Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Following the Buddhas in Their Practice (隨佛所行漸具大道)
Date: November.09. 2016
“If we practice the Small Vehicle and constantly seek the noble teachings only for our own benefit, though many kalpas may pass, we still cannot achieve perfect enlightenment. The Buddha recorded the causes and predicted the effects of meeting and serving hundreds of millions of Buddhas. We must aspire to seek the great, direct path; only then can we attain Buddhahood.”
Spiritual practice takes a very long time. If we remain attached to Small Vehicle practices, we only seek our own benefit, even if we spend a very long time constantly seeking the noble teachings and constantly listening to the Dharma that the Buddha taught. When the Buddha was teaching the whole assembly, these [Small Vehicle] disciples were also there listening, but all they heard was to seek their own benefit. The disciples continually thought that by leaving their families and loved ones, they would no longer create the entanglements of karmic causes and conditions; they needed to concentrate on spiritual practice so as to never again return to this world. They thought this was their only direction.
However, they had not fully understood the Buddha’s teaching that in order to get rid of afflictions, they must again return to the Saha World to widely transform sentient beings. Never had they formed this kind of aspiration. Still, they were earnest in listening to Dharma. So, they constantly sought the noble teachings.
“Though many kalpas may pass, we still cannot achieve perfect enlightenment.” Although a very long time may pass, “we still cannot achieve perfect enlightenment,” since we still have not formed great aspirations. If we do not form great aspirations to go among people, we may pass through many kalpas, which is a very long period of time, and still never achieve perfect enlightenment. This is because we do not maintain a pure mind to go among the people and create pure blessed affinities.
If we lack these affinities, we will be unable to achieve perfect enlightenment. So, it took them a very long time. This continued until they had the causes and conditions to draw near to a Buddha. Once the Buddha had manifested in the world and they had the causes and conditions to be near Him, they could directly receive His teachings. So in that lifetime, they practiced earnestly and formed great aspirations. Now, since they had seen the Buddha, based on what they practiced during that lifetime, their attitudes in life, the Buddha-Dharma they accepted in that lifetime and their outstanding qualities in their spiritual practice among the Sangha, the Buddha “recorded the causes and predicted the effects.”
In addition to their [practice] in this life, the Buddha saw their process of spiritual practice. Thus, He “recorded the causes.” How had they practiced in the past and what were the causes and conditions that had brought them into their present lives? By looking at the present, He could infer their causes from the past. So, this was how He “predicted the effects,” their future effects of attaining Buddhahood. At this time it was Subhuti; the Buddha began observing Subhuti and began bestowing predictions on him. He predicted how, in the future, he will “meet and serve hundreds of millions of Buddhas.” He will serve and make offerings to Them. This will take him a very long time.
What must come next is that he “must aspire to seek the great, direct path.” This means he must directly walk the Bodhisattva-path. He must seek the Buddha’s Way and transform sentient beings. He must reverently respect the Three Treasures, respect the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, and practice the Six Perfections for a long time. Then he will attain Buddhahood. This is the process of spiritual practice.
In the past, he practiced the Small Vehicle for many lives. Since he received predictions for the future, in the future, according to the predictions, he will certainly form great aspirations and practice the Great Dharma by going among people on the great, direct path. This is turning from the Small towards the Great. This was the Buddha’s goal in giving His disciples predictions.
When Subhuti attains Buddhahood in the future, his epithet will be Name and Appearance. “That Buddha’s lifespan will be 12 small kalpas.” In the future, his lifespan will be 12 kalpas, a very long lifespan. In addition, “Right Dharma will abide for 20 small kalpas. Dharma-semblance will also abide for 20 small kalpas. That Buddha constantly abides in emptiness to teach the Dharma to the assembly. He liberates countless Bodhisattvas as well as the assembly of Hearers.”
We discussed this previously. That Buddha’s lifespan will be 12 small kalpas. Dharma –semblance and Right Dharma will both last for 20 small kalpas. This is a very long time. Over such a long time, that Buddha will constantly abide in emptiness and teach the Dharma to the assembly.
Next it states, “At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this verse. Today I tell all of you bhiksus, all of you must listen with a single mind to what I teach.”
