Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Receiving Predictions after Uninterrupted Practice
(修心無間得佛授記)
Date: December.01. 2016
“If we can uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, if we give rise to joy and peacefully, patiently abide in Bodhi, if we cultivate our minds without interruption and persist without retreating, eventually we will receive the Buddha’s prediction of our causes and effects.”
The Buddha hoped for us to enter the Buddha’s door, comprehend the great path and then form the supreme aspiration. When we take refuge, isn’t this [what we chant]? “I take refuge in the Buddha. May all sentient beings comprehend the great path and form the supreme aspiration.” The Three Refuges we chant daily should be clearly understood. When we “take refuge in the Buddha,” if we do not “comprehend the great path,” what are we doing taking refuge with the Buddha? So, we must comprehend the great path.
Is just comprehending the great path enough? It is not enough. We must also form the supreme aspiration. By forming the supreme aspiration, we will be able to open our mind. When, with an open and spacious mind, we seek to comprehend the Buddha’s principles, we will naturally unlock wisdom that is as open and extensive as the ocean. We know so much Dharma, but for what purpose do we apply it? To go among people and transform sentient beings. The Dharma is entirely a tool for delivering ourselves and others. To cross from the shore of ordinary people to the shore of noble beings, we must row and pilot this ship. If there is one person to steer this ship to the other shore, shouldn’t we bring more people? Moreover, if it is a big ship, it can carry a large group of people to the other shore. This depends on the size of our heart; that will determine the size of the ship. The size of the ship will determine how much strength it has and the number of people that it can deliver together with us to the other shore.
During the Buddha’s later years, His hope was that people, by entering the Buddha’s door, would understand suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. At the same time, we must comprehend how in life, when interacting with others, we must be careful. Otherwise, the entanglements of karmic affinities will constantly continue to bind us. So, we must abide by and uphold the precepts.
“If we can uphold precepts….” We must go among people, then we will be able to develop Samadhi. When our minds are in Samadhi, our surroundings will not influence us. We need to settle our minds so that we can unlock our wisdom. Once our wisdom opens up, all worldly and world-transcending Dharma will become clear. When we clearly understand everything, naturally we will be willing to give, to form great aspirations and make great vows. With the Four Great Vows and the Four Infinite Minds, we will naturally be willing to go among people and practice giving.
Giving does not necessarily mean giving money. Wealthy people can offer their wealth while those without wealth can use their strength. They can give to others with their great physical strength. People with wisdom can give their wisdom. This is something that everyone can do.
Look at the five Tzu Chi volunteers from Africa. I personally certified them. These black African volunteers are equal to any other Tzu Chi volunteer. They all wear the same commissioner grown and have the same Tzu Chi hairstyle. When the men put on a suit and wear a tie, it is the same. Although their skin is black, they are all truly the same as every other Tzu Chi volunteer. [One man’s] boss forgave what he did in the past, although he had stolen from him before and committed many offenses. His boss, Mr. Wu Dongbao, is a Tzu Chi volunteer. He knew that his driver would often add 20 liters of gas but would report he spent money for 40 liters. He knew this, yet still paid the amount. He knew it all. This was stealing gas. “Although I am the boss, I am still a Tzu Chi volunteer, so I must think of a way to find an opportunity to transform him.” For several years, he constantly forgave these offenses.
One day he told his driver to come over for a talk. “Do I treat you well?”
“I am very grateful; you treat me like your own brother.”
“Yes, I treat you very well. Do you know that there are things that you have done wrong? Do you know that you have committed many wrongs?”
He then bowed his head to think for a moment. “I have done many [things wrong].” He admitted to everything.
His boss then said, “I knew what you did, but every time I chose to forgive you. Now, I only have one request of you. You need to change your bad habits. You need to show me that you have changed and start doing what I am doing. During this time, if you can do all this….”
”I can do it. All this time the boss knew all of my faults. I admit my wrongdoings, and I will repent and change.”
In the next few years he really changed. He started introductory volunteer training and then began his advanced certification training. He would go volunteer with his boss. He has now become his best assistant, a Bodhisattva at his side who help him in accomplishing good deeds. After many years, he is now certified, and he has also repented his past.
This is human nature. Though he had made mistakes in the past, he has changed. This is a Bodhisattva. So, it says, “If we can uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom and practice charitable giving,” we can do the same. It is our intrinsic nature to practice giving. Seeing his driver being certified, he was also very joyful. So, “We can give rise to joy and peacefully, patiently abide in Bodhi.” This is awakened love.
