Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Bodhisattvas Bring Dignity and Purify to the Land (不退菩薩嚴淨國土)
Date: November.11. 2016
“The circumstantial retributions of that Buddha will be magnificent and pure, and everyone will love and take joy in them. Those whom that Buddha teaches are a spiritual family with sharp capabilities and are replete with great might and virtue. In that world, its land and all houses, the clothing, food, shelter, etc. are like this. The unenlightened sentient beings remain in the Five Skandhas as their direct retribution.”
We must all be mindful to understand more deeply. What we need to understand now is Subhuti. The Buddha bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon Subhuti. This prediction describes what Subhuti will attain in a future lifetime. His circumstantial retributions will be “magnificent and pure, and everyone will love and take joy in them.” When people see them, they will be joyful.
In his circumstantial retributions, in his land, the Buddha-Dharma will be prevalent. The Buddha-Dharma will flourish there, and everyone will practice according to the teachings. Those whom the Buddha teaches, His spiritual family, will all possess sharp capabilities. Everyone will practice according to the Dharma. So, naturally in their appearance as spiritual practitioners and in their way of life, they all appear to be of great might and virtue.
Earlier Kasyapa received a prediction that all people in his land would be people of wisdom. Now, in the land Subhuti would attain, his followers would all be of sharp capabilities, of great might and virtue, and all would be spiritual practitioners. The land would be entirely pure and undefiled. Everything there will be treasures such as gold, silver, crystal, mother-of-pearl, chalcedony. There will be many treasures there, with precious flowers covering the ground and so on. What a beautiful state that will be! This is the result of their long period of spiritual practice. As for Sakyamuni Buddha, He also engaged in spiritual practice for a very long time. However, Sakyamuni Buddha’s vow was [to remain] in this turbid world.
This is like Earth Treasury Bodhisattva’s vow to remain in hell to transform the sentient beings who suffer most. With the power of Sakyamuni’s vow, He remains in the place where the Five Destinies co-exist. It is in such a world full of ignorance and afflictions where the Buddha-Dharma is truly needed. He cherishes sentient beings with great compassion and looks upon all of them as His only child.
If not for the power of Sakyamuni Buddha’s vow, this world of endurance that we live in would be even more unbearable, because there would be no Buddha-Dharma, and the principles could not be used to uphold ethics and morality in the world.
So, this is why the Buddha-Dharma is needed in the world. In Thailand, there is a woman, Grandma Jinhua. Her name, Jinhua (Gold Flower), is a very good name, but this old woman has led a life of suffering. Her eyes were so bad she could barely see. She could no longer move her right arm. Furthermore, her foot had been amputated. Under these conditions, the old woman lived next to a temple, in an old and broken down kitchen. Much garbage had accumulated there. It was impossible for her to clean up. She only had one usable arm and leg; how could she clean up such a big pile? When Tzu Chi volunteers found out about this [they thought], “How can she live there? This old woman is so pitiable!”
They started mobilizing over 100 volunteers and began making appeals [for help]. People’s hearts went out when they saw this. “Come on! Everyone, let’s go help her clean up.” They cleaned up the room, and laid out a bed, a quilt and a mosquito net. When the room was cleaned, the kitchen became an open and spacious room. As for this old woman, her body was also very dirty, having not bathed for who knows how many years. Tzu Chi volunteers wanted to help her bathe. She felt embarrassed and did not dare let anyone bathe her. She kept refusing. A Tzu Chi volunteer, a young person, knelt down and said, “Grandma, let us bath you. After you bathe, we’ll take you to the doctor.” These Tzu Chi volunteers were not afraid that her body was dirty. They were not afraid of her dirty body or smell and continued to implore her. She finally allowed the Tzu Chi volunteers to bathe her.
When her hair, face and body were totally cleaned, she turned out to be such an adorable woman. As for her physical condition, her foot was blistered and festering. Overall, her physical condition was not good, so they took her to a hospital. At the hospital, volunteers took turns, two at a time accompanying her day and night as she stayed at the hospital for a period of time.
That elderly woman’s life has now been transformed. In the past, she lived in a kitchen full of dirty garbage, surviving on garbage. Then Tzu Chi volunteers exercised their love. This is the Buddha-Dharma. They have taken the Dharma into their hearts and then let their live emanate. Everyone’s love is united with a common resolve. In that dirty and unclean place, with a person who smelled and was festering, they were able to endure her stench, endure the filthiness. They were able to do so. So many people were willing to extend their hands to do this, thus they could completely clean that space.
