Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Seeing the Rare Light, He Urged them to Explore (見光稀有勸眾同求)
Date: Junuary.23. 2017
“What we think and practice are our capabilities for moving toward the Path. Our strength of wisdom and blessings is our fruit of accepting the Path. Our deeds and karma in past lives are our causes for attaining the Path. Each of our capacities is accordingly great or small, shallow or deep.”
I wonder, does everyone understand this passage? “What we think and practice are our capabilities for moving toward the Path.” This means that in our daily living, in what we think and what we create in our actions, because we are spiritual practitioners. We are always moving toward the Path; our thoughts are directed toward the Path. We talk the road we should walk.
Regarding the road that we should walk, everyone has differing opinions. Those with deep roots and capabilities resonate with the Dharma after listening to it. In dealing with people, maters and objects in their daily living, they put benefiting others first. These are people with great capabilities. They are likewise engaged in spiritual practice, but with what they think when they see situations or meet people, they can share the Dharma with others. If they can benefit others, they quickly give sentient beings what they seek. This is the heart of a Bodhisattva, the actions of a Bodhisattva.
Those with Small Vehicle capabilities also listen to the Dharma, but all they know is that life is inherently full of suffering; everyone has painful experiences. So, they hear the truth of suffering, but after they listen, that is all. “You feel that life is suffering, and so do I.” They all know life is suffering, but that is as far as they go.
Some look at sentient beings’ situations and, seeing them in such misery, they think to themselves, “There is nothing I can do even if I wanted to. I know of the suffering in life, so when I think about it, I am content. Seeing suffering, I recognize my own blessings. This is karmic cause and effect. When I see others’ suffering, I am satisfied [with my own life].” This is just like Solitary Realizers, who awaken themselves by observing conditions. As for Hearers, they listen to the teachings. “You are suffering” “That’s right! Life is inherently full of suffering. You suffer, and I also experience suffering.”
But this is as far as they go. Bodhisattvas are not like this. For Bodhisattvas, upon seeing suffering, compassion arises in their hearts. [They consider] what methods they can use to help sentient beings to free of suffering. Indeed, life is full of suffering, and this is why we mindfully practice the Path. We should enter the Path and guide others to enter this Bodhi-path, the path to enlightenment. We not only help others understand that life is filled with suffering, we also teach them the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, how conditions do not arise without causes, how it is because of causes and conditions that they were born into their families, how it is because of causes and conditions that the people they face are like this.
The past has already passed. How do we resolve their current suffering? We guide them to learn how to yield, to learn how to give. This is like how recently, because it is summer vacation, Tzu Chi volunteers from other countries have come back [to Taiwan]. They came and stayed here for several days to experience life here at Jing Si Abode and understand why it is called a training ground for spiritual practice. They spent several days of their time following the monastics in their chores and labor. They experienced working hard under the hot sun. This is the world of endurance of the spiritual practitioners here. They endure it patiently, being very willing and joyful to do the work.
Everyone felt this joy. Then they came and shared with me, “That is spiritual practice!” Someone said, “I am so grateful to have Tzu Chi in my life! In my life in the past, I never had to worry about food or clothing. My affliction was facing my mother-in-law.” The family did not get along well together. In daily life at home, she always had to face her mother-in-law who was never satisfied with her. The daughter-in-law hated the mother-in-law, too. As both a spouse and a son, her husband was stuck in the middle. Should he side with his wife or should he be filial to his mother and follow his mother’s wishes? The family had only two children, so it was the young couple and the elderly woman, and their lives together were so miserable. They were unhappy.
Later, she encountered Tzu Chi, had a chance to get to know a volunteer who gradually and mindfully guided her. She took her to visit care recipients, which helped her to understand. She saw how much another family suffered, yet that family’s daughter-in-law was very filial. Though the mother-in-law already had dementia, the daughter-in-law still followed what she said. She never made her angry, since she knew her mother-in-law had dementia. She would often forget the past, and in the present no one knew what she was saying. So, the daughter-in-law coaxed her as she would a child, with love she followed her wishes and taught her mother-in-law how to live. When the woman who was well-off yet not content saw this family, she was moved. This family was so poor, yet the daughter-in-law treated her mother-in-law so well. After reflecting on herself, she felt she should not act like this.
