Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Asking the Buddha to Turn the Dharma-Wheel (世尊難值 願佛轉法)
Date: May.17.2017
“With the World-Honored One’s might and virtue, the radiance of His light illuminated all. The Brahma kings to the east gathered like clouds to seek the radiance. They praised the magnificence of His place of enlightenment and Buddha-land. Together they asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel of the Great Vehicle.”
With this paragraph, let us recall the past. Starting from the east, the Brahma kings came into contact with the radiance of the Buddha’s awe-inspiring virtues. With this beam of light, the Brahma kings in the worlds of the east began to analyze this radiant light. This was not an ordinary light; it was very extraordinary. This was a very auspicious ray of light. The origin of this light was unlike ordinary sunshine or any other kind of light. It must have been the light of a Buddha appearing in the world. It is rare for a Buddha to manifest in the world; it takes many kalpas, a very long time for a Buddha to appear in the world. This kind of rare, subtle and wondrous light should be an auspicious sign of the Buddha’s virtues. So, the Brahma kings of the east gathered together like clouds to seek this radiance. On this journey from the east, everyone in the Brahma heavens continued to gather together. Many Brahma kings spread the word and mutually encouraged one another. Together they sought to find the direction from which this radiance came. Gathering together like this, they chanted together in praise of the magnificence of this radiance. It must have come from a Buddha’s place of enlightenment upon His awakening. This place of enlightenment should be very magnificent. This opportunity was rarely encountered, so everyone should quickly go together to find it. This was how they mutually encouraged each other and joined together in praise. This was the proper direction [that led to] the source of the radiance, that auspicious sign. So, together everyone went in that direction.
The previous [sutra] passage is quite long. The Brahma kings brought their family and followers, their Brahma-palaces and so on. So many treasures came with the Brahma kings. Everyone expressed their most sincere reverence in making offerings to the Buddha and requesting that the Buddha turn the Dharma-wheel of the Great Vehicle. This shows that they had one common goal, to come and request the Dharma. As they requested the Dharma, they expressed their sincere intent by using tangible materials to convey intangible sincerity. It is the same for us Buddhist practitioners.
The Buddha wanted us to engage in spiritual practice, and to do so we must understand the principles. Once we understand the principles, as we have many afflictions, through our knowledge of the principles, we must put them into practice to eliminate afflictions. Once we eliminate afflictions from our minds, what we express outwardly is in harmony with others. If we have afflictions, we will take issue with one another, oppose and have conflicts with one another; this is the mind of unenlightened beings, the afflictions of unenlightened beings. Before we listened to the Buddha’s teachings, we were like this; our afflictions spread everywhere. They had completely covered our minds. This is how unenlightened beings are. The Buddha came [to the world] to teach us. If we have affinities with Him and accept the Buddha’s teachings, we will begin to make changes. The lack of clarity we had in the past, that greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, arrogance and so on, all these afflictions, must be eliminated one by one. We must eliminate these afflictions from our minds and then reveal our open and spacious hearts and our thoughts of deep faith and understanding. In our relationships, we should give to help each other, encourage one another and cherish one another. There is much suffering in the world, and the suffering in this world comes from the imbalance of the macrocosm and from our own minds, where we oppose each other out of afflictions and ignorance. This causes conflicts and imbalance in people’s minds and the environment. The imbalance of the four elements leads to disasters, which cause much suffering for people. This is why we need to eliminate our afflictions, greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt and exercise our selfless and pure love. Together, we can encourage each other and put our minds and strength together to help those in suffering. This is the Saha World, where living beings are suffering.
Some are suffering, so they must endure patiently. Some people lack clarity in their minds, so they must endure patiently. What does it mean to endure patiently? In the past, we did not know. We had an “eye for an eye” mentality, so we would oppose one another. Now we understand the Buddha’s teachings and have eliminated our afflictions, so there is wisdom within our hearts. So, our mind of wisdom rests on the Dharma of patience. We use wisdom to eliminate ignorance. Then even if ignorance and afflictions arise, we apply wisdom with the Dharma of patience so there will be no conflicts. To go a step further, when others are suffering, we can mutually make use of these teachings about how to give to others, benefit people and serve.
