Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Wish-Granting Jewel Is Always with Us (繫珠之富恆隨身)
Date: August.23.2017
“There is a jewel fastened inside our clothes. Lacking the Dharma, supporting oneself is hard. We possess the Tathagata’s nature of True Suchness. The wish-granting jewel is always with us. We follow our karma through this life and future lifetimes. Without control, we struggle to survive.”
This jewel is on our persons. I do not know whether we are all aware of this. In the past, since Beginningless Time, we have always been born with this. Everyone intrinsically has this nature of True Suchness. The Dharma and the principles are inherent in us. All of us intrinsically have [these things]. This is something we should all understand, yet we ordinary beings cannot comprehend it. The principles of all things in the universe have all been neglected by us, life after life. Perhaps, even when it comes to all the principles we have already understood, we have completely buried them all. The minds of ordinary beings are filled with afflictions and ignorance that continuously lead us to enter this path of unclarity and ignorance. In fact, our surroundings are clearly illuminated. We often use the phrase. “Afflictions are Bodhi.” The opposite of ignorance is illumination, but we remain mired in afflictions, mired in ignorance. Our Bodhi, this path of illumination, has been completely neglected by us. We do not walk toward this path. This is what we ordinary beings are like. So, we suffer and are lost. Therefore, things remain beyond our control. There are so many causes and conditions that lead us to fall into the Four Forms of Birth and Six Realms. We feel so helpless!
Everyone has such a jewel hidden within our minds. It is inside of our own clothing, wrapped up deeply inside [our clothes]. Yet, lacking the Dharma, it will be difficult to support ourselves. We lack the [right] methods. If we would just reach our hand into our clothing and take out this jewel, we could trade with it. Everyone has an intrinsic nature of True Suchness. The ocean of enlightened wisdom is in everyone, but we have forgotten it. It is deeply hidden, hidden deeply within our ninth consciousness. As for the karma in our eighth consciousness, as we connect with our external conditions, whatever we create in our external environment returns to be stored in our eighth consciousness. The seventh and sixth consciousnesses continually connect to what is outside through the Five Roots and Five Consciousnesses. So, in this way, to order to live, to survive, we only rely on our Five Roots to connect to the sense objects of the Five Dusts. Then our sixth consciousness goes there [and we think], “I want this, I want that.” This is so exhausting! Thus we are lacking the abundance of the Dharma. Instead, we linger in the Small Vehicle teachings. We can clearly have a heart that encompasses the universe and the boundless worlds within it. With so many sentient beings on Earth, we can embrace everyone and everything. We can serve all sentient beings in the world. This Dharma we have is so abundant, yet we insist on only benefiting ourselves and stick to only [worrying] about our own lives. How exhausting it is to work to survive every day! There are so many wealthy people, people with great power, who, with a simple wave of their hand, would be able to help so many people. Yet when it comes to tangible material things, ordinary people never have enough; they are always lacking something. Even if they are the wealthiest in the world, in their minds, ordinary beings still feel lacking. This is because they do not have the Dharma in their minds. If they had the true principles, the Dharma, they would understand that this life is short, that life is impermanent and that in this world, all things come from the convergence of people’s collective karma. If people understood all these principles, they would be able to use the Dharma, obtaining it in the world and applying it in the world to serve people in the world. There are also those who, though they are not rich, are very willing to give. They are not only willing to give, but also encourage everyone else to give. They not only encourage everyone to give, but also “rejoice in others’ accomplishments.” This is [due to] the Dharma; the Dharma has filled their minds. Their minds are open and spacious. Their minds are able to bring all things to fruition.
