Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Within Us (人皆本有大通智勝)
Date: December.21. 2016
“We must always cultivate contemplation and concentrate on the essence of our minds. Everyone intrinsically possesses a Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior within. It is inexhaustible and limitless, this beginningless Buddha-nature. It is flawless, great and unhindered, its nature pure and wondrous.”
Recently I have continuously spoken of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. How long ago was [the lifetime] of this Buddha? You all probably still remember; it is impossible to describe Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s initial causes and conditions. They were before Beginningless Time began, an infinitely distant Beginningless Time truly has no beginning. When we speak of this time, it is so long ago that if we gathered a group of many mathematicians and their students and had them use their combined ability to calculate just how much time had passed, it would be impossible for them to calculate. Since there is no way to calculate when Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha had His origins, it would better that we [focus on] “always cultivate contemplation and concentrating on the essence of our minds.” Since we cannot calculate this length of time, we simply must be mindful. In our spiritual practice, we must focus our energy and put our efforts into stabilizing our minds. With pure minds we cultivate contemplation. Everyone knows what Samadhi is. Concentrating our thinking is called Samadhi. When our minds are without contamination, or defilements, this is the essence of our minds. What is the essence of our minds? It is a great perfect mirror, the great perfect mirror wisdom. This great perfect mirror wisdom is the pure Buddha-nature we all possess. We all intrinsically have this; we all intrinsically have a Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior within us. Actually, this Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior has existed since Beginningless time. Unfortunately it has been covered by ignorance. We have yet to manifest this great perfect mirror. If our Great Unhindered Wisdom, our wisdom-nature, can be opened up, it will similarly be inexhaustible and limitless. This shows how the Buddha-nature is inexhaustible. We cannot say when we first began to have our Buddha-nature.
It has truly been a long time; we all intrinsically have it. “It is flawless, great and unhindered.” Everyone inherently has a mind that is extremely pure and undefiled. The Dharma is inherently in our minds; we were originally flawless. The true principles go back to our mind-nature. Clearly, we intrinsically have this, but instead we look everywhere else for it. “It is flawless, great and unhindered, its nature pure and wondrous”. All people intrinsically have it. Every day, we listen to the sutras. Now every day, I continue to teach. Countless kalpas ago, a long time ago, there was Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. His [lifetime] was so long. Coming up, there is still more time to describe.So, we need to put our hearts into this.If we are mindful, we can cast aside our ignorance so our great perfect mirror wisdom can manifest.We simply need the resolve.
The previous sutra passage states, “Suppose a man used his strength to grind up all of the lands in the great trichiliocosm and turned all of these grains of earth completely into ink.”
“Then after passing through 1000 lands, he would finally ink one spot, continuing on this way until all the ink from the dust was exhausted.”
This length of time is very long.
The next passage states, “Suppose all these lands, whether inked or not inked, were all ground into dust, and one particle of dust represents one kalpa. The number of all those dust particles is surpassed by the number of the kalpas since that Buddha entered Parinirvana; such an amount of countless kalpas has passed.”
This is such a long time.The previous passages already said this many times.Did it need to be elaborated on again later?The sutras are like this.
So, “Suppose all these lands, whether inked or not inked” is saying “in this way he would pass through thousands of thousands of lands.”He passed through these many lands.
“With both those he inked and those he did not,” whether or not he inked these lands, “there are countless worlds of dust particles”.
In these worlds, whether there is land, there will be minute dust particles, there will be sand, these kinds of things.“[These] were all ground into dust.”All of the mountains, rivers and land are all ground up into dust.“One particle of dust represents one kalpa.”In this way, one particle represents one kalpa.
[These] were all ground into dust, and one particle of dust represents one kalpa:
All the grains of earth and things on the land, along wit the thousands of worlds, would be completely ground into dust.One particle of dust represents one kalpa.
We are all very familiar with kalpas.As cycle of one increasing and one decreasing kalpa is only one small kalpa.In summary, this time is very long.
“All the grains of earth and things on the land, along with the thousands of worlds, would be completely ground into dust.”Everything is completely ground into dirt.
“One particle of dust represents one kalpa.”We already know this. “The number of all those dust particles is surpassed by the number of the kalpas since that Buddha entered Parinirvana; such an amount of countless kalpas has passed.”
The number of all those dust particles is surpassed by the number of the kalpas since that Buddha entered Parinirvana; it has been such an amount of countless kalpas:
Though such grains of earth and things were all exhausted, the kalpas that have passed further surpass this number.
