Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Practicing Among People to Eliminate Afflictions (以法入群消除煩惱)
Date: May.05.2017
“The Buddha knew sentient beings’ minds, that they had become lax and wanted to retreat, lacking the strength to shoulder [the task]. Their minds gave rise to doubts, and they gave up on themselves. They were timid and weak-willed and gave rise to thoughts of indolence. We must make vows over dust-inked kalpas of lifetimes and increasingly cultivate myriad practices; this is the only way to achieve attainment.”
We should look and think mindfully. The Buddha was so mindful in the way He looked at and thought about sentient beings. The Buddha understood us completely. He knew that sentient beings’ minds had already become lax, and we wanted to retreat, that we were already lacking the strength to take on [the task]. This is why sentient beings only sought to benefit themselves, only wanted to transform and liberate themselves with no regard for the suffering of all sentient beings. This is “to become lax and retreat,” to be indolent and retreat from the resolve with which they first formed their aspirations and vows. So, we say they have lost their strength and thus were unwilling to shoulder responsibility. This is because their own minds give rise to doubts about themselves. When there is doubt, there is no faith; when there is no faith, there is no will. This was because their minds had given rise to doubts and confusion.
The path to Buddhahood is long and distant; crossing it takes hard work. The world is filled with suffering. We recognize suffering, so we want to liberate ourselves from samsara; this is what our goal is. This is why we sentient beings only care about ourselves and have no regard for others.
For instance, the world’s climate is already experiencing changing weather patterns. Clearly, disasters are becoming more frequent. We also know that the cause is in the human mind, as we are wasteful, self-indulgent, extravagant, focused only on our own pleasure and comfort. The cause lies with sentient beings, with humans, our thoughts of greedy attachment to enjoyment, which lead to greed for personal gain. Everyone clearly knows this, but how do we solve this problem? The solution is simple, yet even when so many countries mobilized, more than 100, nearly 200 countries, and their leaders gathered to discuss this over the span of eight or nine days, there was only one point of agreement, not to waste things, not to carelessly destroy things that can be eaten. This was all they could agree on. There are still major issues, but who dares to resolve them? We must decide how to reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy. Did these issues get resolved? No.
This is like what the Buddha taught us; sentient beings are like this. “Their minds gave rise to doubts, and they gave up on themselves.” They gave up on themselves. They were “timid and weak-willed and gave rise to thoughts of indolence.” This way, they only care about their own immediate advantage. We only care about our immediate gain, without regard for all of humanity or for this planet we all rely on for survival. They only said, “Everyone, be more frugal. When we sell things, we shouldn’t destroy them just because they are about to expire.” This was all they agreed on. This is starting to be implemented in France. Who can actually take all of humanity into consideration? Who is actually willing to shrink their economy and profits? This way we can protect the planet, lower the average temperature, and climate change can be moderated so disasters will not continuously grow more severe year after year.
Nowadays, we experience climate abnormalities. It is for this reason that this climate summit [in Paris] was held. But for everyone there, “Their minds gave rise to doubts, and they gave up on themselves,” because “They were timid and weak-willed and gave rise to thoughts of indolence.” They did not have the courage to solve this, to even slightly shrink their economy or profits. Nobody dared. Everybody knows what they need to do, but nobody dared to make such a proposal. So, things remain the same, and in the future people will continue to experience so much suffering in the world. This requires everyone to [take responsibility] to save sentient beings. In summary, this must start with the mind.
“The Buddha knew sentient beings’ minds.” He understood sentient beings’ mindset. Sentient beings always act for their own benefit; they only care about themselves and lack the strength to shoulder [the task]. Afraid of hard work, they become lax and retreat. They lack the perseverance, courage and strength to take responsibility. Isn’t this what we see in modern times? People with this mindset do not dare to act decisively. If Earth truly suffers these kinds of disasters, any country that experiences one, no matter how strong their economy is, will suffer devastating losses. This is the source. No one dares to go to the source of the problem to find a way to treat it. Nobody dares to treat the source of this problem. This way, “They were timid and weak-willed and gave rise to thoughts of indolence.” With indolence, they just care about increasing their gains in the immediate future. The Buddha wants all of us to make vows. We discussed this yesterday. Even the Buddha had to spend dust-inked kaplas and long uphold Brahma-conduct.
