Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Guiding Teacher Will Show Us the Way (導師識途 在險濟眾)
Date: May.26.2017
“The world is a dangerous, difficult, evil path; every inch of it is difficult to walk. With one thought that deviates in direction, we become lost in the Three Evil Destinies indefinitely. We seek a way back but cannot find the path. Our body and mind are extremely exhausted. The guiding teacher knows the road and leads us to a safe and stable place.”
How lamentable life is! Our minds are not settled, so as we come and go in the world, we do not know where we come from, nor where we will go. This is how we are. We suffer because things are beyond our control. Things are beyond our control because our minds are not settled. We have spoken for such a long time that we should all understand that everyone has an intrinsic nature of True Suchness. Everyone has it. Dust-inked kalpas ago, we already started listening to the Great Vehicle Dharma; it was just that we are somewhat lacking in the enlightened wisdom of our awakened nature. So, by listening there, we formed deep affinities with the 16 novices. Beginning like that, we each were born at the same time as a novice and engaged in practice in different Buddha-lands over the course of many lifetimes. However, though we engaged in spiritual practice and also listened to the Dharma, only if we took the Dharma to heart could our minds become settled. If we do not really take the Dharma to heart, then our nature remains adrift. Our nature remains adrift, constantly fluctuating. Our minds can never settle down. Sometimes we form aspirations and move forward. Other times we linger and waste our lives. Sometimes we lose our spiritual ambitions. With a life full of afflictions, we remain on this dangerous path, coming and going through the Three Evil Destinies. So, on this road of the human realm, the Five Destinies coexist. If we are determined in your spiritual practice, then we will attain Buddhahood. If we lose that aspiration, we face the suffering of the Three Evil Destinies. This is a place where the Five Destinies coexist; this is the crux.
By seeing sentient beings’ many sufferings, we can experience the truth of all the impermanence in the world, and can confirm the truth of the Buddha-Dharma in this era as well. Modern times confirm the truth of the Dharma. The Buddha talked about how, in the span of a thought, one could travel to 20 trillion Buddha-lands and make offerings to Buddhas. Can we do this now in our time? Yes, we can. Information technology is so advanced that we can do this as soon as we have the thought. We speak of many things now as in the “cloud”. With a simple tap of a finger, [information from the] “cloud” rains down on however many countries or however many people, whatever we want, whatever we want to know, with just a click, so many people can get this news in an instant. Things that bring joy and beneficial teachings should be shared with everyone. Offerings of the Dharma can fill 20 trillion Buddha-lands in an instant. These 20 trillion Buddha-lands refer to everyone’s states of mind. In modern times, as soon as we have the thought, our minds can already reach everywhere. They can reach many places, no matter how far.
In the Amitabha Sutra, doesn’t it talk about this? In the time it takes to eat a meal, one can make offerings throughout 10 trillion Buddha-lands. This happens in the span of a thought. Doesn’t this phrase describe our world today? This one phrase from the sutras can be seen in our world today. However, in the span of a thought, we can also fall into hell. Because we give rise to an evil thought, that evil thought in our minds can lead us to create a hell. Similarly, since the “cloud” is universal, the web of ignorance can ensnare everyone. Once we enter this web of ignorance, we do not know the principles and are unable to experience the wondrous Dharma. If we remain there, in that web of ignorance, we face suffering and hardships. In this web, our minds fluctuate, and there are all kinds of afflictions there, in that web of ignorance. Thus “The world is a dangerous, difficult, evil path. Every inch of it is difficult to walk.”
It is indeed very difficult. We want to find ways to liberate our minds, to liberate ourselves from living in this environment of ignorance, and turn to the path of the Buddha’s teachings. This can seem very difficult.
It is as if we have entered a dangerous path, desolate and uninhabited, were we cannot tread firmly. Also, there are many poisonous beasts all around, which make every inch difficult to walk. Even if we want to walk or run, we cannot. This is the danger and difficulty of the world; it is evil path, difficult at every step. Truly this a very difficult matter.
So, “With one thought that deviates in direction, we become lost”; with a deviant thought, we become indefinitely lost in the Three Evil Destinies. It may be a very long time! When we create karma in the world, we receive an intestine sentence, remaining locked forever in a prison from which we cannot free ourselves. We stay there forever it is beyond our control. The Three Evil Destinies are the hell, hungry ghost and animal realm. We may remain indefinitely in hell, suffer for lifetimes in the animal realm or wander endlessly among the hungry ghosts. When will we ever be liberated? This is how, “With one thought that deviates in direction, we become lost in the Three Evil Destinies indefinitely.”