However, though some people are very well-off, not only are they unwilling to [help others], but seeing others do it, they feel unhappy. Some people are not only unwilling to act, they even slander those who do. These are all people who lack the Dharma. In short, if we can thoroughly understand the principles of the Dharma, there is nothing we cannot do. True Suchness, the Tathagata’s intrinsic nature of True Suchness, is in fact intrinsically in everyone. “Human nature is inherently good.” This good heart and kind nature is something that everyone has. The principles are everlasting. The principles of the world will always exist, so the wish-granting jewel is always with us; we can use it whenever we want. In this world, if we do not have money, when [we see] people in difficulty, we can form the aspiration to say to everyone, “Let’s bring our strength together and work together to help them.” Isn’t this a wish-granting jewel? If I want to give, but my strength alone is not enough, I can rely on everyone’s strength. By making use of each other’s strength, in this way, everyone’s combined strength will enable us to help those in great need. This is especially true when we need to give with great strength in great amounts. When there are disasters, difficulties and so on, as long as people in this world are willing to put out the call, as long as there is the condition of people who are willing to come together, we will have great strength, and it will not be difficult to accomplish things. So, this is also a “wish-granting jewel”. This does not mean that we each only have our own jewel; everyone has this jewel. This is the principles. Everyone has these principles. As long as everyone brings out the principles from their hearts, everyone’s strength will converge. This is something we can do in this life. So, “We follow our karma through this life and future lifetimes.” If in this life we can put in all our efforts and make use of everyone’s strength, when everyone’s efforts are united in working for good and this power of goodness comes together, we can pave a path of Bodhi, great love and awakened compassion. In this life and future lives, these principles will always exist. So, “Without control, we struggle to survive.” This is how it is for ordinary people. We are not willing to go take action. We have this [jewel] ourselves yet feel that we still lack so much. Thus, we feel that it is difficult to survive. There are so many things we can do in this world.
For example, within our medical system there is the Buddhist Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center. We have so many Bodhisattvas who promote bone marrow donation and who are fully focused on looking after the bone marrow registry. This is because in the world there are illnesses such as leukemia. If someone has leukemia, as of now, in 2016, there is still no medicine or other treatment [that can cure it] except to use a healthy person’s bone marrow. Nowadays, they can also use peripheral blood. The [hematopoietic stem cells] from the blood, these healthy [stem cells], can be given to someone who has lost the ability to create blood. If the healthy person’s hematopoietic function from the bone marrow or the blood [stem cells], can be transplanted into the body of another person, when the person who is ill receives this, the function of these cells will naturally take effect in this ill person’s body. Their function is to produce blood cells. We cannot live without blood. Blood circulates in our bodies. It is a very important part [of us]. This is just like how the earth needs water. All the blood vessels inside of our bodies, our veins and arteries, whether thick or thin, all need to have blood circulating through them. Some veins are as fine as our pores; thus small amounts of blood can be supplied to our skin, hair and so on throughout our entire body. This all requires blood circulation. This is extremely important. Once our hematopoietic function is lost, we must rely on this kind of [transplant]. Medical treatment today is so advanced, but the only thing that can save someone is a marrow transplant from a healthy donor. In order to save people’s lives, we have established a database registry. [The chances of] finding a match are one in hundreds of thousands. To find a suitable match, the probability is one in hundreds of thousands. So, we need a very large database registry. Thus, we must continually go out to promote this, asking people to draw blood to become part of this database registry. Of course, this process is quite involved. After the registry had been established, those who needed it could search for a match among these hundreds of thousands of people. They may find one match or several, but the probability is very small. There was a story that began like this. There was a young person in Hubei, [China]. He was 14 years old. His family had the surname “Liu”. He was the only child and was very adorable. At age 14, he was already in his third year of middle school. Suddenly, it was discovered that he had blood stasis in his feet. How could it be? This gradually spread throughout his whole body. As the boy kept having blood stasis, he was rushed to get a checkup at a large hospital in Wuhan. Later, he was diagnosed with leukemia. This was like a bolt from the blue. The body was the family’s only child. His parents said that even if it cost them everything, they had to find a cure for their child. They searched all over Wuhan for a marrow donor, but no matter how they searched finding a match was very difficult! Moreover, they were not very wealthy. Thus, the media began to appeal to people for help. People joined together to help donate money and donated over 200,000 RMB to treat this boy’s illness. However, as days continued to pass in that place, finding a marrow donor seemed out of reach. At that point, they went to Beijing; with those 200,000 RMB and the family’s entire savings, [the parents] accompanied their