Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Extinguish Delusions and Cross over Samsara (滅三妄惑度二生死)
Date: December.13. 2016
‘“Extinction’ is Nirvana,’ extinguishing delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance, the three kinds. Crossing’ is being delivered from the two kinds of samsara, fragmentary and transformational. The great troubles are forever extinguished and crossed over.”
This is the meaning of crossing into extinction. What is it that must be extinguished? Every day, we say that sentient beings are ignorant. We have far too many afflictions and delusions. So, our spiritual practice is to extinguish all afflictions, delusions and ignorance. How many of these are there? They are like dust; that is how many there are!
There is so much ignorance, such that we are constantly living in delusion. The delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance are unceasingly leading us astray.
In fact, these three kinds of delusions are all illusory, but sentient beings stubbornly cling to them. They cling to the illusions of fame, profit, material possessions and so on. Thus, they end up competing with each other and [creating] so many troubles. This just continues to spread.
The Buddha taught us that we must enter extinction. Extinction is Nirvana. Nirvana is the state of tranquil extinction, which means it is tranquil and still. The state of tranquil extinction means that all illusions, ignorance, views and thinking and afflictions are completely extinguished. This is extinction.
“Crossing” is to be delivered from samsara, fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara. Fragmentary samsara refers to coarse appearances, birth, aging, illness and death. Nobody can escape from these within fragmentary samsara, even if they are Hearers or Arhats. The Buddha also lived in this world for a certain period of time. From birth to Parinirvana, 80 years passed. This fragment of time was fragmentary samsara.
But since Hearers, Arhats and Solitary Realizers had already understood the principles, they did not want to be entangled by karma. So, they focused on their own awakening. They feared going through fragmentary samsara again. So, they wanted to cross over and be delivered from fragmentary samsara.
But what is the key to achieving this? It lies in our transformational samsara. This is our thoughts, our perspectives and our delusions views and thinking. These are very subtle and intricate. The thoughts that arise in us transform constantly. Even if we have ended fragmentary samsara, like Hearers and Solitary Realizers who have thoroughly comprehended the principles, we still go through transformational samsara. Have we completely purified ourselves? If we can purify these transformations of our views and thinking, our nature of True Suchness will manifest. That is our intrinsic nature. Only when we have completely purified our mind and ended transformational samsara can we truly be in control of our comings and goings in life. We will be able to control this. We end samsara by transforming both ourselves and others. If we have transformed ourselves, like Hearers, Arhats or Solitary Realizers, we will be very clear on all principles. After this, we must also transform others. Only in this way will we be able to achieve the ending of transformational samsara.
When we have purified ourselves, we will be at ease in samsara and come and go without hindrances. We come for the sake of sentient beings; we come with a mission. This is how we truly end samsara. This is different from the samsara of unenlightened beings, who come to this life with their karma.
Instead the two kinds of samsara, these great troubles, are forever extinguished. So, we must transcend and cross over, transcend the state of unenlightened beings, who carry karma to the next life. With those great troubles, we have no control. Ignorance, afflictions and dust-like delusions affect how we act so that we bring karma to this life. Once all of these are extinguished, then “The great troubles are forever extinguished and crossed over.” We must transcend and be delivered from fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara; we must cross over the ignorance that unenlightened begins possess. This takes a very long time of spiritual practice. Only then will we be able to enter extinction and cross over.
“Crossing into extinction” is something on which we must spend a very long time. The process of spiritual practice take kalpas as incalculable as dust particles; this a very long time. This is from Beginningless Time until now. It is the time from an indescribable beginning up until now. We must mindfully seek to comprehend the Dharma.
In the past, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Tathagata was “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.”
After constantly engaging in spiritual practice, He was already replete with the ten virtues and had accomplished the ten epithets. We talked about this sutra passage before.
The next sutra passage states, “The name of that land was Good City.” Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha lived in a certain land, in a certain era. “The name of that land was Good City. The name of that kalpa was Great Appearance. Fellow bhiksus, since that Buddha entered Parinirvana, a very great, very long time has passed. As an analogy, take all the grains of earth in the great trichiliocosm.”
Sakyamuni Buddha started by saying that after Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha attained Buddhahood, the name of His land was Good City, and the name of His kalpa was Great Appearance. Now we need to start to understand more. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s land and kalpa after attaining Buddhahood had already been realized. So, He is “a Buddha with the fruition of the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle.”
Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior is a Buddha with the fruition of the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle.
As for the essence of His wisdom, though the universe is immense, there is no comparison. Throughout kalpas more numerous than the dusts of the trichiliocosm, of all the multitudes of kinds of living things, none can equal Him, hence He is called Superior. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha is “a Buddha with the fruition of the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle. As for the essence of His wisdom, though the universe is immense, there is no comparison.”
How extensive is this Buddha’s wisdom? To explain how immense His wisdom is, the universe was used as an analogy for it. Although the universe is so big, there is no comparison. This is the wisdom of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. His wisdom was so immense; that is why He is called “Great Unhindered Wisdom.” He has thoroughly comprehended everything.
This wisdom is so open and spacious that even the vast universe cannot be compared to Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s wisdom.
If we want to describe how immense His wisdom is, it is greater than the universe. “Throughout kalpas more numbers than the dusts of the trichiliocosm, of all the numbers of kinds of living things, none can equal Him, hence He is called Superior.” How many species are there [in the universe]? Whether humans, animals, living organisms, plants and so on, none of these can be compared to Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s wisdom. His wisdom is superior, so He was “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior.” The enlightened ones and the enlightened intrinsic nature are the sources of the Dharma.
The source of our enlightened nature is like this, so very open and spacious. This is explaining the causes and conditions of previous lifetimes.
This is explaining the causes and conditions of previous lifetimes. He first mentioned the places where this Buddha had formed affinities in the past. The distant past and countless numbers indicate that what He had realized transcends all of the countless living beings. Starting from the beginnings of life not only reveals how long ago. Great Unhindered attained enlightenment, it also testifies to how profoundly the princes were transformed.
The causes and conditions of previous lifetimes have existed for such a long time. The affinity we have with the Buddha and the affinity the Buddha had with Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha were formed such a long time ago. We have been continuously engaging in spiritual practice up until now. “This is explaining the causes and conditions of previous lifetimes.” From when the 16 princes learned from Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, all the way to the present, to our Shakyamuni Buddha, the fundamental teacher of the Saha World, these affinities had lasted a long time.
So, “He first mentioned the places where this Buddha had formed affinities in the past.” That was in the time of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. “The distant past and countless numbers indicate that what He had realized transcends all of the countless living beings.” After engaging in this kind of spiritual practice for such a long time, He had already transcended other beings. “Starting from the beginnings of life” means that His practice had lasted a long time, ever since the beginning. We often hear, “since Pangu separated the heaven and the earth.” This means the earliest beginning. “[This] not only reveals how long age. “Great Unhindered attained enlightenment.”
It goes beyond this. It also testifies to “how profoundly the princes were transformed.” At the very beginning, at that time, there were these sons, the 16 princes who began to accept this Buddha’s Dharma-lineage and spread it in different lands to transform sentient beings. This is the true beginning, which explains why so many Buddhas abide in the world, in this world and others, transforming sentient beings. Their affinities go very deep.
So, “Following this principle, we can deduce that this is sentient beings’ original enlightened essence.” Following this principle, we can deduce that this is sentient beings’ original enlightened essence. After sentient beings delude their own minds with form, their [wisdom] is thus limited and not great. It is sealed within a husk of ignorance; thus, it is hindered and obstructed. It is concealed in the storehouse consciousness; thus, it is inferior, not superior.
Actually, this is telling us that since Beginningless Time, we all have carried this intrinsically enlightened Buddha-nature. But due to one ignorant thought, “Sentient beings delude their own minds with form. Our ignorant thoughts begin to hinder us. “An ignorant thought creates the Three Subtleties. External states lead to the Six Coarse Marks.” So, “[Our wisdom] is thus limited and not great.” This is because we ourselves remain within the husk of ignorance. So it says, “Thus it is hindered and obstructed.” We are wrapped in this husk, in a husk of ignorance, as if our ignorance buries and hides our nature of True Suchness. Our nature of True Suchness is “concealed in the storehouse consciousness, thus it is inferior, not superior.” We sentient beings are like this. We are really inferior. But Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha is superior. He already transcended this.
