Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Purifying the Mind to Seek the Dharma (修善持戒求法淨心)
Date: February.11. 2017
“We intrinsically possess the pure Buddha-mind of True Suchness, which is like our home. The seeds of mental karma are kept in the storehouse consciousness; when conditions mature, the retributions form. We must diligently sow good seeds, cultivate goodness and uphold precepts. From the ancient past until now, we have had the Great Unhindered intrinsic nature.”
I constantly tell everyone that we intrinsically have the pure Buddha-nature of True Suchness; it is in the home of our mind. So, after we hear or acquire the Dharma from outside of ourselves, we should take it and put it in our mind.
Over the course of Sakyamuni Buddha’s spiritual practice, across all lifetimes, His resolve never changed. He was mindful, reverent and diligent, unafraid of hardship and unsparingly dedicated His life, all for the sake of seeking the Dharma. Why did He seek the Dharma? For the sake of benefiting sentient beings. If He did not know the methods, He would not be able to benefit sentient beings. So, He definitely had to seek the Dharma. Even if He had to peel off His skin for paper, pool His blood for ink and extract His bones for a pen to write down each and every word of the Dharma, He would use His skin as paper, His bones as a pen and His blood as ink. He would copy down the true principles, the Dharma He sought. Think about it; He was carving these words into His mind, into His bones. We truly must take the Dharma to heart.
In fact, He went through such hardship to seek the Dharma. The Dharma, the pure nature of True Suchness, intrinsically exists in everyone. Everyone has this Buddha-mind inside them. It is in the home of our mind, yet we continue to seek it outside ourselves. But when we seek it [outside], for every three teachings we gain, four leak out. In our minds, afflictions continuously increase, and thoughts of goodness continue to leak away. Think about this; isn’t this a pity? So, we must put effort into being mindful.
When we hear the Dharma from outside ourselves, we should carve it even more deeply into our mind. Within our mind, the pagoda on Vulture Peak will always be there. The Lotus Dharma-assembly, this spiritual training ground, will also forever be in our mind. So, we must put effort into being mindful.
“The seeds of mental karma are kept in the storehouse consciousness; when conditions mature, the retributions form.” The seeds of mental karma are all stored in our storehouse consciousness. It all depends on the kinds of causes and conditions we create; when retributions mature, the results are likewise. In our storehouse consciousness is defiled consciousness, so we always remain in the eighth consciousness.
If every thought can be filtered to become pure, that state of purity is our pure nature of True Suchness, which is our ninth consciousness. It never grows or diminishes, but sadly we do not make use of it. What we always make use of are our Roots, Dusts and other Consciousnesses. With the sixth consciousness we take action, with the seventh consciousness we contemplate, with the eighth consciousness we take it all in. Thus every thought that we give rise to is an affliction. With afflictions, the 18 Realms, the Six Roots, Six Dusts and Six Consciousnesses, continually creates the seeds of mental karma. After these seeds are created, they are placed in the storehouse consciousness. When causes and conditions ripen, karmic retributions then begin to manifest. Without any control, we leave this life and enter the next. The karma we create in this lifetime in the end returns to our storehouse consciousness.
Once fully in our storehouse consciousness, we carry that karma with us when we pass on. In our next life, where will our direct and circumstantial retributions take us? That depends on the seeds of mental karma we created in the past. However and wherever they are stored, we will follow these karmic seeds to receive our retributions. This is beyond our control. We know all of this now, but are we mindful in everything we do? We must filter out all ignorance and afflictions so we can return to our pure intrinsic nature of True Suchness, to our Buddha-mind, to the home of True Suchness. This is something we can accomplish now. We can do it now; we have the environment for it. We all have this common understanding, so this is a great place for spiritual practice. We should be mindful.
Take the Tuz Chi volunteers from the Philippines as an example. They come back in a large group to express their gratitude. Among the seeds of Tzu Chi in the Philippines, [most are] Chinese. The Chinese people there are well-off. It is said, “It is difficult for the wealthy to learn the Way.” In the Philippines, there have been many severe floods, so Tzu Chi volunteers started implementing “cash for work” programs there, calling on the local people [to get involved], hoping that this could sow seeds in the local soil and cultivate local (Filipion) volunteers. They hoped these seeds could take root there. Then the local people would get to know Tzu Chi, would develop a common understanding with the Chinese there to take on this responsibility. During Typhoon Haiyan, we were fortunate to have local volunteers who spoke the language. To help with the severe disaster in Tacloban, we needed many people to join in. So, we needed to communicate in their language to guide them in the heavy work of the clean-up but mobilizing them with a “cash for work” program.