So, for us spiritual practitioners, the Buddha’s teachings are the true, pure source. All begins intrinsically have Buddha-nature. Everyone has wisdom equal to the Buddha’s. We should all have faith, not doubts and confusion; we must accept the Buddha’s teachings. As long as our mind and thoughts are pure and free of afflictions, that mind is the Buddha’s intrinsic nature. If we can practice according to teachings, we can face life with our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. If we bring purity to our lives, will it take so long for us to attain Buddhahood? We must go among people to transform sentient beings. As we are going to do this, everyone should do it together. This is why the Buddha comes to this world. He hopes that everyone can all together understand their intrinsic Buddha-nature. He hopes to teach everyone to come transform sentient begins. This requires us to make the great vows, like. “I vow to deliver countless sentient begins.” We also need to exercise the Four Infinite Minds, loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. We must spend a very long time on this, because the world is very vast. We want to help everyone in the world to be able to understand, so this is why it will take a very long time. Otherwise, we could immediately benefit ourselves, [purify] our own mind to be the Buddha-mind. This just benefits us, but other beings are still drowning in suffering. We [think we have] saved ourselves, but though we put an end to our cyclic existence, we will have dust-like delusions that have not yet been eliminated. Thus we will come to the human realm again. In the future, when this world is in ruins, the suffering will be even worse. Right now we have been born human and have heard the Buddha-Dharma, so we should quickly help the Buddha-Dharma spread to help everyone understand how to return to their intrinsic nature of True Suchness. In this way, we transform others and ourselves. We take care of others before ourselves. When we first help others succeed, we are also helping ourselves succeed. If we only want to help ourselves succeed and everyone else is still in a state of delusion, the world will still fall into ruin. Then can we truly attain any benefit? We should turn our way of thinking around and seek to help everyone understand, to help everyone accept the Buddha-Dharma. This way, when everybody understands, we will also understand. So, the Buddha encouraged us to go among people.
The ancient sages also said, “Put others before yourself.” We must first help others succeed and attend to ourselves after. Actually, this is in truth helping us to succeed. So, we must put our hearts into this. We must make vows and not be afraid of how long it will take. As long as we do our best, everyone can reach clear comprehension sooner and achieve attainment sooner. Then naturally we achieve attainment very quickly. So, “We must make vows over dust-inked kalpas of lifetimes.” Over dust-inked kalpas of time, across the vast space of the world, we must take [the seeds of] love and spread them widely. We spread the seeds of love into a forest of merits and virtues. If we can do this, we will not be afraid of how dust-inked kalpas of time.
So, we make vows, and even if this will take dust-inked kalpas of lifetimes. Lifetime after lifetime, we “increasingly cultivate myriad practices”. We must remember to increasingly practice. When we are among people, among the world’s afflictions and sufferings, the more we understand, the more we increase our wisdom. In the past, we did not know that due to greed and desire, people would cause the whole planet, the world’s climate, to change in this way. In the past we did not know this. But with His wisdom, the Buddha understood that the human mind can create this. We must transform our minds. We must attain Buddhahood. To attain Buddhahood, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. The sutras explained this, and right now the form of the world, its appearance, is already demonstrating this. Scientists have verified it. Through their data, the numbers in their records, we have understood all of it. So, it is even more important we make vows. No matter how long it takes, we must go among people to increasingly cultivate myriad practices. Only by being among people do we have the chance to experience and comprehend. With each measure of affliction we understand, we increase our wisdom by the same measure. So, when we have methods for going among people, we can slowly increase in wisdom and gradually eliminate our afflictions.
Therefore, everyone must be very mindful. Making vows and increasingly practicing are very important. So, the Buddha knew sentient beings’ minds; we must not become lax or retreat. We need to be courageous and have the perseverance to assume responsibility for the troubles and suffering of the world. We must shoulder this mission. “All things are created by the mind”. We must not give rise to doubt. We must be courageous and confident. In the past we “carried our own vegetable basket”, now we must “carry the world’s rice basket for the sake of all sentient beings. So, we must make vows and increasingly cultivate myriad practices. As we go among people, we can increase our wisdom, increase our strength and increasingly form affinities with sentient beings. When we directly form affinities with them, we can attain Buddhahood sooner.
In summary, the Buddha-Dharma comes in response to the world, so we must face this [situation] and verify the buddha-Dharma in the present era. We need to put our efforts into this. Time is running out, so we need to quickly face reality.
The previous sutra passage says, “If sentient beings only hear the One Buddha Vehicle, they do not desire to see the Buddha nor desire to draw near Him”.
Reading this passage, I can only sign. Benefiting other people seems to be a very difficult thing. Just like that, they themselves become lax and no longer desire to see the Buddha. This is because if they see the Buddha, the Buddha will then say to them, “Your practice in the past was insufficient. You must still continue to diligently advance. There is still much of this path left for you to diligently advance”. So, they do not desire to see the Buddha nor desire to draw near Him. This precisely depicts the mindset of people in our times. They know the Dharma is wonderful, but they do not dare to understand or shoulder the responsibility. Since they do not dare, they do not dare to see Him nor draw near Him nor draw near Him. This happens often here, too.