She also followed this volunteer to listen to the morning Dharma-lectures, because every morning at this time, [volunteers watch the live broadcast] at the same time around the world. So, she also listened to me teach. She came to understand life’s impermanence, life’s suffering, how everything results from the coming together of causes and conditions. In this life she lived in a wealthy family, had a good husband and well-behaved children. The reason she could have this family was because her mother-in-law had a son, who had now become her husband, and because of her marriage, she had two such adorable children. She understood that her family was so fortunate because her mother-in-law’s son worked hard and had given her such a wonderful family. “I should be grateful to my mother-in-law. I should be grateful to her because she gave birth to such a good son who has given me such a good family and the comfortable life that I have. What reason do I have to be so unsatisfied with my mother-in-law or to resent her? That other mother-in-law has dementia. My mother-in-law sometimes cannot stand me. If I reflect upon myself, I am not really good at anything, so of course she is not satisfied with what I do. Haven’t all the problems really begun with me?” As she reflected upon herself, she realized she had often not done enough.
As a daughter-in-law, she should fulfill her responsibilities well and listen to her mother-in-law. After this self-reflection, family life was different. The mother-in-law felt the daughter-in-law had changed. “Why is she now so sweet and listens to me? What am I criticizing her for? My daughter-in-law is quite sweet.” The mother-in-law became more satisfied. She was actually a good mother-in-law, and the daughter-in-law was good, too. The husband was touched. “What has brought about these wonderful changes in my wife that my mother is now so satisfied? This makes me happy as a son and lucky as a husband.” The family had become very harmonious.
This family’s story was shared during the time they came to the Abode. She was also a medical volunteer for several days, in addition to doing chores at the Abode. She realized that spiritual practice is not easy, but she did it all so willingly; she was so joyful and happy during this time. Entering the patient’s rooms, she saw life’s impermanence. The sick there suffered so much. Some were left there by unfilial children. Others seemed unwilling or unhappy to visit them. She saw respectful and obedient children as well, filial children who served their parents and were very close to them. She saw all different kinds of lives there. In this impermanent life, some children acted so ethically and filially. But what she saw was that parent’s worry for their children was always greater than the children’s worry for their parents because when parents see their children fall sick, their love is so sincere. Everything they do is to love and protect their children, to help their children quickly return to health.
There were even some volunteers who shared about how some parents treasured their children so much that they were willing to trade their own health for their children’s. They were willing to shorten their own lives in order to extend the lives of their children’s. They felt that as parents, their love for their children meant they would do anything for them. However, she saw that the number of children with true filial love toward their parents was limited. A good majority either did not come to visit at all or sat beside their beds unhappily or reluctantly. In comparison, when parents care for their children, they do everything they can for them. With this new awareness, she knew the importance of being filial to one’s parents and that doing good deeds cannot wait.
This is a spiritual training ground for Bodhisattvas. This is how our Living Bodhisattvas come into being. We are all on the same path of learning the Buddha’s teachings. We all see this path ahead of us. When Small Vehicle practitioners see suffering, they have a kind of realization. “Indeed, life is suffering. I too feel this suffering.” But when others look, not only do they see suffering, they also see that everything comes together through causes and conditions. These are the states of Hearers and Solitary Realizers. As spiritual practitioners, we also have these states in our mind. When we see others, do we merely stop at understanding suffering, stuck at the realization of the coming together of causes and conditions? It is the same path. We are already engaged in practice; when we see that path, is this the only feeling we have?
If we have already formed great aspirations and made great vows, this path is a Bodhisattva-path for us to walk. Having formed great aspirations and made great vows, when we see sentient beings suffering, we think of what methods we can use to bring together many people’s strength, to help others step onto this road so that we can all walk upon it together. We give to help suffering sentient beings. This is also a path.
