Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Abandoning Precious Playthings and Going to Where the Buddha Is (捨諸珍玩往詣佛所)
Date: January.02.2017
“The body of joyful use is a response to the causes that He Himself cultivated. Put to use according to intrinsic nature, it brings all kind of Dharma-joy, freely and without hindrance. It means body and mind are free and at ease. Thus it is the body of joyful use, also called the perfect reward-body.”
We engage in spiritual practice in order to attain a sense of peace and freedom. Attaining this peace and freedom through our spiritual practice requires our best efforts. Listening daily to the Dharma, we understand that the Buddha came to this world due to His causes and conditions for the Saha. World, the world that must be endured. Calling it a world that must be endured means that world the Buddha was born into required a lot of patience in order to endure it.
What is patience? It is patience in the face of suffering. So, in this world where beings of the Five Destinies coexist, suffering arises out of its great complexity. Some people are good, form great aspirations and are willing to create great blessings for others; these are the rich among the rich. They are like heavenly beings. Some faithfully fulfill their duties. They do no wrong. There are those who are good like this.
Yet, there are also those with disordered minds, in whom good and evil are mixed. They are sometimes good and sometimes evil. They will at times do good, if causes and conditions allow, but often do evil depending on their surroundings, often by becoming greedy, angry and ignorant. Although people like this can perform good deeds, their doing so depends upon causes and conditions. If their normal environment is even slightly unsatisfactory, they can become angry. In not getting what they want, they become angry and may use all kinds of methods to get what they desire, what they crave.
If they cannot get it, they may go to any length to get it, even if it means harming others. This is of no benefit to themselves either. These are asuras. If the good in asuras is more or less lacking, and their evil is a bit heavier, then they will fall into hell. Sentient beings in the habit of wavering like this can easily commit the Ten Evils and fall into hell.
Life in hell does end, but ending it is difficult. Once one descends into hell, it is not easy to become liberated from it. When causes and conditions are such that life in hell does come to an end, one than transmigrates to the animal realm as an ox or a horse, for there is still much to be repaid.
This is in the Earth Treasury Sutra. When I taught the Earth Treasury Sutra previously, I cited many examples of causes and conditions where, due to a slight carelessness, people descended into hell for thousands and thousands of kalpas, and it became very difficult for them to extricate themselves from that hell. When they were finally liberated from hell, their karma still had not been exhausted, where, due to a slight carelessness, people descended into hell. Truly, it was beyond their control. They were not free.
What we hope for in our spiritual practice is to gain an understanding of the principles, of how we can be very clear about the paths upon which we come and go. Similarly, we wish to have the same mind as the Buddha as well as the same vow as the Buddha. We should make a vow to return to the world. If we wish to vow to return to the world, we most definitely must listen to the Buddha’s teachings. It is through the Dharma-stream of the sutras, the teachings of the Buddha that were passed down from more than 2000 years ago until now, that we can respect the Buddha as if He were still here.
Then, wherever we open the sutras will become our spiritual training ground. So, we reverently engage in daily morning recitation. The essence of the Lotus Sutra is contained in the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. Everyday at our Vulture Peak Assembly, we should be very mindful.
In essence it explains the origin of the teaching, the most important part of it is benefiting others. When we benefit others, our mind naturally feels at ease. We do this in our daily lives through the body of joyful use. Having listened to the Buddha-Dharma, we practice according to the teachings. If we do not deviate from the teachings, then naturally our “body of joyful use” will respond to causes we ourselves have cultivated, and today again we can practice according to the teachings. When it comes to the teachings, how are the teachings ultimately expressed in our daily lives?
If we feel joy when we see others and they are similarly joyful when they see us, then this is when we can say to ourselves, “This is the Dharma!” When we form good affinities with others, it is because of these good affinities that they smile when they see us and we feel joy when we see them. These are good affinities. If we see someone carrying something, we pick up our pace without delay to hurry to help him with it, to help him lighten his burden. After having helped him carry it, he thanks us and we feel Dharma-joy because we have applied the teachings. If what they are carrying is very heavy, and we move quickly to take it for them to help them lighten their heavy weight, they will naturally thank us for it. This is to accord to the Dharma, and we experience acting in accordance to the Dharma. We have done it. Actually, it is really that simple. “The body of joyful use.” Why has this body been given us? To help others according to the Dharma. This is what is known as cultivating a cause.
