Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Reaching the Land of Treasures (化城非實能通寶所)
Date: May.02.2017
“All sesntient beings have treasures inside them, a slight thought arising leads us to enter the wrong path. “The Buddha] uses the provisional, analogies of the conjured city and the place of treasures. The faraway place of treasures is close by. This city is not the true, but a provisional path. When they can reach the land of treasures, it is a place they can find refuge. This is an analogy for the Dharma of ultimate Nirvana. With skillful means [He guides them] to directly reach the place of treasures”.
We have already read such a long sutra passage. By now we should be able to understand. People and sentient beings, each and every one of us, has treasures inside us. A slight thought arising can lead us to enter the wrong path. Aren’t we all like this? clearly, the Buddha had told us that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, that all sentient beings possess the intrinsic nature of True Suchness. Since Beginningless Time, our intrinsic nature of True Suchness has always been part of us. Regardless of which lifetime or which of the four forms of birth or Five Destinies, in all these different bodily forms, as long as we have life, our nature of True Suchness is always part of us. We must have faith that the nature of True Suchness is a treasure that each of us has inside. So, sentient beings have treasures inside them. We all inherently have a stupa on the spiritual Vulture Peak within us. We must earnestly engage in spiritual practice. Do we have to go far away to seek Vulture Peak? This is a way of reminding us. How do we find this intrinsic nature of True Suchness that we all have? To find this intrinsic nature, we must follow a path and seek to understand the place where our nature is concealed. But usually we do not put in the effort to figure out how we walk this path or find this path. On this vast stretch of land in our minds, we are still unclear of the layout and geography. We do not know how to walk this path. During this period when we do not know where to go, “A slight thought arising leads us to enter the wrong path. This is because we cannot yet clearly read the map of our minds. With the map of our minds, we have not mindfully walked, step by step, to find [our intrinsic nature]. However, with this restlessness in our minds, if the slightest thought were to arise, our course would begin to deviate.
A slight deviation takes us far off course. Even deviating a little can cause our direction to be off by a great amount. This means that every day we must be vigilant of where our mind is focused. a slight deviation takes us far off course. Then if we want to return, the path will be dangerous and very difficult. When we listen to the Buddha-Dharma, the Buddha gives provisional teachings. In the sutra we are reading now, we can understand from the beginning that the Buddha taught the provisional precisely because we sentient beings have such dull and limited capabilities. Not only are our capabilities dull, but the space in our minds is also very narrow. These dull and limited capabilities are not suited for this Great Dharma. This path is long and the responsibility is great; such all-encompassing Great Dharma is not a path that we ordinary people are able to walk down. So, He had no choice but to teach the provisional. In this way, He used analogies for everything. Now He had already begun. The Buddha had taught the Dharma for more than 40 years, and at this time in His life, He was nearing the point when He would enter Parinirvana, this left seven years to teach the Great Dharma. But when He began to teach the Great Dharma, it was by no means easy. He still had to endure many challenges; there are many challenges in this world.
One sutra cannot be taught in a day; it took seven to eight years’ time for this Great Vehicle sutra, the Lotus Sutra, to be completely taught. So, throughout all of this, sentient beings’ capabilities still fell short. The Buddha still needed to patiently teach them and use past and future events as analogies for the present. So, these teachings were still provisional. He considered how to guide everyone through this dangerous path. This dangerous path is the Five Destinies, which He taught us to transcend, everyone knows about the Five Destinies. We should not let ignorant thoughts arise. Once an ignorant thought arises, even if it only stirs slightly, we will easily turn toward dangerous paths.
So, at this time we must be vigilant and mindful. We must ceaselessly heighten our vigilance and alert everyone that this path is dangerous. We must walk earnestly and carefully. Everyone felt that they wanted to transcend the Five Destinies in this way, but having already made it to this point, if they still had to move forward to the vast and great, direct Bodhi-path, that seemed so far away! Looking from here to there, it seeded endless; this long path seemed still so far away. So, at this time, everyone’s minds were exhausted. “[The Buddha] uses the provisional, analogies of the conjured city and the place of treasures. The faraway place of treasures” is still far off. But as this was happening, there was a wise guiding teacher who told them, “It is not that far. Look, you can almost see the place of treasures.” This was to help everyone to have hope again. “Of course! What I can see with my eyes. I should be able to reach by foot as well.” Previously, it was too far away to see. But now, far ahead [they saw that] there is already a city there. Once again their spirits were lifted. “The faraway place of treasures is close by.” They could see it with their eyes.