Thus, a group [of local volunteer] from Marikina worked together with Chinese Tzu Chi volunteers. Of course, as this was a large scale disaster, Tzu Chi volunteers from many countries all gathered together there to join these efforts. However, the leaders had to be local volunteers. If they relied solely on the Chinese volunteers, completing this project would have been difficult.
Fortunately, many years had been spent on cultivating these seeds, continuously helping them understand and implement the [Tzu Chi] spirit. I am very grateful to this group of Bodhisattvas who have mindfully nurtured them. Each year, those how can come back to Taiwan for advanced training, retreats and so on are mostly Chinese, because the cost of each trip, the plane ticket and other travel expenses, is a financial burden. The local volunteers are more limited in means, so it is impossible for them to come here.
For a recent [training], two of our Dharma Masters went there. Of course, some of our staff went too, but when volunteers gathered to share they said, “What the Dharma Masters told us was perfect. What the Dharma Masters said to us and the way they taught us made us very happy.” There were 500 to 600 local volunteers, most of whom believed in other religions. But this training, since it was led by Dharma Masters, they were able to explain things like why we do the Lotus Sutra bowing ceremony, why we chant the Incense Chant, how we express our respect and how our reverence can resonate with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Before the bowing ceremony, Master De Mau explained all this to them.
Among the Chinese, there were many senior Tzu Chi volunteers. They shared that, “In the past, although we had returned for spiritual retreats and were very happy, we did wonder why we have to chant the Incense Chant for so long. We followed along and bowed, but we never really knew what it meant; we were just following everyone else. But we did not know the meaning behind it because we didn’t understand the words.” They were Chinese, and they regularly returned for training, usually once or twice a year. But their Chinese was not that good. So, they followed the others in bowing, but in their heart they wondered, “Why do we have to chant for so long?” They said it was different this time; they were very happy, because it was explained. The feeling they had now in this place was that this was their place; this was their space. The Dharma Masters had come from afar, so they listened mindfully to the explanation and took it to heart. How did they communicate with the locals? We actually used Taiwanese to speak with them, not Mandarin. They said even though they were Chinese, it they came here and we spoke Mandarin to them, they actually could not understand. They needed to hear things in Taiwanese.
So, when we went there this time, everyone used Taiwanese to speak to them. This gave the Chinese there a sense of intimacy. For the locals, they provided simultaneous interpretation. Although they were Catholics or Protestants, those 500-600 people could understand and recognize the principles of the Buddha’s teachings and why the [senior volunteers] had been so strict in training them, why they wanted them to be so neat and orderly.
Actually, they had always thought it was just because the organization required orderliness. They did not know the meaning behind it until now, that the principles of the Buddha-Dharma are all about the mind, having the right mindset and the right path. They shared all this with me, then they requested, “Master, after this experience please keeping sending Dharma Masters over there to lead us. Then we are confident that in the Philippines the Buddha-Dharma will flourish.”
Not only those from Manila, but also those from Cebu made this request. I replied to them, “Don’t the staff from the Dept. of Religious Affairs go there often?” They said, “It isn’t the same! We need the Dharma Masters.” I said that for the monastics, it seems their appearance is an advantage. When monastics go, they feel I have sent them directly, as if I am there myself. This way, they have such respect for the Dharma and accept the teachings. So, when we learn the Buddha’s teachings, the principles are already within us. This is why previously, when the Brahma kings entreated the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha silently consented. Then they repeated themselves in verse, hoping, “As sentient being listen to this Dharma, they attain the Path or are born in heaven, so those in all evil realms will diminish, and those who are patient and good will increase.” They hoped He would again use matters and appearances so everyone would have something they could see, some kind of appearance, like our monastic appearance. By explaining these principles and these matters, the volunteers were finally able to understand. This is why we say that with the principles, there must be matters and appearances, such as proper etiquette. This is very important!
