Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Treasure Bright His Kalpa, Pure Kindness His Land (劫明寶明 國名善淨)
Date: July.07.2017
“People of supreme goodness greatly increase. The objects in that state are as bright as treasures. There is no evil in the land. By purifying their minds, they have bright and clear pure kindness. The Buddha’s lifespan and Dharma will abide for a long time. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, stupas will be erected as offerings.”
“People of supreme goodness greatly increase. The objects in that state are as bright as treasures.” This is the world we look forward to, a place where we can all live together. We also eagerly await everyone being kind people.
Confucius once said, “If we do not choose to be among the benevolent, then how can we expect to attain wisdom?” If the place we choose to live in is not one of benevolence and virtue, then in that place we have chosen there will not be any wisdom. The place we choose to live in should be a place of kindness, where good people come together, so there must be education, and we must have kind thoughts. When people like this can all be together, there will be wisdom there. This is what Confucius said, but the Buddha said the same thing. However, the Buddha taught us that, although we want everyone to be good, sentient beings have afflictions and ignorance. This world has always been the place where the Five Destinies coexist, a place where good and evil abide together. It is because sentient beings have ignorance and afflictions that the Buddha came to the world. He wanted to transform the ignorance and afflictions, to turn evil into goodness. This is the Buddha’s compassion. He came to this world exercising both compassion and wisdom, all to open and reveal to sentient beings. When sentient beings can be taught and transformed by the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion, we can realize and enter. Sentient beings must be mindful! But the Buddha has to have patience. All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have patience. The Buddha taught us, and starting by listening to the Dharma, we begin to awaken our aspirations. What we were taught in the past were the Three Vehicles the Buddha established in accordance with sentient beings’ capabilities. For sentient beings with limited capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha used limited teachings. For those of average capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha used the teaching of the Middle Vehicle. For those of great capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha used the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle to teach. All depended upon sentient beings’ capabilities. In the end, as He taught the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha had to get rid of the Small Vehicle teachings He used in the past and turn to the True Dharma of the Great Vehicle. As we are listening to this now, I hope everyone will form Bodhisattva-aspirations and practice the Bodhisattva-path. This is turning from the Small toward the Great. Lifetime after lifetime we have been permeated by the Buddha-Dharma. We must believe this; if, in our past lives, we did not form affinities with the Buddha, then how would we have this opportunity to learn and cultivate the Dharma here together? This is because we were permeated in the past; that is why we have these causes and conditions to listen to the teachings, find joy in them and gather in one place. This is all due to causes and conditions. We have these exceptional conditions. Upon hearing the Dharma, the conditions arise so that we all come together. If our affinities were more distant, we might have needed to go through many layers of causes and conditions, to have layer upon layer of causes and conditions bringing us in.
For instance, in Hualien, in Wanrong township in Hualien there is a Mr. Lin Chengmin. He is only in his 50s, and has had a very rocky life. His family never had much money, and he would do odd jobs. He had a daughter and a son. His daughter lives in the south. His wife passed away after a long illness, while his son was still small; he was only in sixth grade. What is more, when his wife became seriously ill, she took the daughter away, and he alone remained in Wanrong. After his wife passed away, he began living in a drunken stupor. He lost his resolve and became depressed, spending the entire day with friends, with a group of “drinking buddies.” He would be drunk every day. In particular, over the course of several years, he gradually lost feeling in his lower body and was left without strength. He spent his days in a drunken stupor and had become very depressed. When this case was reported to Tzu Chi, Tzu Chi volunteers in Wanrong began taking over this case. After taking his case, he was listed as a care recipient, and was even given 5000 NTD a month to help with living expenses. However, he was still drunk everyday.