In our daily lives, it is nothing special, we just practice like this. To help others according to the Dharma. This what is known as cultivating a cause. The response is mutual. “According to intrinsic nature.” This is our pure Buddha-nature. Where does pure Buddha-nature lie? It lies in goodness. Any act of goodness we do accords with our pure Buddha-nature. Our nature of True Suchness is intrinsically good. When we are willing to help others, when we are willing to interact with others, when our intrinsic natures mutually accord and we never go backwards, then our interactions will always be ones of joyful acceptance. You accord with your nature of goodness, and I accord with my Buddha-nature, then this way we both “put to use according to our intrinsic natures.” Of the many things we do in our daily lives, which among them does not bring us joy? We are joyful! This is called Dharma-joy.
Everything we do every day accords with the Dharma. We are very joyful. Think about it, how can anything be difficult for us when we practice like this? It is this simple in our daily lives. When we joyfully use our bodies like this, our experiences with one another accord with our own intrinsic natures, and [we experience] joy and delight. This is our spiritual training ground, and this is how we practice in this spiritual training ground.
“Freely and without hindrances.” We naturally feel free, for nothing really obstructs us. “It means body and mind are free and at ease.” As long as we have not wronged others, as long as our intentions are good and everyone works together wholeheartedly, in concert and in harmony, naturally we will be physically and mentally free, for no afflictions will constrain or hinder us.
There will be none. If we have a guilty conscience, it means our mind is not perfect and complete. Our goodness is not perfect and complete. We are still deficient, still not perfect. These are our obstacles.
Defects and deficiencies like these are obstacles. If we always have a quilt conscience, then our minds will always be hindered. If we can handle our interpersonal relationships so we never have mutual wronged one another, naturally we will physically and mentally be free.
It is often said that if our conscience is clear, then regardless of how others treat us, after self-reflection we can decide that our conscience is still clear. If we have not done enough, if we are deficient, then we will again fortify ourselves, further strengthen our spiritual aspirations, further steady our steps. Although we are still not perfect and complete, we do have our “body of joyful use.” We continue accordingly by the rules of the teachings with no guilty conscience, for we have done nothing to feel guilty about. We have just not yet become perfect and complete, and so continue at once to work hard. This is “body and mind free and at ease.” “Thus it is the body of joyful use, also called the perfect reward-body.”
All of us are still unenlightened beings, so I often say I still need to strengthen myself, I still need to bolster myself, pull myself together to do the things I should do. It is just that now I feel that time is running out! I am almost out of time. This is the law of nature. Will the time ever come when the things I do are perfect and complete? This is the deficiency I constantly feel now. I definitely must be a little more earnest. With deficiencies like these, I must become even more serious and do my best to reach that level of perfection and completeness.
However, that is truly not easy at all! It does not matter, as the Buddha told us it would take dust-inked kalpas. As long as our minds do not again become deluded, we have many lifetimes worth of time. The Buddha continually practiced for periods of dust-inked kalpas, over the course of many lifetimes, choosing circumstantial and direct retributions in the Saha World, for this was His vow! Such is the power of His vows have severe afflictions, and sentient beings in the Saha World are intermingled with good and evil, He vowed to come to the world. The human world is not an ideal world, but look at Earth Treasury Bodhisattva. Earth Treasury Bodhisattva also listened mindfully to the Dharma, resonated with the Buddha-mind and made vows of Buddhahood, but the vow he chose was, “Until hell is empty, I will not attain Buddhahood.”
The Buddha, however, chose the place where begins of the Five Destinies coexist so as to educate the people beforehand, for if they were t aught well, then they would not fall into hell. In the event that they fall into hell, their suffering there would be unbearable, so the disciples were willing to save those sentient beings. This was an aspiration of both master and disciple. Though the place He chose was one of suffering.