The path is the same; “our capabilities for moving toward the Path” are not the same. Our capabilities differ, so it says, “What we think and practice are our capabilities for moving toward the Path.” How we move toward this path, how we look at it, depends upon our state of mind.
What we think and practice are our capabilities for moving toward the Path. Our strength of wisdom and blessings is our fruit of accepting the Path. Our deeds and karma in past lives are our causes for attaining the Path. Each of our capacities is accordingly great or small, shallow or deep.
“Our strength of wisdom and blessings is our fruit of accepting the Path.” What level has the strength of our wisdom reached? Do we have limited capabilities and wisdom? If we only have limited capabilities and wisdom, our blessings will be shallow, because we only practice for ourselves and are unwilling to benefit others. Thus we have limited capabilities, limited wisdom and limited blessings. When we are unwilling to give of ourselves, our chances to create blessings are few, and the wholesome affinities we form with others will never be enough.
So, it speaks of “our fruit of accepting the Path.” What we practice, we attain; without practice, there is no attainment. When we give, we naturally attain these blessings. When we do great things for another person, we see the peace attained by the person we help and the relief it brings to their mind. We see their broad smiles. Our giving and our hard work have put their minds at peace and brought stability to their lives, so what we receive, walking on this same path, is truly joy! Thus we say, through practice, we attain; without practice, there is no attainment. This is “our fruit of accepting the Path.”
However much we give is how much we will receive. “Our deeds and karma in past lives are our causes for attaining the Path.” We must have faith in this, believe that we have been doing this for lifetimes. In the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City it continually emphasizes that for dust-inked kalpas, since Beginningless time, we have intrinsically had a nature of kindness. From the start we have had this pure Buddha-nature. How do we awaken our Buddha-nature? This takes a very long period of training and refining ourselves, dust-inked kalpas of tempering. Since the time of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, since before Beginningless time, we have had to do this lifetime after lifetime. These are our deeds and karma in past lives.
Past lives refers to our past, a long time ago in the past. There have been many lifetimes until now, and there will be many lifetimes in the future. These are our causes and conditions. If we create blessed causes and cultivate blessed conditions, then the karma we create over many lifetimes will be good karma.
Are we creating good or bad karma? This depends on us, on the thoughts we ourselves give rise to, on what we think, on the path we practice. This depends on us. So, when it comes to past lifetimes, it is actually about past, present and future.
For instance, yesterday is called the past. Think about it, what did you experience when you were working as a hospital volunteer yesterday? Did you meet sick patients? Did you meet the families of the sick patients? Were the patients in a lot of pain and suffering? Did you comfort them? Were the family members of the patients very nervous and very worried? Did you keep them company? Did you comfort them? This was yesterday. When we think about it today, what is our state of mind? This is the past and the present. Now, listening to the Dharma again this morning, we may feel like yesterday we did not do enough. So, from the morning and throughout the day, we must quickly make up for it. If yesterday we did not get to know someone well, how can we continue to further cultivate our causes and conditions with them? This is the past and the present. There is still the future; there is tomorrow.
Talking about this we can say these are past lives. The past lives we are talking about are referring to countless lifetimes, not just yesterday or today. This means we are talking about the past, whether about the very distant past or about what just happened, the recent past when I walked in through the door. We can speak of the present, in which I am speaking right now. This is the recent past and the present.
So, when speaking of past lives, these can be in the very distant past or in this very lifetime as well. However, no matter how time passes, we must always seize the time. Therefore, “Our deeds and karma in past lives are our causes for attaining the Path.”
So, “Each [are] great or small.” People’s capacities are either great or small. Are you capacities shallow? If so, then what we experience is limited capabilities and limited wisdom. We create limited blessings and have limited power of vows. Is that all we have?
Or are they deeper than that? Are we, upon accepting the Buddha-Dharma, able to maintain our initial aspirations and vows, to maintain our passion every day and not retreat from giving of love among the people? Are we able to do this?
