Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Replete with Dharma-Wealth and Virtues (本覺法財萬德具足)
Date: February.22. 2016
“We are replete with innate enlightenment, Dharma-wealth and all virtues. Small Vehicle practitioners’ resolve is limited so they fear the Great Dharma. Two Vehicle practitioners’ wisdom is shallow and their blessings thin, so the Great Dharma is difficult for them to accept. Thus, He did not speak according to His intent to directly teach the Bodhisattva Way.”
“We are replete with innate enlightenment, Dharma-wealth and all virtues”. This “innate enlightenment,” as I am constantly, constantly telling everyone, is something we all intrinsically have. This originally pure and undefiled nature is the Buddha’s enlightened nature. With this innate enlightenment, all it takes is for each of us to take action and turn our mindset around, and this innate enlightenment can quickly manifest, as this innate enlightenment is inherent in us all. We just need to find a way to clean up the defilements in our minds, to eliminate our afflictions, our greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. These are our afflictions; this is ignorance. These are dust-like delusions.
If we continue to create them, that is like [generating] garbage. If, after we use a can, we just throw it away, then it becomes dirty and water builds up inside where mosquitoes can breed. By continuously doing things like this, we harm the planet. The same thing applies to our minds. When our innate enlightenment is covered over by afflictions, we become very troubled. This is why we are often ignorant and foolish.
We only point out other people’s mistakes, never recognizing our own faults. So, [we have] “innate enlightenment, Dharma-wealth and all virtues.”
Our innate enlightenment is always there, so if we are not contaminated by afflictions, naturally our wisdom will be equal to the Buddha’s. Some young children, as we have often heard recently, can immediately understand the Dharma they hear. Many of them uphold vegetarian precepts because they know to cherish life. Yesterday, I heard what a child said on Da Ai TV. This three-year-old girl said, “We should cherish these animals’ mothers. Baby animals will be very sad without their mothers, so we should cherish their mothers.” This is wisdom. [She also said,] “Don’t eat baby animals. If we eat baby animals, their mothers will cry. They will hurt.”
So, she upholds a vegetarian diet. Nothing can tempt her to [eat meat]; she has remained vegetarian. When children are born, they have this innate enlightenment and Dharma-wealth. If we tell them one thing, they can [understand] many others. In this way, “We are replete with innate enlightenment, Dharma-wealth and all virtues.” This is our “innate enlightenment.” With our intrinsic nature and wisdom, we can be one with all things in the universe. This is the Dharma-wealth we are replete with.
“Small Vehicle practitioners’ resolve is limited.” They only seek to benefit themselves; they have no desire to form great aspirations and make great vows. “[Their] resolve is limited, so they fear the Great Dharma.” They think, “If I practice the Great Dharma, then I have to care for all sentient beings.
I do not want to take on this responsibility.” Not wanting to take it on, they avoid it. “Two Vehicle practitioners’ wisdom is shallow and their blessings thin, so the Great Dharma is difficult for them to accept.” The Two Vehicle practitioners, Hearers and Solitary Realizers, when among people still refuse to benefit them. If they do not interact with people, they cannot grow in wisdom.
So, their wisdom will always be limited to “Thus have I heard”. They are unable to understand the true suffering of all people, how its “causation” is accumulated or how they can bring the suffering from afflictions to “cessation”. They will not know this.
So, to practice the Great Vehicle Dharma, we must become one with everyone. Two Vehicle practitioners focus on.
“Thus have I heard? I understand, I realize, this is what the Dharma says, so thus have I heard, thus are my understanding and views.”They are limited to “thus,” unable to expand their understanding and views.Because they refuse to accept the Great Dharma, the Buddha “did not speak according to His intent”.
After the Buddha’s enlightenment.He originally wanted to share with everyone, “You, you and you, every one of you will become a Buddha because you all intrinsically have Buddha-nature.”
But we were unable to realize this Dharma, because over countless kalpas we have only taken care of ourselves.It is because our minds have given rise to endless thoughts of ignorance that all these ignorant thoughts have continuously covered our innate enlightenment.
Not only are we unable to understand, we actually give rise to more afflictions and dust-like ignorant thoughts.For this reason, the Buddha could not directly teach about innate enlightenment.
So, He “did not speak according to His intent.”He could not freely express His original intent.As I have said many times in the past, because sentient beings did not have the capabilities to accept it.He could not directly teach the Bodhisattva Way.So, He had to slowly and mindfully teach according to capabilities.
Sentient beings have 84,000 kinds of ignorance, so the Buddha had to open 84,000 Dharma-doors to accommodate them.
Then could sentient beings accept the teachings?
