Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The One Vehicle True Dharma Transports All Beings (一乘實法 運載眾生)
Date: April.20.2017
“When we want to traverse a path of 1000 li, we need a vehicle to carry us. This is how the Tathagata uses the One Vehicle Dharma of ultimate reality to deliver and tansform, to carry all sentient beings so they reach the other shore together. This is the Buddha Vehicle.
To travel a long distance, we need to take a vehicle. The vehicles used in ancient times, whether ox-carts or horse-carts, were all necessary means of transportation. It is the same for the Tathagata; when He came to transform us sentient beings He also had to create a vehicle for us. This vehicle is the Dharma of ultimate reality, which is used to deliver sentient beings, to carry them to the other shore. He wanted to help everyone reach that place. This is a means of transportation. Our modern transportation is very developed, so for long journeys we take an airplane and arrive very quickly. We can get from Hualien to Taipei in less than half an hour. From Hualien to Taipei, this is the fastest means [of transportation]. If we take a train, the express train will be there in two hours. A slightly slower way would be to take a car; driving on the highway takes five or six hours. Nowadays, people have a slower means of transportation, a motor scooter. Some people start in the north and even tour all around Taiwan by motor scooter. Even slower than that is a bicycle. Of course, by bicycle it would take days. Furthermore, a bicycle carries one person, and it takes many days to arrive. An airplane takes only 30 minutes to arrive and can carry many people at once. Similarly, with a train, though it may take two hours, it is still quite fast. From Taipei to Kaohsiung by high speed rail, you can arrive in a little more than an hour. In the past, it use to take an entire day by rail. These are all means of transportation. How far do we want to go? Taiwan is only 300 to 400 kilometers long, so if we want to travel even farther, then of course we will need faster transportation.
By the same principles, if we want to get from our unenlightened state to the state of Buddhahood, we can certainly get there, it just depends on the method we use. The method is our means of getting there. If we use the Small Vehicle Dharma, that is like traveling by bicycle. For a trip of just a few hundred kilometers around Taiwan, if you were to ride a bicycle, how long would it take you? Nevertheless, if you have the perseverance, after a few days you will be able to arrive at your destination. But this is just in Taiwan. If we want to travel to great countries all around the world, that is a great undertaking. Those with great undertakings need great vehicles; only great means of transportation will get them there. These are tools for great undertakings, to help us come and go. Riding a bicycle can be fun. When going somewhere, we can test our stamina, but that is about all we can do. Isn’t this like the Hearer Vehicle? It is only about benefiting oneself.
When we ride a bicycle to see the scenery, even though we may know of and see so many different sights, it is just a feeling we have inside “I have been to these places, I have great endurance, I’ve already been all around on my bicycle. This all comes from “me”. When I saw these different conditions, “I” was the one who saw them. This is like what we say, “With only broad learning and love for the Path, the Path is hard to attain”. If we only look at what others have [written], then we are just caught up in the words while time continues to pass. Are we really aonly concerned with ourselves? Time will not wait for us, so to succeed in a great undertaking, like shouldering the Tathagata’s mission, we must use the Great Vehicle Dharma.
We must benefit ourselves while benefiting others. If we want to transform sentient beings but do not listen to the Dharma, then we will have no Dharma. Without Dharma, how can we transform sentient beings? Then we fundamentally have. If we ourselves do not have Dharma, then how can we transform other sentient beings? So, we must listen to the Dharma. What Dharma should we listen to? The Dharma that can transform sentient beings. Sentient beings are so numerous, the world is so vast and sentient beings experience much suffering. Why should we transform others? If is because they suffer that we wish to deliver them. What are they suffering from? They suffer from the knot in their minds that they cannot work out. Because they have ignorance, ignorance leads them to act out of confusion. Their results in them harming themselves and also result in them harming others. With ignorance in their minds, they multiply negative karma. Thus we need the Dharma, the principles, to guide people in upholding the principles in the world, in upholding family ethics and in upholding the principles for a harmonious society. To do this we need the true principles. The true principles are the Dharma. Only when we take the Dharma to heart can we go among people to transform sentient beings. We should give others the opportunity to connect with the Buddha-Dharma.
