Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Profoundly Experiencing the Buddha’s Compassion (深體佛慈轉小為大)
Date:April.07. 2016
“The worldly father sought and found his son and gave him charge of his business and wealth. The Buddha, in His compassion, taught the Great Vehicle Dharma and opened His understanding and views. He revealed the true teachings and taught the Bodhisattva Way of establishing great vows. As Hearers turned from the Small to the Great, they were seemingly Dharma-children.”
The father’s search for the son was very difficult. Finally, after 10, 20, or more than 50 years, he was able to find him. For the son to draw close to his father was also not an easy feat, because he had been lost and had been wandering about everywhere. From his childhood to his middle-age, over that time, more than 50 years had passed. Was it easy for him to find his way home?
However, in the end, causes and conditions matured. The father had been searching for his son, and after wandering about, the son also gradually drew near his home and came to his father’s household. Though the child did not recognize the father, the father recognized the son.
This is the way the world is. Parents are very mindful of their children; their minds are always on them. But the children wander about or become self-indulgent; they do not think about their homes at all, nor their parents. This is what we often see happening in the world.
In fact, the world-transcending Buddha views all sentient beings as His only son. Life after life He searched for these children. In fact, He was searching for the right causes and conditions. Those whose causes and conditions have matured have the chance to be taught and transformed, then form great aspirations and make great vows. Only people like this can be entrusted with the Dharma.
This is like how a father in the world can entrust his family business to a child who is good. The Buddha is the same. In His compassion, He taught the Great Vehicle and opened His understanding and views. He used all kinds of methods to open and reveal for us to realize and enter. What the Buddha opened and revealed, sentient beings must realize and enter. What the Buddha opened and revealed, sentient beings must realize and enter.
So, “The Buddha, in His compassion, taught the Great Vehicle Dharma and opened His understanding and views.” [He] hoped that we can all understand that everyone is equal to Him and has the potential to attain Buddhahood. He revealed the true teachings and taught the Bodhisattva Way. The true teachings had already been given at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, in hopes that everyone could form Bodhisattva-aspirations and “establish great vows.” This was very important.
The Buddha hoped for this His entire life, especially for “the Hearers to turn from the Small to the Great,” for people to turn from the Small Vehicle to the Great Vehicle. Before they had completely turned around, “They were seemingly Dharma-children.” Hearers finally had the karmic conditions to be guided in. If they could avoid getting stuck at the state of only benefiting themselves, if they could form great aspirations and make great vows, then this would be a successful turning of the Dharma-wheel, turning from the Small Vehicle to the Great.
The poor son is what we have been discussing. The father spent a long time looking for his son. After the son returned, he had to find a way to bring him into the family business and train him to take over. This took a lot of work.
So, the previous sutra passage states that Subhuti called to the World-Honored One again, “World-Honored One, when the poor son heard this form his father, he gave rise to great joy, for he had attained what he had not had before. He then had the thought, ‘I never had the resolve to seek these, yet today these treasures have spontaneously come to me.’”
The poor son originally thought that having a safe place to stay and three meals a day to keep him full was enough. “I did not imagine that I am actually the elder’s son. He has already told me that all the treasures in the storehouses are mine and I can use them as I wish.” He was very happy at “attaining what [he] had not had before.”
Subhuti continued to address the World-Honored One. “World-Honored One, the elder of great wealth is the Tathagata, and we are all seemingly Buddha-children. The Tathagata constantly told us that we are His children.”
In fact, the Buddha had always cherished us as He did [His son] Rahula. But to us, we only seemed to be Buddha-children. As for the truths He originally wanted to teach, we had not actually taken them to heart. We still remained in the Small Vehicle state of only awakening ourselves. We were still [stuck] in the Small Dharma and had yet to reach the Great Vehicle.
“Seemingly” means we only seemed like His sons, so we were more like godsons. We never thought the Buddha would still acknowledge us as His trueborn sons. This means that “The Tathagata is represented by the father; the word ‘seemingly’ refers to the son.”
World-Honored One, the elder of great wealth is the Tathagata, and we are all seemingly Buddha-children: The Tathagata is represented by the father, the word “seemingly” refers to the son.
The Tathagata is analogous “to the father.” The analogy is that the fathers of the world are akin to the World-Honored One. “Seemingly” means he was actually a true son, but he was only acknowledged as a godson. The poor son was in fact the elder’s biological son.
So here, the word “seemingly” also has two other meanings. First is “taking those of great capabilities as His children. Previously, before he ran away he was the son in a wealthy family.” “But he left his father and ran away. Since he did not live out his true position, he lived as a commoner outside.”