One day, Tzu Chi volunteers were out promoting recycling and. Sister Xiufeng happened to go to his village to encourage everyone there to recycle, to spread this environmental consciousness. She went to Mr. Lin’s house, thinking since he was one of our care recipients, she would go in and pay him a visit. Shockingly, she found him laid out on the floor, laid out in a puddle of water, or a puddle of something. Because Xiufeng was by herself and because he was a man, she was uncomfortable getting close to him, for she did not know what to do for him. She also dared not ask, “Is that urine or water?” She was too embarrassed to ask. Seeing him like this, she did not know what to do. When she was about to leave, the man cried out, “Sister, help me! Please help me!” Xiufeng hear him, but what was she to do? She was all by herself, and there was a man lying there on the floor. How could she help him? She could only say to him, “When you sober up a little, I will come to see you again.” After leaving, Xiufeng said that those words, “Help me, sister, help me!” kept lingering in her brain. She went again later to see him and began to gather a group who could interact with him. They went to see his house. Actually, his house was not in bad condition. There was also something like a shed next door, like a pen that livestock would be raised in, a place that could be used for storage. Since he had this space and just then they happened to be promoting recycling, they said to him, “It is not good to be drunk every day like this. What if we were to come and do recycling here? You happen to have this empty space, a place that would be perfect for bringing recyclables here and sorting through them.” He said, “OK!” Actually, when he was not drinking, he was a aver good person, very honest. So, starting like this, Xiufeng thought of ways to help him quit drinking. He was a Christian, and he had a cross hanging from the wall in his living room, so Xiufeng took a piece of paper and wrote a tally mark on it. She put it up there, telling him, “You must quit drinking. We will at times come here to see you. If you are willing to do recycling here, there are rules to keep in doing recycling. The first is that you must give up alcohol.” “It is very difficult for me to quit drinking.” “It may be difficult, but if you do not quit, you may as well write off your life. You must quit. Together with Tzu Chi volunteers, we will do recycling together, do good deeds in order to help the earth. In your own life you need to first rouse yourself and make an effort to change.” He agreed. Because of Tzu Chi volunteers’ sincerity and their continual companionship and care, through that companionship and care, he finally became willing to listen. They came up with a method and told him, “You must be pious. You are a Christian, and [a statue of] Jesus is right there. I will put up this paper on the side. If you drink less today, then you can draw a tally mark. If you drink less tomorrow, you can draw another tally mark. Or if you don’t drink at all, then you can fill in another tally mark.” This is what they told him. He was truly very honest. For him to quit drinking at one would have been impossible. So, by tracking how much he drank on that place, he would keep a tally of marks. Then he could see after a few days which column had added a few more marks to it. Gradually, the “drinking more” column decreased and the “drinking less” column increased. Now it has become time for him to go from drinking less to not drinking at all. They began to plan this as well; now he rarely drinks at all. He does a good job sorting recyclables at home, and when he has finished sorting recyclables there at his own place, he then goes to the Ruisui recycling station to further help others. Since Tzu Chi had helped him in his own life, he gave much of his time to help Tzu Chi, doing a lot of recycling work. That is what he is doing now. So, everyone praises him by saying, “The drunk man has become a good man. He has become a good man and a good recycler.” He has changed. He went from being sunk in depression to saving himself. For people to help him, he had to help himself he had to save himself.
Xiufeng also said, “Actually, during those times when I continually looked in on him, when I constantly went to see him, when I constantly counseled him, it was at times very tiresome, for he was very difficult to get through to. There were times when I would lose heart and feel like giving up on him. It was really difficult for him to quit drinking.” This was the method they used, tracking his progress with that chart to see when he did not drink and when he drank less, right up until the present when he had been able to stand on his own two feet. After he finishes sorting, he even goes outside his own community to the Ruisui recycling station, where he likewise gets involved. Now he spends most of his time sober; it increased. He is sober most of the time, although he still drinks a little. This is why she says, “there is nothing I can do. It is impossible for me to watch him every day. So, it is very difficult. Sometimes I feel like giving up on him, but Master says that since we have planted a seed in the ground, we must give it time [to grow]. Bodhisattvas are the farmers of the earth, and these sentient beings are the seeds. I should constantly water them, constantly care for them and give them time. Then naturally these seeds will sprout and naturally will grow into small trees. Now we can see them sprouting, now we can see them growing into saplings. We must give them time, for one day they will become big trees. A tree needs a long time to grow big!” He needs Tzu Chi volunteers to constantly go accompany him. This is what they are now working hard on. However, he [is so different] from when she first found him, lying on the floor. Was he soaked in water or urine? We do not know. He saw drunk every day, but now at this point, he is able to stand up and do recycling. He can collect and recycle them; he can sort them. With our monthly help, he has not only taken charge of his life but can also take dirty things turn them into recovered resources. He is changing, he is improving; he is already doing very well. One must have will to accomplish this. With the will, it is not difficult. This requires supreme goodness in a person. When a person of supreme goodness is willing to form aspirations and make vows, is willing to not give up on anyone and give with a love like this, even though it took a group of people to deal with a single individual, that village nevertheless has one less drunk, and one more person who can promote recycling, who can recycle to help the environment. He collects recyclables, brings them home and takes care of sorting them there. Isn’t this how there comes to be more good people? We live in the Saha World. We the disciples of the Buddha. The Buddha came to open and reveal to us so we might understand how in the world everything is due to causes and conditions. To deliver sentient beings, although we are able to be so close to each other and together move toward the Buddha-Dharma as we listen to it and teach it, there are those very far from where we are. We are not able to reach them directly, so we must rely on lay practitioners, like commissioners, or Faith Corps members. They all [serve] in their own villages, where, by word of mouth, people are referred to them. It takes a very long time and a lot of manpower in order to approach people like this. They go in a group, for people are inclined to listen to some rather than others. When they listen, the volunteers naturally have a way to help. See, this is how the world is.