So, for Tzu Chi’s 40th anniversary, that year, I began appealing again for “the spirit of the bamboo banks”. We should always remember, always reflect upon the road which brought us here. We should look back upon the past. The year of Tzu Chi’s 40th anniversary, I reminded everyone of how Tzu Chi started 40 years before, with 50 cents in the bamboo banks. We should not forget this. Now I want to again promote the “spirit of the bamboo bank,” to let everyone “deposit a good deed daily” to let everyone know than small change can help accomplish great good deeds. This time around, “the spirit of the bamboo bank” is already being promoted throughout the world, especially around Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, we saw how when Typhoon Haiyan caused a great disaster in Tacloban, Tzu Chi volunteers went there dedicate themselves to help. When they began helping them, Michael Siao, Alfredo Li and others exercised both compassion and wisdom. Besides merely distributing aid, they also encouraged people to practice recycling. They let everyone know that the emergency relief money they were receiving had come from small amounts gathered from people all around the world. It all began from “the spirit of the bamboo banks” several decades earlier. They explained these principles to them and then appealed to everyone. With the plastic bottles everyone was collecting, they could take a few cents, even 10 cents or 50 cents, and deposit it into [these bottles]. As this money accumulates every day, a little becomes a lot and can also help people. Starting in this way, they began forming affinities with Tacloban. Now in Tacloban, everyone knows of the “spirit of the bamboo bank”. During the emergency relief efforts there, the spare change that people donated in return amassed to such a great quantity that it could not be counted even in a year. Last year, they brought back pictures to show me. They said, “Master, when we added all this small change together, the number was quite astonishing”. They said, “We collected all this small change and brought it to the bank, but the bank has yet to finish counting it.” All those coins were still lying in the corner of a storage unit. They showed me pictures; there was still so much of it, bags and bags that had not even been counted yet.
You see, with every person, every day [saving] a single coin, whether 10 cents or 50 cents, the money in those bags in the corner, when tallied, could be tens of thousands of dollars. And all this started with just small coins. Little bits accumulated to the point that they become difficult to count. Isn’t this just like the Ganges’ sands? They accumulated blessings like the Ganges’ sands, bit by bit. Each coin, every bit of small change, constitutes a measure of blessings. With this method, we can transform sentient beings and accumulate blessings to do good deeds.
So, Tacloban was revived. With the goodness in people’s hearts, public order is good, and everyone is so good-natured when they meet one another. This is not impossible, it is certainly possible. This is the method we should use. Drawing near to and delivering sentient beings, awakening the love in people’s hearts, these are methods we use.
In the United States it is the same; they have begun again with the “spirit of the bamboo banks”. They too have started promoting “the spirit of the bamboo banks” there. Last year (2014), there was a husband and wife who had already immigrated to the US and were residing there when. Then in 2002, sometime around then, they came back in search of Tzu Chi’s roots and began the introductory and advanced training to become certified. They were certified in 2005.
After certification, they were very earnest, and they heartily approved of “the spirit of the bamboo bank”. Starting last year, they vowed to introduce this spirit to others. He told me that he and his wife had laid down their own rules; they had vowed to go around to at least five shops per day and tell them about Tzu Chi. They would bring bamboo banks, bamboo banks that are now made out of cardboard, with them to those shops. When an owner saw the husband and wife come in, he would ask them,” What would you like to buy?“ They would tell him, “We want to talk to you. We are promoting blessings so you know that you can create blessings too, like this.” Then they would proceed to tell them about “the spirit of the bamboo bank”. Each day, they would go to five shops. In the beginning, when they had not yet refined their presentation, they would begin by telling them the story of “the pool of blood” and then go on to explain the story of saving money in coin banks. It would take them at least seven or eight minutes. Business owners are very busy and cannot stand there and listen quietly to seven or eight minutes of introduction. So, of the five shops they first went to, only one of the shop owners responded positively. They were a little discouraged.