Thus it says, “seemingly.”
Like this child, in fact all of us intrinsically have Buddha-nature. We all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, but we gave rise to a thought of ignorance, so our desires led us to look outwards and pursue the Six Sense Objects with our Six Sense Organs. When we go into the world like this, we cannot distinguish good from evil, right from wrong or afflictions. We are confused, lacking clarity. If we practice goodness, we are reborn in heaven. If we uphold the Five Precepts and follow the principles, we will remain in the human realm, creating karma, continuing to replicate karma. In the human realm, once we give rise to an ignorant thought, we start replicating karma. This is as if we “ran away”
Intrinsically having a nature of True Suchness is like being the child of a wealthy family. We were a child in a wealthy family. We all intrinsically have [this pure nature], but we gave rise to an ignorant thought, so we ran outside and ran away. “He left his father and ran away. Since he did not live out his true position, he lived as a commoner outside.” He was like an unenlightened being living outside. He had not yet entered the Buddha’s teachings. [The disciples] had lost the Buddha-Dharma; they had been wandering around, lost in their unenlightened state.
Or, they had been practicing heretical teachings and remained submerged and lost in them. So, they are only “seemingly” [Buddha-children]. In fact, everyone intrinsically had Buddha-nature; it is their causes and conditions that have led them to wander about.
“Second [is] taking those of limited capabilities as His children.” The son had been wandering about far from home all together for more than 50 years; this refers to transmigrating in all Five Realms. After all this, the father finally found him. The father began to use all kinds of methods to approach him before acknowledging him as his son. “Seemingly being son” means he was acknowledged as a godson. “Seemingly” describes how they came together, so it refers to the appearance of meeting. The father and son had just reunited. They came together after losing each other; the father lost his son and had now found him. But he had not yet revealed that he was his true son.
“Seemingly” has two meanings:
Second, taking those of limited capabilities as His children, as the son left his father and ran away, he fell to the level of “seemingly” being a son. The word “seemingly” is describing the appearance of meeting after being lost.
This is yet another meaning. “Seemingly a son” has three more meanings. First, “Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas are His true children.” We all intrinsically have the nature of True Suchness. The Buddha-mind is our mind. We take the Buddha’s mind as our mind. We innately have a [mind] equal to the Buddha’s so we are true children of the Buddha. This is because we can all form aspirations to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
“Seemingly a son” has three more meanings: First, Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas are like His true children. Although this generation had, in the past, when Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha was in the world, made Great Vehicle aspirations, they still lived like commoners outside. Thus it says, “seemingly a son.”
“This generation” refers to these people. “In the past” refers to the era of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. Their affinities had been formed that long ago. Though they had listened to the Dharma and formed great aspirations, they still lived as outside commoners. They had not truly [entered the Dharma]. They had only found the conditions to form Great Vehicle aspirations; they had not yet put this into practice. So, when it came to the Dharma, sometimes they seemed to know it, but at other times they seemed not to.
Thus, they were still unenlightened beings. So, they were also called “seemingly a son.” Countless kalpas ago, they already came in contact with the Dharma, but they did not accept it mindfully. We have heard the saying, “Forming aspirations is easy, persevering in them is hard”. This is something I often say. Forming aspirations happens very quickly, but continuing to sustain them is hard. We have always had this aspiration. It turns out that long ago we had already heard the Dharma. It is just that we were not earnest, nor did we put effort into it.
Second, “Hearers are similar to Bodhisattvas, who are His children.” Because he left his father and ran away, “He was a son in name, but not a son in reality.” So, “Father and son had lost each other, thus it says, ‘seemingly a son.’”
Hearers have already entered the Buddha’s door and have practiced the teachings. In order to walk the Bodhisattva-path, we also need to eliminate afflictions. So, “They are similar to Bodhisattvas, who are like His true son.”
In fact, if Hearers could set aside the Small and turn from the Small to the Great, they would also be Bodhisattvas. But, they were like the son who left the father. We all have this child within us, but we left our father and ran away. “He was a son in name, but not a son in reality.”
We can say that we are engaging in spiritual practice and forming Bodhisattva-aspirations, but we are not diligently advancing. We may look like spiritual practitioners, but we may be practicing in name only, without actually being mindful and diligent in our practice. It is just an appearance. It seems we are monastics; it seems we are spiritual practitioners, but in our hearts, we have “left [our] father and ran away.” So, it is like “[being] a son in name, but not a son in reality.”