So, we should know that the principles are without form, yet we use matters and appearances. Isn’t everything that is created made by people doing things? When people do things, don’t we remain on the level of forms and appearances? Our minds give rise to discrimination. With the Six Consciousnesses, the Six Roots and the Six Dusts, our mind-consciousness allows our eye-root to come into contact with external conditions; this gives rise to discrimination, stirs up thoughts and so forth. This is all around forms and appearances, people and matters. Thus we give rise to discursive thoughts. Where is the origin of these arising thoughts? In our intrinsic nature. Our mind-consciousness contains principles, and these principles become conditioned phenomena.
Our nature of true Suchness contains the principles of everything. The principles of everything allow the creation of conditioned phenomena, things with appearances. So, these things with appearances entice our mind, which is without form, to connect with external condition and give rise to attachment to people, matters and objects. These attachments are afflictions.
By transforming these afflictions and getting rid of attachments, we return to True Suchness, to the principles. Everything is inseparable from matters and appearances. Matters and appearances lead our minds to act and to create karma, thus creating karmic seeds. These karmic seeds become causes and conditions, so without any control, we continue to transmigrate. It seems that I talk about this a lot, yet everyone continues to let it leak away.
So, with this sutra passage, no matter what, I hope that as you all go through it repeatedly, you will definitely contemplate it. Regarding intangible principles and tangible matters and appearances, we must truly be very careful. So, “We must diligently sow good seeds. We must earnestly sow seeds, our seeds of goodness. This is why we always say that we must go among people and earnestly create good affinities with sentient beings, earnestly go among people to understand their problems and their afflictions and thus nurture our wisdom-life. This is because by seeing others, we come to understand ourselves. This is why we need to “cultivate goodness and uphold precepts.” Only by seeing others can we become even more vigilant of ourselves in cultivating goodness and upholding precepts. This is because “From the ancient past until now, we have had the Great Unhindered intrinsic nature.” Ever since dust-inked kalpas ago, there has been “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior,” which is our intrinsic nature. We have infinite wisdom; there is no principle we cannot understand. Our original intrinsic nature of True Suchness is something that we should cherish. I hope we put our hearts into experiencing this.
The previous sutra passage was very long. “As sentient beings listen to this Dharma, they attain the Path or are born in heaven, so those in all evil realms will diminish, and those patient and good will increase.” At that time, “Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Tathagata silently consented.”
Brahma King Great Compassion, in his great compassion, came from the southeast seeking the light, searching for the source of the light. When they saw Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, they reverently made offerings, then requested that He turn the Dharma-wheel. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior remained silent, so [Great Compassion] repeated himself in verse, hoping Great Unhindered would, as the previous sutra passage talked about, manifest matters and appearances. Manifesting matters and appearances means revealing the principles through matters and appearances. Otherwise, those in evil realms would continually increase and those who are good, the heavenly beings, would diminish. Now he asked again, hoping the Buddha would teach through matters and appearances so sentient beings listening to this Dharma could “attain the Path or be born in heaven.” He hoped that, through matters and appearances, everyone would come to understand.
This is like how in the Philippines, the monastics, the Dharma Masters, went there and everything they taught was the Dharma. So, everyone could understand. They cited examples of the many disasters in the world and the many Living Bodhisattvas who formed aspirations. In this way, they could understand. They were able to see these people’s appearances and hear so many true stories of what has happened in the world. The past has become stories; this is what people have been doing. They understand now. So, everyone rejoiced and began to diligently practice. Advancing in this way, they attain the Path. Attaining the Path means understanding the principles.
If we can earnestly cultivate virtuous Dharma, in the future we can be born in heaven. Then, if we can brush away ignorance, naturally we will not fall into the evil realms. So, those in the evil realms diminish, “and those patient and good will increase.” They understood that these are the principles. “When among people, interpersonal conflicts are not important; we should seize the time to do good deeds.” Then naturally. “Those patient and good will increase,” they will attain benefits. At that time, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Tathagata silently consented; He agreed.