For instance, in October 2015, Typhoon Koppu caused disaster in northern Philippines. In Manila, though it was somewhat far from the north, [volunteers mobilized] for the survivors of the disaster. Although they had to travel very far, the volunteers encouraged one another. Although the travel time was long, everyone was still [determined] to go and help these [disaster] survivors. Naturally, in that society, people knew that Tzu Chi volunteers would mobilize. So, those with cars offered them, those with money donated, and the volunteers who had strength gathered. When they went again, they had prepared everything needed at the disaster area and then distributed the goods. They went there once, twice, three times. Later, they encouraged them and tried to help them restore their vitality and regain their hope. Besides emergency relief supplies, what about the future of their livelihoods? Without delay, the volunteers considered this. When they returned to Taiwan, they said to me, “Master, they are all farmers who mostly planted onions. They were onion farmers. Can we give them onion seeds?” “You can.” Their livelihoods depended on this. They said, “If we could do that, it would very good; lets quickly give them seeds. They can be harvested in 40 days.” With their hearts filled with hope, they delivered the seeds to be distributed. Everyone was earnest and grateful when they received the seeds. They had nearly 400 acres of land, so everyone hurried to plow and work in the fields. We saw smiles appear on their faces. With these onion seeds, they plowed and prepared the land beautifully; they scattered the seeds one by one into the soil, and hoped to see results in 40-plus days. But heavens did not bring things to fruition. There came another typhoon. Typhoon Melor flooded their farm once again. The seeds had already been spread and had just started to sprout, but they were completely submerged under water. Tzu Chi volunteers in the Philippines contemplated whether or not they should plan a second round of distribution of onion seeds. This would require starting over; they could not give up. The first time around, the crops were entirely submerged and had rotted. But the second time around, wanting to bring hope to the survivors, the volunteers helped them again the same way. This love expressed sincerity. This same Typhoon Melor struck north of Tacloban, so it also suffered from the disaster. Because once typhoon changed directions, it went back and struck north of Tacloban, which was still a distance from Tacloban [city]. It was also a disaster there. The area affected was so large, and so many people suffered. So, we requested help from the people of Tacloban. Many people mobilized when Typhoon Haiyan struck; we mobilized so many people to provide aid. Subsequently, we continued to ceaselessly nurture and train these volunteer-seeds. We did our best to give them abundant love. They felt how much love was given, so many of them joined the ranks of our volunteers. They received introductory and advanced training, and also all had experience in disaster relief. Those volunteers who already had experience offered to undertake the responsibility of surveying the disaster and providing aid.
In the Saha World, as long as we inspire the love in people’s hearts, all suffering begins in this world can be saved. Remember what the Brahma kings had cultivated to be born in the Brahma heavens? They cultivated the supreme precepts and practiced the supreme good deeds. So, they upheld the supreme precepts, knowing they needed to eliminate the afflictions and ignorance of the world. This is what it means to uphold precepts. There is suffering in the world, so we must dedicate ourselves to provide relief, to give aid without asking for anything in return. This is practicing supreme good deeds. So, they upheld the supreme precepts and practiced supreme good deeds. By putting these two together, they accumulated blessings and were born into the Brahma heavens. Since Brahma kings had upheld supreme precepts and practiced supreme good deeds, this counts as engaging in spiritual practice. But, their afflictions of views and thinking were not yet eliminated. So, when the Buddha manifested in the world, they were very joyful and expressed their sincerity by bringing material offerings to the Buddha, as well as their intangible and reverent thoughts. Everyone gathered together to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel; the aspiration to seek the Dharma was still there.
People engage in spiritual practice in the world because there is suffering. So, when they came into contact with the Buddha-Dharma, when they meet with love, they know that love brings hope to this world. When they themselves were survivors of a disaster, they received love and knew that it brought hope. They had made it through this period of suffering. While amidst suffering, they had to endure. Actually, these volunteers in training, these aspiring volunteers, were not all in such good financial situations. They still had to be hardworking and frugal. It was still difficult, but their hearts had opened to the Dharma and had taken it into their hearts. Thus the ground of their hearts was so bountiful; the seeds of love had been planted in their hearts so they began to spread seeds of goodness. This time their area was safe, but places that were suffering needed care, so they mobilized and quickly went to survey the disaster. After their survey, they compiled information and sent it back. Naturally they were able to provide assistance. This is how it begins in the world. This is the cause, the cause of cultivating blessings.
