Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Our Mind of Wisdom Abides Peacefully in Patience (慧心安忍信解真實)
Date: May.11.2017
“We observe the essence of all Dharma to see that its nature neither arises nor ceases. With a mind of wisdom, we abide peacefully in patience. Our mind is firm and our resolve unwavering. We contemplate deeply and meticulously observe phenomena; their nature fundamentally neither arises nor ceases. With faith in and understanding of the true Dharma, our minds will abide peacefully in clarity and tranquility.”
“We observe the essence of all Dharma to see that its nature neither arises nor ceases.” We must contemplate this mindfully and earnestly reflect on our nature. Whether the nature of our own mind or the nature of all external appearances, we should clearly understand them all. The Buddha’s teachings are profound and expansive; they are truly profound and vast, wide open. We must mindfully observe, in great detail, everything that we encounter, the “essence of all Dharma”. All Dharma and all principles are fundamentally without substance or appearance. Yet they possess “nature [that] neither arises nor ceases.”
We all have a body, and we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature; where can we find this Buddha-nature? What we can see are physical bodies; we see many individuals, tall and short, fat and thin. We are only able to see these appearances, people’s forms and appearances. Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, but where is this “nature”? The nature of True Suchness is our true Dharma. The appearance of this Dharma’s essence cannot be seen. We can only see people’s external forms; we cannot see the true principles within us nor the appearance of their essence. But our faith in this must be firm and deep. The nature of things does not arise nor cease; the Buddha-nature does not arise nor cease, and it is intrinsic to everyone.
The Buddha-nature is True Suchness, which is intrinsic to everyone; it is the principles. In our daily living, we all live together and work together but we do not discover this nature of True Suchness. We do not exercise its abilities. Therefore, we are constantly led by our ignorance, so things are beyond our control. Our nature of True Suchness thus follows our bodies and consciousness as we take action. We do not make use of our nature of True Suchness, yet it remains forever non-arising and non-ceasing. From dust-inked kalpas ago until now, it has neither increased nor decreased; it does not arise or cease. We all intrinsically have it; we must believe this.
In the human realm, there is space around us but we cannot see it. It is a very open and vast great space. The space in this universe is so vast; just how expansive is it? As we often mention, even our whole solar system is only a small corner within the great universe. Amidst this great universe, in our solar system, how many stars, plants and other bodies are there? It is yet to be calculated. Clearly, the great space in one solar system alone is already impossible to estimate. We often speak of the imbalance of the four elements. Now, we should talk about the imbalance of the five elements, as there is earth, water, fire, air and space. We also need to include space. But this space, meaning empty space, this great space around us, cannot be seen. However, all principles of matter and living beings exist in this great space. As we look at this great space, there is nothing there. It is precisely because there is nothing there that it is possible for matter of every possible appearance to arise. In the same way, the nature of emptiness encompasses the existence of all principles. We cannot say that just because we cannot see it there is nothing there. There is wondrous existence in true emptiness! If we mindfully observe and earnestly take the Buddha’s teachings to heart, [we will find that] in our daily living and our relationships, there is also space. When you all sit, there is also space between you. Between each of you, is the space wide or narrow? If everyone squeezes together, there is still space around everyone. So, the essence of the Dharma and the appearance of its nature are non-ceasing. This great space will exist forever. No matter how Earth changes, it will still remain in this great space, which is non-arising and non-ceasing.