Then Mr. Pohjoo Chen told them, “You are talking too long. People are so busy that they don’t have time to listen to a long story. They don’t even know you, so you need to change your methods. Go into the five shops with your bamboo banks. Be determined when you go in and begin by telling them that you want to show them an easy way of creating blessings. You can even tell them they can save people. Tell them, if they have a friend or know of someone who is in difficult circumstances, then they must tell us, as we at Tzu Chi specialize in helping others. If someone is suffering, whether their friend or someone they know, they must tell us about them. We will go and help them immediately. Every day, when they open their shops, they can create blessings with a good thought by donating a penny or 10 cents, or 20 cents; it does not matter how much. If every day, when they open their shops, they remember to put in a little bit of money, this money will be used to save people. Thus they will be creating blessings. ‘Families who do good have much to celebrate’. This is what you should do. The bamboo banks have pretty designs, so then you can place them in their stores”.
Gradually, as they would go to the five shops, all five shops started accepting them. Every day they would accumulate five more shops like this and after every two months go back to each shop to collect those bamboo banks and replace them with new ones. Sometimes, when they went to collect the money, there would only be a few coins jangling around on the bottom of the bank, but they were never discouraged and replaced the old bamboo bank with a new one. They told them, “I will send you a receipt for you for this money”. Some owners would say, “There is no need. It is not a lot of money”. They would say, “I still need to give you a receipt”. They would collect every two months like this and add five new shops every day. Every day they would continue like this by adding five new shops.
Just think, by adding five new shops every day, how many would that be in a year? These all add up. Even if there were only a few coins in them, they would still collect every two months and then send a receipt. When a person received a receipt for what amounted to only two or three dollars, they would think, “They are so sincere. They even give receipts! This would inspire them to always give a little more themselves. Not only would they put more into their own banks, but when customers came in they would also ask them if they knew anyone suffering, so they could introduce them to us for aid.
Among the shops they went to, one shop owner had also come from Taiwan. He told them, “You’re from Tzu Chi? I wanted to volunteer but never found the time, and I never knew where you were. Thank you for coming to tell me about it”. They also met people like this. This is their method. They went into stores like this, telling them one by one about Tzu Chi. Their own vow was to visit five new shops every day and talk to the owners about Tzu Chi. Whether successful or not, whether the shops accepted them or not, this was their vow for themselves; they had to visit at least five shops a day and tell them about Tzu Chi. This is a very good method! This is the power of love; this is the method they have been using.
Our relief work in the Philippines has also helped those people open their hearts. Now they too can create blessings bit by bit. With what accumulates, they can save people too. If they quickly count all that money that is lying in that corner, it can also be used to save people. That money is worth tens of thousands of dollars; how many people could it save? Most importantly, everyone there is joyful. They feel, “Although I may be poor, I can save others too”. This is our method. Our method is to go among the people. The Great Vehicle Dharma, the Dharma-door of the Great Vehicle, is to put the teachings into practice by going among people. We teach the rich to help the poor, we help the poor, then teach them of their riches. We help the needy and teach those in poverty to open their hearts and realize their spiritual wealth. This is our method.
So, we must mindfully accept the Buddha’s teaching. The Dharma of ultimate reality is for delivering and transforming sentient beings; it must be put it into practice. This is how “the Tathagata uses the One Vehicle Dharma of ultimate reality to deliver and transform”. This is the Buddha-Dharma; the Great Vehicle Dharma is to go among others. The Great vehicle can be taught to everyone, so it can “carry all sentient beings so they reach the other shore together. This is the Buddha Vehicle”. This is the true and correct Buddha Vehicle. It dispels sentient beings’ spiritual suffering and can help them in a practical way through their difficult days of poverty. We are also able to help them. So, both the poor and the rich can be aided and delivered by the Buddha-Dharma; they can be saved and delivered. This is the method the Buddha used while in the world. He “opened and revealed” for us so that we could “realize and enter”.
