Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Teaching the Great with Perfect Enlightenment (同乘正覺 說大乘法)
Date: May.22.2017
“With infinite wisdom, they journey together on the one perfect enlightenment of True Suchness. With a child’s nature, pure, simple, innocent, they take the Great Dharma to heart. They made great vows to deliver sentient beings and asked Him to turn the Great Dharma-wheel, to teach the assembly the supreme Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra.”
Let us always be mindful! “With infinite wisdom, they journey together on the one perfect enlightenment of True Suchness.” This is to say that all of us and the Buddha share the same one perfect enlightenment of True Suchness. The Buddha continuously told us that we must really believe in our pure and undefiled nature of True Suchness. Our perfect enlightenment of True Suchness is neither lesser nor greater than the Buddha’s. Everyone has this; it is like a child’s nature, pure and innocent. Everyone’s nature is pure, like a child’s, which is especially pure and genuine. As soon as they hear the Great Dharma, they are able to understand it. This is because in their minds there are no afflictions nor any discursive thoughts. They have pure hearts, and this is how they listen to and accept the Dharma. They mindfully seek to experience and understand. This is a childlike heart. “They made great vows to deliver sentient beings and asked Him to turn the Great Dharma-wheel.” These were their pure and undefiled minds. Once they accepted the Buddha-Dharma and had faith and understanding deep in their hearts, they immediately made the great vows. Their intent was very pure and simple, to engage in spiritual practice for the purpose of transforming sentient beings. Since we are practicing to transform all beings, we must have an abundance of the Buddha-Dharma inside our hearts. The true principles of the universe must be very clear to us. So, in that Buddha’s time, this is how they were. They wholeheartedly prayed for the Buddha to turn the Great Dharma-wheel. This is something everyone can understand.
This is in the Lotus Sutra, as the Buddha described dust-inked kalpas before, how Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s 16 princes became monastics. With pure and undefiled minds, they made the great vows. They did not retreat from their initial aspiration. They still maintained a firm will to practice and reverently prayed that the Buddha would turn the Great Dharma-wheel. This was all “to teach the assembly the supreme Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra.” This was because they knew that the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra contained the way to engage in spiritual practice. Starting from forming one’s initial aspirations, one must go through all kinds of teachings, analogies, verbal teachings etc. There is an abundance of Dharma in [this sutra]. They hoped that the Lotus Sutra would be a road that would allow spiritual practitioners to reach the state of Buddhahood. The great Bodhi-path enables them to directly reach the state of Buddhahood. So, they knew to request the Buddha to turn the Great Dharma-wheel and teach the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle, the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. This happened dust-inked kalpas ago. Sakyamuni Buddha repeatedly described the past. Such a long time ago, there was a Buddha engaging in spiritual practice. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha’s process of spiritual practice took a very long time. At that time, people’s lifespans were very long. We often talk about the three great asankya kalpas [needed to reach Buddhahood]. The length of these kalpas depends on the collective karma of sentient beings and people’s lifespans in that era. Though this is all in the same world, sometimes the length of time and of people’s lifespans will be longer. But don’t we often hear this [explanation]? Starting from when human lifespans are shortest, only [averaging] ten years, after 100 years it increases by one year. After another 100 years it increases by one year, continually increasing until people’s average lifespans reach 84,000 years. This is expressing that when sentient beings have very pure minds and live according to the natural laws of the world, just like this, their lifespans grows longer. After [every] 100 years, the human lifespan would increase by one year and keep increasing in this way until reaching the age of 84,000. This is when the average human lifespan is longest. When the lifespan is at its longest and there are many people, people’s minds gradually give rise to thoughts that go against the principles and thus create karma. Then the average human lifespan begins to decrease from a lifespan of 84,000 years. After 100 years, it decreases by one year. Starting from this, the human lifespan will constantly decrease as sentient beings keep creating karma. There is much impermanence and suffering in these decreasing kalpas as the [lifespan] constantly decreases. This is all recorded in the Buddhist sutras.