We are also the same, with our nature of True Suchness. No matter how our body changes in this lifetime, from a child’s body to an old and frail one, as time passes, our nature of True Suchness still remains the same. It is not less in a child who is younger, nor more in an older person. People now are confused when they are young, and then after a lifetime, by the time they reach old age…. Don’t we often hear about how, in the future, we face an aging society problem along with dementia? They used to be called “the old unreasonable ones”. This is because when they grow old, they forget this and do not know that. They are always in a state of confusion. Is every person like this? Not necessarily. But when we go among people and interact with others, we will see whether the nature of our mind has the settled nature of the root of wisdom or whether it is still unsettled and following worldly afflictions and ignorance that drive and lead us astray. If we just follow our environment like this, even if we tell people we are doing one thing, our minds follow external conditions and fluctuate without settling down. Once old, I fear we will be more confused. So as Buddhist practitioners, we must be mindful. We must very mindfully practice the Dharma consistently from inside to out. To learn from the Buddha, we must have a sincere mind and learn the Buddha’s wisdom. The Buddha indicated for us how to practice the Dharma, so we head in this direction to seek out the principles of the Dharma. Whether is the nature of the Dharma? How can our nature of True Suchness and external conditions mutually resonate with each other? This requires us to be mindful, to us a mind full of wisdom.
Whatever the Buddha-Dharma directs us, we must earnestly focus our mind on this principle. That is the Dharma and the Dharma-nature. We must earnestly and mindfully recognize this Dharma-nature. Then we can understand the Dharma. The Buddha told us that there is no permanent substance or appearance. Since all appearances take on different shapes and sizes, they change and are impermanent. They decay, disappear and are not real. We must now put our heart into realizing this. This requires us to use our wisdom. Our wisdom must be continually awakened. If we can understand more of the principles, we will develop more wisdom. If we can be in accord with the principles, if they resonate with us, we understand, “It turns out it is like this.” Knowing it is ”like this,” naturally our wisdom will grow.
So, “With a mind of wisdom, we abide peacefully in patience.” When we engage in spiritual practice, among the Six Perfections, “patience” cannot be left out. If we want to transform others, we must shoulder and take responsibility for it. To shoulder this mission and take responsibility, we must go among the people, where there are many responsibilities that we must take up. When interacting with others, with people, matters or objects, nine out of ten things will not go our way. Don’t we need to patiently endure this? Thus, as we truly form aspirations and make vows, as our minds are in accord with the Dharma, this mind of wisdom must abide peacefully in patience. We need to have mastery of patience. No matter how this world changes, this principles of the Dharma will never change. So, our mind, our wisdom, must also abide peacefully without changing. So, “We abide peacefully in patience.” Only with patience will [our minds] not change. This is how our minds are. “Our mind is firm and our resolve unwavering.” In the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, [it says,]. “With vows as vast as the universe, they remain unwavering.” This is very important for us Buddhist practitioners.
Thus, we must constantly “contemplate deeply and meticulously observe phenomena”. The Dharma-nature neither arises nor ceases; it is fundamentally non-arising and non-ceasing. It is very stable and never changes, just like the void of the universe. “The mind encompasses the universe.” The nature of our mind is fundamentally this open and spacious. What thing can obstruct our minds? When our vows are so great and vast, what cannot be encompassed within them? So, we must earnestly “contemplate deeply and meticulously observe phenomena”. We must [contemplate] meticulously and deeply, must deeply penetrate and use our wisdom in observing all things in this world. We must earnestly understand this nature; it fundamentally neither arises nor ceases. It is a never-changing principle. Thus, we must have deep faith, “faith in and understanding of the true Dharma”. Our minds must have deep faith and understanding. Our minds must not only be as open and spacious as the universe, but also have depth. The space between heaven and earth is hard to measure. How wide is the distance between heaven and earth? The Dharma-realms of the universe are incalculable. So, we must have deep faith and understanding. This is our intrinsic nature and the true Dharma.