So, “This city is not the true.” In fact, this city is not real; it is a provisional means of the guiding teacher. He first put everyone’s minds at ease and said, “Ahead is a city; it is not too far.” In fact, in the mind of the guiding teacher, this is a kind of manifestation, an analogy. This city up ahead is not real; it is a provisional path, a skillful means. He was encouraging everyone to keep going forward, because everyone must cross over this path. They can see it from afar, but in fact they must still take another safe path in order to reach the city of treasures. If everyone can diligently move forward, then this path will eventually lead to the true city of treasures where we can find refuge.
This is meant to help our minds become more vigorous and diligent as we move forward on this path. This is using analogies and all kinds of methods to teach and guide, guide these people to transcend the three Realms. Having mostly passed over the Five Destinies, we want to transcend the Three Realms, but we still must reach the state of having completely eliminated delusions of ignorance. To completely [transcend] the Three Realms, we must pass through the desire realm, form realm and formless realm. It is the formless realm that those in the Two Vehicles, Hearers and Solitary Realizers, must strive to transcend. This is even more difficult, because delusions of ignorance and dust-like delusions are very subtle and intricate. They seem very subtle and fine, but there is no way to completely remove them. It is just like a mirror.
In fact, what is covering this mirror are not very coarser obvious things. It is covered by very subtle and fine things. It is all dust. In fact, these particles are even finer than dust. This fine dust covers this mirror like this. How do we completely remove this dust-like delusions so that this mirror can be completely clear? To return to this great perfect mirror wisdom, which reflects the outside completely clearly, is a bit more difficult. Regardless, we must still cross this path. If we do not cross this path and put in effort to thoroughly clear away these dust-like delusions, then we will not be able to truly reach the state of Buddhahood. Even Bodhisattvas still have dust-like delusions; they have not yet realized the ultimate. They have not yet attained the Dharmakaya. Those who are still walking the Bodhisattva-path still linger at this point with sublet and find dust-like delusions. This is like how we all can be called Bodhisattvas as long as we are dedicated and willing to learn the Buddha’s teachings. If we can go among people and give to others unconditionally, then we are Bodhisattvas. Although we give unconditionally, at times our minds may give rise to afflictions. These are dust-like delusions. “If you do not seek anything, then why are you taking issue over things? Though I have no expectations, though I ask for nothing in return, in interpersonal relationships, when people treat us poorly, we naturally take issue over it.” These are dust-like delusions. With such small matters, why do we give rise to discursive thoughts? A slight thought arising leads us to enter the wrong path. This is because our dust-like delusions have not been eliminated. We may have already surpassed the desire realm and are no longer tempted by material desires, but this dust-like ignorance still causes us to have discursive thoughts. A slight thought will arise; this happens often. This means we have not completely removed them. What should we do? The guiding teacher is just like the Buddha facing sentient beings. He obviously knows that everyone is working hard. Hearers, Solitary Realizers and those with Bodhisattva-aspirations are all working hard, but to truly attain the state of Buddhahood, there is still quite a ways to go. So, “This is an analogy for the Dharma of ultimate Nirvana.” He had to use many methods for everyone to truly experience ultimate Nirvana. This is the Great Dharma of Nirvana. Even dust-like delusions must be totally removed. How do we remove them? We do so in the same way; we must use our conditions to train our minds. All the things that we experience in life can be used to train our minds. That is why the path we must walk is so long. [The Buddha] ceaselessly cautions and warns that this road is treacherous. Life is suffering; once a thought of ignorance arises, we easily become lost. So, He uses all kinds of skillful means to guide us on this path. With careful analogies, He slowly and mindfully leads us to the place of treasure. He uses all kinds of methods. There are so many kinds of worldly matters. So, in the sutras, He often used analogies, like in the Buddha’s Jataka Sutra. In the world of animals, there are also animal Bodhisattvas. It is not just humans who have intrinsic natures of True Suchness. In fact, the world of animals is the same. They similarly have a nature of True Suchness; they also have the state of Bodhisattvas.
