Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Diligently Practice and Protect the Buddha-Dharma (勤修行道 宣護佛法)
Date: July.17.2017
“Their minds fundamentally do not have the Three Poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Now they manifested having them in order to eliminate them. Their minds fundamentally do not have any appearances of deviant views or the like. Now they manifested as having them in order to subdue them.”
Let us mindfully look back at what we talked about yesterday. Truly, the Buddha understood His disciples very well. With all the many disciples in His Sangha, He knew their weaknesses and strengths like He knew His own palm. He understood them all thoroughly and clearly. Purna Maitrayaniputra was not the only one. The Buddha praised Purna because he “inwardly secretly practiced as a Bodhisattva and outwardly manifested as a Hearer.” Actually, there were many other disciples who similarly had great capabilities and capacities. However, they hid their great capabilities, which could accept the Great Dharma. The appearance they manifested was the same as that of their fellow practitioners. They displayed the appearance of Hearers. For some of them, the Buddha talked about their past lives and the habitual tendencies they had accumulated lifetime after lifetime. These habitual tendencies still remained; these remaining tendencies were not eliminated. These tendencies which we carry with us have yet to be eliminated.
For example, Sariputra was foremost in wisdom. But as for his past lives, [the Buddha] told many stories about these. Everyone needed to be clear on this so that they could better understand the law of karma. He had engaged in practice for a long time, ever since dust-inked kalpas ago. During the process of spiritual practice, he accumulated [good affinities by] dedicating himself among people and practicing for sentient beings’ sake. He guided sentient beings, formed good affinities, went among the people and benefited them. For many lifetimes, he had cultivated a heart that took joy in this. He often spontaneously gave rise to compassion for sentient beings. This was very natural; it was his intrinsic nature. In the past, he had already accumulated these seeds of good causes and conditions. Ignorance and afflictions sometimes arose too, and challenging situations sometimes caused him to give rise to discursive thoughts. Sariputra was also willing to practice letting go. He gave away everything to transform all beings, and after he let go of everything and had nothing, was only left with his body, he was even willing to give away his organs. There was a filial child whose mother was sick. He said he needed the eye of a spiritual practitioner as a catalyst for the medicine. Sariputra was still willing to give and immediately dug out his eye to give it to him. They young man who took it said, “Ah, you were too hasty! I needed the right eye, but you took out your left eye. This will not work. That is what the doctor told me.” Since he had already dug out one eye to save someone’s life, sacrificing his other eye, leaving him blind, would still be worth it if he could save a person’s life. So, he still plucked out his other eye. He was no longer able to see. However, he heard the person who asked for his eye sniffing the eye, making an audible sniffing sound, “Ew, why is this so stinky? The doctor said that it has to be the eye of someone who engages in pure spiritual practice. A practitioner’s eye should not have such a stinky smell. Your eye is so stinky; this will not work!” He then threw it to the ground and stepped on it. Starting at that moment, this person who had been willing to give, who had had such wholehearted kindness and had formed the aspiration to give away everything to transform sentient beings, from his state of mind at that time, said, “If I engage in spiritual practice in the future, I do not want to engage in Bodhisattva-practice and go among people to give rise to afflictions.” The Buddha told this story.
Of course, the first past was long. But after telling this story, He turned back and asked people, “Do you know who that was? It was Sariputra, who is right next to me now. Although he is foremost in wisdom now, he has remained a Hearer”; he remained among the Hearers. He was unwilling to form great aspirations because of his past karmic conditions. This is how the Buddha explained the past lives of His disciples and the karmic conditions they encountered.
He also talked about Nanda, His half-brother. They had different mothers but the same father. However, though the Buddha had forced Nanda to join the Sangha, he had not yet eliminated his desire for love. He had the appearance of [a monastic], but thought up all kinds of ways to get back home to visit his consort. So, the Buddha exercised His wisdom to guide and teach him. He brought him to heaven and hell to witness suffering and recognize his blessings. [The Buddha] wanted him to compare the human realm with the heaven realm. This was what His disciples were like then.
There were also some who engaged in fire worship and practiceed other heretical teachings, such as the Three Kasyapas. These three brothers engaged in spiritual practice in the kingdom of Magadha. The people from Magadha had great respect for the three brothers, especially the eldest, Uruvilva Kasyapa. The people in the whole country respected this Brahmin. Laster on, the Buddha convinced and trained him. He tamed his deviant views and his residual habitual tendencies. So, with the Buddha’s wisdom and the Dharma, He could train [these brothers] so they took refuge in the Buddha’s Sangha.