Thus, “Our minds will abide peacefully in clarity and tranquility.” If we have faith in the depths of our hearts, naturally the true Dharma will not be separate from our daily living. We will not be led by ignorance, as our nature of True Suchness will allow us to awaken to the principles the Buddha taught in our lives, to awaken our own enlightened nature. So, this is the true Dharma. Where does the true Dharma peacefully abide? It abides “in clarity and tranquility”. “With minds tranquil and clear, vows as vast as the universe” means to return to this tranquil and clear state. This is where our minds can peacefully abide. Clarity and tranquility is the state we want to seek. In our daily living, we are still attached to a sense of self. We cling to a “you” and a “me”. “I am right and you are wrong”. With right and wrong, we are always in opposition. So, in interpersonal relationships, it is hard to achieve unity, harmony, mutual love and concerted effort. To bring purity to people’s minds, we must begin with ourselves. In our interpersonal relationships, how can we comprehend the great path? Everyone must form the supreme aspiration and comprehend the great path in order to attain wisdom as vast as the ocean. With wisdom as vast as the ocean, we can come together with sentient beings and lead people harmoniously. This is what we must learn. If we do not work in concert with unity and harmony, everyone will have their own ideas and think that their own way is correct. When everyone thinks that they alone are right, everything that is encompassed in this great space which is the world will be wrong. If everyone thinks they are right, doesn’t that mean everyone is wrong? We think our perspective is right and others’ perspectives are wrong. In a world like this, how can we interact peacefully? The principle is the same. In the same way, we must experience and thoroughly observe the essence of all Dharma. It neither arises nor ceases, so we must be mindful.
Let us read the previous sutra passage, “If sentient beings remained at the stage of the Two, the Tathagata at that time would tell them, ‘The things that you must do are not yet done. The stage where you abide now is close to Buddha-wisdom’”.
We must put in effort to comprehend this. “The stage of the Two” is to focus on oneself. They have not yet done what truly needs to be done. They have not yet fulfilled their responsibilities. So, the Buddha continued to tell everyone, “But be at ease; you have already slowly approached Buddha-wisdom”. Though they are Hearers and Solitary Realizers, they were also engaging in spiritual practice, regularly eliminating afflictions and ignorance. They also understood the suffering, emptiness and impermanence of this world. It is the coming together of causes and conditions which becomes suffering and impermanence. This leads to a world that is full of suffering, illusory and impermanent. They already knew this principle, so they had started shouldering this responsibility. For those have not shouldered this, “The things that you must do are not yet done”. If they could understand all this, they should get involved and work with people. But their minds were not open and spacious, so they “are not yet done”.
However, “The stage where you abide now is close to Buddha-wisdom”. They had eliminated ignorance and distanced themselves from the Three Evil Destinies. Because they had “refrained from all evil”, what they need now is to “do all that is good”. By refraining from all evil, they would not descend to hell. Now, they understood that everything is created by ignorance. So, now that they know, they know they must not create more ignorance. This means in the Three Realms, the desire realm, form realm and formless realm, that their afflictions of views and thinking are almost eliminated. There is only some dust-like ignorance left. As for dust-like ignorance, they need to experiment; they must go among people to learn by experience where infinite afflictions come from. “Why are there afflictions?” They must go among people to experience this. This is what they needed to do back then; now in modern times, we need to learn this even more. This cannot be done apart from other people.
For the world now, it is even more imperative to understand and help people understand the principles. People have already deviated from the principles of human ethics. All of humankind, our societies and families, have gone out of alignment. What is most needed now is “to refrain from all evil”. But how do we go among people and guide them to “do all that is good”? we correct all evils from the past and in the future seek to do all that is good. This is not impossible.
This time, I went to Pingtung. Likewise, the former inmates who are now free have changed their lives and now go among people to guide them. [Zhong Jiongyuan] has become a certified volunteer. He has returned to his family life and day and night, offers tea to his parents and pays his respects. Before, his son hated him. Now, the son is learning to be like his father, and they have become close. Every morning, he follows his father to offer tea to his grandfather and grandmother. At night, he follows his father to pay his respects to them. He went in and out of prison six times. After being released, he would break the law again. So, he was locked up and released again and again, six times. He spent half of his lifetime coming in and out [of jail]. Once causes and conditions came together, Living Bodhisattvas entered the prison. Over several years they guided him and taught him about the karmic causes and effects of good and evil, the preciousness of life and the importance of human ethics. They accompanied him for several years. They way the volunteers taught was to let [the inmates] perform a sutra adaptation. When they were released on parole, they started to make changes in their lives. His changes made his parents very happy, and he also became a role model for his son. This is something we can see now.