Now, let us look at the previous passage. “I will be a Buddha in another land, with a different name. Though these people gave rise to thought of crossing into extinction, that they should enter Nirvana, in that land they will seek the Buddha’s wisdom and will be able to hear this sutra”.
We spoke of this previously. Next it says, “Only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction. There are no other vehicles, except when Tathagatas teach with skillful means”.
We should understand this well by now. As we discussed previously, only the Buddha Vehicle, the Buddha’s teachings, can deliver and transform sentient beings. The previous sutra passage states, “I will be a Buddha in another land”. The Buddha said regardless of where He is, He will engage in practice and become a Buddha, and each time He will have a different name. of those transformed, though everyone had the desire to be able to cross into extinction, though all hoped to enter Nirvana, what did they know of the Great Vehicle Dharma? “Only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction”. Hearers and Solitary Realizers would not be able to be delivered just like that. We cannot just be riding a bicycle around Taiwan and think we have already been delivered, no. That is merely seeing the landscape of our mind; we are merely going sightseeing by ourselves, merely testing our own physical endurance. It is not a great undertaking, we cannot take our time. We must move quickly, move quickly ourselves and transform many people, not just one person. So, though the Dharma is a means of conveyance, what we need is the Great Vehicle Dharma, for this the Dharma that the Buddha truly wanted to teach us. With it we can arrive and others can also arrive together with us. We will all arrive at the state of the Buddha. So it says, “Only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction. Being delivered does not mean we just believe that we understand these teachings and therefore we have been delivered. This is not how it is. We must experience the truth of the Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha’s teachings on the true principles must be taken to heart and put into practice among people until we can reach the point of being able to transform ourselves as well as others. This is the true Great Vehicle Dharma. So, “only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction. “There are no other vehicles, except when Tathagatas teach with skillful means.” The only exception is when Tathagatas teach with skillful means.
Only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction. There are no other vehicles: if one wishes to attain a mind that has crossed into tranquil extinction, one can only do so with the Dharma of the One Buddha Vehicle. In advancing and engaging in practice until one is able to cross into extinction, there is no Great and Small ot Three Vehicles.
So, we need to experience how, “Only with the Buddha Vehicle is one enabled to cross into extinction. There are no other vehicles”. This is saying we “wish to attain a mind that has crossed into tranquil extinction”. If what we seek to attain is truly a mind of ultimate tranquil extinction, then we should reflect on our own minds. Are our minds in a state of tranquil extinction every day? Are they tranquil and still? Have we eliminated our afflictions? “Tranquil extinction” means the mind is still, without discursive thoughts, and remains undisturbed by external states. Though we are still engaged with people, matters and things and do about our daily lives in our daily living, our minds are not disturbed by external states nor do they give rise to discursive thoughts. When our minds can remain serene like this, we say the mind is “tranquil”.
And “extinction”? This means eliminating all afflictions. Do our minds give rise to discursive thoughts? Is there anything in our minds that causes us to give rise to afflictions and multiply our afflictions? We have yet to eliminate our habitual tendencies and still have attachment to self and so on, all these kinds of afflictions. Have we eliminated the old ones? Have we let new ones in? if we have not gotten rid of old afflictions and continue to allow new afflictions in, then we are unenlightened beings.
We still have not attained the Buddha’s teachings. So, “tranquil extinction” means new afflictions will not enter because external states will not disturb us, and our old afflictions have already been eliminated. When we eradicate our afflictions every day, it is called “tranquil extinction”.