This means for a very long time. Though we may wish to return, it is already no longer within our control; we have no path to take us back. This is terrifying and results from a single thought gone astray. So, we must seek a way back. “We seek a way back but cannot find the path. Our body and mind are extremely exhausted.” Aren’t we unenlightened begins just like this? We know the world is filled with many sufferings. We know that it is impermanent and that we transmigrate in the Six Realms, that causes and conditions are terrifying; we know this, but as we wish to engage in spiritual practice, we must find the path. We have now found it, but is our direction still correct? It is correct, but can we patiently endure [as we walk]? This all depends on the individual. So, in finding our way back, although we have found a path, it is as if we cannot find the path. We know the direction we should head in, but when it comes to actually crossing this path, we are still not very certain. We wish to find a way back, but are still not certain about the path. So we become exhausted in body and mind.
Do you remember? The guiding teacher was going to lead that group across the treacherous path. At the most critical time [he told them]. “You must all be very careful and very mindful; to reach the place of treasures, we must walk across this path.” The guiding teacher meticulously guides us so that we will be careful and follow him closely at every step. However some people walk along and follow, but after following for a while become exhausted. Their minds and bodies are exhausted. “We cannot find the path; we have a guide, but are mentally exhausted. So we wish to turn around and go back on the road we came on.” This is what ordinary people are like. Indeed! “We seek a way back but cannot find the path.” Even though we found the path and have someone to guide us, “our body and mind are extremely exhausted”. We are exhausted, so tired. So, “The guiding teacher knows the road and leads us to a safe and stable place.” The guiding teacher patiently guides us. He mindfully reminds us, entrusts us and leads us forward step by step. If we can follow what the guiding teacher has passed to us, all his reminders, and tread firmly every step of the way, by walking steadily and following closely, we naturally reach the safe and stable place. After crossing the dangerous path, we can reach a safe and stable place. This is what our lives should be like. Since we do not know ourselves, since we are unable to find the path, if someone comes to guide us on the way, we should mindfully follow them. Our spiritual practice is also exactly like this. How did we come to this world? We do not know. In this world, what we experience is a world full of many sufferings. Having understood this, we have a path of spiritual practice and have formed aspirations. So we should patiently endure.
Look at how so much impermanence is manifesting now! Some is caused by wind and rain, some by earthquakes and other disasters. However, even without wind or rain, even without earthquakes, a mountain can suddenly collapse in a landslide. This happened in Shenzhen in China. There is so much construction there. With all that construction, a lot of dirt piled up. They had excavated so much dirt that what they created was much like a mountain. After several decades, it had become a feature of the landscape. Around this landmark, they built more and more factories, and even high-rise apartments were put up. Who knew that one day, without even the slightest warning, it would suddenly collapse? The entire mountain slid, thereby crushing many factories. Dozens of factories, many homes and many people were buried in the slide. They knew the people inside could not be saved. They knew there was probably no way to save them, but they continued digging anyway. We also heard that a really bad small began to come out. The government, out of concern, quickly cordoned off the area. How were they to deal with such a situation? The enthusiastic rescuers were made to stand down, for the corpses had already begun to stink. For their own safety, all the ordinary rescue personnel, those who were volunteers, were made to stand down. This was out of concern for their safety. What was the next step in handling this situation? There were so many layers of difficulties. Some families even had lost unknown numbers of family member. Mental torment like this should be very understandable. Some were from other provinces. They had come to make a living there. They had come to earn a living, to work there. Suddenly, though their lives had been spared, all their possessions were buried inside. Everything they had worked for had suddenly disappeared. This worldly misfortune brought great suffering; impermanence manifested in an isntant. If you think about it, isn’t the world very unsafe and unstable?
The Buddha taught us that all things in the world undergo formation, existence, decay and disappearance. He had already taught us these principles. If His wisdom were not so great, how could He have so clearly explained these great principles of the world? Perhaps, back then, more than 2,000 years ago, no one could have ever imagined this. But more than 2,000 years later, we can see things now, because in places like Shenzhen these kinds of things happen. Our Tzu Chi volunteers in Shenzhen participated in [relief efforts] for many days, five or six days. They provided hot meals, supplied blankets, offered our multipurpose folding beds and so on. In a word, we looked after those rescue personnel by giving them behind-the-lines support. I heard what they had been doing the last few days. They described the conditions. The rescuers received this care from the volunteers and were very touched by it. Through our interactions and the reports that we heard, [we knew] there were many injured in the hospitals, so we went to keep them company. They were very touched! We could see how our Tzu Chi volunteers went to them and cared for and hugged them. They hugged them so tightly; they would not let go for one or two minutes. From birth, everyone in the world is one family. Though they did not know each other, though they were from other provinces come to make a living, having encountered this kind of hardship, they saw this group of people they did not know, yet who were warmer to them than family, loved them even more than family. So, they were very touched at being embraced like this, so tightly they could not bear to let go. This is the way volunteers expressed to them, “You are closer to me than family. I love you even more”.