So, we all have this “body of joyful use.” also called the reward-body. With regard to the reward-body, why did you choose to be born in this place? Was your coming here beyond your control? Or was it because you had affinities with Sakyamuni Buddha that you were born in the era of Dharma-degeneration in order to accept the Dharma and put it to use, to listen to the Dharma and to spread the Dharma? Where these the affinities that brought you here? Perhaps each of us has our own causes and conditions that have brought us here. The Buddha was among those 16 novices at the Lotus Dharma-assembly of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, and we had the affinities to be part of that assembly as well.
For dust-inked kalpas, very long periods of time, we have continually passed through existences where good and evil coexist, sometimes doing good, sometimes evil, with good causes and negative conditions all mixed together, and this is how we have continued until today. So, now that we have had the causes and conditions to attain birth in human form, now that we have the Dharma and are able to listen to the Dharma, what else are we waiting for? We must seize the moment.
Body of joyful use in our daily lives we can easily help other people, then why don’t we go and help others at once? When we see each other, we all form good affinities with one another. There are so many of us here in this place of spiritual practice constantly forming good affinities, all “putting to use” our “intrinsic natures accordingly” in order to attain Dharma-joy. This truly is our spiritual training ground, and in this spiritual training ground, we are free and unhindered.
Because we wish to engage in spiritual practice, whenever someone does good, we must praise them. When they do good, when they transform others, we must continually praise them. We will always at ease every day, free in body and mind, in our bodies of joyful use. We should earnestly utilize our bodies, we should use, to the utmost, these reward-bodies to do the things we should do, use these reward-bodies to earnestly practice the teachings we should and carry them out well, hoping we may be able to journey upon the Dharma in our subsequent lifetimes. This is what I have been recently and continually emphasizing to you all, how spiritual practice is really not difficult.
As we have just said, by bringing joy to others, we ourselves also feel joy. By helping others, by moving just a little faster in hurrying to help others, when people feel gratitude toward us, we ourselves become filled with the Dharma-joy. In daily life it is just simple. It is really not that difficult.
“The body of benefiting others,” as we mentioned yesterday, serves to “respond to others’ capabilities.” Through the impartial wisdom of the Tathagata, we turn the wheel of Right Dharma. This serves to “enable others to be benefited.”
Having understood this, we go on to teach others so they can similarly accept the Right Dharma. We “turn the wheel of Right Dharma” to allow others and everyone to hear it, so that everyone else can also put it to use, form great aspirations and make great vows. This is why we turn the Dharma-wheel the way we do in daily life, to enable everyone to experience great joy. This is our spiritual training ground.
The previous sutra passage says, “Before this Buddha became a monastic, he fathered 16 sons. The first among these was named Wisdom Accumulated”.
We spoke of this yesterday. The eldest of the 16 sons was named Accumulated Wisdom because he had inherited Buddha-wisdom, having accumulated it continually over a long period of time. This is what [the name] means.
It continues, “Each of these sons had all kinds of precious and marvelous playthings. When they heard that their father had attained. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they abandoned their precious playthings and went to where that Buddha was. Their mothers all wept and followed them to see them off”.
Parting with family is heartbreaking, and when a son wishes to enter the monastic life, the mother parts with her son reluctantly. These 16 sons all had the same father but had different mothers. It is because the king had many concubines that he had so many sons, each born to different mothers. Each of the sons wanted to follow their father to engage in spiritual practice, and there were many different mothers, thus it says “their mothers.” They were reluctant to part and so they wept when they accompanied their sons, seeing them off to engage in spiritual practice as they went to realize their aspirations.
“Each of these sons had all kinds of precious and marvelous playthings: Princes normally live in palaces. In the mundane world, with princes in a palace, they have everything they could ever want; they have many precious treasures. There had many precious treasures there “for their joyful use.”
Everything they used was a treasure. They had golden bowls and silver chopsticks, and they wore gold, silver, precious treasures, clothing made of jade and so on. Of all the things they used, none were not worldly treasures. They lived in palaces, which meant they were rich. Of all the things they used, all that was given to them were precious treasures.