For instance, there was a cat that fell ill. He was brought to a veterinary clinic so people could take care of him. At that veterinary clinic, this black cat was already very ill, but people worked hard to treat him. They treated the cat until he was finally restored to full health. After recovering his health, upon seeing any other animal, whether cats, dogs or any other animal that was ill, this cat would care for and treat them. If he saw an animal that had relieved himself, he would help to clean them. If he saw another animal was not clear-headed, he would give him a shake or a “massage”. He would massage his whole body carefully; sometimes he used his four paws, sometimes two paws. He took care of others like this; he took care of any animal with illness. This is an animal Bodhisattva. The people in the animal center saw this cat and said he was the nurse among animals; they say that this cat turned into a nurse. So, everyone cherished this cat. This cat in the veterinary clinic was the most lively and light-hearted and could best understand other animals’ suffering. So, he took good care of them. This is a Bodhisattva in the animal world.
We can see that animals are very kind-hearted. There was a tiger that was pregnant. A deer came by that had lost her way. The tiger picked up the deer with her mouth, brought her back onto the path and put her down. She put the deer down gently without even doing her any harm. The tiger even played with her there. The tiger and deer played together. After about half an hour, [the tiger] let the deer go, allowing her to safely leave. Not only did she escape the tiger’s mouth, she also found her path back to where her deer herd was. See, animals also have a spiritual nature! It is possible that this tiger was already pregnant, and so her maternal instincts manifested. Seeing this small, lost deer, she actually saved her and guided her to find her way by placing her gently on the flat ground. They even played together. Is this not intrinsic Buddha-nature, the nature of True Suchness? Animals also have this. Among animals there are also animal Bodhisattvas that can save people or save other animals.
Certainly, we also often hear stories of humans whose lives are saved by all kinds of animal. I have told these stories before. The true nature of humans and animals is the same. We humans have an intrinsic nature of True Suchness. Animals also have this nature of goodness. So, “All living beings, no matter how small, possess the Buddha-nature”. We are born in the Five Destinies, the heaven, human, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. This is all due to one thought arising. This is how we enter the Five Destinies. Now we know that we must heighten our vigilance and prevent [transmigrating in the Five Destinies]. Being born in the Five Destinies depends on our actions in daily living. In our daily actions, when a single thought goes astray, we go far off course. In this way, we multiply afflictions and accumulate negative karma. In the future, we may regress to a lower realm. So, we must be very mindful. We must walk this path. Although it is a treacherous path, we are able to walk through it safely. Although the place of treasures is far off, though it seems very far away, we must believe that this faraway place is actually the state of Buddhahood. Since we believe that it is near to us, that we all have a stupa on Vulture Peak in us, that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, how can we not point ourselves toward our inner Lotus Dharma-assembly and walk forward to the state of Buddhahood? So, we absolutely need to have faith. We should have faith at the beginning, have faith as we practice the Path and have faith until the end, when we arrive at the state of Buddhahood. Throughout the process, we must not have doubts, as these doubts will make us become lax.
There are many true events in this world that we are unable to understand. People are unable to understand tigers. What is the nature of a tiger? The Buddha explained this to us so simply. Although the tiger is fierce, she still has Buddha-nature. These are all real stories happening right now. A dog picked up a baby with his mouth and brought him to where people could find him. The dog saved the baby; from this, we should all be able to understand that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Yet we are unable, as we go among sentient beings, to experience this truth. What exactly is in the minds of other beings? Even in relationships [among humans], we cannot understand the states of other people’s minds. We only understand ourselves; we do not understand others. Even as we now learn the Buddha’s teachings, we cannot even understand ourselves! These are clearly real people and real animals. Such things really happened in the world. However, we are unable to clearly understand. So, for the things we are unable to understand, the Buddha used many methods to help us understand. Thus, our wise guiding teacher must guide us through this path.
The previous sutra passage states, “Having given rise to this thought, with the power of skillful means, 300 yojanas along the dangerous road he conjures a city and tells these people, ‘All of you, do not fear. You must not retreat and go back’”.