son to Beijing. The hospital in Beijing also searched [for a donor], but progress was slow, so they told him, “Why don’t you look for help in Taiwan?” Later, they traveled from the Beijing hospital to Taiwan in search of a matching donor. They were in luck! Out of hundreds of thousands, four matches were found. Of these four matches, one of them was part of a family of Tzu Chi volunteers. Mr. Zhang from Taoyuan was in the Faith Corps and his wife was Tzu Chi commissioner; His daughter was a Tzu Chi collegiate volunteer. During the matching process, his daughter was found to be a match. This collegiate volunteer was very happy and willing [to donate]. Her parents were even more joyful. When Mr. Zhang heard that his own daughter was a match and that his daughter was happy and willing, he immediately contacted us and we immediately began the marrow donation process. So, within a short half-year, the marrow transplant was completed. The two sides of the strait, Taiwan and Beijing, [worked together] to deliver the bone marrow. In this way, the bone marrow was sent to Beijing, and this child received the marrow transplant. Although there was some slight rejection, the hospital was very mindful in their care. Later, when they got to meet each other, this young person had graduated college and was working as an accountant. He said he had dreamed of meeting the benefactor who had saved his life. When they met, they found that their age difference was only five years. She was like his big sister. In his mind, he imagined that she was a very beautiful girl. When he saw her, she truly was very beautiful? Not only was she externally beautiful, her heart was beautiful too. When the two met each other, they called each other sister and brother. This was such a wonderful matter, completed by the efforts of innumerable people. When I saw the scene, it was so heart-warming. Do you know? This relied on the efforts of so many people. Everyone has a jewel on their person. This collegiate volunteer had uncovered this jewel a long time ago. She is a Tzu Chi collegiate volunteer. She understands many teachings and is willing to save lives. She had no doubts at all. When she heard the news she was very happy and was willing to give of herself. Our database had the love of hundreds of thousands of people in it. As of today (in 2016), it has already been over 20 years. This database of over 400,000 registries has already saved over 4000 lives. Thinking about this, isn’t this how these principles exist in the macrocosm? The macrocosm contains this jewel; it is in every place. This is called the true principles. It is called the Dharma.
The workings of living beings, matter and the mind never depart from these principles, never depart from the true principles. The Dharma contained in the macrocosm, the Dharma contained within our bodies and the Dharma contained within our minds [encompasses] all things in this world. As long as we understand this, once we discover it, we can surely make good use of it. This is “being replete with the Tathagata’s nature of True Suchness”. This is the everlasting true principles. All things in the world are replete with these principles. “The wish-granting jewel is always with us”. As long as there is a match, causes and conditions converge. Out of hundreds of thousands of people [these two people’s] affinities come together. This is how causes from a past life converge with the conditions of this life. So, we talk of a wish-granting jewel, a wish-granting jewel that is always with us. Our causes and conditions always follow us. “We follow our karma through this life and future lifetimes”. We have this affinity in this life. In the next life, we should have it as well. If we do not have these good affinities and blessed karma, “Without control, we struggle to survive. “If we lack this principle in our mind, then the many hidden treasures of true principles in the outside world will be unobtainable for us. This depends on the jewel we have in our own minds. If we can obtain it, we can make use of the hidden treasures in all things in the world. Aren’t these [riches] very abundant? If our mind is lacking this perspective, it will be hard for us to survive. If everyone can understand this principle, our intrinsic nature of True Suchness should not be difficult for us to discover. We can make use of it daily.
Now let us look at the previous sutra passage. “Now, before the World-Honored One, we repent for all our past transgressions. Of the infinite treasures of the Buddha, we have attained a small part of Nirvana. Like ignorant fools, we thought that was enough for us”.
This is how we were in the past. We only cared for ourselves and did not think about others. Thus, our intellect and our willpower were very weak. So now, the Buddha was teaching everyone, and the 500 bhiksus all clearly understood.
Thus, they said “We were like a poor man who went to the home of a close friend whose family was extremely wealthy. He prepared all kinds of food and delicacies and fastened a priceless jewel inside the poor man’s clothes. He quietly gave it to him and left. At that time the man was sleeping and unaware”.
[They were like] a drunken man who had gone to a close friend’s house to eat a meal. There, he again got drunk, and upon awakening, did not realize that his friend had given him something. He could have gone and traded it, spending his days in abundance, but he did not know about it. Thus, he struggled to survive. This was [what they were like] in the past. The Buddha gave them the teachings of the Great Vehicle Dharma, but they were still unclear and did not understand.
The next sutra passage continues, “Since that man had already arisen, he traveled to other lands seeking clothes and food to sustain himself, but supporting himself was extremely difficult. When he obtained a little, he felt content and did not wish for anything better. He was unaware that inside his clothes there was a priceless jewel.”