Moreover, they had “all kinds of precious playthings.”
All kinds of precious playthings: With exquisite headpieces, they enjoyed themselves with no restraint. Common people could never attain this. They enjoyed the ultimate pleasures of sight and hearing and fully satiated their enjoyment of their taste and their body. The palace was very beautiful and the concubines very charming. Everywhere they went, there were precious playthings.
“Exquisite headpieces of dragons and phoenix.” These were carved dragons and painted phoenix, all very exquisite, things of very fine workmanship. This applied even to the helmets they wore upon their heads that were called headpieces. Whether things adorning their bodies, carved with dragons and painted with phoenixes, or things they wore upon their heads, all were similarly ornately carved with gold, silver and gems. All were of exquisite workmanship. From head to toe, everything they wore was all very precious. All were of exquisite workmanship, all ornately carved. Their hats and shoes were like this, not to mention the clothes they wore were all very precious.
So, they “enjoyed themselves with no restraint.” They lived extravagant lives and enjoyed themselves to their hearts’ content. They got whatever they wanted. Life like this, life like this inside the palace was something that ordinary people would never be able to enjoy.
So, “they enjoyed the ultimate pleasures of the eye and ear.” Whatever the eyes saw were things created with care and precision, things to plat with and enjoy. Everything the eye saw there was all very exquisite, not only of excellent quality, but very valuable. All workmanship there was very exquisite, so “they enjoyed the ultimate pleasures of sight and hearing.” Of all the eye saw there, even the musical instruments and the music produced were all delightful and “fully satiated their enjoyment of their taste and their body.” Everything seen and heard there was all quite subtle and wondrous. Everything enjoyed there were precious things, and everything they ate there satisfied their desire of the palate. The things they ate were also very good; their drinks, whatever they were, were all of high quality and satisfied all their desires.
“The palace was very beautiful and the concubines very charming. Everywhere they went, there were precious playthings.” For every concubine, meaning all the women there, whether they were the imperial consort, the concubines or the palace maids, everything they wore was like this; everything they used was precious.
So, everything you saw, everywhere you looked, everywhere they went, there were precious playthings. Everything you passed, and everything you saw, whether people, objects or whatever, all were most entertaining and exquisite precious playthings, enjoyments not found elsewhere in the world. There were so many things to enjoy there.
Indeed, these pleasures, impossible to enjoy elsewhere in the world, were all enjoyed there. The 16 princes enjoyed pleasures in such an environment, but then they heard that their father had achieved Anuttara-samyak-sambidhi. He engaged in spiritual practice for a long time, for who knows how long, not to mention that He sat under the Bodhi-tree for a full 10 small kalpas. Beginning with one small kalpa, He continued sitting through 10 small kalpas. Such a very long time had passed before He finally attained enlightenment. Compassion arose in Him, and, exercising wisdom in accord with that compassion, great perfect mirror wisdom manifested, and He attained Buddhahood, achieving Anuttara-samyak-sambidhi, supreme universal and perfect enlightenment unsurpassed [enlightenment].
He had attained Buddhahood. The news began to spread that this Buddha had begun expounding the Dharma. His place of enlightenment was just like Sakyamuni Buddha’s. Both taught the Dharma according to capabilities. Many people came to take refuge, and when this news began to spread, even the palace found out about it. So, those 16 princes were originally enjoying their surroundings when they heard that their father, who renounced the lay life, ad already attained perfect enlightenment. They heard He was spreading the Dharma, for the news had reached the palace as well.
When Sakyamuni Buddha spread the Dharma, didn’t the news return to the palace as well? So, after hearing the Dharma, they realized that only the Buddha-Dharma is everlasting; pleasures are short-lived, last a single lifetime, and when blessings are exhausted, who knows what future rebirth will bring. So, the 16 princes took joy in the Buddha-Dharma and formed aspirations to renounce the lay life. This was their aspiration, to pass on the Buddha’s will. They had inherited the Buddha’s aspiration, so they all renounced the lay life.
“They abandoned their precious playthings and went to where that Buddha was.” They all gave up their most precious things, they became willing to abandon their most precious playthings and go to the place where their father, the king, had attained Buddhahood.