[Our] capacities are accordingly shallow or deep.” This depends upon each person’s capacities. So, I hope we all, as Buddhist practitioners, earnestly make the best use of our minds. No matter how many lifetimes have passed, they are in the past. After having understood the principles, at this time we should seize the present moment. In all we think and all the paths we walk, we must earnestly seize the moment.
Yesterday we read the passage, “All the kings of the Brahma heavens had this thought, ‘Today the palaces are brightly illuminated like they never been before. What are the causes and conditions behind the appearance of this sign?’ At that time, all the kings of the Brahma heavens immediately went to visit each other to discuss this matter.”
As we talked about yesterday, when [Great Unhindered] attained Buddhahood, His radiance illuminated the Brahma heavens. Everywhere throughout 500 trillion lands in the vast spaces of the Brahma heavens everything was touched by this radiance.
When they saw the light they thought it unusual, and it furthermore gave everyone a sense of joy. They felt it was an auspicious sign. A light like this “[had] never been before.” They had never seen an auspicious light like this. What were the causes and conditions behind this? How could there be such a phenomenon?
So, at that time, “All the kings of the Brahma heavens immediately went to visit each other to discuss this matter.” They all gathered together, “visited” each other. They all gathered together to try and understand where the auspicious light was coming from.
The sutra then continues by says, “At that time, among the assembly, there was a great Brahma king named Saving All. For all those in the Brahma heavens, he expounded a verse.”
Since the Buddha’s light shone far and wide, many from the palaces of the Brahma heavens, those in the Brahma heavens, all gathered together. There was one named Brahma king Saving All, a leader in one of the lands. He was “respected among all the Brahma kings.” Therefore he was called a Great Brahma .
Great Brahma king: He is respected among all the Brahma kinds. Due to his compassion, his name is Saving All.
Respected among those in the Brahma heavens, he was known as a Great Brahma king. This Great Brahma king was compassionate He liked upon the world’s sentient beings with compassion. Because he took the vehicle of great compassion, he was born as a Brahma king, now with his compassion, he was still very caring, he was called Saving All. This was the Great Brahma King’s name. So, “For all these Brahmas, he expounded a verse.”
For all these Brahmas, he expounded a verse: Because all the Brahma kings in the east saw the light and asked in astonishment, Brahma King Saving All brought them together to discuss and explore this. Since they thought this light was truly rare and since the light had shined toward the east, the Brahma kings of the east, all those in the Brahma heaven, saw the light and inquired in astonishment. Since they had never seen such an auspicious light before, they wondered where it came from. They discussed this matter among themselves.
Do you still remember when, after the Buddha had finished teaching the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, He sat in meditation and began radiating light from between His brows? This light radiated from between His eyebrows. This light was an auspicious sign. At that time, those at the Dharma-assembly all discussed this among themselves. Why, when the Buddha began meditating, did a light radiate between His brows? Among those there was a mutual sense of astonishment as they asked each other. The principle is the same. Now, as Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha attained Buddhahood, a light shone upon the east. When those in the Brahma heavens saw this light, they quickly gathered and asked each other, “What could have given rise to this light?” Saving All, this Brahma king, lead them in their inquiry, in thinking of how they could use the principles to reason out and understand what gave rise to this light.
“Because of this auspicious sign, they explored the causes and conditions of the auspicious sign of this light. Journeying on these causes and conditions, they requested the turning of the Dharma-wheel. The Brahma kings of each of the ten directions. Were all this.
Since this light was an auspicious sign, everyone wished to investigate and discover the principles behind it, “the cause and conditions of the auspicious sign of this light.” There had to be causes and conditions for this light to illuminate them. There had to be conditions for it. So, “journeying on these causes and conditions, they requested the turning of the Dharma-wheel. Continually searching in the light’s direction, they discovered that it was due to the Buddha attaining Buddhahood. These were great causes and conditions! With these great causes and conditions, with the Buddha having attained Buddhahood, they quickly requested He turn the Dharma-wheel. So, the Brahma kings from all directions [came]. Now, it only mentions those from the east when in fact Brahma kings from all ten directions came in search of this light. They all gathered together at the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment.