These are the principles of Sakyamuni Buddha. More than 2000 years ago, He taught about “suffering” with the Four Noble Truths. He taught the law of karmic cause and effect, of practicing the Six Perfections and the Four Practices, actualizing the Six Perfections in all actions. He taught all of these principles. Those who form aspirations for spiritual practice have seen all kinds of suffering in the world. Seeing suffering, they recognize their blessings, and [they] understand that all suffering is the result of karmic cause and effect. Having understood this clearly, they begin walking the Bodhisattva-path in the world. So, they were able to patiently endure that kind of dirty environment, and they demonstrated their great love, the love in their hearts. Doesn’t this fully demonstrate the Buddha-Dharma, manifesting it in this world of endurance where the Five Destinies co-exist, which is so full of suffering?
It is in a place like this that the Buddha-Dharma is needed to rescue suffering sentient beings and to inspire love in everyone’s hearts so they can give of themselves in this way. This was Sakyamuni Buddha’s vow. So, we must not be doubtful and ask, “Was it Sakyamuni Buddha in the past did not practice enough that He had to come to such an evil world of Five Turbidities? Why would the future Buddha-lands of those disciples upon whom He bestowed predictions of. Buddhahood be so magnificent?”
Their “circumstantial retributions” [are] “so magnificent and pure,” and people there will all lives so well. This was the Buddha’s way of teaching us! If not for Sakyamuni Buddha appearing lifetime after lifetime in the Saha World and teaching them lifetime after lifetime, they would not have come into contact with the Buddha-Dharma for such a very long time. If not for this, how could those disciples engage in spiritual practice?
So, in their spiritual cultivation they must practice under 300 trillion Buddhas. He confirmed for the disciples that their lands upon attaining Buddhahood will be like that. When they attain Buddhahood in the future, besides their magnificent and pure, the Buddha-Dharma will flourish there. Each of them will have family and followers who all engage in spiritual practice. In term of the houses in those lands, no matter what, in that land, everyone’s houses, clothing, food, shelter and so on will all be so magnificent and pure. The towers and terraces will all be decorated with precious treasures. This is the land Subhuti will have in the future when he attains Buddhahood. The place that we unenlightened sentient beings live in is this world that must be endured, the Saha World.
As unenlightened beings, it is not just the external world that we must endure, but also the internal Five Skandhas. The Five Skandhas, as you all know, are the Five Aggregates, form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. In our daily lives, all the shapes and forms we see and all that we experience and feel lead us to be filled with afflictions. Think about it, everything in the external world, whether joys or afflictions, brews in our minds and leads our ignorance and afflictions to continuously multiply. This is such suffering!
Unenlightened sentient beings abide in the Five Skandhas. These are our circumstantial and direct retributions. We often speak of “controlling our fate” or “being controlled by fate.” Are we being controlled by our fate or are we controlling our fate? Coming to this world was outside of our control. If we want to go from being unenlightened beings to entering the noble path, the only way is through the Buddha-Dharma. We must mindfully accept the teachings and earnestly put them into practice; we must mindfully listen to the Buddha-Dharma.
Previously we discussed how Subhuti, at the end of his spiritual practice, after meeting 300 trillion Buddhas, will be able to attain Buddhahood. His physical appearance upon attaining Buddhahood will be such that, “In his final incarnation he will attain the 32 Marks and will be upright, proper, pleasing and wondrous, like a treasure mountain. His Buddha-land will be foremost in purity and magnificence. All sentient beings who see it will love and take joy in it.”
All those who see it will be happy. Those living in that Buddha’s era, every one of them, will form aspirations to accept the Buddha-Dharma. These are the future Name and Appearance Buddha’s circumstantial and direct retributions.
Next, the sutra says, “In the land, that Buddha will transform countless sentient beings. Of those whom that Buddha teaches, most are Bodhisattvas, and all have sharp capabilities and can turn the non-retreating wheel. That land is constantly dignifies by Bodhisattvas.”
Only good people will live in that land, and all will be spiritual practitioners replete with wisdom. They will all be Bodhisattvas. This is saying that in that land, that Buddha will transform countless people.
“Of those whom that Buddha teaches, most are Bodhisattvas.” Name and Appearance Buddha, in His land, will transform many, many people. At the same time, everyone there will have great capabilities. Moreover, they will form great aspirations to practice the Bodhisattva-path.
“All have sharp capabilities and can turn the non-retreating wheel.” People there will all form great aspirations and have sharp capabilities. The Dharma taught there will be accepted by everyone. They will listen the Dharma, teach it and spread the Dharma there as well. This Dharma-wheel will never retreat. What a blessed land it will be!
So, “All have sharp capabilities.” It is so blessed! Everyone there will be a person of wisdom. “They are all Bodhisattvas of superior wisdom.” Everyone there will be virtuous spiritual friends. Many people of superior virtue will gather there in one place. There they will “turn the non-retreating Dharma-wheel.”