If the human lifespan continues to decrease, when the lifespan reaches 100 years, disasters and calamities will continually arise. The three major and minor calamities will arise one after another. It will reach the point where, in addition to the major calamities constantly occurring, the three minor calamities will also begin. These are plagues or infectious diseases, as well as hunger and also war. These are called the three minor calamities. This happens hewn the lifespan of humans decreases to 100 years. The three major calamities and the minor calamities will begin to take place one after another. These happen over and over and occur more and more frequently. So the extinction of sentient beings becomes more and more severe. This is all from sentient beings’ karmic forces; as their lifespan becomes [shorter], disasters become more frequent. So, right now we are in a decreasing kalpa.
Though we say we now [live] 100 years, or live into our 90s or 80s or 70s, there is now a big aging society problem. This is what everybody says now. It seems like our lifespan are long, but now, when we look at climate change, when one disaster strikes, in one instance, how many lives are lost? Within a span of just over ten years, there was the South Asian tsunami, the major earthquake in Bam (Iran) and the typhoon that hit Myanmar. These are all major calamities. There was also the [strong quake] in Haiti. Look at how many were harmed each time. For people’s lifespan, we take the average considering all these factors. With manmade calamities, we slaughter each other. Over the past few years, because of [wars], natural disasters, epidemics, exterminating animals due to diseases and so on, we continue to mutually slaughter each other, or natural disasters bring destruction. So, our lifespan are [affected by] more and more disasters. With the impermanence of life and the evil in people’s minds, there are constant changes and [the situation] is becoming more and more urgent. This is something that we should worry about. Don’t we hear now, “But the human lifespan is very long now. It is 70, 80 or 90 years old, and there are those over 100 years old.” How many are there like this? Yes, there are some, but in truth, true longevity comes from following nature. When people live naturally and can all live to this age, only this can be called longevity. As we look at the development of weapons now, they are becoming more lethal, and people’s minds are becoming more evil. In this way, without any control, the issues in people’s minds cause trouble. Think about it; what exactly are they doing? They do not know. One action can give rise to major calamities in this world. How many like this have lost all sense of reason? Now is the time when the Dharma must be applied; in all eras there is need for the Buddha-Dharma.
In Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior’s time, lifespan were so long. During that era, people’s minds and people’s lives were all very natural. He aspired to engage in spiritual practice and begin seeking the truth. This took a very long time. So He “sat at the place of enlightenment for 10 kalpas.” This was a very long time. He also taught the Dharma for a very long time. It was the same; all Buddhas share the same path. He began teaching the Dharma at that time, from the Four Noble Truths to the Twelve Links. These principles have always been the same; from even begin dust-inked kalpas ago, these principles have been continually passed down. Although back then people’s lifespan were longer, their lives were so simple and they still had such morals and ethics, it was the Buddha’s enlightened nature, those principles, that had to be passed on for a long time from that ancient source. The stream of Dharma is very long and continues to flow in this way. So, at that time the 16 princes all intrinsically had that pure enlightened nature. It was not that they were young and thus referred to as novices; when the 16 princes engaged in spiritual practice, they were still called novices because they had not yet taken the full precepts. Thus, they were called novices. But their hearts at that time were like the heart of a child. A child’s nature is pure and innocent. Because they accepted the Buddha-Dharma, “With infinite wisdom, they journeyed together on the one perfect enlightenment of True Suchness.” At that time, people’s minds were very pure.
Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, but how can someone truly awaken? Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, but though [Great Unhindered] hoped to awaken, the Dharma had yet to appear. So, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha, with His intrinsic enlightened nature, had to seek a way to manifest this nature. Thus, He practiced for a long time and sat at the place of enlightenment for a long time. He contemplated the true principles of the whole world and the entire universe, the principles of people, matters and things. He still had to put effort into contemplation. Finally, He realized this truth and awakened. He thoroughly penetrated the true principles of all things in the world, and His mind became one with the universe. This state of mind shook the world. He awakened to everything in the world and became one with the universe. So, the descriptions of the scene when He attained Buddhahood tell of how heavenly beings and humans came to protect the place of enlightenment. They scattered celestial flowers, made offerings. After attaining Buddhahood, He taught the Dharma. The benevolent kings of the world and their friends and followers came to His place of enlightenment to take refuge and listen to the Dharma, the worldly teachings and listen to the Dharma, the worldly teachings. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. In this way He started from the beginning, teaching the principles of life’s coming and going. They were very clear on the teachings of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, but the 16 novices, with their childlike hearts, had made great aspirations, hoping that they could take in more Dharma. They asked the Buddha to expound the Dharma and made the great vows. At this time, the Buddha had not yet taught for this world. In the Brahma heavens, there was that ray of light. In the world, everyone’s aspiration to seek the Great Dharma was awakened. So, this light from the place of enlightenment illuminated the Brahma heavens. Once the Brahma kings from all directions arrived, the Buddha started to teach the Dharma, “to teach the assembly the supreme Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra”.
This requires us to be mindful. “With infinite wisdom, [we] journey together on the one perfect enlightenment of True Suchness”. In fact, we all intrinsically have this. All of us must truly be mindful and return to the supreme Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. We must put this sutra’s essence into practice. We must have common understanding, common vision and common action. This is the only way that this world can slowly be made right. So, everyone must form great aspirations, make great vows and perform great deeds.
The previous sutra text states, “[They] remained unaffected by any phenomena and also attained Arhatship. After this, they attained the truth. Their number was immeasurable; even after counting for trillions of kalpas, one would still be unable to reach the end”.
After everyone listened to the Dharma, to the Four Noble Truths and Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, they had completely eliminated the five desires of the world. They were no longer affected by these. So, they began to realize the fruit of Arhatship. They started in this way. “After this, they attained the truth”. After starting in that way, everyone continued to attain this fruit. They started to understand the Dharma more and more, and more and more people attained the truth. How many? “Their number was immeasurable”. Because the Dharma was taught for a long time, the number of people listening kept increasing. Those who received the Dharma accepted it and also put it into practice. More and more people began to eliminate their ignorance. Within a period of trillions of kalpas, how many people accepted the Dharma? The number is infinite and immeasurable. “At that time, the 16 princes abandoned lay life to become novices”.
At that time, the 16 princes abandoned lay life to become novices. They all asked that Buddha together to expound the Great Vehicle Dharma. “All of us and our followers will all attain Buddhahood. We vow to attain, like the World-Honored One, the wisdom-eyes of utmost purity”.
The 16 princes thus formed aspirations to become monastics. They had to leave their families and loved ones; they not only eliminated the five desires but also the causes and conditions entangling them. They had to eliminate all the affinities that were binding or entangling them. Now they began to have to go among people and transform their affinities into pure ones; they had to form pure affinities with sentient beings through the Dharma. This means forming good affinities and creating blessed karma. So, they “abandoned lay life to become novices. They all asked that Buddha together” because of their goal; they were determined to attain Buddhahood. This was their goal, so they had to abandon lay life, become monastics and attain Buddhahood. Thus, this was the resolve that everyone shared; they had this common understanding, common vision and common action, which was to walk the pure Bodhisattva-path. So, they asked the Buddha “to expound the Great Vehicle Dharma”. “All of us and our followers will all attain Buddhahood. “We” refers to the 16 princes as well as all their family and followers who came with them to engage in spiritual practice. All of them should be able to attain Buddhahood; this was their heartfelt wish. They would not only attain Buddhahood themselves; all those who practiced together with them should also be able to attain Buddhahood and widely transform sentient beings. So, they hoped that everyone could be just like the World-Honored One. “We vow to attain, like the World-Honored One”, means they hoped they could be like the Buddha, with “the wisdom-eyes of utmost purity”. This means in their thoughts and perspective they show compassion to all equally. They hoped that in this supreme, unsurpassed, ultimate hearty of great compassion, everyone could be equal to the Buddha.