Sentient beings who had fallen down in the past can now begin to hold their heads high. Others help them and they help themselves. Just how many people have such causes and conditions so as to be transformed like this? There are many. So, “The objects in that state are as bright as treasures”. See, they turn garbage into gold. Those dirty things, once he has carefully sorted them, all become treasures! This is using worldly matters and objects for the sake of comparison. The Buddha’s principles are of course profound. The Buddha talked about Purna Maitrayaniputra. In his past spiritual practice, the conditions he was in were lifetimes upon lifetimes of going among people. The people he encountered were just like us, like the people we meet now in the world. Lifetime after lifetime, the people he encountered were like this man. He was like Xiufeng, using so much effort to help sentient beings turn their lives around and thus forming affinities like this. He continually accumulated affinities over countless kalpas.
Now he had encountered the Buddha and lived in the same world as the Buddha. He had clearly understood the Buddha’s teachings and was close to His heart. He did the things the Buddha did, promoted the teachings the Buddha taught. The Buddha greatly praised Purna, so He said that Purna Maitrayaniputra would attain Buddhahood in the future. Dharma Clarity Tathagata’s land will be very pure. Everyone there will be a good person. These were all people delivered by Him in the past.
So, “People of supreme goodness greatly increase. The objects in that state are as bright as treasures. There is no evil in the land. By purifying their minds, they have bright and clear pure kindness. The Buddha’s lifespan and Dharma will abide for a long time. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, stupas will be erected as offerings”.
Everyone there will have already engaged in spiritual practice, so they will be born together in that land. In that land, the Buddha’s lifespan and the Dharma will both be long-lived. The Buddha there will have great longevity, and the Dharma there will also last a long time. The eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance will last a long time. So, “The Dharma will abide for a long time”. The Buddha’s lifespan will also be very long. So, “After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, stupas will be erected as offerings.” After this Buddha enters Parinirvana, the people afterwards, those in the era of Dharma-semblance and Dharma-degeneration, will continue [to practice] in that Buddha’s world. This is just like us now; we are still in the era of the Buddha’s teaching. Although we call this the era of Dharma-degeneration, during the era of Dharma-semblance, there were many images created by the Buddha. Although we are in the era of Dharma-degeneration, we are still constructing temples, still creating statues of the Buddha. This is still the era of Sakyamuni Buddha. Form the time Sakyamuni Buddha appeared in the world until now, more than 2000 years have passed. But what about in that future? That Buddha in that future will have an even longer lifespan and His Dharma will abide even longer. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, they will similarly build temples and erect stupas. The Dharma will circulate there for a long time.
Let us look at the previous sutra passage. “The number of Hearers cannot be known by calculating or comparing. All of them are replete with the Six Spiritual Powers, the Three Insights and the Eight Liberations. That Buddha’s land will have such infinite merits and virtues dignifying it”.
We talked about this previously. Below it again says, “His kalpas will be called Treasure Bright. His land will be called Pure kindness. That Buddha’s lifespan will last countless asankyas of kalpas, His Dharma will abide for an extremely long time. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, stupas of Seven Treasures will be erected diking the entire land.
The future kalpas of Dharma Clarity Tathagata will be called treasures Bright. His land will be called Pure kindness. This Buddha’s lifespan will last for countless asankyas of kalpas; this long time is impossible to calculate. His Dharma will also abide a very long time. So, after that Buddha enters Parinirvana, again, “stupas of Seven Treasures will be erected filling the entire land.
His kalpas will be called Treasure Bright: With kindness, He teaches the One Dharma, only teaching the Dharma of supreme and universal enlightenment. The Dharma-treasures manifest brightly, therefore the kalpa is named Treasure Bright. Also, good people increase, and all material objects are radiant and pure like the appearance of gold, therefore it is called Treasure Bright.