We often hear this exchange. “Why haven’t we seen you in such a long while? I haven’t done enough, so I don’t dare [to come]”. We often hear this. This is because they do not dare. “They do not desire to see the Buddha nor to draw near Him”. Isn’t this what we sentient beings are like? However, the Buddha is very persistent. He is unwilling to abandon sentient beings. “You do not dare to come, so I will go to you”. So, He says, “You must depart and cross it. “They give rise to this thought. ‘The path to Buddhahood is very long,’” it is a very long road, and ‘only by long enduring diligent practice and hardship can one attain it’”.
Because the path is very long, we need to continue walking forward. So, the Buddha had to look back and call out, “Come on! Come on! You must quickly start walking again”. He needed to use various means.
Therefore, the next sutra passage says, “The Buddha knew their minds, that they were timid and weak-willed, with limited capabilities. With the power of skillful means, in the middle of the path, to let them stop and rest, He taught the two kinds of Nirvana”.
The Buddha knew sentient beings’ minds, that they were weak-willed, with limited capabilities. They were scared, very frightened. When they saw that others were frightened, they were afraid to keep walking forward. They were so scared they trembled; this is great fear. So, they were “timid and weak-willed”. Their resolve was truly limited. Without courage, their abilities were very limited. So, they were called “timid and weak-willed”. If they could benefit, they continued to be greedy. Regardless of the danger, they would be willing to pursue it. The whole planet is being destroyed, yet they are still thinking about profits. This is what sentient beings are like. When personal gain is involved, they become ignorant and continually regress. This also being “timid and weak-willed, with limited capabilities”. They continue to be up to their neck in those kinds of greedy desires and profit, only looking after themselves and not other people.
Sentient beings are like this, so the Buddha, “with the power of skillful means”, had to quickly use these methods. “In the middle of the path” means when we walk for a long time, we get tired. So, at this point in their journey, He found a way to tell everyone, “You need to practice like this, it will save you. If you take this medicine, it will save you, be helpful to you. You should practice in this way; it can relieve your suffering, increase more blessings and develop your wisdom”. Thus in this way, at this point in their journey, He established skillful means for them. “Suffering, causation, cessation and the Path” are the true principles, a road to walk on. Everyone is willing to take this road, because they are all in great “suffering”. “If I do not continue walking, I face suffering. The Buddha has explained this very clearly. The ‘causation’ is the many affinities. I have accumulated. That is why so many sentient beings come to disturb my mind. So, I have no control over my cyclic existence. I believe this, so I am willing to practice, willing to practice the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence”. At this point in their journey, He established these skillful means. This is “to let them stop and rest, to help them all first quickly end afflictions and understand the principles. This is a stop in the middle of the path. So, “To let them stop and rest, He taught the two kinds of Nirvana”. He knew their minds, that they were timid and weak-willed, so they were people with limited capabilities. People with limited capabilities are timid and weak-willed. They did not dare to move forward Moving forward requires shouldering responsibility. “Now my mind is free of afflictions and worry; Isn’t this great? Why should I keep moving forward and shoulder more responsibilities? I am fine with stopping here”. These are people with limited capabilities. Their minds gave rise to thoughts of timid retreat. They were timid and weak so they wanted to retreat. This is being very cowardly, without any courage to shoulder responsibility.
The Buddha knew their minds, that they were timid and weak-willed, with limited capabilities: With His wisdom the Buddha knew deeply that those spiritual practitioners were people of limited capabilities. Their minds became cowardly and weak, and their views were limited.
“Their views were limited” means that their perspective, what they saw, was very short-sighted. Short-sighted [people ask], “Is it possible for my economy and profits to grow a little bit more?” “When it comes to problems to be resolved, like carbon emissions, we can take it easy”. Like these people, they only care about their immediate future. This is indeed very dangerous. This is so lamentable. So, “With the power of skillful means, the Buddha saw sentient beings are motive by gain”. But these gains are actually harmful to them. In pursuit of these benefits, they harm themselves without realizing it. So, the Buddha had to devise other methods to guide everyone to continue moving forward. If we do not move forward, as this great house is already burning on all sides, we will be in great danger. So, He had to find ways to entice us.
With the power of skillful means, in the middle of the path, [He] let them stop and rest: The Buddha, in His mercy, compassion and wisdom, used the power of skillful means. Mid-way on the path to Buddhahood, He enabled them to temporarily stop and rest and to have thoughts of peace and stability.