It’s true! This is what the Buddha taught us. Bodhisattvas cannot bear to let sentient beings suffer. This type of obvious, tangible hardship is certainly suffering, but in fact invisible, intangible suffering is much worse. Tangible suffering only lasts a period of time; it is suffering that only affects this lifetime. But the suffering of intangible afflictions can bring about an inexhaustible amount of suffering, lifetime after lifetime. This is because “With one thought that deviates in direction, we become lost in the Three Evil Destinies indefinitely”. This all comes from our minds. We are always on this dangerous path of the world, this dangerous, difficult and evil path as if we were forever the dreamer in a dream. Life is like a dream, yet when we are asleep, we are also dreaming. Life is completely beyond our control, and even more terrifying than our nightmares. Think about it; every inch is so difficult to walk. So, even a single deviant thought can cause us to become lost. In the same way, once we become lost, we remain in the Three Evil Destinies indefinitely. When people face tangible [suffering], there are Living Bodhisattvas who care for them. But with intangible [ignorance], once we are lost, even if the Buddha were right before us, without the affinities, we could not be saved. Even if Bodhisattvas were by our side, they could not lead us out even if they tried. This is a dangerous path of the mind; it is great suffering. So, “We seek a way back but cannot find the path”. We put so much effort into searching and seeking, but along the way we become lax and turn back. This is even greater suffering. So, we must earnestly put our hearts into this. The Lotus Sutra is like this; it explains things for us in great detail so we should always be mindful.
In the previous verse, Sakyamuni Buddha very clearly states, “I was among those 16 and have taught all of you before. This is why I have used skillful means to guide you toward Buddha-wisdom. Because of these previous causes and conditions, today I teach you Lotus Sutra to help you enter the path to Buddhahood. Be careful not to harbor fear”.
The Buddha so compassionately taught this for us, telling of the causes and conditions from countess kalpas ago. He told us that we need to be mindful and accept the teachings. There is already a guiding teacher to guide us, so our every step can be firmly planted. He leads us in the direction of Buddha-wisdom. These were the past causes and conditions. Now He too was teaching the Lotus Sutra for us. More than 2,000 years ago, Sakyamuni Buddha had already taught the Lotus Sutra, all for the purpose of leading everyone to enter the path to Buddhahood and experience Buddha-wisdom. “Be careful not to harbor fear”. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. The Lotus Sutra teaches the Bodhisattva Way. When everyone walks the Bodhisattva-path, everyone will go among the people. Think about how compassionate the Buddha was!
Next, it says, This is a parable of a dangerous, evil path remote, desolate and with many poisonous beasts. There is neither water nor vegetation; it is a place the terrifies people. Countless millions of people desire to cross this dangerous path. This path is extremely desolate and remote, extending for 500 yojanas.
This path is so difficult! Furthermore, poisonous beasts are everywhere. If we are not cautious on this path in the world, there are [dangers] all around us such as many poisonous beasts. So, we must be very cautious. Furthermore, he path is very long, without water, vegetation or provisions. It is a very treacherous path that everyone is afraid of. Many wish to cross this path, but the path is truly vast, long and remote. How long is it? It extends for 500 yojanas. This refers to the Five Realms, to the place where the five Destinies co-exist. If we do good deeds we are born in heaven, if we uphold the five precepts, we are born as humans. If thoughts arise and deviate from the principles, we degenerate into the Three Evil Realms. So, the good realms make up only two out of five. The other three out of five are dangerous paths, so all of us must be mindful. In particular, the human realm is very dangerous. A single thought of goodness creates blessings; a single thought of evil creates evil. All things in the world are beyond our control, so do we want to do good and be born in heaven, or do we want to walk the Bodhisattva-path, or will we commit evils and fall into the Three Evil Destinies, all depends upon our thoughts.
So, “At that time, there is a guiding teacher, powerfully knowledgeable and wise. With clear understanding and a resolute mind, he goes amidst danger to save all people fprom difficulties. These people are all exhausted and say to the guiding teacher, We are now exhausted and at this pointy wish to turn back.”
This section of text is saying that at that time, everyone wanted to engage in spiritual practice, so they had to cross a long path, a very dangerous and difficult road. At that time, there was a great guiding teacher, powerfully knowledgeable, with great wisdom. This is an analogy for the Buddha. With clear understanding and a resolute mind, he goes amidst danger.
