Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Blessings and Virtues of the Five Paramitas (五度福德財寶無量)
Date: January.20. 2016
“In the past during the Prajna period, the Bodhisattva Way was taught. So how can it be true that it was not bestowed upon all until today? For more than 40 years, people had not taken the Dharma to heart. Though unsought, it had now been attained, so they rejoiced happily.”
As we all know, both teaching and Dharma and listening to it are very hard work. There are many people of varying capabilities, so one has to teach according to their capacities.
Moreover, those who are listening to the Dharma come at different times. Those who come earlier hear the same teachings repeatedly, while those who came later do not hear what was taught earlier.
So, in teaching the Dharma, firstly, the Buddha had to teach according to capabilities. Secondly, He had to make sure that everyone heard the same teachings and that all could understand the Dharma. He had to make sure they could listen now and know the teachings that were given in the past too.
There were five periods to the Buddha’s teachings. During the Five Periods, He did not just teach the Agama sutras for 12 years and then stop. In fact, look at how He began with the Four Noble Truths and then continued teaching them until He entered Parinirvana. Even in His bequeathed teachings He called on everyone to pay attention to the Four Noble Truths. It is evident that in Buddha’s teachings, in all the sutras that were taught, at any given time, He was always teaching both the Great and Small Vehicles.
He observed their capabilities, and depending on their capabilities, He then decided what kind of Dharma to teach. So, from the beginning until the end, this was how the Buddha taught.
Thus, we said, “In the past during the Prajna period.” [One period of teaching] was the Prajna period. Before the Prajna was the Vaipulya. Before the Vaipulya was the Agama. So, the Agama, Vaipulya and Prajna teachings were the teachings that the Buddha gave to His disciples every day throughout His life.
Whether they were monastics or lay disciples, the Buddha went over the teachings repeatedly. After giving the teachings once, He repeated them. He unceasingly taught these principles.
Did the Buddha actually wait until this assembly to teach the True Dharma of the One Vehicle for attaining Buddhahood? Not at all. Teaching the True Dharma of the One Vehicle was the Buddha’s original intent. He taught it right from the beginning; we were the ones who did not understand it. When the Buddha began teaching, with the first turning of the Dharma-wheel, He had already completely taught the workings of the world.
“How can it be true that it was not bestowed upon all until today?” The Buddha did not wait until this assembly to reveal the entirety of the Dharma. Actually, from the moment He attained Buddhahood right up until the moment He gave the Lotus Sutra. He had been [giving the same teaching]. It was just that we sentient beings were deluded, unable to thoroughly realize His original intent.
So, it says, “For more than 40 years, people had not taken the Dharma to heart.” They just listened, learned and understood. “Did you take it to heart? We are taking it slow.” How long did they have to take it slow? This dragged on for more than 40 years. Subhuti and the others were quite old. They had previously expressed that, having listened to the teachings for so long, they had become tired of listening to them. This was how Subhuti and other leaders of the Sangha expressed what was in their hearts.
Even after more than 40 years, they had not taken the Dharma to heart.They remained biased towards emptiness and did not want to, “having eliminated afflictions, further go among the people to deliver them.”They had no interest in this, so they did not seek to learn it.
But now, they understood [that this was essential].
So, here, they manifested this appearance of repenting to the Buddha for not earnestly listening to the Dharma.
How can it be possible that they were not earnest?
They had all already awakened; how could they possibly not have been earnest?This was their way of teaching future generations.
Subhuti meant to awaken the minds of future spiritual practitioners.He hoped everyone would seize the present, cherish the Dharma and take the Great Vehicle Dharma to heart.Beyond taking the Dharma to heart, we must apply it in our interactions.This was the mindfulness of Subhuti and the others.
So, “Though unsought, it had been attained.”This expressed the joy they felt.
“Now, we have formed great aspirations. We have already taken the Dharma to heart and have begun to make [great] vows. Sariputra already received the prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha. It will soon be our turn to receive this prediction.”
In the past, they did not dare dream of this.Now, they were about to receive this prediction, so they were very joyful.
The previous sutra passage states, “As he grew older in years, he suffered increasing poverty and hardship. He proved in all directions, seeking food and clothing, until eventually in his wanderings he found himself back in his homeland. His father had first come here, searching for but never finding his son.”
When I mention this passage, do you still remember what I said?He suffered “poverty and hardship” for already “10 or 20, or even 50 years”.Having transmigrated between the heaven and human realms and the rest of the Five Destinies, sentient beings allowed the Dharma to leak away and have created much karma in this world.This is what happens in the Five Destinies, and it is signified by “poverty and hardship”.