Our mind must be still and pure, undisturbed by anything. When our past habitual tendencies and afflictions have all been eliminated, that is tranquil extinction. If we are able to achieve tranquil extinction, we will then truly be able to take the Dharma to heart. Then we have the ability to apply the Dharma to deliver and transform others. This is “a mind that has crossed into tranquil extinction “.
I hope we all will remember this, “a mind that has crossed into tranquil extinction”. Our minds need this purity from getting rid of habitual tendencies and defilement so that we can take the Dharma to heart and use the Dharma to transform others. This is the Dharma that we should truly seek.
So, “One can only do so with the Dharma of the One Buddha Vehicle. There is really only the One Buddha Vehicle. When it comes to the three carts, the sheep-cart, the deer-cart and ox-cart, what cart must we ultimately choose? We must choose the great white ox-cart. This is the Buddha’s Great Vehicle Dharma. Because of this, we must have great patience. We need to be “advancing and engaging in practice”. We must put the teachings into practice. from the initial aspiration we form upon hearing, the first aspiration we give rise to, we should continually advance and persevere.
“Advancing” means moving ahead without retreating. We must persevere in finding ways to change our lives, persevere in entering the Buddhist path and persevere in accepting the Buddha-Dharma. We must persevere in all these things and go among the people to give. Thus we “advance and engage in spiritual practice”. We advance forward step by step “until one is able to cross into extinction”. Naturally we are able to cross into extinction. When we nurture our minds to be so settled, when our resolve is so firm, external states will no longer disturb us.
In the past, Dharma-water cleansed our minds, so our minds’ afflictions continually decreased. In this way, we could go among people, first transforming ourselves, then transforming others. This is what it means to be truly delivered, to cross into extinction, which is to eliminate our ignorance and afflictions and bring the Dharma into our minds so we can then transform others. “There is no Great and Small or Three Vehicles”. Outside of the One Great Vehicle, there are no distinct Great and Small Vehicles, nor any differentiation between the Small, Middle and Great Vehicles.
The Buddha-Dharma is so universal and so simple. There is only the True Dharma of the One Vehicles, if we are able to accept it.
Next it says, “Except when Tathagatas teach with skillful means.
Except when Tathagatas teach with skillful means: The exception is the Tathagatas’ skillful means. When they manifest in order to transform and deliver people in the world. They adapt to people’s capabilities and skillfully teach the Three Vehicles.
This exception is because sentient beings have weak capabilities. Sentient beings’ capabilities are very weak, so the Buddha had to teach with skillful means. He had to teach the Dharma that they could accept. This is like our relief work; we provide abundant material aid to help them, then we guide them to make small donations, encouraging them to accumulate blessings. this is the skillful means we use in order to transform them, using the Great Dharma to transform their hearts. Through limited teachings, we guide them to begin accumulating [blessings]. It is the same principle; these are skillful means, which likewise transform sentient beings. So, “[Tathagatas] manifest in order to transform and deliver people in the world”. These is what Buddhas do. Every Buddha, upon attaining Buddhahood, has already reached a state of tranquil extinction. Yet for the sake of delivering sentient beings, they return on the ship of compassion to places with those who have affinities with Them. Buddhas will never abandon them; They will go anywhere in order to transform them. Like now, the Dharma is spreading into many countries where Buddhism was never heard of in the past. They now gradually accept the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha’s teachings are to go among the people to save and transform sentient beings, so we form groups that benefit the public; this is what makes a Buddhist organization. This has already become widespread; the Dharma has already spread widely. This is also [the Buddha’s] transformation-body, the Dharma used to respond and transform. In response to sentient beings’ capabilities, we form affinities with them though the Dharma, in any kind of place. This is manifesting in response to transform.