The next passage then says that Brahma kings of all ten directions had arrived. Saving All, this Brahma king, said, “All of our palaces are brightly illuminated like never before. What are the causes and conditions of this? We had better explore this together. It must be a Virtuous One born in heave or a Buddha appearing in the world that caused this great radiance to illuminated everything in the ten directions.”
This passage is in verse. This assembly of Brahma kings was trying to find [the source] of the light. Everyone began to ask where the light originated from. So, it says, “ all of our palaces.” They were all trying to find the light, so they all asked each other, “Does your place have this light?” “How about yours?” They all asked each other about this. “All of our palaces” means their palaces had never been illuminated like this before. “What are the causes and conditions of this?” What are the causes and conditions for this light? “We had better explore this together.” They should search out at once where this light had come from. This is because what they had seen was a very rare occurrence.
Therefore, he “urged them all to explore together” and seek out the origin of this light. So, was it “a Virtuous One born in heaven?” Or “a Buddha appearing in the world?” Only then would there be such an auspicious sign.
It must be a Virtuous One born in heaven or a Buddha appearing in the world: When any heavenly being with might and virtue is about to be born, bright light will first manifest. Therefore they all wondered if a Virtuous One was born in heaven or if a Buddha was born in the world.
So, “any heavenly being with might and virtue” means that to be born in the heaven realm, one must have done many good deeds as a human and have accomplished many blessings and virtues. A person like this, replete with heavenly virtue, can be reborn in the Brahma heavens. A person with might and virtue, when born in the heaven realm, will emit a ray of light. However, the radiance shining now was not that of a heavenly being reborn in the heaven realm. With the radiance now, the doubted it was from “a Virtuous One born in heaven.” Was someone of even greater virtue born in heaven? If so, the light would still not be so auspicious. Could it be Buddhas appearing in the world, or a Buddha being born in the human realm? This was what everyone asked each other.
A Virtuous One born in heaven: When a great being who will take the place [of a Buddha] is about to abide in the world, he is first born in Tusita Heaven and emits a great radiance. With such extraordinary auspiciousness, it must be an extraordinary being manifesting.
The meaning of “a Virtuous One born in heaven” is “a great being who will take the [Buddha’s] place.” This is a great being who is about to descent to the human realm. A great being is a Bodhisattva. This is because, before attaining Buddhahood, they are first born in Tusita Heaven to receive the necessary training to become Bodhisattva in the human realm. So, in Tusita Heaven, there is a place called the inner courtyard of the Tusita Heaven. In this part of that heaven, there is a spiritual training ground, a place that specializes in training Bodhisattvas. That inner courtyard prepares those about to descend to our world, or those who are going to any particular world, to attain Buddhahood. This is “a great being who will take the place of a Buddha.” These Bodhisattvas are about to be born, then through spiritual practice, reach perfect and complete awakening and thus transform sentient beings. They are “great beings who will take the place of a Buddha.” They are “about to abide in the world.” Before descending to the human realm, they are first born in Tusita Heaven, where their training to take the place of a Buddha is nearly complete. Then from Tusita Heaven they are born into the world.
So, a few days ago we spoke of how when a Buddha descends from Tusita Heaven into the womb, there is quaking. When He is born there is also quaking. A few days ago, we talked about the six auspicious signs. So, everyone was thinking, This is “such a great radiance”, it is “such extraordinary auspiciousness.” Could one descending from Tusita Heaven produce such an auspicious sign? Or is it the auspicious sign of someone attaining Buddhahood? It must be these kinds of causes and conditions. This is what the heavenly beings concluded about the origin of the light. So, “In the Brahma heavens of the ten directions, because of the light, all explored the auspicious signs.”
In the Brahma heavens of the ten directions, because of the light, all explored the auspicious signs and, because of the auspicious signs, explored the causes and conditions. Thus, the request to turn the Dharma-wheel first started from the east.