“Until eventually in his wanderings” means that after this man fell on hard times, in his wanderings, he gradually “found himself back in his homeland”.This means that after encountering the Dharma and understanding it, we begin heading toward and drawing closer to our nature of True Suchness.
As the man drew near [his homeland], “His after had first come here, searching for but never finding his son.”This is another description.
The father arrived first, but where?To the Three Realms.After the Buddha attained enlightenment, He taught constantly; in the Three Realms, He continued teaching to deliver sentient beings.However, only a few could accept the Dharma; people who could truly realize the Buddha-mind were very rare.Thus this is “searching for but never finding his son”.
The next sutra passage states, “He had taken up residence in a certain city, and his household was very wealthy. His riches were immeasurable, with gold, silver, crystal, coral, amber, glass, pearls and the like all stored in his warehouses and vaults, which were filled to overflowing. Taking up residence in a certain city.” Is speaking of [the principles]; it is explaining the principles.
It is an analogy for the Buddha “abiding in the Dharma-city of the Great Vehicle’s equality, where only Bodhisattvas live”.
In His compassion, the Buddha treats everyone equally.This is an analogy for that teaching.We intrinsically have a nature of True Suchness.
We all have this spiritual home in our minds; this is an analogy for the Dharma-city.The source of our nature of True Suchness is the Dharma, and it abides in the Dharma-city.
“Where only Bodhisattvas live” mean that everyone who lives in this place, in this Dharma-city, is a Bodhisattva.Only those with great vows and aspirations will be able to realize this and thus abide in this spiritual home.
If we can realize the Buddha-mind, if we can understand, we will be able to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
“The Buddha’s original intent was to teach the Great Vehicle. Thus He abided in the city of the Great Vehicle and sought us there.”
So, from His spiritual home, He taught everyone that in order to enter its doors, they must practice the Bodhisattva-path, which is the Great Vehicle Dharma.
When speaking of matters, [the city] is used to explain them by being an analogy for the one great cause for which the Buddha manifested in the world.
“With Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment, he manifested here in response to the world.”This is referred to with “a certain city”.
He was born in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, and He taught extensively all over India. This was the transformation-body He manifested. The Dharma He taught spread all over the world. This is the analogy of the “city” as far as matters are concerned.
“His household was very wealthy. His riches were immeasurable”. “His household was very wealthy” refers to the reward-land in which His reward-body dwelled. This place, the Saha World, was the place He had vowed to return to He had not been led here by karmic forces; He came because of His vows. Thus the Buddha saw the Saha World as His reward-land. Because the Buddha made a great vow, to bequeath the Dharma to the world and could practice in accord with it, He Himself also returned to the Saha World lifetime after lifetime. He [manifested] a transformation-body here because this is His home; the Saha World is His home. “He is replete with 10,000 virtues”.
Every time He comes to the world, He is replete with the wealth that the world needs. The wealth we speak of is the Dharma, which He teaches in response to worldly phenomena. He enters the world and gives teachings according to worldly phenomena.
Thus, the Saha World is where He manifests, where His great household is, where He makes use of His inexhaustible wisdom in order to transform sentient beings. So, He is replete with 10,000 virtues, exercising both compassion and wisdom. Only with virtue can one transform people, so virtues are compared to “immeasurable wealth”. Thus, it says that He is very wealthy. “His riches” are an analogy for the Buddha’s merit and virtue and the flourishing Dharma that He teaches. ”
The Buddha had already accumulated much merit and virtue. The Dharma that He teaches is wonderful, vibrant; it is flourishing. There is nothing the Buddha cannot comprehend. “The blessings and virtues of the Five Paramitas are referred to as wealth”. What are the wealth of blessings and virtues of the Five Paramitas? These are simply giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence and Samadhi.
The blessings and virtues of the Five Paramitas are referred to as wealth:
1)Giving, giving resources out of loving-kindness. 2)Upholding the Buddha’s precepts. Being vigilant of actions, speech and thoughts.
3)Patience. Being unwavering in the face of all things.
4)Diligence. Persevering in all that is good.
5)Samadhi. Settling the mind in one place.
Because giving teaches us to be compassionate, we will give material possessions. We must also uphold precepts. Only by upholding the precepts can we guard against wrongs and stop evil and thus avoid creating more afflictions and karma.