Let us go on to the next sutra passage. The previous one has concluded. The Brahma kings from the southeast had requested the Dharma. That is now followed by another passage. “Then, bhiksus…” Sakyamuni Buddha was speaking to those at the Vulture Peak Assembly who were listening to the Dharma. He called to them again, telling them to pay attain, for now He was talking about another direction.
The section about the southeast had ended. The next section was about the south. “Then, bhiksus in the 500 trillion lands to the south, all the Brahma kings each saw their palaces illuminated be a great radiance, which had never happened before. They jumped with joy and gave rise to a rare and precious aspiration.”
This is the same as before. The Brahma king’s palaces had suddenly become illuminated by the radiance. This had never happened before. They could not help but rejoice. Happiness arose in them all.
Then it says, “They immediately went to visit one another to discuss this matter. What are the causes and conditions behind all our palaces having such a radiant light?” Why was there such radiance? “Then, from amidst that assembly, a Great Brahma King named Wondrous Dharma spoke in verse for those in the Brahma heavens.”
This Great Brahma King was named Wondrous Dharma. The previous one was Great Compassion. This one was Wondrous Dharma. And the one before that from the east? That one was called Saving All. This is because each [direction] had a representative Brahma king. The representative Brahma king from the south was called Wondrous Dharma; he “spoke in verse for those in the Brahma heavens.”
The next sutra passage states, “In all of our palaces, the brilliant illumination is powerfully radiant. This is not without causes and conditions. We had better investigate this appearance.”
This auspicious sign of radiance, the brilliance of this awe-inspiring virtue, this ray of light, was different than normal. Thought it was radiant, it was very gentle. Though it was very gentle, it could capture people’s hearts. The brilliance of this awe-inspiring virtue was able to capture people’s hearts. They were illuminated by this kind of light. A light like this cannot arise without causes and conditions; it did not arise for no reason. So, [he said] all those in the Brahma heavens should with one hearts, gather and search together, investigate this light, its source.
So, the sutra then says, “Hundreds and thousands of kalpas have passed without us ever seeing such a sign. It must be a Virtuous One born in heaven or a Buddha manifesting in the world.”
A very long time had already passed, hundreds of thousands of kalpas, a very long time, and they had never seen any sign like this. They had never seen anything like it. This was a very rare occurrence, so everyone has to treasure it, had to value that light. They must truly place importance on it. Had a Virtuous One been born in heaven? That was likely; or perhaps a Tathagata had manifested in the world.
The sutra then says, “At that time, 500 trillion Brahma kings went along with their palaces. They each used their mantle to hold all kinds of celestial flowers and together went to the north to seek out this sign.”
All the Brahma kings began to search, for that light was unusual. They knew that this radiance, aside from being gentle, could also captivate people’s hearts. So, they put in effort to mindfully search for it. “The Brahma kings together went to the north.
Earlier, the Brahma kings from the east and the southeast wanted to find where the light was coming from. The light came from the west to shine on the east. So, those from the east and the southeast went toward the west [and northwest] to look. One direction was those in the east going toward the west. And those in the south? They went toward the north. The source of the light never moved; it is just that the direction the light illuminated was different, so the terms are different.
Directions are also just terms. When the direction is different, the term for it is different. Otherwise, since it radiated from the same source, why talk about those in the east going west, and those in the south going north? These were matters and appearances, the appearance of the directions.
Actually, the source was unmoving. Like our nature of True Suchness, it was unmoving. But the principles can be sent forth throughout the universe, throughout all things in the world. These were the principles. The radiance of the principles is sent forth. So, all the Brahma kings went together to the north to seek the radiance. They went in the direction of the direction of the light, as it appeared to come from the north to illuminate the south. So, those in the south went north. They went searching in that direction. In this way, they found the place of the Buddha. They were very respectful in praising and making offerings to Him.
So, “At that time, 500 trillion Brahma kings went along with their palaces. “There were many Brahma kings, and all of them together did the same thing, which was “[going] along with their palaces.” With their sincerity, they did not just come by themselves; they brought along everything they owned, and in their great sincerity, this included their palaces. They all “each journeyed on their palaces.” In this way, they came with their palaces. They “came from the heavens.”