Everyday they lived in an environment where there were so many pleasures, yet when they truly encountered the Buddha-Dharma and contemplated it carefully, [they realized] all these things were impermanent and subject to “formation, existence, decay and disappearance.” Through the principles, they realized that these objected had come into existence, that these precious playthings had been purposely created by man. Now during their current stage of existence, they could enjoy them, but that sooner or later they would eventually come to an end. This is to say nothing of human life.
Contemplating these things carefully, the 16 princes often discussed the Dharma amongst themselves. In the end they all came to the same conclusion and left together to engage in spiritual practice. So, because of this, they abandoned and gave up everything. They gave up their wealth and status, gave up their riches and nobility. They abandoned all these and “went to the place where their father, the king, had attained Buddhahood.” They went to the place where He attained enlightenment and expounded Dharma.
“Hearing their father had attained enlightenment, they each abandoned their precious playthings and went to the place where their father had attained enlightenment and taught the Dharma.” They had all understood, and this showed that they took prosperity lightly and valued the Path.
Glory and splendor are like the fleeting clouds, so why place great importance on them? After they listened to the Dharma, they thoroughly understood that wealth and high status were like fleeting clouds, so they took “prosperity lightly.” They no longer placed importance on wealth and splendor; these were no longer important to them. They no longer placed importance on fame, profit or status. What was most important to them then was the Path.
So, they “took prosperity lightly and valued the Path.” “They saw all the things the wealthy desire and all the affections in the world as fleeting clouds.”
They saw all the things the wealthy desire and all the affections in the world as fleeting clouds. Thus, they abandoned worldly affections and left, never to return. By skillfully continuing His aspiration and skillfully relating His teachings well, they exhibited filial piety.
The things the wealthy desire, the passions of intimate relationships, all pass by the eyes like mist, gone in a moment, all are illusory. Having understood this, they became willing to give them all up. “Thus, they abandoned worldly affections.” All worldly affections inevitable result in conflicting emotions. They knew worldly affections are like ropes. That bound them up in passions. Now, they abandoned these “and left, never to return. By skillfully continuing His aspiration and skillfully relating His teachings well, they exhibited filial piety.”
They knew how love came and went repeatedly. They knew that love, hate, passion and animosity were not everlasting, so they completely abandoned them. Getting rid of these tangible material things as well as the entanglements of worldly affections and the binds of passions [are one thing], but abandoning selfish love is true enlightenment. So, the one who returns among people is the one who is truly enlightened. It is not that we completely separate ourselves from others but return among them with great enlightenment. This is pure enlightenment, the requiting of gratitude to sentient beings. This is undefiled gratitude, undefiled love. It is not the attached and defiled love of the mundane world. The love we use when returning among others is unattached, undefiled awakened love that comes from becoming enlightened.
So, it says, they “left, never to return.” Though one has abandoned defiled love, one can in fact turn it into pure undefiled love, turn it into enlightened love. So, “by skillfully continuing His aspiration, they wanted to carry on their father’s aspiration. Their father had already abandoned desire in order to concentrate on spiritual practice. He wanted this Dharma-lineage to be carried on, to “skillfully continue His aspiration. They inherited their father’s aspiration to spread virtuous Dharma throughout the world.
The principles lay in skillfully relating His teachings well. The principles are intangible, without form; they cannot be seen, so in order to understand them, we listen to take the Dharma to heart then express our understanding through our actions “they exhibited filial piety.” They did this by putting the teachings into practice, be expressing it through their actions.
After He had attained Buddhahood, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha took the Dharma back Him to the palace, the princes requited their gratitude through their actions, showing they understood their father’s principles, then they expressed that understanding through their physical actions. When it came to physical actions, renouncing the lay life was the best way to show their father they were passing on His mission. This was the best way to express it, by demonstrating the principles through actions, by expressing it like this.
“Their mothers all wept and followed them to see them off.”
Their mothers all wept and followed them to see them off: The mothers who gave birth to the princes saw their sons abandon the lay life to follow their father as monastics. Therefore they cried, and each followed her son to send them off.