“That Buddha” is Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha.
It has been such a long time; the grains of earth in this analogy were exhausted.Everything on the land was ground into sand, and all this dust is used to represent time, and all this dust is used to represent time, a long time; a kalpa is a long period of time.This is all to describe time.
“The kalpas that have passed,” the time that has passed, “further surpasses this number.”
The time that has passed is even more than the time in this analogy, so it is truly an indescribable amount of time.
The next passage states, “With the Tathagata’s unobstructed wisdom, I know that Buddha’s entering of Parinirvana, along with that of the Hearers and Bodhisattvas, as if seeing them cross into extinction now. All you bhiksus must know, the Buddha’s wisdom is pure, subtle and wondrous. It is without Leaks, without any obstructions. It reaches back countless kalpas unhindered.”
This analogy is of the Tathagata’s unobstructed wisdom.
“I know that Buddha’s entering of Parinirvana.”The Tathagata is this Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha.
After He had attained Buddhahood, His Tathagata-wisdom was unobstructed.
With the Tathagata’s unobstructed wisdom, I know that Buddha’s enterign of Parinirvana:
Sakyamuni Tathagata, with His unobstructed wisdom, was able to know the appearance of Great Unhindered when He entered Parinirvana.
What Sakyamuni Buddha said was that after one attains Buddhahood, including He Himself, that wisdom after enlightenment will pervade the Dharma-realm of the universe.Wit this unobstructed wisdom, He understood.What was just said earlier kelp telling us this was a very, very long time, dust-inked kalpas, such a long time.That Buddha [existed] such a long time ago.Now Sakyamuni Buddha was recalling the past time of the Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, up until He was about to enter Parinirvana. Sakyamuni Buddha was remembering the past, the Hearers and Bodhisattvas of that time, “as if seeing them cross into extinction now”. That was during the time when Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha expounded the Dharma. During that time, there were also Hearers and Bodhisattvas. After a long period of time, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha entered the state of Parinirvana. From that time until now, Sakyamuni Buddha’s course of [spiritual practice] was still clearly in His memory.
So,“[He saw those] Hearers and Bodhisattvas, as if seeing them cross into extinction now. He also sees the assemblies of Hearers and Bodhisattvas transformed by that Buddha, just like He sees them today, with no difference”.
It was just like what we can see right now. This was the course of events. Great unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha at the time was transforming sentient beings. During that time, for sentient beings to accept the Buddha-Dharma was not very easy. During that time, sentient beings’ capabilities were similarly uneven. That Buddha, similarly, had to] divide His teachings into]. Hearer, Solitary Realizer and Bodhisattva in order to teach. In the end, He too expounded the Lotus Sutra.
So, that Buddha, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, went through the same process as [our Buddha]. Therefore, “All you bhiksus must know”.
All you bhiksus must know: He told all the bhiksus that they must know this matter. “Must know” are words of caution and admonishment. This Means that everyone intrinsically has a Great Unhindered [Buddha], so shouldn’t we carefully reflect on ourselves?
“He told all the bhiksus that they must know this matter”. They must understand this particular matter. “Everyone must understand what I am saying now”. He was explaining the time of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. “Must know” means they must understand. He wanted to give everyone words of caution and admonishment. Everyone must know. Though a very long time had passed, He used the Tathagata’s wisdom to tell everyone. Everyone must be vigilant and put effort into cultivating calm contemplation in our minds, using Samadhi to reflect on ourselves.
Why are we still ordinary people? Why do we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature? Why are we still listening to the sound in order to understand the Dharma? Everyone intrinsically has the Buddha-Dharma in their minds. Everyone needs to mindfully experience this. This is not a story! It is the Dharma. so, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha and the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City are not stories; they are teachings. This was the Buddha’s compassion. He wanted to let everyone know these true principles that have existed since Beginningless Time. The teaching is that “Everyone intrinsically has great unhindered wisdom”.
So, we need to put effort into “carefully reflecting on ourselves”. We need to cultivate contemplation and reflect on ourselves. By earnestly investigating the outside world, we reflect on ourselves. If we can concentrate on the essence of our mind and earnestly contemplate, we see that our mind-essence, our inherent nature, is the same; the great perfect mirror wisdom still exists.
