Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Four Great Hearers Receive Predictions (四大聲聞得佛授記)
Date: November.01. 2016
“With the method of manifestation, the Buddha expounded Dharma using analogies; He taught for those with average capabilities. Kasyapa and the others, the four great Hearers, turned from the Small toward the Great. He told them that in a future lifetime, they will attain Buddhahood and presently bestowed predictions on them.”
We should all be able to associate this paragraph with the previous chapter where the four Hearers repented before the Buddha and expressed what was in their hearts. They repented that while in the past they had followed the Buddha and listened to His teachings, although He taught [equally] to all His disciples, they themselves had remained in their own stage of spiritual practice, which was the Small Vehicle, practicing only to benefit themselves.
Then they saw that Sariputra had received a prediction of Buddhahood. Sariputra comprehended and resonated with the Buddha-mind. He understood that the principles and the Dharma taught by the Buddha have always been in people’s minds. Everybody intrinsically has Buddha-nature. The Dharma is never apart from us. The Buddha came to this world to awaken this love within us. We need to open the door to our loving heart. Besides loving ourselves, we also need to love all sentient beings in the world. We must earnestly nurture our own positive karmic causes and create blessings. Then, we can go among people to relieve suffering.
For instance, in Taichung, there was a case recipient, an elderly woman. This old woman’s life was full of suffering. Her daughter had a degree in foreign languages. Her son was a civil engineer. After her daughter graduated from university, she felt that life was full of suffering, so she renounced the lay life to go to a temple in Southern Taiwan. After she became a monastic, within a few years she became depressed and never recovered from this depression. She returned to the lay life and went home, but then she was diagnosed with kidney disease and required dialysis. She suffered from this illness for years and eventually went into a vegetative state. Her mother worked very hard and was worn out from taking care of her daughter.
Her son was a civil engineer and was very filial. He originally worked overseas but considering that his mother was old in age and had to work hard to care for his sister, and because his father was also severely ill, he came back to Taiwan to help his mother take care of his father. But in the end, his father passed away due to colon cancer. After his father passed away, the son found out that he also had colon cancer and his cancer had already reached stage three.
The old woman was already 80 years old and had to care for both her son and daughter. This was very exhausting. There was no one to clean up the house, and she was getting worn out. Their home was very filthy, so she could only sleep on the kitchen counter. Her son and daughter also only had a small space. The neighborhood head found out about this case and reported this to Tzu Chi volunteers right away.
Tzu Chi volunteers quickly visited her. This family was really suffering. Tzu Chi volunteers immediately asked the old woman, “Can we help you clean up the house?” She was very grateful for this. Afterwards, they began to clean up her home. When it was done, the home was spotless.
Soon after that, her son told her, “I hope you will volunteer with Tzu Chi in the future because this group of Tzu Chi volunteers was truly sincere. After I die, if you remain in Tzu Chi, you will always be taken care of.” Not long after saying this, her son passed away. After he passed away, Tzu Chi volunteers started to suggest to the elderly woman, “From time to time, come to our recycling station.” So, she went there once in a while. Not long after, her daughter, who was in a vegetative state, also passed away. From then on, Tzu Chi volunteers said to the old woman, “Grandma, you have even more children now, right? You are not alone now. You should be very happy every day!”
“Alright, alright. I am fortunate to have my Tzu Chi family who often visit me and talk to me. I also watch [Da Ai] TV. I understand Master’s teachings clearly. Now I have lots of company. Every day I go to do recycling work.”
This is how this elderly woman’s life was.
There are so many hardships in life. The cause of all this suffering is causes and conditions from past lifetimes. The Buddha devised methods for all sentient beings so He could teach about the suffering of the world. This is the “method of manifestation.” “With the method of manifestation, the Buddha expounded the Dharma using analogies.”
The method of manifestation was the Buddha’s manifestation in this world. He was born in this world, engaged in spiritual practice in this world, attained Buddhahood in this world and expounded the Dharma in this world. These were the Buddha’s footprints. This was the method of manifestation.
To explain profound principles, He used analogies, the causes, conditions, effects and retributions from past lifetimes and the suffering of people in the present lifetime as He taught us the Dharma. So, it says, “With the method of manifestation, the Buddha expounded the Dharma using analogies.”
Both the Great and Small Vehicle Dharma are based on the suffering in this world. Suffering, causation, cessation and the Path are what we need to understand when we first begin to engage in spiritual practice. So, “He taught those with average capabilities.” When the Buddha reached old age, He hoped for those disciples who engaged in inner cultivation to take up His legacy and pass down the Dharma-lineage. As far as their capabilities were concerned, they had understood all matters and eliminated all of their afflictions. What they lacked was “forming great aspirations and making great vows.”