So, for people to transform one another is not impossible. Each group [of inmates’] changes are achieved by each volunteer forming aspirations to join and help, to teach. We can see how each group’s changes brought harmony to their families, so society naturally becomes stable and peaceful. Isn’t this the responsibility we should take up when we get involved to help people? It is what we should do, so we must quickly do it. The Small Vehicle Dharma is about liberating ourselves from our own afflictions. We have already done this ourselves, so “They had done everything that they needed to. They already practiced what they should practice. But there are still “thing they must do that are not yet done”. The Buddha has entrusted us with going among people to transform sentient beings. we have not done this yet. So, “The things that we must do are not yet done”. We must go among people, practice virtuous Dharma and guide sentient beings. we must mindfully seek to comprehend.
But “the stage where we abide now” is already close to the Buddha-wisdom. We have almost reached the Buddha’s level. He has also gone through this same process. In His spiritual practice. Yet the Buddha’s mind is already wide open, open to all sentient beings in this world. This is the mindset we must now learn.
The next sutra passage says, “You should observe and consider that the Nirvana you have attained is not true. It is only the Tathagata’s power of skillful means. From the One Buddha Vehicle, He teaches the Three Vehicle separately”.
We must observe this thoroughly. When learning the Buddha’s teachings, we must be meticulous as we “observe and consider,” as we gauge and estimate. We must know whether what we have attained in our practice is everything that needs to be attained. Have we attained it all? Are our minds tranquil and clear? If we think the world has nothing to do with us and cut ourselves off from it, can we completely purify our minds this way? Even if we can cut ourselves off from the world and avoid forming negative affinities with others, avoid afflictive emotions of love and hate, even if we do not have these anymore, we will still have our body. What our body experiences in future will depend on what we do now. What we experience now is sometimes beyond our control or our vows. We set certain times for ourselves to be diligent, to put in hard work and to be diligent, to put in hard work and to engage in spiritual practice. But in this time that we set and plan, are we really able to achieve this? We are not always able to. So, we must be mindful and earnestly “observe and contemplate”. We must earnestly observe our own mindset.
You should observe and consider that the Nirvana you have attained is not true: You must observe, consider and carefully contemplate that what you have attained is extinction biased toward emptiness. It is not true Mahaparinirvana.
“The Nirvana you have attained is not true. We have not fully attained Nirvana. Our minds are not fully tranquil and clear. They still fluctuate; this is not true Nirvana. As long as our body is still here, there is still “the great liability of the body”. Even our body does not measure up to the plans we have made for ourselves, to say nothing of going out and saying that we will transform sentient beings or plan great matters to shoulder responsibilities. We are still far from that. We must put our hearts into observing and considering that the Nirvana we have attained is not true. We must earnestly gauge ourselves and not think we have understood everything, not think we already know so much, not think we already understand all the teachings. We should not think this way. Thus, it says, “You must observe, consider and carefully contemplate”. They must meticulously, with great detail, contemplate earnestly that “what they have attained is extinction biased toward emptiness”. Everyone had realized and understood much “I understand the Buddha’s teachings”. “You understand the Buddha’s teachings, but only those ‘biased toward emptiness’”. This is a bias. They only knew that all phenomena are illusory, but could not experience the truth.