To transform sentient beings, we must have faith. “Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits.” To have faith in human nature is not easy.] So, “We cultivate our minds without interruption and persist without retreating.” This will require a very long period of time; it is not a one-, two-or three-year task. So, to engage in spiritual practice and cultivate our minds, we must engage in uninterrupted, extended practice and practice with nothing further and with respect. We must persist without regressing.
This is like Maudgalyayana. Maudgalyayana followed the Buddha for many lifetimes. Life after life, he engaged in spiritual practice. Now, in the Chapter on Bestowing Predictions, Venerable Maudgalyayana “eventually will receive the Buddha’s predictions of [his] causes and effects.” This proves that from the time we form our initial aspirations, we must spend a very long time engaging in spiritual practice. One day, we will eventually receive predictions of our causes and effects from a Buddha. This is the goal of our spiritual practice.
The previous sutra passage states, “There will be many heavenly beings, humans. Bodhisattvas and Hearers. Their numbers will be countless. That Buddha’s lifespan will be 24 small kalpas. Right Dharma will abide in this world for 40 small kalpas. Dharma-semblance will also abide for 40 small kalpas.”
We are already quite clear on these numbers. The lifespan Maudgalyayana will attain and the periods of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance are twice those that Venerable Kasyapa Subhuti and Katyayana were predicted to receive. They will have a lifespan of 12 small kalpas and 20 small kalpas of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance. But for Venerable Maudgalyayana it is double. So, we can see that as Venerable Maudgalyayana practiced beside the Buddha, what he displayed was that though he had great spiritual powers, he had an open heart and pure thoughts. His mind was very pure. He peacefully and patiently abided in Bodhi. He was always accommodating and broad-minded. Thus, the predictions of his fruits are double that of the others. This shows the level of his spiritual cultivation. So, among the Buddha’s disciples, he was the one that the Buddha highly praised.
The next sutra passage continues, saying, “At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this verse. This disciple of mine, Mahamaudgalyayana, after departing this life, will meet 8000 and then 200 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones.”
This is the process of Maudgalyayana ’s practice in the future. He will meet 8000 Buddhas. After each of the 8000 Buddhas reach Parinirvana, he will build stupas and make offerings. To allow the Buddha’s teachings to continue and long remain in the human-realm, he builds stupas and makes offerings. If there are stupas, temples and the Sangha, the Buddha-Dharma will be able to be passed on. Not only should we build stupas and temples, but we should also personally make offerings, offering our wealth and strength.
Did you know that at our campus in Guandu, there are two kind women who bought the land for more than [NT$] 2 billion? Now, we have a campus there, and many people go there to listen to the Dharma. These ladies are Tzu Chi commissioners and are treated the same as everyone else. They also take turns cleaning the surroundings of the campus. They are in charge of cleaning the bathroom. Before, I never announced that this piece of land was bought by these people. This is the process of our spiritual practice. We have to train ourselves by first practicing to have no sense of self. When we give, it must be unconditionally. We must be equal to everyone else. Only after many years did everyone know that this place was donated by these people. They offered this land and also maintained this land. When there are many people around, they wish to maintain its cleanliness. The meaning of this is the same.
So, there is building stupas as offerings or building temples as offering or making offerings of serving at a spiritual practice center. In making offerings, there are offerings of wealth, of respect and of conduct, of putting the teachings into action.
“After that, he will further make offerings to 200 trillion Buddhas.” Maudgalyayana will start by making offerings to 8000 Buddhas and building stupas after They are gone. Afterwards, he must still make offerings to 200 trillions Buddhas and “also build stupas for Them and make offerings.” With so many, it will take a very long time! So, he will “also build stupas for Them and make offerings.” This is the process of his practice. When making offerings, no matter how much we give, we need to practice the Three Spheres of Emptiness. We should not count the amount we give; we give unconditionally. We should also put the teachings into action as a way to make offerings. This is engaging in spiritual practice. So, this means making offerings is this simple, but it will require a long time.
Thus, “At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, “spoke this verse.” This is a “repeated verse.” After teaching using the long form prose, He again used these verses to restate His meaning. “Those who have heard it can hear it again, while those who have not heard it can hear it.” Since we have already heard it before, we need to strengthen our memory and listen to it again. We should always listen to the sutras repeatedly. We must be able to remember them; only then are we able to put them into action.
“Those who have heard it can hear it again, while those who have not heard it can hear it.” Those who have heard it already should listen to it again, and those who have not heard it yet have the chance to hear it. This is the main point of the verses. “This disciple of mine, Mahamaudgalyayana, will have the epithet. “Tamalapatra Sandalwood Fragrance Tathagata.” This will be his name when he attains Buddhahood.