These people had already told the guiding teacher, “It is still so far. We are very fatigued and also very scared. We are ready to stop here. We do not want to keep moving forward.” Thus the guiding teacher began to have this thought and once again used his skillful means He told everyone about [a city] “300 yojanas along the dangerous road”. On this dangerous path, we have already passed through the Five Destinies. Now we are passing through a point 300 yajanas along. This is an analogy for the Three Realms. After passing this place there is a city. “Look, we have walked such a long road. Now let us walk another stretch; ahead there is a city. It is a place where we can rest. Do not be afraid of retreat and turn back”.
The next sutra passage states, “Now you can stop here in this great city and act according to your intent. If you enter this city, you will quickly attain peace and stability. If you can advance toward the place of treasures, you will be able to go there”.
This is to say, “Look, we can see that big city. Far away there is a city over there. Come, when we get there we can rest. Don’t worry about anything else till you rest. Come, let us keep moving forward. If we are able to enter this city, you should know that entering this city will enable us to live in peace. In fact, just beyond this city is the place of treasures. The place of the treasures is already close by. If you want to keep moving forward, you can keep moving forward”. In this way, the wise guiding teacher slowly leads and guides us toward the nearby conjured city. “Come, let us walk forward. You have already come this far. If know you were to turn back it would be farther Going forward is closer, especially since that big city will keep us very safe. We should move forward”.
Now you can stop here in this great city: This is only a place to stop and rest. Now in this great city of the Nirvana of emptiness and stillness, they can stop and rest here with peaceful minds. He encourages them to advance forward by leading them to enter the city.
“Now you can stop here in this great city.” This is a place where we can rest. “This is only a place to stop and rest”. This means that this is a place where we can rest and stop temporarily. This refers to that great city. So, he is not lying to them. “That great city is where we can stop and rest; after resting for a bit, then we will see”. They could think this over. “Now in this great city of the Nirvana of emptiness and stillness, this great city of Nirvana of emptiness and stillness, they can stop and rest here with peaceful minds”. This great city of the Nirvana of emptiness and stillness refers to the Prajna period. Prajna teachings explain emptiness. When we learn about prajna, we increase our wisdom. We understand that in all worldly things, everything is empty. So, we should have no attachments so that we will not fail into the Three Evil Destinies, the Five Destinies or the four forms of birth. So, everything is empty. Thus it says, “In this great city of the Nirvana of emptiness and stillness, this place allows us to rest”. We must understand that. “We can stop and rest here with peaceful minds”. First the Buddha taught about emptiness so that everyone’s mind could be at peace. Everything is empty, so we do not have to worry about the Six Destinies of cyclic existence. Everyone can stop and rest a little. In this, “He encourages them to advance forward”. He first lets them stop and rest a little before walking forward again. “Act according to your intent” means that if they arrive here, then each person can consider whether they want to stop, or want to turn back or want to keep moving forward. Everyone should first find a place to rest. This city is a place where everyone can rest. On arriving, they “act according to their intent”. Everyone can think over [what they want].
Act according to your intent: In accordance with the intent of the Small Vehicle practitioners, He first enables them to recognize suffering and eliminate causation, to admire the Path, cultivate the causes and attain the fruits. This is to “act according to your intent”.
“In accordance with the intent of the Small Vehicle practitioners” means it can also adapt to limited capabilities. Those with limited capacities would be able to stop and rest here. “He first enables them to recognize suffering and eliminate its causation”. In the beginning the Buddha began to tell us about suffering and its causation. Suffering is caused by accumulation [of causes] He let everyone know that this was suffering, so we would not come back to the Five Destinies. Since we have already gone down this path, we must not turn back on the same road, because suffering and causation are truly endless. He inspired everyone to admire the Path and eliminate causation. When they admire the Path, they will quickly engage in spiritual practice. To engage in spiritual practice, they must eliminate this causation [of suffering]. All suffering arises from the accumulation of all kinds of causes and conditions. The karmic forces and causes and conditions that we create are accumulated like this. He wanted everyone to know that they must quickly follow this road to engage in spiritual practice. They must understand that everything comes from this accumulation. So, [He wanted them] “to admire the Path, cultivate the causes and attain the fruits”. Everyone began to admire the Buddha-Dharma and quickly engage in spiritual practice to cultivate these causes. With virtuous causes, we attain virtuous fruits. So, this is to “act according to your intent. We have walked this path and already cultivated these practices. Let us first stop and rest, then think about [what to do next]” “Do you really want to go back? If you have already eliminated afflictions and understood the principles, do you really want to go back to living a confused life? This means that those who reach there must reach there on their own”. To be able to reach there, we must reach there on our own.