In looking back, we would say that the Buddha responded to this Saha World, this place of endurance, to deliver and transform sentient beings. He used the Dharma to deliver and transform. While He has been gone for over 2000 years, the Buddha’s Dharma-body, His Dharma, still remains in our world. Thus it can still deliver and transform. “They adapt to people’s capabilities and skillfully teach the Three Vehicles”. The past Buddha, Great Unhindered, was like this, and more than 2000 years ago, Sakyamuni Buddha was like this too. Sakyamuni Buddha, in teaching this Dharma, also had the Agama, Vaipulya, Prajna and Lotus [periods]. At the very start, there was the Avatamsaka. These are the five periods of teachings, culminating at the end with the Lotus teachings, the path to attaining Buddhahood. This was all a process for the Buddha-dharma to become widespread. “Hearers and others in the assembly had long been replete with superior causes”.
Hearers and others in the assembly had long been replete with superior causes, yet they all needed to practice over long kalpas before they would be able to attain Buddhahood. This reveals the supreme meaning of spiritual practice.
Actually, from Great unhindered Buddha’s time through [the time of] Sakyamuni Buddha, up to now, other than Hearers, there is also a host of lay practitioners. Other than bhiksus, the Hearers, there were also others, all those who have come into contact with the Buddha-dharma or heard about it. Though some may have not yet joined an organization for spiritual practice, they may be involved in other virtuous organizations. They too have formed great aspirations, made great vows, have already long accumulated superior causes and conditions and begun planting seeds.
So, “All needed to practice over long kalpas before they would be able to attain Buddhahood”. These Hearers, or those who have formed aspirations after hearing the Dharma, need a long period of spiritual practice to gradually go deeper in their understanding of the Buddha-Dharma. Going from the Small to the Great, from transforming oneself to transforming others, it takes a long time of this before one attains Buddhahood. This reveals the supreme meaning of spiritual practice. This is how [we progress] through the process of spiritual practice.
Next, it says, “Bhiksus, if the Tathagata knows that the time of His Parinirvana has come and that those in the assembly are pure, have steadfast faith and understanding, fully understand the teachings of emptiness” “and deeply entre Samadhi…”.
Saying “Bhiksus,” Sakyamuni Buddha was again calling on the Hearer and Solitary Realizer disciples present. He asked if everyone knew “if the Tathagata knows that the time of His Parinirvana has come…”.
Bhiksus, if the Tathagata knows that the time of His Parinirvana has come: The Buddha Himself knows, that His conditions are exhausted, that His conditions for transformation are about to end and His time to enter Parinirvana has come.
The Buddha began leaving a testament, entrusting everything to them. The Tathagata knew that His time to enter Parinirvana had come. The Tathagata already knew exactly when He would enter Parinirvana. It was close to His time to enter Parinirvana. Therefore, “He Himself knows that His conditions are exhausted”. The causes and conditions of His lifetime in the human realm were coming to an end. This lifetime was near its end, so “His conditions for transformation were about to end”. He had transformed about as many sentient beings as He was going to transform; He was nearing the end. So, “His time to enter Parinirvana had come”. The moment of His entering Parinirvana was near.
The time of His Parinirvana has come: His conditions for transformation in this lifetime were nearing their end. Sentient beings had received the Dharma one after another. When the Buddha was about to enter Parinirvana, sentient beings worried that after the Buddha had entered extinction, there would be no Dharma for them to hear. The teachings that the Buddha gave at this time were easy for sentient beings who heard them to have deep faith in.