Once, the Buddha and His Sangha came to visit the kingdom of Magadha. When they arrived there, the king was named Bimbisara. When King Bimbisara heard the news, he was very happy. It was rare for the Buddha to come to Magadha, so he happily took his ministers to spread the news to everyone in the country that the Buddha’s Sangha had already arrived in their country and that everybody should reverently pay their respects. So, when people arrived at the garden of the Supratistha Deva Temple, there were so many people and it was so grand. When they saw the Buddha, they reverently paid their respects. The Buddha’s Sangha was so dignified. After everyone paid their respects, they all sat down. At this time, people discovered that Uruvilva Kasyapa and his brothers were also sitting at the Buddha’s side. The people, ministers and king all began to have doubts. The Buddha was visiting this country and had received the respect of many in this country, yet these three teachers of Brahmanism were all sitting there. “Should we take the Buddha as our teacher or should we take Uruvilva Kasyapa?” Everyone had this doubt in their minds. When the Buddha saw everyone so doubtful, He told Uruvilva Kasyapa, “Look, you are so famous in this country, and people have great respect for you. You followed an ascetic path of fire before, so why did you draw near to the Buddha-Dharma? Why don’t you tell everyone about this?” Uruvilva Kasyapa immediately told everyone, “Yes, I practiced the path of fire in the past, but while I was practicing, my heart was still filled with desires. Take the craving for taste for example. It was just a craving for taste, yet I could not even get rid of that. The five worldly desires caused so many struggles within my mind. I just could not let go of them. Though I appeared to be engaging in spiritual practice, deep in my heart I was not able to let go. Even in my three daily meals, I could not let go of my craving for taste, not to mention other desires. Deep in my mind, the fire of my desires was strong. I could not let go of them. After hearing the Buddha’s teachings, my mind settled completely. All material desires in the world are illusions. Fame and status are imaginary and impermanent. With craving for taste, we devour so many lives. So, I feel that engaging in spiritual practice means taming one’s own mind. We must tame our habitual tendencies. It is not about the external appearance of practicing with fire, worshipping fire, no. Therefore, I abandoned my past ways of spiritual practice and followed the Buddha to became a monastic.” The Buddha then said to him, “After you renounced the lay life, how did you feel? You should let everyone know about this.” “After I renounced the lay life, my mind has been entirely pure, clean and without any contamination. My heart is as broad as the sea and the sky. I have clearly analyzed and understood all the teachings and principles the Buddha gave to us. Now, my mind is completely tranquil and still. My mind is focused and full of understanding. I am always in a state of Samadhi and have experienced the truth of the universe. This is the joy I now have deep in my heart. I always feel free and at ease like this.” The Buddha praised him and said, “Spiritual practice is for the purpose of letting go of all desires. All suffering in life comes from desire, which drives people to act as if blind. Even though they have eyes, they are not able to see the correct path. This is how ignorance clouds our wisdom-eyes. We are unable to see the path of enlightenment because of our habitual tendencies and ignorance.”
After hearing this, the king, the ministers and the people were all very joyful. Everybody was happy and had even more reverence for the Buddha’s Sangha. This is because “Their minds fundamentally do not have the Three Poisons of greed, anger and ignorance”. In the Sangha, these disciples had already engaged in spiritual practice. They all secretly engaged in Bodhisattva-practice but purposely manifested the appearance of Hearers. This way, in front of everyone, they could eliminate [their afflictions]. “I had such afflictions in the past, so I must eliminate them”. In fact, these people fundamentally had no deviant views in their minds; they had no attachment to deviant views, yet they manifested the appearance of deviant views, of practicing fire worship as spiritual practice. At that time he accepted the Buddha’s Right Dharma. So, he manifested “having them in order to subdue them”. His causes and conditions for engaging in spiritual practice were that in the past he followed a path of fire, heretical teachings. Now, he abandoned this to join the Buddha’s Sangha. These were all manifested appearances; he inwardly secretly practiced as a Bodhisattva “and outwardly manifested as a Hearer”. Upon hearing the Dharma, he had awakened; all of them originally had this understanding. However, when the Buddha came to this world, He had to manifest the attainment of Buddhahood. The sentient beings He wanted to transform, His disciples, were all very different. They all had different lives and different habitual tendencies. They also practice different forms of heretical teachings. After the Buddha attained Buddhahood, they all collectively came to take refuge in the Buddha’s Right Dharma.