They were reluctant; each mother was reluctant to see her son off, but such were the vows of the sons. “The mothers who gave birth to the princes saw their sons abandon the lay life. “Mothers” is plural. These princes were born to different mothers, therefore it says “the mothers.” So, they watched as their sons abandoned the lay life “to follow their father as monastics.” They followed their father into monkhood. “Therefore they cried, and each followed her son to send them off.” The mothers accompanied them to their destination. Although they were reluctant to see them go, they accompanied them to their destination.
They understood “natural lifespans are limited.” No matter how long they lived with their sons, their time together would ultimately be limited. They knew they would eventually be separated, but since their sons wished to pass on their father’s mission, though the mothers were reluctant, still they sent them off. We understand “natural lifespans are limited, so no matter how filial our actions may be, we are limited, for that is the natural law. It would be better to use the body our parents gave us to engage in spiritual practice to benefit even more people. This is filial behavior.
Natural lifespans are limited, so they at once relinquished the conditioned path and wished to seek the unconditioned principles. Following a worldly path to repay parents will only benefit them for one lifetime. Using the Buddha-Dharma to repay parents will benefit them for 10,000 kalpas.
So, utilizing their bodies, “they at once relinquished the conditioned path.” Worldly conditioned phenomena are all families in the world, all worldly fame, profit and status and all worldly pleasures. These are all conditioned phenomena. “They at once relinquished the conditions path.”
They abandoned these conditioned phenomena “and wished to seek the unconditioned principles.” These are the true principles, the unconditioned Dharma. These are the natural principles; they “wished to seek the unconditioned principles. Following a worldly path to repay parents.”
This is using a worldly path to repay our parents. Though their mothers gave birth to them, the sons bid farewell to their mothers; they took leave from their mothers. Though their mothers were reluctant, this was the way it was. This is common sense, the way of the secular world. To engage in spiritual practice is to requite our parents’ gratitude.
So, “following a worldly path to repay parents.” This is one lifetime; it may be filial piety, but it spans only a single lifetime. If we engage in spiritual practice, we can transform them life after life. This is how it is in the mundane world, how people live their lives in the world, how it is in families. So, no matter how filial one may be, one can only be that way for one lifetime. “Using the Buddha-Dharma to repay parents will benefit them for 10,000 kalpas.”
“Their mothers all wept and saw them off. The 16 princes were not born to the same mother.” Here, it explains to everyone, “Thus, it says their mothers. The loving affections of flesh and blood are difficult to sever or relinquish.”
Their mothers all wept and saw them off: The 16 princes were not born to the same mother. Thus, it says their mothers. The loving affections of flesh and blood are difficult to sever or relinquish. The attachment of their affection for their sons painfully tore at their hearts. Signs of their grief were dispersed through all their orifices. Thus, they wept as they saw them off. This was because they loved their sons, also because recently their husband had attained the Path.
“The attachment of their affection for their sons.” This was painful for them. “Signs of their grift.” This was them crying miserably. Because the mothers were sending their sons off to renounce the lay life, [grief] “was dispersed through all their orifices. Thus, they wept as they saw them off.” Through all their nine orifices came the discharge of their grievous weeping. Water backs up, venting through the seven orifices. This means they were in extreme pain. “This was because they loved their sons” and “also because recently their husband had attained the Path.”
Water backs up, venting through the seven orifices. On one hand, they were sending their sons off, but on the other, they also saw their prince who had left so long ago and had attained Buddhahood. These were ordinary emotions that bind endlessly.
In summary, we should understand that [it was our parents] who gave us life, our bodies, in this world. They have given us our reward-bodies, so sow should we use them? We came from our father’s sperm and mother’s egg. True filial piety does not last just one lifetime, but it should continue lifetime after lifetime. One son renouncing the lay life can liberate many generations of ancestors. This is what the ancients used to say.
In summary, in our daily living, this is how we engage in spiritual practice using the body of joyful use to benefit others, benefiting one another while benefiting the world. This is purpose of our incarnation in the world. So, let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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