This man had already arisen, so he began to travel to other places. The person who gave him the jewel had already left to take care of some business, so when [the drunk man] awoke, he too went to other places. So, “After dying, one born again”. This is an analogy for this life. We live this life in confusion. In the darkness, we are like sleepwalkers. We are asleep, and when we awaken we are muddled and confused; like sleepwalkers, we are unaware of our actions. In this manner, an entire life passes by. So, “After dying, one is born again.” What have we actually done in this life? We do not know. At the end of this lifespan, we die and are then reborn. This is like one who is drunk. It is already beyond our control. Where will our circumstantial retributions and direct retributions cause us to be born? We do not know. We are reborn, then after we are reborn, it is the same thing. We follow the environment and our karmic forces. This is like being drunk, drunk on the wine of ignorance. We are still living our lives in ignorance. Then it is “like [we] wake up from drunkenness”. This is like our past; this is an analogy. When another life is over, we will be reborn yet again. Being born is like walking from drunkenness. The alcohol’s effect has already worn off, and we are beginning to awaken. This is like in the past when we still did not understand the Dharma, but then we heard the Dharma and rejoiced. After rejoicing, we sought the Buddha-Dharma and began to make aspirations. “Forming aspirations for spiritual practice is called ‘arising’”. We already know this. We see the Buddha-Dharma, understand and become joyful, wishing to receive the Buddha-Dharma. This represents walking up Beginning to engage in spiritual practice is arising and going traveling. This is the beginning of our spiritual practice.
So, [we] “forget the Great and practice the Small.” Although we have begun to engage in practice, we forget the Great and practice the Small. In our past lives, we definitely formed affinities with the Buddha. The Buddha has come and transformed us before; Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha used skillful means and the 16 princes gave the Great Dharma teachings. All of them have taught us. Over dust-inked kalpas, although we already were taught with the Great Vehicle Dharma, we forget it, we “forgot the Great”. We forgot it and abandoned the Great for the Small. So, we remained attached to a small sense of self and thus practiced only the Small Vehicle Dharma. This “is like traveling to foreign lands”. We have already been in the Tathagata’s house, yet we were still wandering around outside.
Since that man had already arisen, he traveled to other lands: After dying, one is born again, like waking up from drunkenness. Forming aspirations for spiritual practice is called “arising”. Forgetting the Great and practicing the Small is like traveling to other lands.
This was like the poor son. He was clearly part of the elder’s family, yet he insisted on staying outside and cleaning. This is what we discussed before in the parable or the poor son. This is how he was. He was in the vicinity of the Dharma, yet he kept traveling around outside. So, it is likened to traveling to other lands. He did not accept the Buddha’s direct teachings of the Great Vehicle Dharma, so he remained outside. Thus, “He sought clothes and food to sustain himself, but supporting himself was extremely difficult.” This is “going everywhere seeking the Dharma.” The Dharma is clearly so simple, yet people only seek it outside themselves. [They] “dignify their body and mind” and “only seek Nirvana for themselves.” “They do not transform and guide others. They are like that poor man, begging for food to sustain himself. His way of supporting himself is extremely difficult.” They merely remained in the vicinity, merely displaying this appearance, saying, “I am a monastic. I am engaging in spiritual practice.” Thus, “They only seek Nirvana for themselves.” This is the Small Vehicle. In the Nirvana of the Small Vehicle practice, “They do not transform and guide others.” They are not willing to go out into the world and go among people. They are not willing to do this. So, “They are like that poor man, begging for food to sustain himself.” They are like the poor man who begged for food. We just say, “I am engaging in spiritual practice, but we are only practicing the Small Vehicle.” We seek something temporary, to not stir up any more afflictions. We eliminate them, having understood causation and cessation. All we understand is “suffering, that it is caused by the accumulation of [karma]”. We want to eliminate suffering, so we no longer want to form affinities. We no longer have any afflictions; we have eliminated them all. But we have only come this far. This is being poor “Begging for food to sustain himself is like only seeking the Small Vehicle Dharma.” If we only seek a meal to eat our fill, by the next meal, we will be hungry again and will need to seek food again. This is all we do. “His way of supporting himself is extremely difficult.” To truly take this Dharma and apply it seems to be very difficult. Didn’t we just say that the whole universe is full of Dharma? We can leverage others strength to help people. All of this is Dharma, yet we ourselves do not realize it. We ourselves believe that we are not strong enough, so how can we help others? If we leverage our strength, if everyone brings their strength together, we can help everyone on Earth. But we are not aware of this principle.