“His kalpa will be called Treasure Bright.” This expresses that “With kindness, He teaches the One Dharma, only teaching the Dharma of supreme and universal enlightenment.” Why can the Dharma abide for as long as it does in that world? The name of that kalpas, of that era, for “kalpas” refers to that long period of time, will be Treasure Bright. This is because there will be treasures everywhere in that world. It will be an extremely magnificent land. This is because in that land He will always, “with kindness, teach the One Dharma. The good people there will all gather together, and all will teach each other this one Dharma. What Dharma is this? it is “the Dharma of supreme and universal enlightenment. This is the True Dharma, the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. It is the Great Vehicle Dharma.
So, “The Dharma-treasures manifest brightly.” The Great Vehicle Dharma is so clearly revealed. At the time, whenever people interact there, all they talk about is the One Vehicle Dharma. These are the Dharma-treasures.
When they speak, they speak only of the Dharma. They live their lives according to the Dharma, so these are the Dharma-treasures.
In this period of time, everything that we will hear id good words and teachings of goodness. This way good people will increase and flourish; they will continually grow in number. If we always talk about the Dharma with others, if we always encourage them, people will naturally obtain good teachings by doing good deeds. In this way, the number of good people keeps on growing. In the world we live in now, people keep multiplying their ignorance. Not only do they not take joy in other’s goodness, they also engage in slander. This is our Saha World at present. However, that era will be called Treasure Bright; the kalpas will be Treasures Bright. People there will only talk about the true Dharma of the One Vehicle. They will always be praising each other, so the number of good people will increase. This is the Dharma.
We must be able to engage in practice within the Dharma. We must thoroughly seize the moment. Although we live now in the evil world of Five Turbidities, we are still in [the era of] the Dharma. So, supremely good people increase and flourish, and “all material objects are radiant and pure. Everyone there will be a good person, speak good words and do good deeds. Everything there will be neatly organized. Because everyone there will be blessed, the place they will live, the things they will use will all be very radiant and pure. There are no dirty or dilapidated things there. There are none. Everything there is very shiny, just like the color of gold. Everything there will be a treasure, so [that era] will be called Treasure Bright.
In that era, everything people use will be a treasure, will be extremely bright and very clean. Every object there will be just like a treasure. When that Buddha attains Buddhahood in the future, everyone will enjoy themselves and everyone will be a good person. His land will be called “Pure Kindness”.
His land will be called Pure Kindness: With kindness He transforms sentient beings and enables their minds to be pure, thus His land is pure. In that land there is no evil of lust; all are purely kind. Therefore the land will be called Pure Kindness.
It is through kindness that. He teaches and transforms sentient beings. because everyone is always talking about the teachings of goodness, everyone mutually interacts with kindness and sincerity. So, “With kindness He transforms sentient beings and enables their minds to be pure. In that land, the ground of everyone’s minds will be pure. It says “The land is pure.” When the mind is pure, the land is pure. So, “In that land there is no evil of lust.” There is no lust between men and women there. In the world, sexual desire is the source of 10,000 evils. In that land, the evils of sexual misconduct do not occur. All follow rules and discipline in their living; they keep the precepts well. This is like the Brahma kings’ palaces. The Brahma kings went along with their palaces to see Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha. All of the palaces were very pure. What they had cultivated were the supreme precepts and supreme good deeds. That land will be the same; everyone there will practice supreme good deeds. So, “In that land there is no evil of lust; all are purely kind. Therefore the land will be called Pure Kindness.”
These are the merits and virtues that Buddha will have accumulated through past spiritual practice, such that He will be born in an era like that, one so rich, where the people are so kind and where the Buddha-Dharma flourishes.
Next, it says, “That Buddha’s lifespan will last countless asankyas of kalpas.”
That Buddha’s lifespan will last countless asankyas of kalpas: This explains the length of that Buddha’s lifespan and the time the Dharma abides. In the Buddha’s wisdom, what He knows does fundamentally have a number, but humans are heavenly beings cannot calculate it. Therefore it says “countless”. This “countless” is still in fact countable.