Thus, as spiritual practitioners, we must always remind ourselves to be vigilant. So, “Father and son had lost each other.” The father had lost his son, and the son had lost his father. Though we are engaging in spiritual practice, we have yet to find our intrinsic nature, and thus we are still unable to control our actions. Therefore, as Buddhist practitioners, we must take good care of our minds. That is the second meaning.
The third meaning is that “They realized deeply the immense compassion of the Buddha, who looks impartially upon all sentient beings as His only child. “Thus it says, ‘“seemingly a son.’”
“Seemingly” also has this kind of meaning. After the son had entered the wealthy household, the elder removed his magnificent clothing and approached him. Gradually, he talked to him, and slowly, he allowed him near the treasures. Speaking openly to him, he said, “You are like my son, and I am like your father.” They were like godson and godfather. Thus gradually, “He realized deeply the immense compassion of the Buddha.” The son had then understood his godfather’s mind. He had gradually grown close to him.
So, [the Buddha] “looks impartially upon all sentient beings as His only child.” They had grown close and were like an adoptive father and son, which was an even closer relationship.
The following sutra passage states, “The Tathagata constantly told us that we are His children.” As Subhuti said, the elder used this method to lead the son to acknowledge that they were like godfather and godson. In fact, in the past, we were this way. Our minds remained in the Small Vehicle, and we had no interest in the Great Vehicle. But, “The Tathagata constantly told us that we are His children.” This means, “Upon seeing his son, the elder immediately recognized him. This refers to explaining that he is the son”. The elder explained that he is his son. “This goes back to what the Buddha said, that they dared not recognize this in themselves”.
The Tathagata views all sentient beings as His only child. All these people are like His only son to him. His every thought was on His great cause. His goal in coming to this world was to transform sentient beings. So, when it looked like their causes and conditions [were maturing], the Buddha found ways to transform them. This is what is meant by “Upon seeing his son, the elder immediately recognized him.
Seeing that cause and conditions were maturing, the Buddha began to follow them, finding ways to help them understand the Dharma. This is what this passage means. “This goes back to what the Buddha said.”
The Buddha had used all kinds of skillful means. However, for the godson, he felt that when his godfather told him, “Everything I have will be yours, he did not dare believe it. Though the Buddha often reminds us to walk the Bodhisattva-path we still do not dare. Because sentient beings are stubborn and hard to train, we still do not dare. We do not dare to acknowledge that we are the Buddha’s children. This means we do not dare to accept this.
“The understanding and views of the One Vehicle are inherent in us.” Everyone has always had the Tathagata’s understanding and views; the understanding and views of the One Vehicle are inherent in us. “We did not practice heretical teachings but were attached to the Small [Vehicle] Dharma.”
In fact, we know that we are equal to the Buddha and possess the One Vehicle Dharma. We all know this principle, so we will not practice heretical teachings. Yet, we only cling to the Small Vehicle Dharma. We have the Right Understanding and Right Views, but we are simply unwilling to form aspirations and make great vows. This was how we were in the past. So, how were we different from the poor son?
Though he worked in a wealthy household, he did regard those treasures as his own. How were we any different from him? Moreover, when the poor son saw his father, he was afraid of him. He could not see this place as his home. The father was happy, but the son still wanted to return to his poor neighborhood. Thus, the reunion between father and son was full of twists and turns.
This complicated process is similar to how Buddha came to the world for one great cause. He hoped that His enlightened state of mind and the principles He had thoroughly realized could be understood by us. He wanted to verify for us that we all have the same Buddha-nature as His and that we can all attain Buddhahood. Saving and transforming sentient beings is not the Buddha’s responsibility alone. It is everyone’s responsibility.
The Buddha started [to show us the way] the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment for the sole purpose of helping us understand that principles must [be shown through] appearances. Principles cannot be seen; they are revealed through matters and appearances. These were His causes and conditions for coming to the world during this lifetime. By manifesting the attainment of enlightenment, He helped us understand that we can be determined like Him and not just engage in spiritual practice superficially. Superficial spiritual practice is like “leaving the father and running away.”
Because of our nature of True Suchness, we are like this son who came from a wealthy household. We have this nature of True Suchness, but our afflictions and ignorance led our minds away from it. So, when the Six Sense Organs connect with the Six Sense objects, we continuously turn outwards. If we do not practice diligently, we cannot achieve Samadhi, and we will often allow the precepts to leak away. Thus, we remain in a state of confusion.
Now, we understand that the father had found his son and had also declared to everyone, “I am his father, and he is my son.” He made this formal announcement. This is like how the Buddha used skillful means to open and reveal the teachings. Therefore, we must earnestly listen in order to realize and enter them. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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