“The Buddha’s wisdom is pure, subtle and wondrous. It is without Leaks, without any obstructions”. Everyone’s Buddha-wisdom is very pure. We can return to this very pure [state], which is the most subtle and wondrous wisdom.
“It is without Leaks, without any obstructions”. The Dharma that we have does not have any Leaks.
“Pure, subtle and wondrous: With the three kinds of wisdom united in one mind, it is called pure”. “The three kinds of wisdom” are wisdom of all Dharma, wisdom of enlightenment and all-encompassing wisdom. These are called the three kinds of wisdom. They are contained within the one mind, so with the one mind containing the three kinds of wisdom, it is called subtle. “Neither three nor one, yet both three and one, it is called wondrous.” This is [the nature] of our minds.
Actually, how much is hidden in our minds? There is quite a lot. So, in the fields of the eighth consciousness, there is much positive and negative karma hidden. We need to put effort into [understanding this]. This is truly subtle and wondrous. “Neither three nor one, yet both three and one, it is called wondrous.”
In one mind, there are three kinds of wisdom. Actually it is not three kinds. The “three” in fact come back to the “one”. This means we return to our intrinsic nature, our nature of True Suchness. So, “It is without Leaks, without any obstructions”.
It is without Leaks, without any obstructions: Seeing one thing and abandoning another is called having Leaks is called having Leaks. Seeing that one that but not this one is called having obstructions. The Buddha, with His wisdom free from all Leaks and obstructions, was able to see the Parinirvana of that Buddha and those Hearers and Bodhisattvas as clearly as if He saw them now. So, this is His pure and wondrous wisdom.
Because we are ordinary people, if we see one thing, we abandon another. If we see one thing, then we forget the other one When we are reading the sutras, Isn’t this what happens? We see the first line and read on, to the second and third lines. The mind is not focused, so we continue reading on and forget what we had read before. This is having Leaks, letting it “leak out.” “Seeing that one but not this one is called having obstructions.”
Seeing that one but not this one means we look over there, so we do not see what is here. If we look forward, then we are not able to see what is behind. These are obstructions. We are all like this. If we look toward the front, we cannot see what is behind. These are obstructions.
But the Buddha’s wisdom is unhindered. It is without Leaks, without any obstructions. He can [understand] all the principles, and there is no obstruction in any direction. This is the Buddha’s wisdom. The [Buddha’s wisdom] is free from all Leaks and obstructions. So, He was able to thoroughly understand.
He “was able to see [the Parinirvana of that Buddha and those Hearers].” That Buddha was Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. This Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, could recall the past lifetime of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. During that time, Hearers, Bodhisattvas and that Buddha entered extinction. That world and lifetime were seen “as clearly as if He saw them now, just as if He was seeing them in this lifetime, in the present.” This is due to the Buddha’s “pure and wondrous wisdom.”This is the Buddha’s wisdom. “It reaches back countless kalpas unhindered”
It reaches back countless kalpas unhindered: He can skillfully reach all of the matters of infinite kalpas before, completely unhindered. To reach is to be unhindered. The Tathagata views the past as if it is today Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior manifests in this way. The assembly did not know these far-off things because their Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior had not yet manifested.
The Buddha’s wisdom can reach back unhindered to [recall] things from countless kalpas before. This is called reaching back unhindered, just as if He saw them now. Our Sakyamuni Buddha was already enlightened, so He was one with the universe. “The Tathagata views the past as if it is today.” See, He could speak of things from long ago and see the things that happened at that time. His memory was [as clear] as if it happened today, as if Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. From such a long time ago, from Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s lifetime to the present, “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha has been in all of our minds.”
So, this is to say, “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature].” Thus, “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha manifests in this way.” The assembly did not know these far-off things. We do not know these things because we are still ordinary people. So, “Their Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior had not yet manifested.” This is because in our minds, our Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior has not yet manifested. For Sakyamuni Buddha, “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha had always been in His mind.” We all intrinsically have this as well We have had Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior from the beginning of Beginningless time. Originally, we did not have obstructions, we could reach the great principles of everything in the universe.
We all inherently have this kind of unobstructed great wisdom, but it became covered by ignorance and afflictions. So now, for us to return to it, “We must always cultivate contemplation and concentrate on the essence of our minds.” We must put effort into cultivating contemplation and concentrating on the essence of our minds and our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. So, everyone intrinsically has the flawless Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior. This pure and wondrous nature inherently exists in us. I only hope that everyone can always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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