We must earnestly and carefully contemplate; we must cautiously and meticulously consider. The Buddha said, “What you have attained is extinction biased toward emptiness”. They had a very deep understanding, and their most pprofound understanding was that “Everything is empty”. Everything is empty, but this is not the true Mahaparinirvana. Everything is empty, but within emptiness is wondrous existence. “Wondrous existence” is our true intrinsic nature of True Suchness. When a person dies, does death end all of their troubles? Upon one’s death there are still countless causes and conditions pulling them. So, it still does not end. This “wondrous existence,” for dust-ink kalpas, has remained the same, non-arising and non-ceasing. This is wondrous existence. Death does not end all of one’s troubles, with only emptiness and nothing else remaining. Thus, we must be very mindful to comprehend this. So, “It is only the Tathagata’s power of skillful means. Actually, when we say everything is impermanent, empty and full of suffering, suffering and emptiness are true principles. If we only stop here, that would not be correct. This is just the way the Buddha leads us in the door. If we want to enter the treasury, we must come in through the door. This is just the entrance; we have not yet reached the treasury where all the treasure is kept. So, “it is inly the Tathagata’s power of skillful means to guide us through the door.
But the Tathagata’s power of skillful means: It is only the Tathagata’s power of skillful means which suits your capabilities. Therefore He gave the provisional teachings for the sake of the true. We must observe our own mind-nature; we must depart and cross [the Path].
“It is only the Tathagata’s power of skillful means which suits your capabilities”. He was simply adapting to our capabilities to guide us to enter the Buddha’s teachings, to help us understand. He opened a door for us to enter. “Therefore He gave the provisional teachings for the sake of the true”. For the sake of the true, He gave provisional teachings. This was all to help us know that we intrinsically have the Buddha-nature. He taught us the methods for how to recognize our Buddha-nature. This is the Buddha’s wisdom. Otherwise, though our nature of True Suchness is within us, we ourselves are unaware of it. The Buddha used this method, these skillful means, in order to let us know we all have the intrinsic nature of True Suchness. “Therefore He gave the provisional teachings for the sake of the true”. Because of this, He wanted to help us understand the principles of wondrous existence, so He had to use many methods to teach us; this is using provisional teachings. According to what we need, He used skillful means in order to teach us. So, “We must observe our own mind-nature; we must depart and cross [the Path]”. We must earnestly observe our mind-nature. If we have not taken care of our minds, we do not recognize our nature; we do not know our own intrinsic nature. Then what can we do? Thus, the Buddha used all kinds of methods to guide us to reach this stage so that we can understand, “Right, we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature! Indeed! We should start by making sure our minds are firm”. Having a firm resolve comes from patience. Only with “patience” can we continue walking [on this path]. Thus, “We must observe our own mind-nature”. We already know the method. If we do not quickly and thoroughly observe our mind-nature again, then perhaps we may only be able to reach this far. We become indolent and linger here. This is retreating from the Great to the Small; we just continue to walk in place while our mind-nature remains unsettled. Thus, we must “observe our own mind-nature; we must depart and cross [the Path]”. We should dedicate ourselves among the people. Multitudes of sentient beings are waiting for us to help them cross. This is very important, so we must be mindful.
“From the One Buddha Vehicle, He teaches the Three Vehicles separately”. Because of this, the Buddha used skillful means to deliver us. Thus, we must be clear about our intrinsic nature. The Buddha had put in so much effort, so we must return to our intrinsic nature and earnestly contemplate. We still need to “do all that is good” and go among people; this is “to depart”. We are all clear about the Four Noble Truths, but other people are still unclear. We must quickly dedicate ourselves and help people understand suffering. Everyone should know the source of suffering, where it comes from. We heard the Buddha say this in the past and put in effort to experience this truth and understand this principle. We have already grasped it firmly, developed deep faith in it and understood it. Now it is our turn to go among the multitudes of sentient beings. They do not understand suffering and create much ignorance. They reproduce so much karma in this world, which affects the society and even the entire macrocosm [of the world] itself. The climate of the whole world is affected. Can we really just sit and look on? Since we have understood the principles, we should quickly go among people to tell them not to create more afflictions and ignorance, which bring about many disasters. All those countless suffering sentient beings all need to quickly awaken.