“With the power of skillful means, in the middle of the path, [He] let them stop and rest”. The Buddha’s compassion is like that of the elder from the [parable of the burning] house. The Buddha exercised His compassion and wisdom and made use of skillful means to teach us. So, mid-way on the path to Buddhahood, He enabled us to temporarily stop and rest, to give us a little hope. “From this place we can see there is not too far to go”. “We have hope. That place is where we can stop and rest in peace and stability. It is just a little further away, so we should still continue going forward”. So, after the Four Noble Truths, they enter contemplation of causes and conditions. This is all just a conjured city.
The Buddha knew their minds, that they were timid and weak-willed with limited capabilities. With the power of skillful means, in the middle of the path, to let them stop and rest. He taught the two kinds of Nirvana.
He “taught the two kinds of Nirvana,” taught these people about the two kinds of Nirvana so they could stop and rest. Nirvana means “Small Vehicle practitioners had already eliminated the delusions of views and thinking, yet they still had remnants of delusions”.
He taught the two kinds of Nirvana: The Small Vehicle practitioners had already eliminated the delusion of views and thinking, yet the still had remnants of delusions. For those with limited capabilities, the Buddha taught with skillful means Nirvana with and without remainder are called the two kinds of Nirvana.
Small Vehicle practitioners can only reach the stage of ending delusions of views and thinking. We often talk about ignorance of views and ignorance of thinking, the ignorance and afflictions that come from having impure perspectives. Small Vehicle practitioners only reach this stage. In fact, they still have a remainder of delusions, they still have dust-like delusions left over. These Small Vehicle practitioners still have dust-like delusions. So, we must be very mindful. “[For them] the Buddha taught with skillful means”. “Nirvana with and without remainder”. These are the two kinds of Nirvana. In Nirvana with remainder, though a still and tranquil state in which they have presently eliminated afflictions and are free of the world’s turbulent temptations, they still have some delusion, karma and suffering remaining.
He taught the two kinds of Nirvana: He suited Small Vehicle practitioners and taught. Nirvana with and without remainder Since they still have remnants of delusion, karma and suffering, this is called “[Nirvana] with remainder”. As for the Great Vehicle’s Nirvana without remainder, since it is the ultimate, there are no remnants. Hence it is called “without remainder”.
So, Small Vehicle practitioners still had some delusions and karma. Because there are remnants of delusion, it is called “Nirvana with remainder”. There were still some leftover delusion from afflictions. There dust-like delusions still existed, but they were not aware of them. The Buddha hoped that all of us, with the karma seeds of the Small Vehicle, can eliminate the suffering of delusion and karma along the way. We must eliminate them in this lifetime. We must make great vow to go among people until we reach “the Great Vehicle’s Nirvana without remainder”. Only when we go among people can we learn how their thinking and perspectives go through transformational changes. When we look at other people, we see them more clearly than we can see ourselves. When other people are like this, we witness their suffering and then recognize we still have a remainder of suffering that still exists. We observe the workings of other people’s minds and see these kinds of changes. Do we really think that our own minds are free of these kinds of changes? Don’t we experience these kinds of change? Sometimes people are happy. Sometimes they form great aspirations, great vows Sometimes they give rise to much ignorance, and become discouraged. This happens to others, and it is true of us too. Thus we must enter the great furnace to temper ourselves. We need to eliminate all our ignorance and reach the Great Vehicle’s Nirvana without remainder. “Since it is the ultimate, there is no remainder”. As it is free of all impurities, it is called “[Nirvana] without remainder”. However, sentient beings’ minds are cowardly. They are timid in resolve and weak-willed, so they are afraid. With weak resolve, they lack strong ambitions and perseverance. “If they only hear the singular Buddha Vehicle that is long, requiring diligence and hardship,” if they only hear the singular Buddha Vehicle, which requires walking a very long road, just from hearing that they need to walk so far, they will become exhausted. So, “They would not desire to see the Buddha”.
Sentient beings’ minds are timid and weak-willed. If they only hear the singular Buddha Vehicle that is long, requiring diligence and hardship, they will not desire to see the Buddha. Even if they have seen Him, they will not desire to draw near Him.
Just hearing that it is so far and takes so long, dust-inked kalpas, they are exhausted already. So, they are unwilling to continue going forward to seek the One Vehicle Buddha-Dharma. Thus, they will not see the Buddha; they do not want to. Even if they do see Him, they will also be unwilling to draw near Him, unwilling to share His resolve. This is what makes them sentient beings!