Our ignorance toward all things still cause us great suffering.This is why, in life, we are unable to awaken, why we are unable to turn our minds around.Thus we always remain in a state of ignorance.
We are like the poor son.When he saw that magnificent scene, he became scared and ran away.
But the elder inside, his father, saw his figure.He quickly dispatched people to bring him back.This led to a struggle, scorning the son so much he fainted.
The father could not bear this, so he told them to loosen their grip and let him go.
His son had fainted, so he told them to use water to wake him up.The priority was to wake him up first.
This is an analogy for how giving direct teachings can scare people.It is better to use limited teachings and help them understand the Four Noble Truths.
He taught with this Dharma, along with the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, this [Dharma-] water, to first wake people up.This is an analogy for how ordinary people are in a state of darkness, so the Buddha had to teach according to their capabilities.
First, He taught with the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence to help them wake up.Then they could understand the principles of “suffering” and “causation” and know to earnestly eliminate their afflictions by cultivating the “Path”’.
These are the Four Noble Truths.
Furthermore, He helped them understand the source of suffering in life, that it comes from a single thought, like the desire between men and women.This kind of possessiveness and ignorance then continues to propagate.We are ignorant of the fact that.
“We cannot take anything with us when we die.”No matter how much we learn, how advanced our schooling is, if we have not eliminated our ignorance, an ignorant thought arises.Then “We cannot take anything with us when we die. Only karma follows us to our nest life.”
In the future, we keep that thought of ignorance as we carry our karma with us [to the next life].This then propagates continuously.Our of ignorance, we feel pride and arrogance, which then further multiplies our ignorance.
So, the Buddha used the Dharma-water of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence to awaken everyone.But listening to the teaching of the Twelve Links, they think, “We are already suffering; to avoid further propagating this ignorance. I no longer want to form affinities with people.”For this reason, they remain focused on benefiting themselves and have no desire to go among people.
Over the past few days, I have said very clearly that if you do not interact with people, you cannot cultivate blessings.If you are not among people, you cannot experience infinite Dharma-doors.“Without experience, we cannot grow in wisdom.”
So, starting from this point, the Buddha wanted everyone to go among people to give to them without becoming contaminated by them.This is a very important concept [to realize].So, when we listen to the Dharma, this is a very important part.
We must tirelessly listen to and talk about it, truly imprinting it on our minds.The Buddha helped people understand that this is the way life works.But they were still unable to accept the Great Dharma, so the Buddha quickly let them go for now.
Because of this, the Buddha “did not speak according to His intent”. Their capabilities had not matured yet. “His intent” was to tell everyone that they can become a Buddha. But people still did not understand. To truly attain Buddhahood, we have to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
The Bodhisattva-path is the bridge between our unenlightened state and Buddhahood. If we do not cross this bridge, we will be unable to cross from this shore to the other shore. To realize Prajna, He taught us to practice the Six Paramitas, giving, precepts, patience, diligence, etc.. With these tools, we can cross this rive of afflictions. We can build a bridge to cross from this shore to the other shore. This requires the Dharma, which is the Bodhisattva-path. Bodhisattvas benefit people, society and the world. we should awaken ourselves and others, transform ourselves and others. Seeing that some were unable to accept teachings, like the father He had to say, “Let them go. Do not forcibly pull them back. Just help them quickly awaken”. This was the time to teach with limited teachings.
The previous sutra passage states, “Why did he do so? The father knew his son to be of limited resolve. He knew that his grandeur and nobility would be difficult for his son to accept”.
The father understood that his son did not have this kind of resolve and would rather continue wandering than come home. So, he did not want to force him. The Buddha fervently hoped His “children” could accept and spread the Dharma, expounding the Dharma to others. He clearly knew they had this talent, and He had this hope for them, but they had “limited resolve”. Right when He needed them to [accept it], they were unwilling, so He had to let them go.
Because “The father knew his son to be of limited resolve. He knew that his nobility and grandeur would be difficult for his son to accept”. They were not vessels for the Dharma because they were unable to accept, expound and spread it, so the Buddha had to let them go.
This previous sutra passage spoke of how causes and conditions had not matured.
The next passage states, “Knowing full well that this was his son, he employed skillful means He never told anyone else”.
This is my son. Now that the father knew where his son lived, he had them let him go. By gradually understanding where he was, he could go back and develop skillful means. He did not tell people, “This is my son”. He did not tell people this. This was when he began to develop skillful means.
This means that “In the presence of two trillion past Buddhas, they had formed spiritual aspirations and were truly Buddha-children”.
Remember, the Introductory Chapter spoke of the Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddhas. Manjusri and Maitreya mentioned in the Introductory Chapter that the Buddha had been in the presence of 20,000 Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddhas; at that time, They taught and transformed [His]. Those 20,000 Buddhas had manifested in the world one by one, all with the same name, Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddha.