With clear understanding and a resolute mind, he goes amidst danger to save all people from difficulties: He clearly understands all matters and principles, and his mind is resolute, without ant doubt. This is an analogy for the Buddha manifesting on this dangerous, evil path to relieve people from the suffering of samasara.
In the treacherous place, He came to save sentient beings so they can safely cross this dangerous and difficult path. This is the guiding teacher’s “clear understanding and a resolute mind.” He understands all matters and principles and is determined in resolve, without any doubts. This is telling us we need deep faith in order to follow the guiding teacher as he moves forward. This is an analogy for how the Buddha manifests in response to the world, “on this dangerous, evil path, to relieve people from suffering of samsara. This is the one great cause for which the Buddha comes to the world. Our lifespan in the world is very short; so the Buddha came here, in the hope that in this very lifetime we would be able to hear the Buddha-Dharma and plant a seed of goodness. He taught us mindfully by starting from the mist basic suffering of life, He explained causes and conditions and so on until we were able to understand that all things are illusory. Then He told us of the true path that could take us to the state of Buddhahood. This is the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. When the Buddha came to the world, this was His process and His goal.
These people are all exhausted and say to the guiding teacher: The path of learning the Buddha’s teachings is long and difficult to endure, it is easy to become lax and wish to retreat. Those people’s hearts have grown weary, so all of them speak out loud to the guiding teacher.
“The path of learning the Buddha’s teachings is long and difficult to endure.” The path of learning from the Buddha is indeed a long one. It takes many lifetimes, extremely long periods of time, so “it is easy to become lax and wish to retreat.” It is easy to grow lax and think about retreating. “Those people’s hearts have grown weary. They were all walking, seeking and searching along the path. “We have already walked all this way.” They had reached this halfway point, when naturally they began to become lax. Everyone then cried out loud. “Why is it so far? When will we arrive? “I am tired; I cannot possibly move forward.” These are unenlightened beings. so, “All of them speak out loud to the guiding teacher.” They shout out, “I am tired! I cannot possibly move forward! We are now exhausted and at this point wish to turn back. I want to turn back. It has been so difficult getting here; I am too tired to move any further.” So, they want to turn back midway like this. what a pity!
The verse below then says, “The guiding teacher gives rise to this thought, ‘How pitiful these people are! How could they wish to retreat and so back, thereby losing the great precious treasure?’ He quickly thinks of skillful means and knows he must use his spiritual powers toconjure a great walled city with many magnificent houses.”
The guiding teacher, the one guiding others, heard how so many people had given rise to thoughts of turning back. They had all already become lax and weary and had stopped walking. They wanted to turn around and had already voiced this. So, the guiding teacher pitied them, thinking, “Why do these people want to turn around and give up? By continuing forward, they can find peace and stability. By continuing forward, they can reach the place of treasures. The supreme treasures are all at the end of the path just further ahead. Why do they want to quit like this?” So, it was then that the guiding teacher began to have the thought, “These people’s capabilities are very limited. They have such limited capabilities. This is truly a pity.”
The guiding teacher gives rise to this thought, “How pitiful these people are”: He pities them for giving up on advancing and thereby losing the treasure. The guiding teacher at that time gives rise to this thought, that these people’s capabilities are inferior and that they are extremely pitiful.
With the Buddha’s compassion, when He looks upon us unenlightened beings as an Awakened One, He sees that we truly deserved pity. We are sentient beings deserving of compassion; we are truly very pitiable. Our minds constantly fluctuate and cannot settle. So, for dust-inked kalpas, we have remained at this stage. Thus, we must constantly reflect on ourselves and hasten to elevate our aspirations. When we have increased our aspirations, we can follow this correct path as we continue to advance forward. So, the guiding teacher felt, “Why do these people want to turn back halfway? How could they wish to retreat and go back, thereby losing the great precious treasure?” Why were they like this? If they continued to go forward, then they would reach the Tathagata’s place. This is such a precious treasure, to return to our nature of True Suchness. With just a little more effort, we can naturally return to a secure place, to the Tathagata’s precious treasure of great value. We are about to find it; why would we want to give up like this? “He quickly thinks of skillful means and knows he must use his spiritual powers.”
He quickly thinks of skillful means and knows he must use his spiritual powers: He immediately thinks of clever skillful means, he must manifest his spiritual powers to conjure a city.