“He sought clothes and food to sustain himself, but supporting himself was extremely difficult.” This is an analogy for transmigrating in samsara, “going to other lands”. We make aspirations to practice but it is not easy. It is extremely difficult.
How long is one lifetime? We may eliminate afflictions is this life, and in subsequent lifetimes we may still have the causes and conditions to engage in practice but to truly achieve liberation and great Nirvana is truly still very difficult. So, it is not easy. Attaining liberation is not easy; the hardships are extreme hardships. If in this life, we do not take care to accumulate spiritual provisions, then if we want to practice in future lives, it will not be easy. “When he obtained a little, he felt content and did not wish for anything better.
When he obtained a little, he felt content and did not wish for anything better: They practiced and upheld the Small Vehicle Dharma. They thought this was the ultimate and felt content with it, so they did not further form Great Vehicle aspirations. To seek the One vehicle path.
Having already attained a little bit, they were not willing to put in any more effort. They were unwilling to do more. So, “They practiced and upheld the Small Vehicle Dharma. They thought this was the ultimate and felt content with it. this is practicing the Small Vehicle and assuming that we have already eliminated our own afflictions. No matter what anyone does to me, I am fine. I can let go. I will not take issue with things. I feel that I am very satisfied like this. They felt that, “The Dharma, the principles of true emptiness, I understand them all. But in fact, they were biased toward emptiness. They did not truly understand true emptiness and giving without attachment. Look at how our Tzu Chi collegiate volunteer. Donated bone marrow to save a life. She herself was very joyful. She suffered no loss from this and is still very healthy. Her mind was without hindrances; there was only Dharma-joy, a very joyful mind. This is truly the Great Vehicle Dharma. This is the true [meaning] of true emptiness, but there is also wondrous existence we can exercise the potential. out of hundreds of thousands, she was a match; she had this affinity.
Transplanted] for her body to that of another, her cells’ blood-producing function was very good. Think about it; isn’t this wondrous existence? There are many principles of wondrous existence in the world today. Yet some people [think], “If I donate [my marrow], what will happen to my own health? Oh, no! I regret [getting tested]. I don’t want to donate.” They are willing to draw blood and say that they have this resolve. But in the end, many are unwilling to donate. This creates even greater dangers.
So, in summary, the Great and Small Vehicle are4 merely attitudes. Thus, “They practiced and upheld the Small Vehicle Dharma. They thought this was the ultimate and felt content with it.” “They think] “I will just draw blood. This shows that I already have this aspiration. But when it is time, they say, I don’t want to do it. They do not know that the one who is preparing to receive their blood [cells] already has their life in the balance. It is extremely urgent. If no one can donate to them, they will die. They have no idea about this.
So, we could say that the principles of spiritual practice. and the principles of life are the same. “They did not further form Great Vehicle aspirations.” [They are] not willing to give and regret having made the vow in the first place. When the time comes, they are unwilling to give, “to seek the one true Vehicle path.” This is the mind of ordinary beings. they do not know that this One Vehicle path is very safe and is there for us to walk on. they only uphold “the Small Vehicle Nirvana” where “One is free from fragmentary samsara but is not liberated from transformational samsara.”
With the Small Vehicle Nirvana, one is free from fragmentary samsara but is not liberated from transformational samsara. So, it is not perfect and complete liberation. Yet being free from fragmentary samsara. Is the bed of liberation that all Three Vehicles sit upon together. Through this Small Vehicle, practitioners also can be said to attain Nirvana. However, it is not the great Nirvana, because it is not complete. This is why once they realize the small fruit of Nirvana, they think of resting. So, when he obtained a little, he felt content and did not wish for anything better.
Small Vehicle practitioners only practice to [end] fragmentary samsara. “I know that my past karma brought me to this life. I understand the 12 links of Cyclic Existence and the fragmentary samsara of the past, present and future. For the future, I do not want to create more negative affinities now. I want to eliminate future causes and conditions.” they assumed it was like this. They did not know of “transformational samsara,” they only knew of the “fragmentary samsara” of the past, present and future. They did not understand that our minds are in this “transformational samsara”. They had not thoroughly understood this Dharma. So, “it was not a perfect liberation.” In this way, it was not perfect liberation. They had only escaped “fragmentary samsara”. They knew “fragmentary samsara“ and that was all. This is “the bed of liberation that all Three vehicles sit upon together”.