That Buddha’s lifespan will be very long. The length of His lifespan will be very long. So, In the Buddha’s wisdom, what He knows does fundamentally have a number, but humans and heavenly beings cannot calculate it”. With Buddha-wisdom, it is possible to calculate the length, the length of His lifespan and how long the Dharma will abide in the world. The Buddha knows this, but “humans and heavenly beings cannot calculate it”. Humans and heavenly beings cannot calculate it. For the Buddha to have given them a number would have been difficult. So, to teach the Dharma to humans and heavenly beings, that Buddha’s lifespan was measured in asankyas of kalpas. “That Buddha’s lifespan will last countless asankyas of kalpas,” This is incalculable, so it is said to be countless. It is not that the Buddha could not calculate it; it is just that He could not speak the amount. The Buddha taught humans and heavenly beings, so because it was not a number that humans or heavenly beings could calculate, He simply said that it was countless. “This ‘countless’ is still in fact countable.” It was countable for the Buddha, but for sentient beings it was countless. With Buddha-wisdom, is anything incalculable?
Next, it says, “His Dharma will abide for an extremely long time” “After that Buddha enters Parinirvana….”
His Dharma will abide for an extremely long time. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana: The eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance will abide in the world for an extremely long time. After Dharma Clarity Buddha enters Parinirvana, it explains that stupas will be erected as offerings.
This means, after that Buddha enters Parinirvana, “stupas will be erected as offerings. The eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance will abide in the world” for an extremely long time. So, “Dharma Clarity Buddha,” Dharma Clarity Tathagata, is the future epithet of Purna Maitrayaniputra, who was about to receive predictions of Buddhahood. He will be named Dharma Clarity. “After Dharma Clarity Buddha enters Parinirvana,” His Dharma will continue long afterwards. Although the Buddha’s lifespan will have ended, His Dharma will still long abide. After that Buddha enters Parinirvana, “stupas of Seven Treasures will be erected filling the entire land.”
Stupas of Seven Treasures will be erected; filling the entire land: Many disciples will erect stupas for that Buddha using the seven precious treasures and will make offerings to that Buddha’s sariras. These will cover the land of Pure Kindness, which He transformed.
After Dharma Clarity Tathagata enters Perfect Rest, the Dharma will still continue for a long time. So, they will continually build stupas. “Stupas of Seven Treasures will be erected, filling the entire land.” This is because there will be very many disciples hoping the Dharma can be transmitted everywhere. Though the Buddha will be in Perfect Rest, building stupas and temples will attract future generations to continue in having respect for the Buddha. Seeing the stupas is like seeing the Buddha. This is in hopes that the Buddha-Dharma will continually keep spreading. So, “Many disciples will erect stupas for that Buddha using the seven precious treasures.” In building stupas, they will use the utmost respect and the most precious materials in crating them. They do their utmost to make offerings, to make offerings to the Buddha’s sariras. The Buddha’s sariras are His bones and ashes. After the Buddha’s body is cremated, what is left of His body becomes sariras. [Stupas] will be everywhere; “These will cover the land of Pure Kindness, which He transformed.” In the future, after that Buddha is cremated, with all of His bones and ashes stupas will be built all over, so people can make offerings all over. This is the future Dharma Clarity Tathagata. He will abide in the world for a long time. After He is gone, there will still be so many disciples who deeply respect Him. They will continually spread His teachings. This depends upon each Buddha’s aspirations. When Purna Maitrayaniputra returns to the world, it will again be in this land. We should remember that when the Buddha made His prediction, in the future it would still be in this same land. This is where he will attain Buddhahood, but when that time comes, our current world, called the Saha World, will then be called the world of pure kindness. This world will already be completely purified. The name of its kalpa will be Treasure Bright. There will be treasures everywhere! Now we have garbage everywhere. There is garbage everywhere, so it is called the evil world of Five Turbidities. When there is garbage in people’s hearts, then they create garbage outside themselves. We are filled with ignorance, and that is why these turbidities are so severe, why sentient beings are so ignorant. In the future, in this same place, it will no longer be called the Saha World, no longer be called a world of endurance. The name of this land in the future will be Pure Kindness. The name of that kalpa, the name of that era, will be Treasure Bright. There will be treasure everywhere; everywhere will be bright and pure. It will be a pure land. So, we must work hard in spiritual practice. Just Purna Maitrayaniputra’s spiritual practice takes so long to talk about. From the Buddha’s praise, it is evident how mindful he must have been and how he felt about the Dharma. He was able to experience and understand the Buddha’s intent. He did what the Buddha wanted to do. He spread the Buddha’s teachings everywhere. He went to benefit others and create good affinities so that our world in the future can be called Pure Kindness, its kalpa, Treasure Bright. It will no longer be the Saha World. So, let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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