In every lifetime, they taught many people. In every lifetime, there were people who formed great aspirations and made great vows. At that time, many people had also heard the Bodhisattva Way and knew they should form great aspirations.
The spiritual aspirations they formed then were great aspirations; “[They] were truly Buddha-children”. Actually, these people were all Buddha-children. Form the time of the 20,000 Lamp Radiant Buddhas they continued extending these affinities. Life after life they have abided in the Dharma and often connected with these principles. If fact, they were all Buddha-children.
These Buddha-children are analogous to the son of the elder but they likewise became lost. So, “He never told anyone else. This is my son”. This is like what the Buddha already knew. He already knew that these people once formed great aspirations, these people once formed great aspirations. Thus they had the affinity to draw near the Buddha-Dharma in this life. They all formed aspirations, so they have these affinities now.
He never told anyone else, “This is my son”：An analogy for how the Buddha inherently knew that they had previously formed great aspirations. Since the time and capabilities were not yet ripe, it would not be beneficial to teach it. Thus, to follow their wished.to listen to and utilize the Small Vehicle Dharma for their spiritual practice, He gave provisional teachings of skillful means.
Since the time and capabilities were not yet ripe, it would not be beneficial to teach it. If He taught them Bodhisattva Way away, saying, “You will become a Buddha.” “They way to attain Buddhahood is to walk the Bodhisattva-path, telling them this right away would not be beneficial; they would be unable to do it.
So, He had to slow sown in order to “follow their wishes.” This depended on their capabilities. He clearly knew that Buddha-children who could inherit and accept all this Dharma, this abundance of Dharma. They had once formed great aspirations, but the causes and conditions were not yet ripe, so, “It would not be beneficial [to teach it]. Rather, they should do the work first.
We frequently talk about Living Bodhisattvas. When they invite people who listen to the Dharma to help others, those practitioners would say, “Do not contrive affinities. So, in these past decades, we have said that everyone intrinsically had Buddha-nature. Everyone has a loving heart. Where there is suffering, we can find a way to help those people. Helping people is a good deed; by helping people, we can become very happy. “come on! Offer just a bit of your strength. Reach out your hands so we can help this person.” When they reach out to help them and say, “Be well, seeing others at peace makes them happy.
People do not realize that doing this is practicing the Dharma; the happiness it beings is Dharma-joy. Dharma-joy comes from continuously aspiring to help other people. This is a method [of practice]. We should not directly tell people, “You are Buddhas, you really are!” Do not say this. We do not need to share very profound Dharma, helping them distinguish between the five choric and five acute afflictions. There is no need to go into detail and analyze the Ten Afflictions for them.
Just say, “If we each give a little, by pooling our efforts together, “we can help many people. [They realize], “I can do this. It doesn’t negatively affect my life.” When I donate 50cents, I feel at peace.” “Some say a household that practices good deeds will certainly have more than enough blessings.”
I donate 50 cents every day. Making this donations makes me happy.” “When I go shopping at the market, I say, Give ne 50cents less vegetables.” Hearing that people will naturally ask, “What will you do with that 50cents?” “I can help others!” “50 cents can help people? That sounds reasonable.” “In this case, I will donate 50 cents too.” During these transactions, when people deposit these donations, they feel happy; when they are pooled together, these coins can help save others. Isn’t this unconsciously awakening the love in their hearts? Isn’t this unconsciously paving a road of working with people in this world?
Nowadays, we can see that wherever there is a disaster, there will be many people in Tzu Chi uniforms. They rush to help others. After serving others, they mutually express their gratitude. “I’m grateful! You have given me this chance to join in this work. Thus everyone is happy. This is something we Buddhist practitioners intangible accumulate.
In the past few years, the effects of the “Dharma as Water” lectures. The Dharma is like water. We must have faith in it.
Of everyone born into this world, who is without mistakes? Who is without fault? We all inevitable make mistakes and create karma. So, we must repent! After I taught the Water Repentance for a while, people began to look at the world and see there is so much imbalance in the macrocosm and an endless series of manmade calamities. This planet is the evil world of Five Turbidities; people’s minds are impure. So, we began to practice and promote repentance as a way of spiritual practice.
Dear Bodhisattvas, in life, everyone has innate enlightenment. All sentient beings have a pure intrinsic nature. The awakened nature in their minds has always been pure. That is their Buddha-nature. So, we need to “transcend all delusions, all thoughts of delusion. If we can correct our negative habitual tendencies. I believe everyone can return to their innate enlightenment. So everyone please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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