Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Engaging in Purifying Practices (常修梵行得成為佛)
Date: November.04. 2016
“Practice with nothing further means the Buddha’s virtue is perfect and complete, as are His provisions of blessings and virtues. Extended practice means over the course of three great asankya kalpas, He never gets tired. Uninterrupted practice means He is focused, diligent and courageous, never lax in His practice even for one instant. Practice with reverence means He respectfully learned the practices that are the Tathagata’s karmic causes.”
These are the four methods [we use as] we engage in spiritual practice.
[First is] “practice with nothing further.” We have such reverence for the Buddha. Why do we hold this reverence for Him? The Buddha has already attained enlightenment and has perfect wisdom, blessings and virtues.
So, we must understand that the Buddha is replete with blessings and virtues because over a long period of time He accumulated these spiritual provisions.
“With nothing further” means no time was wasted; there was no time left over. For a long time, over many lifetimes, in all His time life after life, He was always engaged in spiritual practice and cultivated blessings and wisdom. So, He was replete with blessings and wisdom and was thus able to attain Buddhahood. This is the Buddha’s virtue; He is already replete with the provisions of blessings and virtues.
The Buddha taught us with His own example that our time should not be wasted. He went among people with impartial love for all sentient beings, not forgetting or abandoning anyone. This is how He cultivated provisions of blessings and virtues.
So, He had to engage in “extended practice”; He engaged in spiritual practice for a long time.
For how long did He do so? He had to do this for three great asankya kalpas, without tiring. This is how long it takes.
How long is three asankya kalpas? As I often explain to everyone, starting with a ten year average human lifespan, one year is added after 100 years pass. After another 100 years, another year is added. As we count along like this, adding on the years, when we reach an average lifespan of 84,000 years, the total time is equal to one increasing kalpa. Then, beginning with an average of 84,000 years, we subtract one year after 100 years and continue to decrease by one year per 100 years. It continually decreases like this until the lifespan once again averages 10 years. This is called one decreasing kalpa.
One increasing and one decreasing kalpa together are called one small kalpa. 20 small kalpas makes one medium kalpa, and four medium kalpas make one great kalpa.
So, how long is three great asankya kalpas? It is a very long time. To remain tireless for such a long time requires continuous diligence.
We must practice the Six Perfections; we must practice giving and upholding the precepts. We must also have patience and diligence. We must also cultivate contemplation, which is Samadhi, and continue to develop our wisdom-life. Everything that we cultivate all comes back to developing our wisdom-life. This will surely require us to remain. We must be diligent and able to endure patiently, able to cultivate contemplation.
In this world, everyone loves to criticize, and everyone faces all kinds of tangible and intangible difficulties. We must be able to endure them; this is called patience. We must be diligent and patient in order to be able to make it through three great asankya kalpas without getting tired.This can only be achieved by spending a long time engaging in spiritual practice.
We must also engage in “uninterrupted practice”.This means that as we practice diligently, we must also be courageous, so that not an instant of our practice is wasted.
With this kind of diligence, not a second goes to waste.This is what we call uninterrupted practice.
We must furthermore “practice with reverence”.We must be reverent, which is to “respectfully learn the practices that are the Tathagata’s karmic causes”.
We must be reverent and respectful.When we have sincerity in [examining] the Buddha’s past spiritual cultivation, we follow the Buddha in our spiritual practice and use our lives to emulate the example He set for us.
He sought the path to Buddhahood and transformed sentient beings.This was how He accumulated provisions.
Learning the Buddha’s Way takes a long time, so we cannot be indolent.We cannot allow our minds to remain amidst afflictions and ignorance that will lead us to waste our lives.
So, being earnest and diligent is the attitude we must have in spiritual practice.
The previous sutra passage states,
“At that time, the World-Honored One knew the thoughts in the minds of all His great disciples and told the bhiksus,This man, Subhuti, in his future lifetimes, will meet and serve ‘300 trillion, nayutas of Buddhas’.”
These great disciples were Kasyapa, Subhuti, Katyayana and Maudgalyayana.The four of them had gone before the Buddha to express what what was in their hearts, to express that before, they had been mistaken and thus remained in the Small Vehicle, seeking only their own awakening.Now, they had understood that they had a treasure trove equal to the Buddha’s; this was the Dharma-treasure.Their wisdom was equal to the Buddha’s.
So, “The minds of all His great disciples.” were of course clearly understood by the Buddha.Thus, “He told the bhiksus.”The Buddha announced to everyone that.