“His conditions for transformation in this lifetime were nearing their end”. His lifetime was nearing its end. Sentient beings had received the Dharma one after another. The Buddha was about to enter Parinirvana. In His lifetime, in this way, the Buddha had opened the Dharma-doors of skillful means to teach and transform sentient beings according to their capabilities. One after the other they met the Buddha and accepted the teachings. One after another, many had accepted the Buddha’s teachings. From the Small Vehicle Dharma, the Buddha was now turning to the Great Vehicle as He taught everyone. Now the Buddha was about to enter Parinirvana, so sentient beings were worried. The Buddha had already begun passing on to them and entrusting them with the deepest meanings. It seemed that the Buddha did not have much time, that there were only a few years remaining, so sentient beings were anxious and worried. What would happen after the Buddha entered Parinirvana? There would be “no dharma for them to hear”. They would not be able to hear the Dharma again. So, when the Buddha taught at this time, everyone wanted to listen to the Dharma. It was very easy for them to hear it and, after hearing it, to have deep faith in it. So as everyone was worried, they seized the time the Buddha was still there to quickly listen to the Dharma earnestly. After hearing it, they had to have deep roots of faith. The Buddha had begun handing things over to them, so everyone’s vigilance was heightened. Once the Buddha entered Parinirvana, there would be no more Dharma to hear, so they hastened to earnestly and mindfully listen. Their roots of faith had to be deep. These people had begun forming aspirations. “Those in the assembly are pure [and]” have strong roots of faith. At this time, their minds and bodies were pure and their faith was steadfast, so,” The conduct of the sentient beings whom He had transformed was pure”.
Those in the assembly are pure [and] have steadfast faith and understanding: The conduct of the sentient beings whom He had transformed was pure. Since they had already attained benefits from the Four Noble Truths and the limited teachings and avoided the difficulties of the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings, when they listened to the Buddha teach the Great Vehicle, they had right faith and understanding, and their minds were steadfast.
He had already entered the Lotus period. He saw how they engaged in practice in the past and how they had gotten rid of their afflictions. Now they were steadfast in their will to practice. “ Since they had already attained benefits from the Four Noble Truths and the limited teachings” means He saw the purity of their minds, [how they understood ] the Four Noble Truths, suffering causation, cessation and the Path. “[They] avoided the difficulties of the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings”. These people had gotten rid of ignorance and would not create more negative karma. They had understood the Dharma, thus those in the Three Evil Realms would gradually diminish while the number of heavenly beings would gradually grow.
So, “When they listened to the Buddha teach the Great Vehicle, they had right faith and understanding”. All had right faith and right understanding, and they were steadfast in body and mind. Next it says, “[ They ] fully understand the teaching of emptiness and deeply enter Samadhi”.
[They] fully understand the teaching of emptiness and deeply enter Samadhi: With clear understanding and total comprehension of the teaching of the supreme meaning of emptiness and stillness, they delved deeply into the Great Vehicle Dharma if Samadhi.
“The teaching of the supreme meaning of emptiness and stillness” was given during the Valpulya and Prajna periods. During the Prajna period, He taught about emptiness. So, during the Valpulya and Prajna periods, they learned emptiness and stillness, giving them “clear understanding and total comprehension”. They came to understand that all material things in the world are always in the process of formation, existence, decay and disappearance. That understood how life, in the end, is just aging, illness and death. Since everything is empty in nature, what is there to take issue with? So, during the Valpulya and Prajna periods, He guided us to use our time well to earnestly get rid of ignorance, eliminate thoughts of desire and thoroughly understand many principles. “That delve deeply into the Great Vehicle Dharma of Samadhi”. Samadhi is quiet contemplation, the cultivation of contemplation. We should put effort into contemplation. This is “fully understanding the teaching of emptiness”. If we understand that all phenomena is empty, we can help all beings give rise to wisdom, this can increase their power of wisdom so they could clearly differentiate right from wrong. This is how they increase their wisdom. “When they listen to the Prajna teachings, their minds will fully understand the Dharma if emptiness”. Everyone should be able to comprehend this. So, we Buddhist practitioners need vehicles just as if we were traveling. We should take the Dharma into our hearts, then take the Dharma to go among others and deliver sentient beings. There are all sorts of ways to do this. If we are helping the poor, we can also teach them of their riches. For those who are wealthy, we can slowly inspire the love in them, and when their love has awakened, they will help those who are suffering. Through teachings of skillful means, we can bring them into the Buddha-Dharma so they can enter the path to Buddhahood. All of this is skillful means, for all skillful means are ultimately part of the One Vehicle Dharma. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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