“Due to this, the Buddha provisionally taught the fruition of the Two Vehicle Nirvana”. He provisionally taught this fruition, which has form and appearance; He manifested this appearance. “With this, He satisfied their wish to stop and rest in the middle of the path”. So, He had to use skillful means; the Buddha provisionally taught the Two Vehicles, the Great and Small Vehicle Nirvanas. “If you want the Small Vehicle, very well, in a place just a little further, you will be able to stop and rest. Just diligently walk a little further”. This is taught for Small Vehicle [practitioners]. Those who sought the Small Vehicle are Hearers or Solitary Realizers. The Hearers of the Four Noble Truths or the Solitary Realizers of the Twelve Links of Cycle Existence connect with these states, so He conjured this sight [for them]. So, immediately, along the way, He pointed this out to them. “Look; not too far away, there is already a city there. You can peacefully rest in that place”. So, there are two kinds of Nirvana; the first is Nirvana with remainder.
The two kinds of Nirvana: Nirvana with remainder. Nirvana without remainder. The first is Nirvana with remainder: It refers to those who have eliminated the afflictions of views and thinking, but their present body of feeling and form still remains and has not been eliminated. This is called Nirvana with remainder.
Let us all more clearly understand. Nirvana with remainder means “[they] have eliminated the afflictions of views and thinking”. “Views” refers to perspectives. This is talking about the Hearers. “I understand all these afflictions. Suffering, causation, cessation and the Path are apparent to me; I understand them. Life is truly filled with suffering”. “Thinking” means afflictions of thinking must also be eliminated. This refers to Solitary Realizers. Where exactly does cyclic existence come from? It starts with ignorance and progresses by the twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. We need this view of karmic causes and conditions; we must earnestly contemplate this. Having understood that all these causes and conditions bring about so much suffering, we must eliminate them. We are willing to eliminate this suffering, these causes and conditions. “But their present body of feeling and form still remains and has not been eliminated. This is called Nirvana with remainder”. We may understand [the delusions] of our thinking and perspectives, but we still have a body of feeling and form. “Today is so cold! Early in the morning, before 4 am, the wooden boards were struck, and I had to get up”. This is a feeling of the body. This is just one example; what about others? Often, the feelings of the body lead us to develop certain ideas. For instance, becoming lax is due to the body’s fear of being tired, the body’s fear of being cold and many other [feeling] in our body. Because of the body, we are timid and afraid, and our will becomes weak and inferior. This is because we have this body. So, the ancients have a saying, “The greatest liability in life is that we have this body, this body of form”. We still have a body; it has not been eliminated. So, “Their present body of feeling and form still remains and has not been eliminated”. The body can still feel. This form is not yet extinguished, so of course we still give rise to discursive thoughts. This is Nirvana with remainder.
The second is Nirvana without remainder. “It refers to those who have totally eliminated the two delusions, of views and thinking, as well as the body that experiences the Five Aggregates. There is nothing left remaining. This is called Nirvana without remainder”.
Our thinking and perspectives will all be pure, and we thoroughly understand the principles, but we still have a body, unless we have such a pure mind that delusions of views and thinking are completely eliminated, and then at the end [of our lives], in our very last thought, there will be nothing left. In that moment the body and mind are extinguished. But are we able to, in that final thought, to be free of greed, attachment and confusion? When it comes to this dust-like ignorance, can we truly eliminate it all? Or are there still remnants? So, we must not be afraid of cyclic existence. We must go among people and truly [recognize] sentient beings’ afflictions and ignorance as our own afflictions and ignorance, treat sentient beings’ suffering as our own remnants of suffering. We should think of ways to help everyone relieve their suffering. When we can help reliever others’ suffering, won’t we have a way to also relieve our own suffering?
So it is said, “Put others before yourself”. This brings the greatest benefit. This is called the Great Vehicle. Actually, “Put others before yourself” will not just save other people. In fact, when we have the Dharma to transform others, this means we have the Dharma ourselves. Since we have the Dharma, why can’t we transform ourselves? So, when we transform others we are definitely transforming ourselves. We work on others and ourselves simultaneously. This is similar to how, if Earth is healthy, generation after generation can live in peace. When we again return to the human realm, it will be a very healthy planet. The same principle applies. So, we must be mindful at all times. The Buddha knows sentient beings’ minds. How can we not understand our own mind, our own aspirations and our own vows? When it comes to our aspirations and vows, how can we not hold on to them? So, learning the Buddha’s teachings is learning about our mind. If we can persevere in the firm resolve we had when we first formed aspirations, if we sustain our original aspiration, if we can hold on to that mindset, then we will forever be in the same room as the Buddha. We will constantly draw near to be at His side. Although we are more than 2000 years removed. In fact the Buddha’s mind and ours are still in the same room, without any distance. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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