Due to this light, they wanted to explore and find the origin of this appearance. “Because of the auspicious signs, they explored the causes and conditions.” Due to the auspicious signs of this light, they speculated as to its causes and conditions. They realized it must be a Buddha who was born, engaged in practice and attained enlightenment. This was their reasoning, so they felt they should go to the place of enlightenment to see if this was truly the reason of the light. If one had attained Buddhahood, they should gather around Him at once to request that He turn the Dharma-wheel. This “first started from the east.”
They first discovered the light in the east, so that is where they started looking from. “[This] caused this great radiance to illuminate everything in ten directions.”
[This] caused this great radiance to illuminate everything in ten directions: This means where the light is shining, there must be a noble being or sage born in this world.
This ray of light first shone upon the east. They first experienced it there in the east, so it was the Brahma kings of the east who first began searching for this light. Actually, this light was felt in ten directions, but it was the east that was illuminated first, so there must be a reason for this.
We know that the Buddha was born in Nepal, formerly called the kingdom of Kapilacastu. From China, or here in Taiwan, it means we should be looking westward, for that place is to west of us. Thus, Dharma Master Xuan Zang went westward to retrieve the sutra. The sutra were passed from the west to the east, so this is the principle behind the light.
A few days ago we said that this light represents the true principles, the Buddha’ true, the One Vehicle Dharma. The light is the Great Vehicle teaching. It first illuminated the east. The Buddha-Dharma developed and flourished as it moved eastward out of India into the world of our Chinese. Whether China or Taiwan, the direction in which that ray of light first shone was east before it illuminated any other places. This is like the lasers we have now. When you look over there, the beam moves around like that. The Dharma was passed eastward and for this we are fortunate. The Buddha-Dharma flourished in our Chinese world. It is the Chinese world that the Buddha-Dharma flourished magnificently.
By that time in India, the Buddha-Dharma had already begun to enter its last stage. There were statues and images; it seemed that there many statues, statues the Buddha, yet by then the Buddha-Dharma had already become superficial, just worshipping and reciting the sutras. They did not know that in China the Buddha-Dharma was being applied in daily life, especially with us here in Tzu Chi, where everyone’s spiritual training ground is to go out into the world [to help]. We go among people, and whatever it is that must be done in the world, we Living Bodhisattvas promptly do it. Everyone has such willing hearts as we walk this Bodhisattva-path. We willingly and joyfully serve others.
Our disaster relief in Nepal has continued for almost three months now. Since the earthquake, Tzu Chi volunteers have continually been working in that place. Two or three days ago, the tenth team, people from our Teachers Association, our charity department and Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) arrived there. They have already begun continuously transmitting news to us. The teachers Association has already begun visiting schools, meeting with the principals and teachers and communicating with them about education. In these meetings on education, they chatted happily and were deeply moved. From the news sent back, we could see [children] after the disaster, resiliently studying in tents. The children are working hard and are resilient. It was truly heartbreaking to see them there. Middle school children, elementary school children and kindergarten children were all studying inside the same classroom. It was simple and crude. However, they value education there, and the principal was very happy to see our Tzu Chi volunteers. He use hand gestures and tried in every way he could to express their schooling [situation]. They had children’s comic books. The principal thought people in the comics were a good way to share with our Teachers Association. Our Teachers Association teachers were lively, telling them, “We also have a comic book of our Jing Si Aphorisms. Maybe we can have an exchange with you.” They were very happy. Our teachers even led them in song. They were able to quickly get along very well. It was like pouring water into milk; when one is poured into the other, they mix quickly to become one. Modern-Nepal really needs the love and the Dharma from the east. They need our compassion and caring and for us to take the Buddha-Dharma that compassionate love, the Dharma of the world, and transmit it back to them.
This is how presently our Buddha-Dharma is beginning to head west, going back in the direction whence it came. This is a cycle of love. The Buddha gave us the radiance of His wisdom. Now that Nepal had had disaster, we return the true principle of love to them. So, this road, the Bodhisattva-path, is what we should mindfully walk by putting it into practice. Therefore, let us always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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