So, we must be cautious. Upholding precepts is done through the Threefold Karma of our body, speech and mind. So, we must be careful when we speak, be cautious when we do things and take good care of our minds.
Spiritual practice also requires patience. No matter what difficulties we face in interacting with people, matters and things, for the sake of sentient beings and our own spiritual cultivation, to awaken ourselves and others, we must remain patient. Our minds must remain unwavering, no matter what. We must not allow people, matters and things to cause our minds to waver.
Fourth is diligence. To persevere in all that is good. With diligence, we can eradicate all evils. In this way, “We refrain for all evil and do all that is good”. We must persevere in order to attain Samadhi. With Samadhi, our mind is stable; thus we can “abide in one place”. Where do we abide? We abide in a focused mind, in our pure intrinsic nature.
Thus, the Buddha taught us these five practices so that we could benefit everyone. This is what we call “wealth”. As for Prajna-wisdom, which is pure wisdom, this is what we call “treasure”.
The Buddha’s wealth is the blessings and virtues of the Five Paramitas. His treasure is Prajna-wisdom. All these guiding teachings are contained in the Great Vehicle. Thus it is called immeasurable.
We normally speak of the Six Paramitas. Here, “The Five Paramitas are His wealth”, and the last, “wisdom” is His treasure. [Wealth] is what we use in dealing with the world. Wisdom is inherently within us, our pure Buddha-nature, this is our “treasure.”
“All these guiding teachings are contained in the Great Vehicle”. To guide everyone, the Buddha used many methods. Whether the Four Node Truths, the Twelve Links of Cyclic. Existence or the Six Paramitas, all of these guide us to realize the Dharma so we can exercise the power of love to serve others. These all lead to the Great Vehicle, thus it is immeasurable.
There is much that we must do, thus there are many methods we can apply Gold, silver, crystal, coral, amber, glass and pearls are the Seven Treasures. Aren’t there seven of them? These kinds of wealth represent the Seven Noble Treasures. Just two days ago we discussed how, from “faith” we must give rise to “diligence, remorse” and so on.
The Seven Noble Treasures are likened to gold, silver, crystal, coral, amber, glass and pearls. “Glass” is probably crystal. All these are considered treasures by people in this world.
Actually, the Buddha-Dharma uses these things that people have great attachment to turn their [thinking] around, so thoughts of greed turn into thoughts of giving. If we want to give, we must build up our inner wealth. Our inner wealth is the treasure of the Dharma.
So, we must have the treasure of the Dharma; we must have an abundance of the Seven Noble Treasures. This is a kind of analogy using what worldly people love most, what we spiritual practitioners love most are the Seven Noble Treasures, the Six Paramitas or the Five Paramitas, these are our wealth and treasures.
“All [was] stored in his warehouses and vaults, which were filled to overflowing.” A “warehouse” is a place of storage. This means he has “conditioned merits and virtues that can nurture wisdom-life”.
It is like the filed in our minds. We must quickly and earnestly cultivate the field in our minds, so we must sow seeds. If we cultivate the field but do not sow seeds, that piece of land will remain empty. So, engaging in spiritual practice is not enough; we must also benefit others in the world. This creates “conditioned merits and virtues”. These “conditioned merits and virtues” help us nurture our wisdom-life.
As for “vaults,” they refer to “unconditioned merits and virtues that bring peace to the Dharma-body.”
“Unconditioned merits and virtues” means we must do more than just act and then store this in the eighth consciousness; we must also store this in the ninth consciousness so as to make use of this and awaken our ninth consciousness, our pure nature of True Suchness. This will “bring peace to the Dharma-body.”
In “filled to overflowing,” “filled” means that the inside is stuffed It is already very full. There are many warehouse and vaults, and there is so much in these warehouse and vaults that they cannot contain it all, so things have spilled over to the outside. This signifies that the Buddha’s virtues are perfect; they are “overflowing with perfection.”
This means that in addition to benefiting Himself, He also benefited others. With the Dharma He had understood so well, He delivered Himself and also others. This was what the Buddha did after realizing the truths of all things in the universe. For many kalpas, a very long period of time, He pervaded all the Dharma-realms.
The Buddha’s virtue and wisdom permeated the universe and all Dharma-realms. “Though the universe has bounds, His vows were boundless.” This demonstrates the power of the Buddha’s vows. By putting such great vows into practice His virtues were just as great.
So, “The Buddha’s virtues are overflowing with perfection.” They already have pervaded the universe and all Dharma-realms; the Buddha’s virtues exist everywhere. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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