So, they were those of average capabilities; these Hearers and Solitary Realizers were of average capabilities.
The Buddha hoped that they could form Great Vehicle aspirations to awaken their great capabilities. “Kasyapa and the others, the four great Hearers,” had already understood and comprehended the Buddha’s original intent. So, they turned from the Small to the Great. They turned from their past mindset of remaining in the Small Vehicle to go toward the Great Vehicle Dharma.
Thus, the Buddha already understood that His disciples had comprehended this. The suffering sentient beings of the world in the future would need them to pass on the Dharma-lineage and transform sentient beiges life after life. So, now the Buddha “told them that in a future lifetime, they will attain Buddhahood.” The Buddha began by bestowing the prediction that Venerable Kasyapa will attain Buddhahood.
Now the Buddha would continue to bestow predictions of Buddhahood. There were still Katyayana, Subhuti and Maydgalyayana. Those four disciples had together likened themselves to the poor son. They had already comprehended the Buddha-mind, and so they all had these hopes.
Yesterday we discussed that they said, “If You know the depths of our hearts.” The Buddha had already known the depths of their hearts. Apart from eliminating afflictions, they had formed [aspirations] in their hearts. “Seeing those who received predictions is like being sprinkled with ambrosial dew, dispelling the heat and bringing coolness.”
Let us understand “the depths of their hearts.” This means “The practice of cultivating the Great Vehicle is the deep cause.” The depths of our hearts: The practice of cultivating the Great Vehicle is the deep cause. Seeking supreme Bodhi is the deep effect. Hence it says “the depth of our hearts.”
The Buddha said that all beings have an intrinsic nature of True Suchness. This is already deeply rooted in and inherently possessed by all beings. It is just that ignorance covers us. Once we have eliminated ignorance, just by turning our minds around, this cause starts to manifest. So it says, “The Great Vehicle is the deep cause.”
The practice of cultivating the Great Vehicle is our goal at the beginning. “Seeking supreme Bodhi is the deep effect.” This is our goal of attaining Buddhahood in the future. This was their “deep effect,” which is that their nature of True Suchness is awakened for them to practice the Bodhisattva-path. No matter how long it will take, when their causes and conditions with sentient beings are replete, they can attain Buddhahood. They now understood this.
They now “see those who received predictions. They had seen Venerable Kasyapa receive a prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha. After seeing him receive a prediction, everyone was happy, as if they had been anointed with ambrosial dew. Because all four Hearers had together expressed their thoughts about the poor son, now that Kasyapa had received the prediction, they should also be able to receive the prediction. This was their hope.
“With both the teaching and analogies, He bestowed on us Hearers the words that explain the attainment of Buddhahood.” With both the teaching and analogies, He bestowed on us Hearers the words that explain the attainment of Buddhahood. Yet in His predictions today, He has not called out our names, so our hearts are filled with fiery afflictions.
This is the teaching that the Buddha had given to everybody over a long period of time. Though in the past they were [only] Small Vehicle practitioners, with the Great Vehicle Dharma taught now, if one has not practiced the Small Vehicle, one would not know how to attain Buddhahood. Now these disciples, through inner cultivation, had already eliminated affliction. With those afflictions eliminated, they could now from great aspirations. This is how purity begins at the source. Truly, all the principles come back to spiritual practice, to becoming a monastic and engaging in practice. Without renouncing the lay life, no Buddha would have attained Buddhahood. We must renounce the lay life to attain Buddhahood. This is because by renouncing the lay life and parting from our loved ones, we can be free from attachments, focus completely on eliminating afflictions and be free of greed and the desires of love.
Only when the root of limited love is cut off can we develop great love and become selfless, uncontaminated and free from afflictions. Through the Buddha’s teaching of [His disciples], they would no longer create negative karmic causes and conditions. What they cultivated was pure causes and conditions. These were the principles bestowed by the Buddha that allowed Hearers to attain Buddhahood.
“Yet in His predictions today, He has not called out our names.” Though they had realized the principles, the Buddha had not yet called out their names to bestow predictions of Buddhahood. So, these three were filled with fiery afflictions. They were waiting anxiously. It felt like a long time. Why had they not been called upon yet?
So, “His teaching” is the “wondrous Dharma;” “His analogy” is the lotus flower. In “wondrous Dharma,” “wondrous” means inconceivable.
His teaching is the wondrous Dharma: His analogy is the lotus flower.
Wondrous Dharma: Wondrous means inconceivable, and the Dharma means the provisional and the true teachings of the Ten Realms with the Ten Suchnesses.