“If we can end the mind’s delusions of form and break through the husk of ignorance, our superior wisdom will manifest. Sentient beings and the Buddha do not differ.”
If we can achieve this, if we can end the delusions of form, if we can break free of external conditions and all afflictions of people, matters and objects, if we can eliminate these delusions, we have broken through ignorance. Then we can break through the seal of the husk of ignorance. Therefore, our superior wisdom will manifest, and the Wisdom Superior Buddha of our nature will also manifest. Sentient beings and the Buddha are no different. The Buddha already said, “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature].” We are fundamentally equal to the Buddha. Unfortunately, we are covered by the ignorance in our karmic consciousness.
“The name of that land was Good City.” His land was called “Good City.” The name of that land was Good City: The land that He was to abide in was called Good city. The epithet of that Buddha was Great Unhindered. Being “unhindered” comes from Samadhi. On the land that appeared in response, the cities are of Samadhi. Thus, its name was Good City.
“The land that He was to abide in was called Good City.” Since this Buddha had engaged in spiritual practice for an unfathomably long time so the land that He was to abide in was called Good City. It was a very good land. “The epithet of that Buddha was Great Unhindered.” This comes from Samadhi. This Buddha had already cultivated contemplation and had been in Samadhi for a long time. With a mind in Samadhi, no matter what kind of conditions came, His mind was very firm. So, “Being ‘unhindered’ comes from Samadhi.” Because of Samadhi, our mind and wisdom can be unhindered. If we do not have a mind of Samadhi, we will always be circling within the husk of ignorance.
So, “On the land that appeared in response, the cities are of Samadhi.” This land is the place He was to abide in. Its cities are of Samadhi. The power of His cultivating contemplation can be seen from this. This is the place in which Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha abided.
All this teaches us that we need to abide in Samadhi while we engage in spiritual practice. So, It says, “Thus, its name was Good City.” “The name of that kalpa was Great Appearance.” Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s lifespan was 5,400,000 nayutas of kalpas. This was such a long time! “This Buddha’s lifespan was that long and His kalpa was also very long. The appearances of that time and the appearances of that Buddha and Bodhisattvas were all great and vast.”
They were all very great and lasted long. In His land and His cities, whether the time, or the people, matters, objects, or how His family and followers of that time all had the appearance of Bodhisattvas, each of these appearances were truly great, so great that it cannot be expressed through numbers. These [appearances] were truly very great. Sakyamuni Buddha wanted to tell us how great they were. “Fellow bhiksus, since that Buddha entered Parinirvana, a very great, very long time has passed” that Buddha achieved Parinirvana was very long. “A very great, very long time means the amount of time between that Buddha and the present moment was very great.” “As an analogy, take all the grains of earth in the great trichiliocosm.”
As an analogy, take all the grains of earth in the great trichiliocosm: Dust accumulates into soil, and soil accumulates into earth. All these dust particles are the grains that comprise the element of earth. Wanting to describe the length of these kalpas, the Buddha used the analogy of all the grains of earth in the trichiliocosm.
In the great trichiliocosm, all kinds of things on the land and all the dust that accumulates to become soil, all these things, accumulate into earth. All these things, all kinds of things, all become earth. “All these dust particles are the grains that comprise the element of earth.” As big as the earth is, that is how many grains there are. So, “Wanting to describe the length of these kalpas, the Buddha used the analogy of all the grains of earth in the trichiliocosm.” In order to draw an analogy for such a big number, the Buddha used such a description.
As for grains of earth, “Earth is one of the four elements.” “It can create, contain and give life to all causes, hence it speaks of grains.” The earth can give life to everything, create everything and contain everything. When we look at the things that the earth bears, it can contain and give life to everything. These are the causes, hence it speaks of grains.
On the earth, all things are each other’s causes and each other’s conditions. “Grains of earth refers specifically to the quantity of the element of earth in the great chiliocosm.” This is where we want to draw the analogy. We really cannot use numbers for this analogy. So, we can only use the earth. If all things on the earth, including dust, soil, so on, are seen as worlds, then this is the amount of material, of time, that cannot be counted.
So, as Buddhist practitioners, we truly must be very patient. How can we enter Nirvana and attain the state of stillness and tranquility? This depends on whether or not we constantly cultivate contemplation. To be able to contemplate with a mind in Samadhi, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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