This means that those who reach there must reach there on their own. Then we can be free and unhindered to act according to our intent.
This is how the guiding teacher leads us. “I have brought you this far; are you sure you want to turn and go back?” The path in our minds must be unobstructed so that “we can be free and unhindered”h If our minds can reach this point, then naturally we will be free and unhindered. As long as we can cross this path, we can be at ease. So, this is to “act according to your intenth If you enter this city, you will quickly attain peace and stability”h As long as they could continue walking forward [to reach] that place where they could rest, they would attain stability and peace. Then they could think it over again. In this way he slowly comforted and guided them.
If you enter this city, you will quickly attain peace and stability: If they enter such a city of calm illumination, they will take joy in attaining limited fruits. Freeing themselves from fragmentary samsara is called “peace and stability”.
“If they enter such a city of calm illumination, they will take joy in attaining limited fruits”. First, he brought them in, to a state of “the mind is without hindrances; there are no hindrances”. Isn’t this what the Heart Sutra teaches? This is talking about the state of prajna. When we achieve the state of prajna, the mind is without hindrances. This is to enter “a city of calm illumination”. When they eliminate their afflictions, they enter the city of calm illumination. They attain limited fruits and no longer have any afflictions. Their minds are without hindrances, so they attain limited fruits and feel happy; their hearts are very happy. “Freeing themselves from fragmentary samsara is called ‘peace and stability”’. Those with limited fruits reach this stage and are freed from fragmentary samsara.
So, “With peace, stability and happiness, they attain tranquility and wondrous permanence”. This is peace, stability and happiness. “Knowing worldly matters will always cease, they end the mind that contrives affinities” and attain everlasting joy.
Naturally, Arhats, Hearers and Solitary Realizers reach this level of tranquility and wondrous permanence and think, “Now my mind is completely tranquil. I am not troubled by external states. Worldly matters have nothing to do with me, and I do not want to keep contriving affinities”. They think that they have attained everlasting joy. This is the Small Vehicle. They think this is peace, stability and joy. This is when they are in the conjured city. They think this stability and joy. So, “If you can advance toward the place of treasures,” and “you will be able to go there”.
If you can advance toward the place of treasures you will be able to go there: If they can advance further, they can go straight to the Tathagata’s place of treasures of calm illumination. If they can enter such a city, they can see the Path and attain the principles.
“You have reached this place and eliminated your ignorance and afflictions. You think that stopping here is enough. But this is a conjured city. Are you really content with just staying here? Up ahead, ahead of this conjured city, is the place of treasures; if you want to go there, keep walking forward”. So, “If they can advance further, they can go straight to the Tathagata’s place of treasures of calm illumination”. Once at this place, if they wanted to truly form aspirations and put in the effort again, then they could go straight to the Tathagata’s place of treasures of calm illumination. At this point in their journey, if [their mind] “is without hindrances,” is this the ultimate? This is not yet the ultimate. There is still dust-like ignorance. This is not the final goal of spiritual practice; to reach the goal of spiritual practice, they must keep moving forward. So, “If they can enter such a city, they can see the Path and attain the principles”. If they can reach the true place of treasures, then they will really see the true principles. So, “He has them stop here in peace and safety, to act according to their intent”. They came to this place, this conjured city, a place to briefly stop and rest, then they could follow their intent and consider what they wanted to do.
Since He has them stop here in peace and safety, to act according to their intent, He temporarily soothes the minds of the Small Vehicle practitioners. Then by saying if they advance toward the place of treasures, they will be able to go there, he encourages them to form great aspirations. This is the guiding teacher’s supreme wisdom.