The Dharma, as I often tell everyone, I intangible. It does not have any form. How can we describe the Dharma? It is likened to a lotus flower. The lotus flower emerges from the mud without being contaminated. At the same time the lotus pond is beautified by the lotus flowers. However, it is only because of the dirty mud in the lotus pond that the lotus flower can be nourished and grow. When the lotus flower blooms, we see the fruits. That means that once we have formed aspirations, the causes have been planted in our minds. So, this is an analogy.
The lotus flower is an analogy. If we speak of the principles of suffering in this world, the suffering in this world is an analogy. Why are people suffering? There must be causes and conditions for this. The process of forming causes and conditions are the principles. Therefore, the principles are the Dharma. The Dharma is “wondrous,” meaning that it is inconceivable. These principles are really inconceivable. So, the Dharma means “the true teachings of the Ten Realms with the Ten Suchnesses.”
We all know that the Ten Realms. We all know that the Ten Realms include the Six Unenlightened Realms and Four Noble Realms. With “the provisional and the true teachings,” the Buddha taught the sentient beings of the nine Dharma-realms. Apart from the Buddha-realm, He taught sentient beings of the nine Dharma-realms. The Buddha must use all kinds of analogies and teach with both provisional and true teachings. So, in terms of the Dharma and analogies, analogies are the provisional teachings, and the Dharma is the true principles. “Wondrous Dharma is indeed hard to comprehend, so analogies are used to easily reveal it.”
Wondrous Dharma is indeed hard to comprehend, so analogies are used to easily reveal it. The wondrous Dharma means the provisional and the true are one. In lotus flowers, the blossom and the fruit emerge simultaneously. Hence these are called teachings and analogies.
“The wondrous Dharma means the provisional and the true are one.” So, with the help of analogies, the Buddha presented the wondrousness of the principles. Wondrous Dharma is the provisional teaching. The provisional and the true teachings are one. They are truly of one essence. Otherwise, how could we understand the principles? The Buddha used the appearances of things as analogies to explain the principles. The principles become clear and understandable because of these appearances. “The blossom and the fruit emerge simultaneously.”
In the analogy of the lotus flower, it blooms and bears fruit simultaneously. “The blossom and the fruit emerge simultaneously.” That means, the Dharma and the analogy are one. The provisional and the true teachings are one. Matter and principle are one. Actually, when matter is analyzed, it is composed of so many factors. This is what we mean by principles; the principles are the Dharma. We can use objects to draw analogies. In this way, the Dharma and the analogies are brought together. This is already clear, the principles are already clear.
So, “It is like being sprinkled with ambrosial dew, dispelling the heat and bringing coolness.” This refers to how, “If the Tathagata recognizes the depths of our hearts, [He knows that] seeing Him call out names and bestow predictions is like sprinkling ambrosial dew on our hearts; immediately we are cooled deep inside”
This means the Tathagata knew how anxious they were in waiting and how they are taken the aspirations into their marrow, into their nature of True Suchness. Now their nature of True Suchness had begun to manifest the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Tathagata could understand the depths of their hearts. “Seeing Him call names and bestow predictions, they hoped that the Buddha would call their names and bestow predictions of Buddhahood.”
Then, wouldn’t it be “like sprinkling ambrosial dew on our hearts?” It would be like being sprinkled by ambrosial dew. “Immediately we are cooled deep inside.” If their hearts were sprinkled with ambrosial dew, when ambrosial dew fell upon their hearts, it would definitely bring coolness. This was the heartfelt wish of the three [disciples].
What is “ambrosial dew?” Ambrosial dew “can eliminate worries; it is the elixir of immortality. It is an analogy for being able to eliminate the fiery afflictions of the two kinds of samsara and attain the coolness of great Parinirvana.” We often draw analogies using ambrosial dew. As recorded in the Buddhist sutras, it is something for heavenly beings to enjoy. But the analogy drawn here is for eliminating worries. If we are always willing to act, it is like we are always drinking ambrosial dew. When we are always joyful, we will live our life happily every day. So, “It is the elixir of immortality.”
If we live at the present moment and live in joy, in Dharma-joy, we will develop our wisdom-life. “It is an analogy for being able to eliminate the fiery afflictions of the two kinds of samsara.” When it comes to “the two kinds of samsara,” all of you should already know that there is fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara. Fragmentary samsara is what our bodies go through physically.” We understand this principle. Transformational samsara is what our afflicted minds go through. If we can eliminate the fiery afflictions of these two kinds of samsara with the Dharma that the Buddha taught us, we will “attain the coolness of great Parinirvana.”
That is, if we are able to attain the true essence of the Buddha-Dharma, our minds will be free of afflictions. Then, we can form great aspirations and vows and be willing to go among people without our minds being contaminated by others. This is to have a mind like a lotus flower. If we are able to do this, we are on the path to attaining Buddhahood. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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