[They] turn the non-retreating wheel: it means that they turn the Dharma-wheel of the ultimate truth of the One Mind. This is also called the Dharma-wheel of the One Vehicle of the Middle Way. This means they promote the Lotus Sutra. All who hear it will attain Buddhahood. Thus, it is called the non-retreating wheel.
“They can turn the non-retreating Dharma-wheel. It means that they turn the Dharma-wheel of the ultimate truth of the One Mind.” The Dharma-wheel they turn is the Great Vehicle Dharma, not the Small Vehicle Dharma. Everyone there will be able to accept this Dharma-wheel of the ultimate truth. This type of Dharma-wheel, the True Dharma, turns incessantly and repeatedly. It is called the Dharma-wheel of the One Vehicle of the Middle Way. This is the Middle Way. It does not just teach “emptiness.” but also analyzes “wondrous existence.” Therefore, it is called the Middle Way, neither attached to emptiness nor existence. We understand that this world is illusory and impermanent; therefore we must engage in spiritual practice. We must also use these cause and conditions to cultivate blessed affinities and go among people to experience the principle of impermanent in the world. We understand this, so we know must practice the Bodhisattva-path. This is what we must practice, for without practicing the Bodhisattva-path, we will never attain Buddhahood. We must truly put our hearts into giving and keep our minds undefiled by worldly appearances. This is called “the Dharma of the One Vehicle of the Middle Way,” and this is “promoting the Lotus Sutra.”
The Lotus Sutra also will be prevalent there in that land. The Lotus Sutra is the Bodhisattva-path. In that land, the Bodhisattva-path of the Lotus Sutra will continually be advanced. “All who hear it will attain Buddhahood.” Those who hear the Lotus Sutra, once they understand it, will practice according to the teachings and continually walk along the great, direct Bodhi-path to naturally arrive at the state of Buddhahood.
So, “All who hear it will attain Buddhahood.” Thus, it is called the non-retreating wheel.” If we walk straight ahead along the path, we will never again regress or retreat.
“That land is constantly dignified by Bodhisattvas.” In that land, not only is everything in that land a treasure, the people there make that land even more magnificent.
If we want a good environment, it is only by building splendid houses that we can make a good environment, nor is it only creating a beautiful landscape that makes us happy. When we interact with people, if we do not like each other, we will feel that in this place, there is really nothing to keep us here.
What is needed is for people in their interactions to have the mind of Bodhisattvas and uphold the Six Points of Reverent Harmony. In this way, it is the most dignified environment. The Buddha teach us that in a place of spiritual practice, we must uphold the Six Points of Reverent Harmony in order to dignify our spiritual training ground.
So, in that land, “That land is constantly dignified by Bodhisattvas. His land is constantly dignified by Bodhisattvas. Of those whom that Buddha teaches, all are a spiritual family with sharp capabilities, and each is replete with might and virtue.
Everyone will engage in spiritual practice there, and everyone will have might and virtue.
“His land is given its dignity by Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas teach the Dharma there to transform sentient beings. They influence the culture and customs so the land is harmonious and peaceful. If this is not dignifying, what is?”
In that land, the Bodhisattvas there are truly dignified. People interact with each other as virtuous friends. They all benefit one another. As they benefit others, others also benefit them. They give other people joy, and other people also make them happy. This is what the dignified Bodhisattvas in that land will be like.
So, Bodhisattva teach the Dharma there to transform sentient beings and everyone shares the Dharma with one another. “They influence the culture and customs so the land is harmonious and peaceful. If this is not dignifying, what is?”
Indeed! Everyone shares with each other, “This is my understanding. This is my understanding of the teachings that I heard today. What is your understanding? What I have gotten from it is this.” Everyone helps each other in their understanding, and everyone comes together to make the Dharma-assembly more perfect and complete. They help each other to turn the Great Dharma-wheel among themselves, to make up for what others are missing, to use the Dharma in their lives so as to eliminate their bad habitual tendencies.
“They influence the culture and customs. In the past our habitual tendencies were like this, but now after listening to the Dharma, we must get rid of these bad habitual tendencies and apply the good teachings in our actions. If we can do this, every state we will be in will be harmonious, will they not? Is this not dignified? This is called dignifying the land. To make the land dignified, magnificent and pure is up to us.
We should influence the culture and customs by putting effort into changing our spiritual state and getting rid of bad habitual tendencies to live together joyfully with others. By applying the Six Points of Reverent Harmony, we can dignify our spiritual training ground. This is not impossible to accomplish. We only need to always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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