This morning I heard you all begin with the Incense Chant. What special day is it today? It is the day the Buddha became a monastic. Indeed, if He had not, on that day, formed aspirations to renounce the lay life, how would there be Buddha-Dharma we have today for us to teach, listen to, experience, realize, understand and put into practice? This was all determined by a single thought and a single action. From that single action, this has carried on for more than 2000 years until now. Did Sakyamuni Buddha only begin His spiritual practice in that lifetime? No. He had been practicing since dust-inked kalpas ago. His spiritual practice began amidst suffering. He formed aspirations in hell, the place of the worst suffering; that was the start. This was countless kalpas, dust-inked kalpas ago. We should understand that spiritual practice requires long-term persistence. Since Beginningless Time, Buddha-nature has been intrinsic in everyone. But because we gave rise to a single ignorant thought, we became confused and [our minds] became scattered. How are we able to bring them back together? This requires a great amount of effort.
This is just like the serious environmental problems we have now. After discovering the uses for petroleum, all sorts of methods were invented to extract the oil from deep inside the earth. People started to produce all kinds of things with it. Now many recycling Bodhisattvas use their love to treasure the planet’s material resources. Thus they go out to collect recyclables. Once they bring them back, they have to pick through the dirty trash; much effort is needed to carefully sort, clean and prepare everything to be recycled. The principle is the same. Aren’t we all like this?
In fact, in our own lives, we experience many worldly desires and the ground of our mind becomes churned up. Likewise, these energy sources beneath the earth are extracted in all sorts of ways. After they are extracted, what do we use them for? In the end, they become garbage. Yet there is a group of dedicated Bodhisattvas who go and carefully recycle these things. They sort them carefully, so they can be gradually [broken down] and remanufactured. This is what we do. In our lives, after listening to the Dharma, we should put our hearts into experiencing the principles of all things in the universe. How do we extend them out, and how do we bring them back? We need to do our best!
Let us look at the previous sutra passage, “They show people that they have the Three Poisons. They also manifest the appearance of having deviant views. My disciples, in such ways, transform sentient beings through skillful means”.
Just as we discussed previously, the Buddha started to say that Purna was not the only one like this. In fact, among the disciples, there were many who were like him. They hid their Bodhisattva[-practice] and manifested the appearance of Hearers for everyone. “I was also like that. I too had greed, anger and ignorance before, and I still have such habitual tendencies”. They manifested the appearance of deviant views, saying that they were like that in the past. The Buddha said, “My disciples, in such ways”, meaning among His disciples there were people like this, who actually would “transform sentient beings through skillful means. My disciples were manifesting such appearances, whether in the past or in the present, to transform sentient beings with skillful means. If I were to speak of all their various manifestations and transformations, if I were to list them one by one, there would be so many of them”. In the past, these disciples had done so much and accumulated so many merits and virtues. In the past, these disciples had also had ignorance and negative habitual tendencies. Though He wished to speak of how they pulled back their ignorance and tendencies and accumulated so many merits and virtues.
“If I were to speak of all their various manifestations and transformations, the sentient beings who heard this would have doubts in their minds”.
If He were to speak of all this, there would still be many sentient beings now and in the future who would not believe it and would have doubts. This is the sutra passage we spoke of yesterday.
The next sutra passage states, “This man Purna today had, with trillions of Buddhas in the past, diligently practiced this path of promoting and protecting the Dharma of all Buddhas. In order to seek the supreme wisdom, in the presence of all Buddhas, he manifested as a top disciple, well-learned with wisdom”.
In this sutra passage, the Buddha began by talking about “this man Purna.” This was the spiritual practitioner present who constantly helped promote the Buddha’s teachings. They could see he was like this now. In fact, in the past, he was in the presence of trillions of Buddhas, following the path and practicing diligently. He also helped promote the Buddhas’ teachings, for the purpose of seeking the supreme wisdom. though it is phrased as promoting the Buddhas’ teachings, it was in fact for himself; what he spught was supreme wisdom. Thus he was “in the presence of all Buddhas.” This is why, in the places where the Buddhas were, “He manifested as a top disciple. Among the Buddha’s disciples, he manifested as one who likewise worked very diligently, as one of the top disciples. Among all these people, he was at the top, because he was “well-learned with wisdom.