The next sutra passage states, “The Buddha knew the minds of His children and their practices in previous lifetimes. He used countless causes and conditions and all kinds of analogies. He taught them the Six Paramitas and all kinds of spiritual powers. He distinguished the true Dharma, the paths practiced by the Bodhisattvas, by teaching the Lotus Sutra, its verse as numerous as the Ganges’ sands”.
This shows that the Buddha had already consented. When He began to teach, He started with the Four Nobles Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. Then, He went ahead to the
Dharma of emptiness and wondrousness, which refers to the “Vaipulya” and “Prajna” teachings. This was over a period of 20,000 kalpas.
The Buddha consented and went ahead to teach the Dharma of emptiness and wondrousness. During this period of 20,000 kalpas, Great Unhindered Buddha received their request and taught them the Vaipulya and the Prajna. Finally He taught the Lotus Sutra. His way of teaching is the same as our fundamental teacher who precisely taught the Great Vehicle Dharma.
20,000 kalpas is truly a very long time. He spent this long period of time teaching the Four Truths, Twelve Links and the Vaipulya and Prajna teachings. He likewise had to follow this sequence to help everyone understand. We must not have attachments. We must not be attached to “existence” because with this, we give rise to thoughts of desire. So, He wanted to tell us that all material things in the world are empty and illusory. In this world, no matter how long something lasts, in the end it will always disappear completely. No matter how long a human lifespan is, the time of “aging, illness and death” will still come. No matter how long the universe exists for, it also goes through “formation, existence, decay and disappearance.” So, He taught the Dharma of emptiness and wondrousness. He spent a very long time [expounding this Dharma]. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha received their request and taught the Vaipulya Prajna. Then at the end He finally taught the Lotus Sutra. He likewise followed this order He began with the Agama, then entered into the Vaipulya, Prajna and then the Lotus teachings. Actually, before, when the Buddha first awakened, His state of mind was expressed in the Avatamsaka teachings, those teachings of the mind. Together these are called the Five Periods of Teachings. They follow this order. It was this way during the time of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. Now, our fundamental teacher Sakyamuni Buddha also did the same. Therefore, this “way of teaching is the same”. So, He “precisely taught the Great Vehicle Dharma” according to this order.
The Buddha knew the minds of His children and their practices in previous lifetimes: The Buddha knew of His children’s pure, innocent and undefiled great aspirations as well as all the princes’ practices and karma from previous existences.
“The Buddha knew the minds of His children Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha knew their causes and conditions of previous lifetimes, and the princes’ practices in previous lifetimes. They had done so much. It was the same during the era of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. It was like this in that Buddha’s time, and likewise, even before that time, they also had causes and conditions from past lives. How much more so for Sakyamuni Buddha! He likewise had causes and conditions from past lives. It was the same. Our lives are also like this; we constantly accumulate causes and conditions, life after life.
So, “The Buddha knew of His children’s pure, innocent and undefiled great aspirations.” These great aspirations were Bodhisattva-aspirations. [He also knew] “all the princes’ practices and karma from previous existences.” These princes could maintain such pure hearts. Preciously, these princes had created causes and conditions in past lives, which is why they were able to maintain such pure and undefiled hearts. These pure hearts also came from past causes and conditions. “He used countless causes and conditions and all kinds of analogies.” The number of teachings was countless. All the causes and conditions of precious lives and the accumulated worldly matters and objects were all, in Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior’s time, thoroughly analyzed for them. As for “all kinds of analogies, He had to use many methods to make analogies.