“This man, Subhuti, in his future lifetimes, will meet and serve 300 trillion, nayutas of Buddhas.”
“Naytas” refers to a countless amount, 300 trillion, a countless number of Buddhas.
Venerable Kasyapa also needed to meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas.
Now, Venerable Subhuti had received a prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha.
The Buddha called his name and bestowed a prediction on him, indicating that it would also take a long time.
The next sutra passage states,
“He will make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them. He will constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct and fulfill the Bodhisattva-path. In his final incarnation, he will attain Buddhahood.”
When a Buddha is in the world, he will need to make offerings.He must exercise utmost reverence to do this and be very respectful.
We must constantly praise the Buddha’s virtues.We praise the Buddha’ virtues because we want to emulate them.
If we look down on them, that means we have no desire to learn it.We must place great importance and value on [the Buddha’s virtues].To place importance on them is to praise them.Then we can learn the Buddha’ virtues and accumulate our own provisions.
Therefore, we must be reverent and praise them.We must also “constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct”.
Brahm-conduct means purifying practices.
To “fulfill the Bodhisattva-path,” we have to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
The goal is attaining Buddhahood, for everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path all the way until everyone’s final incarnation.After meeting and serving 300 trillion, nayutas of Buddhas,“ reverently making offerings to them, after such a long time, [Subhuti’s] causes and conditions will maturate, and naturally, he “will attain Buddhahood”.This is what Subhuti [will undergo].
So, to “make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them” has the meaning of “widely planting blessings and virtues”.
He will make offerings to, show reverence to, pay respect to and praise Them:
This is widely planting blessings and virtues.
Making offerings and so on is to be sincere and reverent throughout Threefold Karma such that we cultivate blessings.
Cultivating Brahma-conduct is to renounce lay life and free ourselves of desires such that we cultivate wisdom.
The perfect cultivation of blessings and wisdom is called the Bodhisattva-path.
We must constantly plant the seeds of blessings, constantly create blessings for others.
Planting blessings means spreading seeds of goodness and forming good affinities with others. This is “widely planting blessings and virtues”. Making reverent offerings and so on is to be “sincere and reverent through our Threefold Karma”.
Of the Threefold Karma, our karma of speech must be to praise. We praise the Buddha’s virtues, praise the Buddha-Dharma and praise the Sangha. We praise the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Furthermore, when we are among people, we must constantly speak good words and always do good deeds. With our minds, we must continually cultivate wisdom, blessings and virtues. Thus we are “sincere and reverent in our Threefold Karma”. This is cultivating blessings with reverence.
With reverence for the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and respect for people, matters and things, we are cultivating blessings.
Not only must we cultivate blessings, we must also cultivate Brahma-conduct. Brahma-conduct is monastic spiritual practice. “Renouncing lay life, abandoning desires” and eliminating our ignorance is the only way for us develop pure wisdom. This is perfectly cultivating wisdom and blessings. This is called the Bodhisattva-path.
The true Bodhisattva-path means eliminating all afflictions and ignorance.“Brahma-conduct” means engaging in purifying practices. Only in this way can we truly reach fulfillment of the Bodhisattva-path and truly cultivate the causes to attain the fruit. We are cultivating the cause to attain Buddhahood. To do so, we must always remain pure so that our bodies will not be contaminated.
“He will constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct”. When one’s mind and body are both pure, one can “fulfill the Bodhisattva-path. This is the deep cultivation of wisdom”. This karma of wisdom will be very profound. Brahma-conduct is pure and free from contamination. “He will cultivate until realizing perfection” means practicing like this, his mind and body will both be perfectly pure. This is to “fulfill the Bodhisattva-path”. This way, the Bodhisattva-path is truly complete.
So, the word “Brahma” means clean and pure. Bodhisattvas, in order to benefit others, “can treat all unwholesome things”. When we are free from transgressions, our body and mind will be forever pure. “Hence it is called Brahma-conduct”.
We must first purify ourselves. We cannot practice any unwholesomeness. Our body and mind must be completely free of those thoughts. When our mind and body are pure, we can deal with unwholesome things and are able to avoid mistakes. When we avoid making mistakes, our body and mind will always remain pure; hence it is called Brahma-conduct.
“In his final incarnation, he will attain Buddhahood”.
[Final incarnation] has two meanings; one is “For Hearers, when this life ends, they will not be subject to future incarnations”. This is called the “final incarnation”.