This disciple of mine, Mahamaudgalyayana: In the causal ground, he was foremost in spiritual powers. When he attains the fruit, his epithet will be Tamalapatra Sandalwood Fragrance Tathagata, referring to the fragrance of undefiled nature. With this fragrance, he never strays from this, thus he reaches that He never abandons the causes, thus he fulfills the conditions. All noble beings, when they attain Buddhahood, have different epithets, as the fruits are inseparable from their causes.
“Tamalapatra Sandalwood Fragrance Tathagata” when translated, has the meaning “fragrance of undefiled nature.” This means that his cause is that, throughout his practice, his mind was not affected by any habitual tendencies. He had no negative habitual tendencies, so he had no defilements and was very pure. This is “undefiled,” very clean, so clean a fragrance will emanate from him. “With this fragrance, he never strays from this, thus he reaches that.” He never strays from the present. “This” refers to “now,” from that time and on into the future, through meeting 8000 Buddhas and then 200 trillion Buddhas, all the way until he attains Buddhahood.
[He had no] habitual tendencies [and emitted] this fragrance from his pure and undefiled nature, from this life until he attains Buddhahood. “He never abandons the causes, thus, he fulfills the conditions.” These causes and conditions of not being influenced by habitual tendencies will continue on into the future. Thus he constantly creates good causes and conditions, pure and undefiled karmic conditions.
“All noble beings, when they attain Buddhahood, have different epithets. Every Buddha had a different epithet after they attain Buddhahood, which originates from the process of their spiritual practice and the fruit that they will attain. “The fruits are inseparable from their causes. How they engage in spiritual practice and the mindset they use in their spiritual practice life after life determine the fruits they attain.
So, “After departing this life, after casting aside this current body, “in accord with the Buddha’s teachings,” he will encounter Buddhas who teach him. After so many Buddhasd come to teach him. In his final body he let go of his present final body as an Arhat at the Vulture Peak Assembly.”
During the Buddha’s time, when He taught the Lotus Sutra, that is referred to as the Vulture Peak Assembly. It was due to many kalpas of past lives that now, in this lifetime, he was an Arhat who renounced the lay life and [attained] his final body. This would continue into the future. This was Maudgalyayana’s spiritual practice.
The next sutra passage states, “[He] will meet 8000 and then 200 trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones. For the sake of the path to Buddhahood he will make offerings with reverence. In the presence of all Buddhas, he will constantly cultivate purifying practices.
In the process of encountering all these Buddhas, he constantly makes offerings with reverence. “In the presence of all Buddhas, he will always cultivate Brahma-conduct. “Brahma-conduct” means purifying practices. “[He] will meet 8000 and then 200trillion Buddhas, World-Honored Ones.” After making offerings to 8000 Buddhas, he will make offerings to another 200 trillion Buddhas.
“For the sake of the path to Buddhahood, he will make offerings with reverence.” This is the resolve to seek the path to Buddhahood. He has one goal as he goes among people, which is to seek the supreme path Buddhahood. This is the goal of his spiritual practice. He is single-minded in his resolve. “He will make offerings with his actions.” His goal is to attain Buddhahood, so he is completely focused on “making offerings with his actions.” He is willing to form aspirations and put them into practice with his body, reverently making offerings with his body and mind. This is his process of spiritual practice.
“In the presence of all Buddhas, he will constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct.” After 8000 Buddhas, there are another 200 trillion Buddhas. When each Buddha reaches Parinirvana, he will build stupas and temples for each Buddha and constantly, personally make offerings. From one Buddha to the next Buddha, do you know how much time will pass? That amount of time is countless kalpas. Then, another Buddha will manifest in the world. The time from one Buddha to the next is very long. During this time we rely on Dharma-semblance and make images, build temples and make offerings to the Sangha. The Sangha must constantly pass down the Dharma. Only then can the Buddha-Dharma be passed down.
Thus it says, “In the presence of all Buddhas, he will constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct. He will not only practice charitable giving, but also become a monastic, diligently engage on spiritual practice and faithfully make offerings to the Buddha. He will be among the Sangha and engage in purifying practices. This is the process of his practice.
To complete the process of spiritual practice, we start from precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. After following precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, understanding the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, we must practice the Six Perfections. While practicing the Six Perfections we must always patiently abide on the Bodhi-path and persevere in our practice for a long time. Then eventually, one day, we will also be able to attain Buddhahood. We too will receive a Buddha’s predictions of Buddhahood. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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