The Brahma kings also started by cultivating blessings, and now they had reaped the fruits by being born in the Brahma heavens. They were born in the Brahma heavens, but their resolve to seek the Dharma still existed. It is rare to encounter the era of a Buddha, so they come from the east and continuously gathered together along the way. They unceasingly had discussions with each other and encouraged one another. They searched for the Buddha’s radiance, the place the light was shining from, the source of the light and place of enlightenment. They only had one goal, which was to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. We should [trace] this principle from the wealthiest in the Brahma heavens to those enduring suffering in the Saha World. This the causal ground of suffering and the ground of fruition of the Brahma heavens. Everything begins with the causal ground, and if one walks the right path, one reaches the effect, the fruition, a fruition of wealth, the wealth of love and wisdom. In order to protect the world, we need the Buddha-Dharma so we can preserve it. So, we must have this kind of mindset.
The preceding sutra passage states, “That Buddha’s 16 sons all came with their family and followers. Surrounded by thousands of trillions, they all went to where the Buddha was. They made prostrations with their heads at His feet and requested that He turn the Dharma-wheel. ‘Noble Lion, please let fall the Dharma-rain to satiate us and everyone else’”.
We already spoke about how this Buddha had fathered 16 sons, the 16 princes who began to form aspirations. They regarded their high position and great wealth as fleeting clouds; they had let go of their attachments. They formed aspirations to engage in spiritual practice. The wheel-turning sage king also supported them. So, many people came to send off the 16 princes. The wheel-turning sage king himself, his family and hundreds of millions of people all came in a magnificent procession. They sent off the 16 princes this way, going to the place where the Buddha was. Upon arrival, everyone expressed their sincerity. They prostrated with their heads to His feet; everyone shared the same thought, to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. They hoped He “would let fall the Dharma-rain to satiate them and everyone else”, to satisfy the wish that everyone was pursuing. “A World-Honored One is rarely encountered”. This was the praise and admiration that everyone had for the Buddha. They admired how the World-Honored One had been born in the world; this is such an unlikely occurrence. It is very rare to come by, so “A very long time must pass before one appears”. A very long time had to pass. “For the sake of awakening all beings, He caused all thing to quake”. In order to awaken living beings, He manifested in the world.
When the Buddha was born, the earth quaked. When He became enlightened, the earth quaked again. The earth quaking means people’s minds were moved. They went from being in a state of bewilderment to being awakened by this quaking.
So, “In all the worlds to the east, in those 500 trillion lands, in the Brahma-palaces was seen a radiant light like there had never been before”.
It was not only people in the world who felt it. Even in the Brahma heavens of all the worlds to the east, in the Brahma-palaces in those 500 trillion lands, all were illuminated by this radiance. The Buddha sat at the place of enlightenment, and many people began to request the Great Dharma. This radiance had already illuminated “all the worlds to the east, those 500 trillion lands. In the Brahma-places was seen a radiant light”. This radiance illuminated the Brahma-palaces. To Brahma-palaces were bright to begin with, but then the light of this auspicious sign came. So, in the past, there had never been this auspicious sign before.
Next, this passage of verse states, “When all the Brahma kings saw this sign, their search took them to where the Buddha was. They scattered flowers as offerings and also made offerings of their palaces. They asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel and praised Him in verse. The Buddha knew the time had not come yet. Receiving their request, He still sat in silence.”
We still remember the long-form prose from before. The Brahma kings had arrived with all kinds of devotional items. They had brought all sorts of offerings. At the same time, they scattered flowers along the way and around the place enlightenment. The wanted to come dignify the Dharma-assembly. Moreover they were willing to offer their palaces. This expressed such sincere intent; this was what the Brahma kings from the east did. So, because all the Brahma kings saw this radiant appearance, they went to where the Buddha was. Once the heavenly beings arrived, as foreshadowing of the magnificence to come, they constantly scattered flowers along the way. With flowers raining from the sky, it was as if it was raining, but with flowers. It was a dignified and virtuous scene. So, “They first scattered precious flowers, they offered their palaces.” First, they rained flowers. Then, they were willing to offer their palaces. “They asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel and praised Him in verse.”
They ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel and praised Him in verse: They asked the Buddha to turn the non-retreating Dharma-wheel to transform and guide sentient beings, enabling them to reach the One Vehicle Dharma. They further praised Him together in verse.
Whether it was the Brahma kings or the 16 princes or the wheel-turning sage king, all were the same. At this Dharma-assembly, they all requested that the Buddha turn the non-retreating Dharma-wheel, which is the Great [Vehicle] Dharma-wheel. This is the Great Dharma-wheel that is forever non-retreating and forever abides in the world Great capabilities adapt to Great Dharma. Those with great capabilities do not retreat, while those with limited capabilities may retreat. The Buddha’s teachings they requested now were those of the non-retreating Dharma wheel, the Dharma of the Great Vehicle, suitable for those with great capabilities. They hoped that this could “transform and guide sentient beings, enabling them to reach the One Vehicle Dharma.” Everyone could follow the One Vehicle Dharma. So, they praised Him in verse, with genuine and sincere hearts. Apart from the verbal praise, they also used verse to respectfully ask that the Buddha turn the Dharma-wheel and to praise the virtue of the Buddha. “The Buddha knew the time had not come yet. Receiving their request, He still in silence.” The Buddha knew that the Brahma kings of the east had already arrived, but the time had not yet come; more would arrive, so the Buddha still waited. Because “the time had not come, receiving their request, He still sat in silence.” The Buddha knew that the right time for the conditions of transformation had not arrived; it was not yet ripe. Only the Brahma kings from the east had arrived. The time was not yet ripe. Because of this, although He received their request, He still sat in silence. He continued sitting there and did not yet begin to expound the Dharma.
The following verse states, “From the [remaining] three cardinal and four intermediate directions, as well from above and below, [they came], scattering flowers and offering their palaces. They asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. Encountering a World-Honored One is rare, so they prayed that with His original compassion, He would widely open the door of ambrosial dew and turn the supreme Dharma-wheel.”
“From the three cardinal and four intermediate directions; as well as from above and below” means from all directions. Besides the Braham king from the east who have already arrived, the Brahma kings from the west, south and north the intermediate directions and above and below all these Brahma kings, gradually kept gathering at this place. From all directions, above and below, they arrived. Besides the east, there were still nine other directions. Those from the east had come, but the other nine directions had not yet arrived. So, the Buddha still sat in silence. All the other heavenly beings were like those from the east. Those from the nine directions were the same. Like the east, they had discovered this radiance. They all gathered together and encouraged one another along the whole journey to where the radiance was coming from. They, “just like those from the east, made the request of the World-Honored One.” Just like the Brahma kings of the east, they too had come to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel.
From the [remaining] three cardinal and four intermediate directions, as well as from above and below, [they came]: This refers to the nine remaining directions aside from the east, which are the west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, above and below. The heavenly kings from these nine directions, just like those from the east, made this request of the World-Honored One.
Southeast, southwest, northeast and northwest are the four intermediate directions. East, west, south and north are the four cardinal directions. The four intermediate directions and the four cardinal directions add up to the eight directions. Then when we add above and below, this is finally the ten directions. When the Brahma kings to the east asked, the Buddha remained silent. After that, there were those from the southeast, the southwest and so on. Because of this, the causes and conditions were not yet ripe. Not everyone had arrived, so the Buddha remained silent. Once everyone from all directions had arrived, “scattering flowers and offering their palaces, they asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel.” Everyone from each direction did the same; they scattered flowers when they came. Then, with the same shared aspiration, they asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. “The heavenly beings were scattering flowers and offering their palaces.” The offerings they made were all the same, with no difference, all directions were the same. “With a single shared aspiration, they asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel.” They used the same method gathering from all then directions with the same intention. Their offerings and their sincerity were identical. They praised the World-Honored One. “Encountering a World-Honored One is rare, so they prayed that with His original compassion…”.