At that time, the Buddha continued He was worried that after we listened to the prose passages that were spoken, we might forget. Perhaps there were some who had not yet arrived, who had not yet heard it, so the Buddha repeated it again, repeating it in verse.
At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this verse: This follows the previous long-form prose. The World-Honored One, wishing to state His meaning again, proclaimed this repeated verse.
Subhuti would, in the future, attain Buddhahood. He had to repeat this again. So, it says, He “stated His meaning again,” and “proclaimed this repeated verse.” This was the Buddha’s compassion.
“Today I tell all of you bhiksus.” The Buddha was reminding the assembly again, all of His disciples at the assembly. “Today I tell all of you bhiksus.” Now He wanted to tell them all something. This was cautioning them all that they should earnestly and mindfully accept the Dharma they were listening to. Since they had heard others receive predictions, they too wanted to achieve realizations. They took the successes of others as examples for themselves. So, the Buddha again wanted to remind everyone to concentrate, be mindful and listen carefully.
“All of you must listen with a single mind to what I teach. Everyone must concentrate, be mindful and put effort into listening to what I have to say.” This means they must not have discursive thoughts and listen “with a single mind.” Thus, “Concentrate your ears to listen carefully to what I teach.” They must be mindful, sharpen their ears a little and listen earnestly to the Dharma.
The next sutra passage states, “My great disciples Subhuti will attain Buddhahood. His epithet will be Name and Appearance. He will make offerings to countless trillions of Buddhas, and following these Buddhas in Their practice, he will gradually fulfill the great path.”
The Buddha repeated this again out of compassion. As He said, “My great disciple Subhuti,” He was specifically pointing out that. Subhuti was one of His great disciples, that they were teacher and disciple. He did this because His disciple had resonated with the Buddha-mind. Subhuti was able to realize the principles that the Buddha had taught, to realize the essence of the principles. But the principles are without substance. True principles have no substance or appearance. Subhuti had deeply accepted this truth.
Not only did he deeply accept it, he was able to awaken to it. He had achieved realization of all true principles. These cannot be explained with form and appearance. Nothing is the result of any one thing. All principles [explain] how causes and conditions come together. Only when causes and conditions come together are forms and appearances then born. People, matters, objects, all the sounds we hear and all the appearances we see, are completely due to causes and conditions coming together.
For instance, when I was talking, a plan was flying above us in the sky. We heard its sound. I was because a plane was flying in the sky, and the body of the airplane emitted a sound. These were the causes and conditions. At this particular time, these were the causes and conditions. Early in the morning, we are holding out. Wisdom at Dawn lecture, and they are holding flight training. This is causes and conditions coming together.
Following the same principle, everything that happens in our lives is formed in a truly complicated way like this. Subhuti, in that era, over 2000 years ago, we able to awaken to what the Buddha taught. Matters and objects come together to produce many afflictions, and this cycle of afflictions continues, resulting in karmic causes and effects. This was what Subhuti had realized. This was why the Buddha praised him so.
So, [He said] “my great disciple.” When He taught the Dharma, Subhuti was the one who understood the most, so He called him His great disciple. “My great disciple Subhuti realized the principle of emptiness. Among the Buddha’s disciples, he was known as the foremost in understanding emptiness.” He had analyzed all of the principles until realizing everything was completely empty. He comprehended the principles the Buddha taught.
So, the Buddha called him “my great disciple.” This was also simply to distinguish him from family and followers practicing the Small Vehicle. Any place of spiritual practice is just like a large family, so we talk about “family and followers.” Subhuti differed from others in how he listened to the Dharma. When others listened, they thought matters were matters and objects were objects. However, because Subhuti had a thorough understanding of the principles that underlie those matters and objects, he understood they were all empty. He understood the principles of emptiness.
What is emptiness? It “refers to the universe, to the infinitesimal changes of empty space.”
Emptiness refers to the universe, to the infinitesimal changes of empty space: Amidst earth, water, fire, air and the great Dharma-realm of space, all matters and things arise because of causes and conditions and cease because of causes and conditions.