The five verses below praise his past virtues; his roots from the past were deep. He had diligently practiced, helped to promote and protected the protected the Dharma. He sought the supreme wisdom in order to teach the pure path. With wisdom, in everything he taught, he always expounded the Dharma’s pure meaning, enabling people to abide in the Great Vehicle. He was actually purifying the land where he himself will attain Buddhahood in the future.
“He had diligently practiced, helped to promote and protected the Dharma. He sought the supreme wisdom in order to teach the pure path.” The pure path refers to the Buddha’s teachings, the Dharma that the Buddha taught. “He always expounded the Dharma’s pure meaning.” This means that no matter how the Buddha taught, he took in the teachings in that way. These were all pure teachings. So, he forever abided in the Great Vehicle. “He was actually purifying the land where he himself will attain Buddhahood in the future. As he engaged in practice and promoted the Buddha-Dharma, this was actually to achieve supreme wisdom. he did this all to attain Buddhahood. So, this is how the Buddha praised His disciples “inwardly secretly practicing as Bodhisattvas and outwardly manifesting as Hearers.
This man Purna today had, with trillions of Buddhas in the past: The Buddha praised His disciples as secretly being Bodhisattvas while manifesting as Hearers. And Purna had, in the past, long been in the presence of all Buddhas.
Since long ago, in the presence of all Buddhas, Purna had been doing this. “[He] diligently practiced this path of promoting and protecting.
[He] diligently practiced this path of promoting and protecting the Dharma of all Buddhas: He diligently practiced the pure path that is walked by Bodhisattvas of the Great Vehicle, to promote and protect the Dharma of all Buddhas.
This way, he taught the teachings the Buddha taught and walked the path that the Buddhas walked. This is what Purna did in the presence of every Buddha. “He diligently practiced the pure that is walked by Bodhisattvas of the Great Vehicle” to ”promoted and protect the Dharma of all Buddhas.” This is what Purna did. The Buddha praised so highly. Everything Purna had done. The Buddha greatly affirmed him. ththththththththththththththth
This disciple was very close to His heart. The Buddha gave him so much praise. He engaged in spiritual practice “in order to seek the supreme wisdom.
In order to seek the supreme wisdom, in the presence of all Buddhas: To seek the Tathagata’s supreme wisdom, in the places of practice of all Buddhas, he was foremost in expounding the Dharma.
So, who are we engaging in spiritual practice for? It is for ourselves! When you give to others, who is it that benefits? It is we ourselves. What we give are tangible material goods. What we attain are virtues. This is what we attain ourselves. Other people get the material aid, while we accumulate the virtues. So, “With attainment comes virtue. This “attainment” means when we give, others receive. What they receive are things. They receive these material supplies. But for those of us who give, even though we give without any expectation, we attain virtue. Our virtue [reveals] the Buddha-nature we have in our hearts, our nature of True Suchness, our loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity. Loving-kindness and compassion. For the suffering sentient beings in this world, we are willing to give. When we give, we relieve their suffering. Having relieved their suffering, our own hearts become full of joy. This is virtue, the accumulation of virtue on the path.
As we walk this path, we are making progress. This path [of virtue] is a road for us to walk. Every time we give, we go one step further. The virtues that we accumulate are a path [for us to walk]. So, “To seek the Tathagata’s supreme wisdom, in the places of practice of all Buddhas, he was foremost in expounding the Dharma, this is how Purna was. He completely focused on the One Vehicle, the truth of ultimate reality. When all Buddhas manifest in the world, They all use this Dharma-wheel to destroy all the afflictions and obstructions of sentient beings and enable them to obtain liberation. Thus, it says that, “in the presence of all Buddhas, he learned the Buddha-Dharma to teach.