So, what is most important to the Buddha is for us to be the same as Him, with “our mind encompassing the universe and the boundless worlds within it”. We should not only gain understanding ourselves, but also quickly dedicate ourselves to going among people and helping everyone understand. “From the One Buddha Vehicle, He teaches the three Vehicles separately”.
From the One Buddha Vehicle, He teaches the Three Vehicles separately: From the ultimate path of the One Buddha Vehicle, He uses provisional means to separately teach the Three Vehicles.
The Buddha’s “One Buddha Vehicle” is this simple; with one sentence everything becomes clear. “The state I have awakened to is like this; It encompasses the universe and pervades all Dharma-realms I have understood all principles. I am very clear; my state of mind is tranquil and clear, with vows as vast as the universe. This state is so beautiful! It is this simple. I am not the only one who has it; all of you possess it too. This was my process of spiritual practice. Come, I will explain it to you. I had to practice in this way”. It was in response to sentient beings’ capacities that He came to this world again and again, all for this one great cause. So, when He came to this world again, He also experienced birth and adolescence, also had parents, had a family and also, in the search to be awakened, left His family behind, cut Himself off from those He loved and entered a state of emptiness and tranquility in search of all kinds of principles. To all sorts of people, He would ask, “What is the principle that you practice?” He also needed to seek teachings, and then afterwards He quietly contemplated. Through still contemplation. He was able to experience how the great space of this universe contains the four elements and gives rise to infinite living beings and all kinds of objects and materials. All of this is encompassed with [principles of] “formation, existence, decay and disappearance,” because the time of the universe is infinite. The Buddha understood all this.
Modern science is just verifying the Buddha’s wisdom. The Buddha knew all the principles of the world like He knew the palm of His hand. It was all very clear to Him. This is the One Buddha Vehicle. The Buddha’s One Buddha Vehicle allows us to understand that we all intrinsically have [Buddha-nature]. But we are not able to understand it. We are still quite distant from it, so the Buddha had to start from the beginning. He expounded a lot of Dharma according to our capabilities. But no matter how He taught, time was running out. 2000 years ago, the state of society and the state of people’s minds were very different. So, He needed many people, groups of people, to come together and with their combined power go into society. “From the ultimate path of the One Buddha Vehicle, He uses provisional means to separately teach the Three Vehicles”. We all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, yet this world is truly full of suffering!
As we have seen recently, representatives from almost 200 countries came together for a climate conference in France to discuss how Earth can return to its normal temperature. Because the temperature has risen, the climate is abnormal. Scientists have discovered this. But the Buddha long ago said that this is the collective karma of sentient beings. So, sure enough, now we have to say that we must start to make changes from our daily lives. The ultimate true principles show that the climate changes in this great space come from people’s modern lifestyles. This is a big issue, a major would issue. If we watch Da AI TV News, we can see that at the climate change summit, there are many people there who cook vegetarian food to display the taste and texture of the food. When everyone ate it, it felt almost the same as eating meat. Now, there are many businesspeople who understand that this is tied to people’s life, so they are promoting vegetarianism now. They understand that people crave tastes, so to satisfy this craving, now many people research how to use plants to make food that will cater to people’s craving for taste. Isn’t this what the Buddha said of the collective karma of sentient beings?
I think, in daily living, [we should] follow a normal and natural way of life. When we plant, pick, wash and cook vegetables and eat them with rice, isn’t this the healthiest? Now, with research to change the plants’ texture, will this lead to genetically modified beans and other foods? Really, these are created for human beings’ profit and to produce more business opportunities. In fact, isn’t it better to return to a natural way of life? If we can return to the ways of nature, we can return to our natural, intrinsic nature.
Dear Bodhisattvas, we must put in effort, everyone is responsible for the state of Earth. We must take up this responsibility. What is most important is our intrinsic nature. We must take care of our minds, starting from “refraining from all evil,” we expand this to “doing all that is good”. If we can do this, this world will be at peace. Thus, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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