This was in the Agama period, in the Agama Sutras and the Jataka Sutra, He taught the causes and conditions of the Buddha and His disciples. He taught so much about this, using stories to teach the Dharma and matters and objects to make analogies. He used the ways that the Buddha interacted with sentient beings in those times in order to teach the Dharma. This was all the same. During the Agama period, He spoke of causes and conditions. Next, He taught the Six Paramitas; He began to teach the Great Dharma.
He taught them the Six Paramitas and all kinds of spiritual powers: “Paramita” means to reach the other shore. These are the Six Perfections. “All kinds of spiritual powers refer to the Ten Powers, Fourfold Fearlessness, Six Spiritual Powers and so on.
“He taught them the Six Paramitas and all kinds of spiritual powers.” In order to strengthen [their practice] and help everyone give rise to respect for the Buddha-Dharma and experience its profundity, Great Unhindered Buddha went from the simple to the profound. He taught them to put teachings into practice until they reached the other shore. From this shore of ordinary beings’ ignorance, we must use all kinds of tools to deliver others. These are the tools for attaining Buddhahood. How do we transform sentient beings? we must use a ship and cross over ourselves while simultaneously helping to deliver others. From this shore of ignorance, we must cross over and also deliver others to cross at the same time. So, this is called “reaching the other shore.” We already want to go there, so when we arrive we have reached the other shore. From this place, we want to go to that place; we have already begun forming aspirations and using these tools to deliver ourselves and others.
So, spiritual practice is not done by oneself; we must harmonize with other people’s minds. Spiritual practice means we all must mutually experience the principles together. This is true spiritual practice. so, in order to reach the other shore, this ship must be one of harmony and unity. The Six Perfections are the tools to bring harmony to this ship. They are giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom. these are toold for delivering sentient beings.
So, as Buddhist practitioners, we should have a profound comprehension of this. “All kinds of spiritual powers refers to the Ten Powers, Fourfold Fearlessness, Six Spiritual Powers and so on.” These are called “all kinds of spiritual powers.”
The Tathagata’s Ten Powers: 1. The power of knowing right and wrong in all conditions. 2. The power of knowing all karmic retribution in the Three Periods. 3. The power of knowing all stages of dhyana, liberation and Samadhi. 4. The power of knowing the quality of the faculties of all beings. 5.The power of knowing all kinds of understanding.
The Tathagata’s Ten Powers refers to ten different kinds of powers. First is “the power of knowing right and wrong in all conditions.” This means that as we engage in spiritual practice, we know whether it is the true path or not. If we deviate even slightly in our understanding and views, then we will walk onto an evil path. We must have right understanding and right views. We must understand whether this is truly the path of spiritual practice that we must walk on. Some people seek quick results, and some seek to do whatever they want. So, in seeking, they deviate in their direction, and a slight deviation takes them far off course. So, though they seek the Dharma, they cannot attain it. Why are they unable to attain it? It is because their minds are not settled and they have not given rise to wisdom. It is because they do not follow the Buddha’s teachings in putting these methods into action. So, “A slight deviation takes us far off course” To act in this way is not right. So, if we want to learn from the Buddha, we must learn the Buddha’s firm patience and power of wisdom. A mind of wisdom that rests on the Dharma is the meaning of “patience.” In the Six Perfections patience means pursuing the Dharma with wisdom. So, this is the only way we can have right understanding and right views. Therefore, the first [power] is called “the power of knowing right and wrong in all conditions.” After we attain awakening, [we know] whether this is the true path or not. We must be able to clearly discern this; we must have this power of knowing.