The principles of the One Vehicle are the principles for which Buddhas appear in the world. All Buddhas appear for one great cause, and for this, They manifest attaining Buddhahood. They come to the world, engage in spiritual practice, realize the principles and are able to attain enlightenment. To attain enlightenment, there is only one principle, the path of the Great Vehicle. There is only one path, which is the great and direct Bodhi-path. This is the only path, the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle the True Dharma. So, “when all Buddhas manifest in the world, They all use this Dharma-wheel to destroy all the afflictions and obstructions of sentient beings. They destroy afflictions and obstructions as if using the wheel of a cart. We talked about the great white ox-cart. The great white ox-cart also has wheels. For the ox to drag the cart, there needs to be wheels. The cargo on the ox-cart is very heavy, and the cart itself is also very heavy. If there is anything on the ground, it will be crushed when the cart passes by. The shell of ignorance that covers our nature of True Suchness is strong and hard. There are layers and layers of it, so much that the shell becomes very hard. So, we need the Great Vehicle Dharma-wheel to roll over and crush all ignorance and obstacles. We are unable to attain Buddhahood because this shell of ignorance has covered and enveloped us. This is just like egg-born sentient beings. Look at chickens, ducks and other birds. If they cannot break through their shell, they will not be able to get out. By the same token, the Dharma-wheel can crush all afflictions. So, it “enables them to obtain liberation”. We must destroy afflictions and ignorance. Otherwise, we will not discover our nature of True Suchness. Thus, to attain liberation, we must discover our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, “in the presence of all Buddhas, he learned the Buddha-Dharma to teach”. He learned the Dharma that the Buddha taught, then transmitted this Dharma to others. This is like a wheel moving forward. This Bodhi-path is the only path for this vehicle. If this vehicle keeps moving forward, it will break the shell of ignorance. It moves forward like this and constantly crushes ignorance, continually progresses. “In the presence of all Buddhas,” in Their places, he listened to the Buddha-Dharma. He learned how these Buddhas taught the Dharma and then himself went out to teach. This is just like a wheel. This is called turning the Dharma-wheel. “He manifested as a top disciple, well-learned with wisdom.”
He manifested as a top disciple, well-learned with wisdom: He spread the Dharma for sentient beings’ sake and transformed them so they entered the Path, enabling those who sought realization to increase their learning. He manifested as the top among all disciples, one who learned extensively and had great wisdom.
In life after life, he was the top disciple; he would manifest in the form of a Hearer and listen to the Dharma in the presence of all Buddhas. But he was smarter than all the others and better understood Buddha’s heart. He was also more earnest in promoting the Dharma, so he was “well-learned with wisdom” and very dedicated in learning the Dharma. “He spread the Dharma for sentient beings’ sake and transformed them so they entered the Path.” He listened to the Dharma for sentient beings. He listened to the Buddha’s teachings; he sought the Dharma from the Buddha, and at the same time also transformed sentient beings. He spread the Dharma to where they were and taught the Dharma to them, “enabling those who sought realization to increase their learning.” He gave those who hoped to listen to and understand the Dharma an opportunity to progress in their learning. He wanted more people to listen to the Dharma so that more people would hear the teachings and want to understand them. “He manifested as a top disciple.” He manifested as the top among the disciples, “one who learned extensively and had great wisdom.”
The Ekotarra Agama Sutra states, “He knew the time and understood objects. He could reach anywhere without hindrance. He remembered all, and his learning extended far and wide. He was able to dedicate himself to [the Buddha]. This is how the bhiksu Ananda was.”
This describes everyone’s intrinsic nature. If we can constantly learn and be permeated by the Dharma, then we will clearly understand time and objects. As for time, space and human relationships, there will be nothing we cannot understand. We will be able to understand everything because we will have a clear memory. After we listen to the Dharma, we will always remember it and put it into practice. So, “He remembered all.” He could always remember, “and his learning extended far and wide. He was able to dedicate himself to [the Buddha]. This is how the bhiksu Ananda was.” The principle is the same. If the Dharma was not spread and remembered by someone like Ananda, how could it be spread to future generations? So, Purna and Ananda were like this. In the Buddha’s era, Purna travelled everywhere. The future of the Dharma relied on Ananda mindfully passing down teachings. Bodhisattvas put heartfelt effort into this! While the Buddha taught according to capabilities, His disciples followed Him and transformed sentient beings life after life. This was a long-term effort. When causes and conditions converge, what causes and conditions should we use, what appearance should we use and what people should we go among? What methods should we use to widely transform sentient beings? This all depends on causes and conditions. So, we should constantly seize the opportunity. In every moment, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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