Why does it says they “came from the heavens?” Because when a Buddha is born, He is always born in the human realm; this was just in the world of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. This period of time was a time long before times long ago, in a world before Beginningless time. Of course, the Brahma kings had to descend from the heavens to come in this direction. So, “They each used their mantle to hold all kinds of celestial flowers and together went to the north to seek out this sign.” They did not only come with their palaces, but also with many celestial flowers as well. In this way they came north together. They were filled with faith that a Buddha must have manifested in the world. This radiance was very unusual. If a Virtuous One had not been born in heaven, it certainly was a Buddha, an Enlightened One, a spiritual practitioner who had awakened. He had the great cause of turning the Great Dharma-wheel. This is why they came with such reverence. So, they “together went to the north to seek out this sign.” “From south to north” they came to investigate. Moreover, they descended from the heavens.
The sutra then continues, “They saw Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Tathagata in the place of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi-tree, sitting on the lion throne. All heavenly beings, naga kings, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, non-humans and so on respectfully surrounded Him.”
They had all already arrived. So, what they saw was that indeed Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha was the source of that radiance. The source of the light was Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. They saw the Tathagata in His place of enlightenment, sitting beneath the Bodhi-tree. So, having already seen the Buddha, having already come to this Bodhimanda, they all made offerings with utmost respect. It was not just the Brahma kings who came. In addition to the Brahma kings, the Brahma kings of the 500 trillion [lands], there were also naga kings, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, non-humans and so on. All of them came with utmost reverence. This respect was the one heart shared by humans and heavenly beings. What they expressed was utmost sincerity.
We should know that the most important thing for spiritual practice is a heart of reverence. Only with a reverent heart can we return to our nature of True Suchness. Everyone has this intrinsic nature, not just the Brahma kings. Everyone similarly possesses the intrinsic Tathagta-nature of True Suchness. But, in the distant past, beginningless dust-inked kalpas before, these beings, like us, were lost. And like us, they discovered true principles, the Buddha-Dharma. They too worked hard to mindfully engage in spiritual practice.
If lay Bodhisattva uphold precepts well and continuously accumulate virtuous [deeds], they can journey on this goodness and thus be born into a certain heaven accordingly. Will they be born in a heaven in the desire realm? Or will they be born in the form realm? Or will they be born in Akansihtha Heaven? There are material things there, but no thoughts of desire. A pure state is what characterizes Brahma heavens.
The Brahma heavens are filled with many pleasures and also very pure. Their minds are undefiled, free of desires. However, they have one regret; they have not ended the cycle of birth and death. Because there are still a few principles they have not thoroughly understood, their nature of true Suchness has not completely manifested. Right now they are still enjoying the pleasures of the heaven realm, but they understand that once they have depleted their heavenly blessings, they will again fall [into the lower realms]. Because of this, they still must seek the Dharma. To reach the ultimate state, even the most minute and subtle delusions must be eliminated. So, they begin to engage in spiritual practice and walk the Bodhisattva-path again. They go among people without becoming defiled and train their minds so they are pure. By awakening compassion and exercising wisdom, they thus go among people and exercise both compassion and wisdom without ever becoming defiled. Replete in both blessings and wisdom, they are able to attain Buddhahood.
They are just a small step away right now, but we are still very far off. We still have multitudes of afflictions. It is not just that the Brahma kings are only a small step away, they are also still seeking. As long as a tiny amount of dust-like delusions still remain, they will still seek the true principles. Then there are the naga kings and gandharvas. The eight classes of Dharma protectors include the haga kings, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, non-humans and so on, those who are of this world and those who are not. These are the eight classes of Dharma protectors. They are all the same; they are seeking the true principles, so what of us humans? This is why we should exercise utmost reverence in seeking the true principles.
If we do not put effort into being mindful and do not diligently sow seeds, seeds of goodness, if we do not earnestly practice goodness and uphold precepts, then where will we end up in the future? We truly do not know, so we must be mindful. We are in the best place for spiritual practice. We can see that in the world there is so much impermanence, suffering and emptiness. When these principles manifest, we observe them and can go even deeper into them to help others. The Bodhisattva-path is in the world. As we continue to practice it, we encourage one another. We have all the conditions we need, so we should make the best use of them. Let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