Encountering a World-Honored One is rare, so they prayed that with His original compassion: It is rare and hard to encounter a Buddha appearing in the world, so they prayed that the Tathagata would [apply] the pure great compassion that originally arose from His Dharma-practice in the causal ground.
This is saying that it is rare to encounter a Buddha. Even if a Buddha manifests in the world, it is not that easy for us to encounter Him. It is like that for us right now; although we have “Thus have I heard,” and can listen to the Buddha’s sutras that have been passed down from more than 2000 years ago, when Sakyamuni Buddha appeared in the world, where were we? Did we live in the same era as the Buddha did? Actually, we do not know. So, regarding the Buddha, “Encountering a World-Honored One is rare, so they prayed that with His original compassion…”. Everyone prayed to the Buddha, praying that He would turn the Dharma-wheel. They asked the Buddha to, out of His compassion, teach the Great Vehicle Dharma for everyone. So, “It is rare and hard to encounter a Buddha appearing in the world, so they prayed that the Tathagata would [apply] the pure great compassion that originally arose from His Dharma-practice in the causal ground.” This pure heart was the pure aspiration with which He started to practice and learn the Dharma. I have spoken of the Buddha’s initial aspiration. What kind of state was He in when He formed this aspiration” Do you remember? He was in hell. In hell we can see people pulling flaming carts with their skin. Their skin is peeled and used as a rope that is tied to the side of a flaming cart. Their own skin is used as a rope to drag the flaming cart; they pull it to the brink of death, then come back. Within that hell, there was one suffering the same torment as him; he could not bear this, so he was willing to pull that cart for him. This act of compassion angered the jailer, who raised his club and beat him to death with one strike. Just like that, with one compassionate thought, he was reborn in heaven. Heaven and hell, these realms contrast greatly. “I was able to be born in heaven because of that one compassionate thought.” In heaven, he diligently sought to understand the Dharma, the Dharma of compassion and a pure heart. This can truly create countless merits and virtues. Those states differ so widely. So, it started like this, with the Buddha’s pure heart that originally arose. That was the time when this began. This is a pure mindset that will forever remain unchanging. This was the Tathagata’s original compassion. “He was willing to use His original compassion.” The Tathagata, with this Dharma and His pure and uncontaminated heart of compassion, returned life after life [to this world]. This was the Tathagata’s causal ground. His causal ground was the seeds of compassion and great vows of compassion. So, His original compassion is “the pure great compassion that originally arose from His Dharma-practice in the causal ground.” That is the meaning of original compassion, so this is a heart of great compassion.
As we learn the Buddha’s teachings, this is what we must learn. From witnessing the greatest suffering, we understand the grief and pain of suffering. So, we form great aspirations and make great vows. We are willing and hope to liberate ourselves, but after seeing people suffer, we quickly help them, which ends up benefiting us. The jailer’s blow helped Him be born in heaven. Isn’t this benefiting others and oneself?
In the Philippines, the disaster survivors who were later saved formed aspirations to learn about [Tzu Chi]. With the feeling of being saved, of suffering amidst great hardship and trouble and then being saved from suffering, now even though they are also impoverished, they are still willing to give. As long as this cause, this seed, is sown, everyone’s hearts can give rise to this awakened nature of Bodhi. Our pure intrinsic nature will be activated. This way we can put it into practice.
Looking back at October [2015], at Typhoon Koppu and the disaster at that time, we saw how the people of Manila were mobilized. There was a disaster there, so volunteers in Manila mobilized. They encouraged each other and formed aspirations. They traveled to such a remote place to assess the disaster, distribute goods and give them what they needed most, which at that time were the collapsible beds as well as the blankets. Then again, Typhoon Melor struck the north, resulting in more calamities. So, the survivors of the previous disaster suffered a calamity once again. They hurriedly took their blankets, carried their collapsible beds and fled until they reached safety. They unfolded their beds, covered themselves with blankets and were once again grateful. Luckily, during Typhoon Koppu, they received assistance and these items. The next time, as Typhoon Melor wreaked havoc, they took these items and thought of that time. We had helped them with these [onion] seeds because they had already been flooded, and now they were now flooded once again. Once more, we surveyed the disaster and created hope for them again. They would still have another chance to prepare the soil and plant onions. It is because of these causes in the world, these pure causes and the seeds of love, that there is hope in the world. The principle is the same.
