their minds.
Because the World-Honored One helped me, Subhuti, and the other practitioners of the Two Vehicles to practice. According to the World-Honored One’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths and other Dharma, we ended accumulation, extinguished suffering and escaped the Three Realms.
In the past, the World-Honored One taught them to escape the Three Realms and attain Nirvana. This was what He taught, so we relied on the World-Honored One’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths and others Dharma. The past Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna teachings all used these kinds of methods to end suffering, to bring the causes of suffering to cessation, to be able to escape the Three Realms.
Upon observing this Bodhisattva Way, we saw all things as empty. We thought that we had achieved realization of Nirvana and that we were no different from the Buddha. We had no endurance to do anything else.
Upon observing the Bodhisattva Way, we saw all things as empty. Because they felt that going into the world and transforming others was something that was empty, they rejected the teachings. “We thought we achieved realization of Nirvana” and “were no different from the Buddha. They thought the Buddha’s spiritual practice ultimately ends with Him entering Nirvana. However, what they did not know was that the Buddha’s attainment of great Nirvana is something all beings can achieve equally.
When he gives to sentient beings, He expects nothing in return. He has been doing this for a long time, but it is as if no time had passed. This is why we constantly say, “Seize the present moment and sustain it forever.” This “present moment” that we seize may be quite short, but we can sustain it forever so as to reach Nirvana together with sentient beings of the Six Realms.
He hopes that all sentient beings can understand the truth of all principles in the world, which are without shape or substance.
For a vast number of kalpas, an incalculable period of time, the Buddha repeatedly returned to the Six Realms, constantly coming and going to save and deliver sentient beings and bring all beings to the same state of Nirvana.
Dear Bodhisattvas, as Buddhist practitioners we must exercise great patience and have the mindset of great Nirvana to mindfully “enter the Dharma-nature together.” To truly “purify Buddha-lands” we must “bring sentient beings to fruition.” In so doing, we dignify ourselves with the Dharma and are dignifying Buddha-lands. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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