We must know not only the Small Vehicle, but also the Middle Vehicle and the Great Vehicle. we must know that in our lives, we go through the past, the present and continue on into the future. This is what Small Vehicle [practitioners] call Nirvana. Their Nirvana is “one [that] is free from fragmentary samsara”. Both Great and Small Vehicle practitioners should know we have a past, present and future. But we have not yet reached the great Nirvana. Because we are still not replete [with Dharma], [we remain in] transformational samsara, giving rise to discursive thinking. We remain the same. We continue to give rise to discursive thoughts. We may form an aspiration, but later, we regret it. Thus, we are unable to truly uphold great vows, to maintain our determination. so, we constantly advance and retreat. This is remaining in the Small Vehicle and not arriving in the state of Great Vehicle Nirvana. So, we are still not replete; we only realize the small fruits. [We feel that] “I already know this.” After attaining the four Fruits, Arhats think they have reached [the ultimate]. They do not know these are only the small fruits. It is just the start, to help them understand the Four Noble Truths and the 12Links of Cyclic Existence, how, in the past and present, people came and go in the world. These [teachings] were just to let them know this, to truly become one who thoroughly awakens to the universe and becomes one with the universe, a great enlightened one, we cannot merely stop there. We must converge [with the universe].
But we only attained the small fruits. After having a single awakening we think, “I have already awakened, so I have already attained the fruit. I have achieved Nirvana; I can be tranquil.” So, we wish to rest there. Nowadays people very early on begin to say, “I want to retire; I want to rest.” They have this kind of life. To be alive, we must be active. We must move. If we want to stay alive, we must move around. To truly engage in spiritual practice, we must be able to eliminate samsara and arrive at the great Nirvana. Our enlightened nature to converge with the universe. We must continuously [advance], always maintain our power of Samadhi, diligently move forward and practice the Great Vehicle Dharma. Do not say, ”I am already engaging in practice. I understand. I know, I know. Now I want to rest.” If that is the case, our time in life will always be wasted. Thus, “When he obtained a little, he felt content and did not wish for anything better. He was unaware that within his clothes, there was a priceless jewel.
He was unaware that within his clothes, there was an priceless jewel: They were unaware that, within their body and mind, there was a priceless jewel hidden. It had supreme value; “supreme” means its value was immeasurable. Thus, it is called priceless.
Just like that person, we do not know where are our jewel is. It is not just about our own jewel. As we just said, all thing in the universe contain the principles; these are called Dharma-treasures. This is likened to a jewel. It is a priceless jewel. “They were unaware that within their body and mind, there was a priceless jewel hidden.” This jewel was supremely valuable; it was worth a lot of money. Its worth could not be expressed in numbers, so it was said to be priceless. [It was] so supreme its value was immeasurable.” It was worth a lot; its value was incalculable. This is “immeasurable”. This is like the sands of the Ganges. How could we calculate this? the Buddha-Dharma often mentions “like the sands of the Ganges.” This is an immeasurable number. Immeasurable means this object is of supreme value. This is known as being “priceless”. There is no way to calculate how much it is worth. This is something we must understand. In our world, how could we count all the true principles? We cannot do it. We do not know that our clothing contains a jewel. We are all very wealthy, yet we are “seeking clothing and food in poverty.” This is how we get things backwards. So, in this manner, every day, we should be trading for a living. We must trade for a living. “The affinity of fastening a jewel” does not just refer to receiving the teachings. In fact, we must know clearly that when the teachings enter our mind, we must exercise our potential. We must know that the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle is not just something we should casually listen to.
They did not know they were rich with a jewel fastened inside their clothes, so they sought clothing and food in poverty. This means they were advised to diligently trade for a living. Is the affinity of fastening a jewel not like receiving the teachings and understanding the One True Vehicle Dharma of True Suchness?
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, we must truly be very mindful in our daily lives. This is not just about [focusing] on ourselves, saying every day, “Every day Master says that the jewel is on our own person. Correct! We all innately have Buddha-nature. We all have an awakened nature of wisdom equal to the Buddha’s. this is our awakened nature. This awakened nature is called True Suchness. This [nature of] True Suchness pervades the universe and all Dharma-realms. Everything contains a nature of True Suchness. If we can thoroughly discover the true principles, that is the precious jewel inside us, which we have always had with us. We only need to accept this one thought and be willing to go and help others. Then, we will have discovered our precious jewel. So, everyone, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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