Second is “The power of knowing all karmic retribution in the Three Periods.” This does not mean I can speak of the causes and conditions of the Three Periods. We are all ordinary beings. Only the Buddha has this power of knowing to speak of who I was in the past, who you were in the past, or how, even before that, these [affinities] accumulated between us. Only the Buddha, with His pure and unhindered power of knowing, can understand the past. Now we just listen to what the Buddha said. We should know that all things have their karmic causes and effects; they all do. But we ordinary people cannot just say to others as we please, “In the past you were this, he was that.” This is called deviant understanding and views. This easily leads people in the wrong direction so that their minds become lost in confusion. Not only will their minds not be settled, they will be quite chaotic. If we let ghosts or spirits into our minds, then without any control, we will have illusory understanding and views and sensory and auditory hallucinations. These are all illusory and false; they just confuse our minds. This is very scary. So, do not say, “I can speak of all karma of the Three Periods.” With the karma of the Three Periods, we can follow what the Buddha taught us, but we do not say we can see such things ourselves. If we say we can see karma of the Three Periods, then we have deviated. Everyone must pay attention to this. The Buddha has this power of knowing but we do not. We are only at the point of “Thus have I heard”.
The third is “the power of knowing all stages of dhyana, liberation and Samadhi.” We [all] know how to attain liberation. With everything the Buddha taught us, we must know how to understand it. This is how human nature is; everyone is ignorant. I am also a person of ignorance. I now engage in spiritual practice, so I should be able to see through all things. If we take a step back, the whole world opens up. We must learn how to “patiently endure”. We must be able to endure, to remain patient, to open up our hearts more and approach all things more simply. This allows our minds to be open and spacious and have right understanding and right views.
Fourth is “the power of knowing the quality of the faculties of all beings.” As for our faculties, we all know ourselves. Just how great are our capabilities? If we have limited capabilities, we should be content with what we have and practice according to the proper methods. Or, when we are talking to other people, we must also know others’ capabilities, whether they have great capabilities, average capabilities or limited capabilities. We must know ourselves and others, know what kind of Dharma people with these capabilities can accept.
Fifth is “the power of knowing all kinds of understandings.” We must understand the worldly matters we come into contact with. We must be able to calmly analyze them. The Buddha has this power of knowing, so we should learn this.
The latter five of the Tathagata’s Ten Powers: 6. The power of knowing all kinds of states. 7. The power of knowing all paths. 8. The power of knowing from having unobstructed heavenly eyes. 9. The power of knowing past lives flawlessly. 10. The power of knowing how to forever eliminate habitual tendencies.
Sixth is “the power of knowing all kinds of states.” “All kinds of states” refers to the Three Realms and the Six Destinies. With regard to “all kinds of states,” how people create afflictions from delusions of views and thinking and so on must be clear to us.
Seventh is “the power of knowing all paths.” We must understand what the most supreme path to enlightenment is. We must have this kind of wisdom.
The eighth is “the power of knowing from having unobstructed heavenly eyes.” The Buddha has heavenly eyes, but we do not have these yet. Do not say, “I see these things; they are real.” If you think the things you see are real, that is called an illusion. The Buddha said, “Those who see me in form or seek me in sound are on a deviant path. They cannot see the Tathagata.” So, we must simply uphold our own duties. Do not say, “I saw this thing, I heard that thing.” These are all illusory and false. Only the Buddha has this kind penetrating power of the mind’s eye. We do not have this yet.
Ninth is “the power of knowing past lives flawlessly.” This means knowing the past, present and future.
Tenth is “the power of knowing how to forever eliminate habitual tendencies.” We must know that all of our afflictions come from accumulating many habitual tendencies. So, I often say to everyone, “What practice are we cultivating?” We practice to eliminate habitual tendencies. Yes, we all have habitual tendencies that we have accumulated in this way. These are the Ten Powers of the Buddha.
The Fourfold Fearlessness: One, the Buddha’s fearlessness in [teaching], among people, wisdom of all Dharma. Two, the Buddha’s fearlessness in ending all afflictions. Three, the Buddha’s fearlessness in teaching, among people, hindrances to spiritual practice. Four, the Buddha’s fearlessness in teaching, among people, the paths of ending suffering.