The guiding teacher could not bear it, could not bear to let those people retreat halfway. He would not abandon us sentient beings. After much difficulty, we had formed aspirations and knew we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. It was just that our minds and natures could not settle down. There are many pitfalls in the outside world, so our minds constantly fluctuate, always rising and sinking. This is pitiful indeed. “He quickly thinks of skillful means and knows he must use his spiritual powers.” So, he quickly thought of how he could again encourage them, how he could raise their spirits so they could diligent set forth again. He had to use clever and skillful means. We constantly let the Buddha devise skillful means for us. Lifetime after lifetime it is always the same. Every time He must start again. This is truly painful. The Buddha, in His compassion, did this lifetime after lifetime for dust-inked kalpas like this. Lifetime after lifetime, time after time, He leads us halfway, until we get tired and want to go back. Then He must once again devise a way. So, “He thinks of clever skillful means. He must manifest his spiritual powers.” He must once more teach many things, must start all over again. With his spiritual powers, he has to conjure a city. “He conjures a city. Look, there is a place ahead! You can see it from here. Although it is far off, you can still see it. Come, let us keep moving forward.” So, this is the analogy of the conjured city.
[He] conjures a great walled city: It does not originally have true existence but is established through skillful means. Hence it says “conjure”. Samadhi is the city, and precepts are its walls.
So, “[He] conjures a great walled city. It does not originally have true existence.” It did not originally exist of itself. He only made it through skillful means. “I will teach you of the law of karma. I will teach you the Vaipulya, and will I teach you Prajna. These things are all part of a process. I am telling you of things long ago in the past. These things have all past; they do not last forever.” There were many things that he wished for us to discuss practically now. So, “It does not originally have true existence.” It did not originally exist. He established it by skillful means. The conjured city, this place He told us lay ahead, was just something He said; it was not real. But He told everyone, “Look! We’ve almost reached a place where you can rest.” Actually, they had not arrived; they were still far off. From our current state, reaching Buddhahood is indeed still a very long way off. However, the Buddha used skillful means to keep us moving forward. Actually, the Buddha [told us] the intrinsic nature of true Suchness is within us. It is we who have become lost. We keep circling around outside and do not return. As we circled around outside and did not return, He had to find a method to allow us to circle back. “Hence it says ‘conjure’. Samadhi is the city, and precepts are its walls.” The walls surround the city. There must be walls that surround it, that protect it from outside intrusions. This is why in countries in the past, you would enter a city through a gate. The palaces were inside the gate. Everything important was kept inside walls. There was the inner and outer city walls. So, they were called walled cities. The city lay inside and the walls surrounded the city. So it says “many magnificent houses”; within the city were many magnificent houses.
Many magnificent houses: The power of precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, these magnificent practices to enlightenment, are known as the houses. Many houses: The many states of contemplating emptiness.
The magnificent houses are analogies for the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. In our spiritual practice, we need to have precepts. The power we gain through upholding the precepts and cultivating Samadhi and wisdom encourages us that we do not have far to go. We use the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom to stabilize our minds. We need to further elevate our Samadhi and our power of wisdom so that we may advance forward. This is done in stages. The inside of the city is magnificent. There are palaces and everything. Within the city walls everything is flourishing. It is very magnificent. So, these “are known as the houses.” Everything within the city walls is called “houses.” “The many states of contemplating emptiness” help us to carefully contemplate. These house and palaces as well as the city itself are all man- made. Cities are created by people. So, it is said that, Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall in the past to prevent outside countries from invading his country. This is why he built the Great Wall. Even the Great Wall is man-made, built through man’s power. The Great Wall was built through the power of many people. Such a magnificent construction was done by such small and insignificant humans. They had great power of will. One person had such a great aspiration to protect the country that he gathered together a great many people to build the magnificent Great Wall. Within this city’s walls there were many palaces and luxurious residences. These were all man-made. So, even these magnificent things are nevertheless in the world, subject to formation existence, decay and disappearance. They were not originally there. The thing with the most true existence is the mind. It is our nature of True Suchness. So, He used the world’s tangible things to entice us, to skillfully give us a direction. These skillful means, this skillful path, skillfully gave us a direction. This was the Buddha’s compassion.
All worldly phenomena undergo, formation, existence, decay and disappearance. All people and the entire manmade world [do too]. Where is Qin Shi Huang today? Where are those who built the Great Wall today? They have already come and gone many times. Perhaps Qin Shi Huang fell into the Three Evil Destinies. Perhaps he returned to the world, as a slave subject to the commands of others. We can never know. Our transmigration is beyond our control! The most important thing is our mind. So the Buddha put His heart into this, thinking of every possible way to help liberate us mentally and physically, to help us truly find our nature of True Suchness. For this we need the precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. Only with a mind that is settled in Samadhi with the power of wisdom arise. So, let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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