This temporarily comforted the Small Vehicle practitioners’ minds. The conjured city provided temporary comfort for Small Vehicle practitioners. They had reached this halfway point and had this place to rest. “Then he said if they advance toward the place of treasures…”. If they wanted to keep moving forward, they could also reach the land of treasures. First they rest, then keep moving forward, thus, “They will be able to go there”. They were very happy and joyful and were able to give rise to great aspirations. After stopping and resting at this place, once they have regained their strength, up ahead is still the place of treasures. “I should keep going forward”. This inspired their great aspirations; this was the wisdom of the guiding teacher. He used this kind of wisdom to let everyone rest, then continue moving forward. “Once he leads them to enter the city, he further says they can advance forward”. After they entered the city, he told them they could keep advancing forward.
Once he leads them to enter the city, he further says they can advance forward. Before the Buddha had opened the provisional, He was unable to clear reveal these words. Now the third cycle of teaching the Dharma was about to end, and the opening of [the provisional] was complete. Thus He was able to say it.
“Before the Buddha had opened the provisional,” before He explained the “provisional” teachings, which refers to the conjured city, He helped the Hearers and Solitary Realizers arrive at a state of calm illumination, meaning they have eliminated their ignorance. He first gave them the Four Fruits, so they arrived at [an understanding of] emptiness. They comprehended the principle of emptiness. This is a part [of the path] and a conjured city “He was unable to clearly reveal these words”. He could not say, “it is like this”. So, “Now the third cycle of teaching the Dharma was about to end, and the opening of [the provisional] was complete. Thus He was able to say it”. In the past, People’s capabilities had not yet matured, so He could not speak the true Dharma. This was because everyone on the path still had many doubts and many things they still did not understand. They were still far from the Great Vehicle Dharma. They still did not have the capabilities to shoulder these responsibilities. So, in the past He had not yet opened up the provisional teachings; He still used the Small Vehicle to guide them step by step so that they could carefully transcend the Five Destinies. He did this to help everyone understand the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. With the Four Notable Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, He constantly reminded them through [examples]. He ceaselessly taught, through the Agama and Vaipulya until the arriving at the state of Prajna. He helped everyone understand that all worldly phenomena, when analyzed completely, are empty. True emptiness still contains the principles. This is just like people who come into this world confused. Where was I before coming into this world? This is emptiness. What about the “me” after I arrived? I am part of a family; what affinities did I have with my parents? Why was I not born somewhere else? Why was I born here? Will our life here be joyful or full of suffering or some other kind of life? We cannot know any of this. As we grow up in this world, entering into adolescence, young adulthood, middle-age or old age, our appearance is always changing. We can see this whole process, but we are not aware of it; at what point do we get old? We ourselves are not aware of this. The course of life has its principles, called the principles of life. What do the principles of our life look like? This is also something we cannot see. These are principles we cannot see. What we can see are matters and appearances, which trouble and torment us. These principles of life we cannot see, or the principles of matter we cannot see, are all connected to the principles of the mind. We cannot see these principles. Unfortunately, we let external appearances entangle and bind us. This is what the Buddha wanted to tell us, that we are bound, leading our minds to give rise to ignorance and afflictions, create karma and take issue. We create so much karma, therefore we are sentient beings. Each and every person has the nature of True Suchness inside of them. These principles have always been with us. All principles, whether of matter, or life or the mind, all come together in our nature of True Suchness, which is something we all have. It is just that these external thing, after they have come together, separate us from it, such that we do not even know ourselves. We do not even know the changes in our own mind. Our mind changes and is impermanent too, but we do not realize it. So, everything is a state of confusion. A slight thought arising leads us to enter the wrong path. This is what the Buddha continually told us. In our spiritual practice, we must have patience, and we must first give rise to faith. We first believe in our intrinsic Buddha-nature, that ignorance has concealed our minds completely. We believe that we can clear away ignorance and reach the same state as the Buddha. From the beginning, throughout the process and until the end when we return to our nature of True Suchness, we must deeply experience and understand this. All sentient beings, all animals are the same, to say nothing of us humans. So, we must truly put our hearts into thoroughly understanding; then we can reach the same state as the Buddha. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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