As for the Fourfold Fearlessness, first is “the Buddha’s fearlessness in [teaching] among people, wisdom of all Dharma.” As He taught the Dharma among people , He exercised wisdom of all Dharma to teach all Dharma. He carefully analyzed all this for us.
Second is “the Buddha’s fearlessness in ending all afflictions.” The Buddha’s wisdom of all Dharma. When we all begin to form aspirations, don’t we “vow to deliver countless sentient beings”? We must first make the great vows. But to transform sentient beings, we must eliminate all afflictions. The Buddha’s afflictions are totally eliminated; He is without Leaks, without afflictions.
Third is “the Buddha’s fearlessness in teaching, among people, hindrances to spiritual practice.” Many people, because they accept a deviant path, become confused and re led astray. The Buddha had the ability to call them back from being lost in confusion. Because sentient beings face hindrances as they accept the Dharma, the Buddha used all His wisdom and fearlessness to call people back from their state of obstruction. When the Buddha teaches sentient beings, there are no obstacles. If we ordinary people [are teaching], we say, “This won’t work. I won’t teach it then.” These are hindrances to our teaching the Dharma. We clearly know this person is on the wrong path, but at this time, how should we call this person back? This is much to consider, and there are many hindrances. The Buddha’s wisdom is without obstacles.
Fourth is “the Buddha’s fearlessness in teaching, among people, the paths of ending suffering.” Life truly is full of suffering. The Buddha can analyze much suffering to help us to understand it. In this way, the Buddha has the Ten Powers, the Fourfold Fearlessness and the Six Spiritual Powers. In the past, we often talked about the power of the heavenly eye, the power of heavenly ears etc. Everyone has heard this, so we must earnestly put our hearts into this.
Thus, “He distinguished the true Dharma, the paths practiced by the Bodhisattvas. He distinguished and expounded the true wondrous Dharma that is the path practiced by all Bodhisattvas.”
This is how the Buddha expounded the Dharma for sentient beings. These are the paths practiced by the Bodhisattvas; this is the process. To attain the Ten Powers, the Fourfold Fearlessness and the Six Spiritual Powers will require a long time of engaging in spiritual practice. In order to attain Buddhahood, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha had to practice for a long time. Now He was about to attain Buddhahood and had sat at the place of enlightenment for ten kalpas. Think about it, how long does the process of spiritual practice take? He has already awakened, so He can distinguish the true Dharma. All Dharma that He distinguishes are true. So, all the paths followed by Bodhisattvas are completely without obstacles. The Buddha can use the Ten Powers and the Fourfold Fearlessness in this way to expound the Dharma. “He distinguished and expounded the true wondrous Dharma that is the path practiced by all Bodhisattvas.”
Then it says, “[He taught] the Lotus Sutra, its verses as numerous as the Ganges’ sands. He taught the Great Vehicle Wondrous Lotus Sutra” with verses “as countless as the Ganges’ sands.”
Whether the prose or the verse, it is very long. Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha had accepted the request to expound the Dharma. However, Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior had so much Dharma to expound, as much as the sands of the Ganges River, Just on the Lotus Sutra so much can be taught.
As to the amount that He was requested to teach, Great Unhindered Buddha’s Lotus Sutra contained verses numerous as the Ganges’ sands. The present Buddha’s Lotus Sutra is only seven volumes. We must know that the Dharma-doors of one word cannot be fully described with an ocean of ink.
The present Buddha Sakyamuni’s Lotus Sutra only has seven volumes. We must know that “the Dharma-doors of one word cannot be fully described with an ocean of ink.” You all may think that Sakyamuni Buddha’s Lotus Sutra is only seven volumes. But even just the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City had to be taught for this long. In fact, the Dharma-doors of one single character are already so numerous. If we were to use an ocean of ink, using all that water as ink, we could not finish writing them all. In summary, all things in the world all contain an inexhaustible amount of true Dharma. As long as we are mindful, we will have infinite Dharma and wisdom. Please everyone, always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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