They will no longer be dragged around by causes and conditions of future existences. Starting now, in life after life, they will engage in spiritual practice as monastics, and with undefiled bodies, will meet and serve 300 trillion Buddhas.
They must become monastics and [serve] 300 trillion Buddhas. Life after life, they cultivate pure practices. This is their final [incarnation].
The Buddha already told us that “For Hearers, when this life ends”, as announced to the assembly by the Buddha, “they will not be subject to future incarnations”.
The second meaning is “the mind after reaching universal enlightenment”. They go from the state of Hearers to the attainment of universal enlightenment, and with the Dharma reach the highest state. Our minds in this final stage are in a firm state of Samadhi that can be compared with a diamond. “With ignorance totally eliminated and the consciousness of ripened differences emptied”, that is called the “final incarnation”.
This means our eighth consciousness has already been emptied. The conditions we ordinarily create and attach ourselves to have all been emptied out. The eighth consciousness is the “consciousness of ripened differences”. The good and bad karma we have created is all stored in our eighth consciousness.
If we earnestly engage in spiritual practice and no longer commit evil deeds, if we eliminate all evil deeds one by one, only good deeds will be left in this consciousness. As for these good deeds, even they must be emptied out. We cultivate good conditions among sentient beings without any attachments, transform them without expectations. When we reach this natural state, we return to this world for the sake of all sentient beings, without any sense of self and other. Our “consciousness of ripened differences is empty.” We give without expectations; this is called the “final incarnation.”
This is meaning of the term “final.” As we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must be mindful. We must always try to comprehend this. So, we must always keep in mind that our final goal in spiritual practice.Then, “In his final incarnation, he will attain Buddhahood.”
This Buddha’s epithet will be Name and Appearance Tathagata. Name and Appearance Tathagata is endowed with the ten epithets, “One Worthy of Offerings, Completely Awakened One, One Perfect in Wisdom and Action, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Guide, Tamer, Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans and Buddha, the World-Honored One.”
When Subhuti has attain Buddhahood, his epithet will be Name and Appearance Tathagata.
Do you all still remember? When Sariputra has attained Buddhahood, what will his epithet be? Flower Light Tathagata. What about Kasyapa? Radiant Light Tathagata. Now we know that Subhuti will become Name and Appearance Tathagata.
His epithet will be Name and Appearance Tathagata: Subhuti fully understood all phenomena are empty, therefore all names and appearances are empty. All that can be expressed by words has no true meaning. Because he fully understood all phenomena are nothing but names and appearances, his virtuous epithet upon attaining Buddhahood will be Name and Appearance Tathagata.
“Subhuti fully understood all phenomena are empty.” We have mentioned before that when Subhuti was born, the wealth in his family’s storehouse disappeared. After a period of time, the treasures reappeared. When he was born, he brought with him [the truth] that all phenomena in the world are empty, that all phenomena are a convergence of [causes and conditions]. This was the auspicious sign of his birth.
So, “All names and appearances are empty. All that can be expressed by words has no true meaning.” Through the practices he cultivated, the Dharma that he has now understood is that all names and appearances are empty. Everything that can be expressed by words.
We often say that true principles have no substance or appearance. We always say the principles have no appearance.If we try to speak of them, words fail us; what Dharma is there to talk about? Can we take the Dharma out to look at it? So, the Buddha had no choice but to use different analogies to explain all appearances. He analyzed all appearances and [explained that] they all return to emptiness. So, [we need to] understand this principle Subhuti completely understood it.
“Because he fully understood that all phenomena are nothing but names and appearances, his virtuous epithet upon attaining Buddhahood will be Name and Appearance Tathagata.” This is because he completely understood through his spiritual cultivation that all names. Substances and appearances are, in the end, empty.Thus, his epithet will be Name and Appearance Tathagata.
This is the future epithet of Subhuti. When he attains Buddhahood this will his epithet. Now that we know this, what will the land [he lives in] be like? We will speak more about this later. We must understand that when learning the Buddha’s Way, we should “practice with nothing further.” We do not have much more time left. We need to always recognize that time is running out. So, there is not a moment to spare.
We should also understand that the things we want to do we must do to completion. We have to seize all the time we have and take every opportunity to transform others. We must never cause anyone’s roots of goodness to be severed. So, we “practice with nothing further.” We must spend a long time engaging in practice without ever tiring. We need to engage in “uninterrupted practice, practice with reverence” and so on. We should have this mindset and engage in spiritual practice without interruption. This will require a very long time; we must walk the Bodhisattva-path for a long time before we reach the state of the Buddha. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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