This is the empty Dharma-realm. It is empty space, and in this empty space, in this great empty space, there is earth, water, fire and air. Space contains earth, water, fire and air. This is the great Dharma-realm. It is the great empty space of the universe. In this great empty space, the planets all continue to revolve, undergoing “formation, existence, decay and disappearance.” So, in empty space, the aggregate of action is truly intricate and complicated; [its changes] all happen within the five elements, among the four elements contained in empty space. [The four] along with space are the five elements.
“All matters and things arise because of causes and conditions and cease because of causes and conditions.” This is the cycle which occurs within the five elements and the aggregate of action. When the cycle is well-regulated, humankind can live at peace. If not… If the four elements are not in harmony, humankind will suffer many disasters.
“My great disciple Subhuti will attain Buddhahood.” Because “my great disciple Subhuti”, in the future “will attain Buddhahood, his epithet will be Name and Appearance.” We already know that Subhuti understood the emptiness of all phenomena and that therefore all names and appearances are empty and still [in nature]. All things that can be expressed by language have not true meaning.”
So, upon attaining Buddhahood in the future, his epithet will be Name and Appearance. “Name and Appearance” refers to thoroughly understanding that even names are actually empty as well. What does a name look like? Take it out and let me see it! You can write it, but I am not talking about the characters; I want to see the appearance of your name. Do names have appearances? They have no appearance; they are empty. So, he had thoroughly understood the principle of the emptiness of names and appearances, that these are inherently empty in nature. Having already thoroughly understood the principles of names and appearances, his name upon attaining Buddahood in the future will be Name and Appearnace Tathagata.
“All things that can be expressed by language have no true meaning.” He had thoroughly understood that all these things are simply language, so [the words] “have no true meaning.” They have no real meaning. But the principle are true and real. “He truly understood that all phenomena are empty and still [in nature].”
Because he fully understood that all phenomena are empty and still [in nature], nothing but names and appearances, his virtuous epithet upon attaining Buddhahood will be Name and Appearance. After an event has passed, [we see] it is empty. When an event occurs, It may be something that makes us joyful or something that causes us afflictions. If we encounter a joyous occasion, once it passes it too is empty. If something causes afflictions, once it passes it too is empty. Everything returns to emptiness and stillness.
This is [the nature of] phenomena. In this world, there are things that come together and cause afflictions and many things that come together and cause joy. These are all worldly phenomena
They are “nothing but names and appearances.” They are merely a convergence of our habitual tendencies with names and appearances. So, this is his “virtuous epithet upon attaining Buddhahood.” When we thoroughly understand these principles, When we thoroughly understand these principles, that everything is an illusion and that all return s to emptiness, then we can remain free of attachments. These were all realizations Subhuti had accumulated during past lifetimes.
Now In his present lifetime, during the Buddha’s lifetime, causes and conditions had matured. He followed the Buddha to become a monastic and listened to the teachings of the Buddha. In this way he achieved realization. This required a long time of being permeated. Now, listening to the Buddha teach the Dharma, he was able to realize why spiritual practice requires a very long time.
Next, it states, “He will make offerings to counties trillions of Buddhas.” There will be so many he will make offerings to; there will be countless “trillions of Buddhas.” “Following these Buddhas in Their practice, he will gradually fulfill the great path.” “By following the practices of all Buddhas, he will gradually fulfill the great Bodhisattva-path.”
In the future, Subhuti “will attain Buddhahood and be called Name and Appearance Tathagata.” But during the process, he will still have to make offering to trillions of Buddhas. How may trillions did it say in the prose? It was 300 trillion. In the verse here, it is more succinct. So, “He will make offerings to counties trillions of Buddhas.” He will follow them, and “Following these Buddhas in Their practice, he will gradually fulfill the great path.” He will follow the practices of all Buddhas.
So, we must truly put our hearts into our spiritual practice, mindfully get rid of afflictions and help other people while never allowing others to contaminate us. We must cultivate both blessings and wisdom. Let us actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions. We should practice the Six Perfections and the Fourfold Practice in parallel. Only by doing so will we not have to wait so long in the future. Everyone is a Buddha. With reverence in our hearts, I believe we can draw even closer to the Buddha’s teachings and have a greater ability to experience the Dharma. So, let us always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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