The Buddha said we have intrinsic Buddha-nature. The Buddha said our nature of True Suchness exists. We just need to activate it. With this pure causal ground, the Dharma-practice of our original compassion we are able to mobilize and take action Whatever the Dharma gives us, we are able to put it into practice. In the present we have the Dharma of “Thus have I heard”. What we have heard is also what the Buddha taught us. In Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior’s time, the Brahma kings and wheel-turning sage king came to the assembly and asked the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. They hoped that the Buddha would use “His original compassion,” that “The Tathagata [would apply] the pure great compassion that originally arose from His Dharma-practice in the causal ground.” Actually Dharma-practice in the causal ground is something everyone inherently has. If we can be inspired by the Dharma, this pure Dharma and selfless great love can be put into action, so we can apply our great compassion. This is the Great Vehicle. “He would widely open the door of ambrosial dew and turn the supreme Dharma-wheel.”
He would widely open the door of ambrosial dew and turn the supreme Dharma-wheel: In the heavens, ambrosial dew is the elixir of immortality. Thus having a similar elixir for wisdom-life is like “entering the door of ambrosial dew.” They wished the Buddha would widely open it and turn the great Dharma-wheel.
“He would widely open the door of ambrosial dew.” The ambrosial dew of the heavens is a way of describing this. In the heavens, ambrosial dew is the elixir of immortality, which can bring people back to life. As humans, we are unaware of how many lives we have lived in which we keep reproducing our delusions and afflictions. Our minds are filled with ignorance as we drown in cyclic existence among the Six Realms. The only thing to do is be brought back to life, eliminating these unenlightened [tendencies] to allow our wisdom-life to be revived. In life, there is birth and death. Wisdom-life is eternal, so we must Wisdom-life is eternal, so we must help our wisdom-life recover and not sink into confusion anymore. We were covered by afflictions and ignorance, which we have now since eliminated. Our wisdom-life should be reborn. So, [the Dharma is] “a similar elixir for wisdom-life.” The Dharma of ambrosial dew is the wonderful elixir for our wisdom-life, so it says “entering the door of ambrosial dew. They wished the Buddha would widely open it and turn the Great Dharma-wheel.” We must be very mindful. The Dharma is actually all around us. Though the sutra continues on and on in describing heavenly beings who came to the world to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel, the benevolent kings in this world also brought their family and followers. They came to the place of enlightenment to ask the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. Thus we know how rare this Dharma is and how precious it is. Even if the Buddha was in this world, did we have the opportunity to encounter Him? The beginning of the sutra stated that, during the era of the 16 princes, after His Dharma-lecture, the Buddha entered His meditation room. The 16 princes expounded the Lotus Sutra again to those with affinities. “Come those who want to listen to me. The Buddha has already finished the Lotus Sutra. Does everyone still remember? If you would like to listen to it again, please come and follow me.” The 16 princes were followed by those with affinities to different places, then they repeated the Lotus Sutra. Each sat at their Dharma-assembly to teach the Lotus Sutra. In that era, when they expounded the Lotus Sutra those who listened to the sutra are those here now. Now refers to more than 2000 years ago, those at Sakyamuni Buddha’s Dharma-assembly who listened to the Dharma. We really hope that we were present more than 2000 years ago in the era when the Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra. We also hope that we were at the Dharma-assembly and that we played a part in that time. Now we have affinities to listen to the Dharma, so this is precisely why we need to be mindful. The time passed by in this way. The Buddha-Dharma is used to open doors in response to the world’s suffering. So, the Dharma of ambrosial dew enhances our wisdom-life. Together with our wisdom –life and this kind of pure causes, the pure causes of Dharma-practice in our minds naturally, we are able to take action. So, we must be mindful. The Dharma needs to be experienced in our daily living. Only then will we be able to take it to heart. We must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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