Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Forever a Buddha-Child (紹繼佛法 永為佛子)
Date: October.02.2017
“Those following the Buddha’s path and being nourished by the Dharma are born from the Right Dharma of the Buddha’s speech. They understand the supreme meaning and help the Buddha-Dharma continue forever, so they are called the Buddha’s Dharma-children. The Buddha’s Dharma-children journey on the Great Vehicle Dharma to go among people and transform them.”
Through experience, we gain understanding. Leaning the Buddha’s teachings means we must follow the Buddha’s path and “[be] nourished by the Dharma.” If we can all listen to the Dharma and take it to heart, the Dharma will nourish our wisdom-life and cause it to grow. Because we follow the Buddha’s path and earnestly work hard, we engage in spiritual practice according to the Dharma. This is a diligent practitioner one who is born from the Right Dharma of the Buddha’s speech. All Dharma comes forth from the Buddha’s speech, and thus, the Dharma He teaches us is the truth of the supreme meaning. There are many principles we do not understand, so we must receive the Buddha’s guidance, His explaining the workings of heaven and earth, His using conditioned phenomena to explain the unconditioned Dharma. He broke down all kinds of principles for us and then re-synthesized them. With the things we could see and understand, He would break them down for us. He taught us that all things are ultimately illusory and empty, yet at the same time we must equally regard the principles of wondrous existence. This is Right Dharma. This is the Buddha’s wisdom, his compassion and wisdom are unified. He both feels for sentient beings and teaches us so that we can all hear the Dharma with our ears and let it abide in our hearts. Thus, we experience its truth. So, “Being born from Right Dharma” means He helps us understand the supreme meaning, helps us understand the true principle. The singular true principle of this world is always being taught by the Buddha. The principles the Buddha taught us were things that we had never considered before, things we had never heard of before. But after the Buddha explained them for us, we could understand the principles. Thus, the Right Dharma the Buddha taught [is something] we can take to heart. What we then understand is the wondrously profound truth of the supreme meaning, this truly subtle and wondrous principle. When this principle enters our minds, naturally, the Buddha-Dharma, what the Buddha awakened to, those thoughts and principles, will be transplanted into our minds. So, with this seed in our minds, we can begin to “help the Buddha-Dharma continue forever.” After the Dharma He taught has entered our minds, the seeds in our minds will also be nourished, and they can begin to sprout within us. Thus, they can “help the Buddha-Dharma continue”. These seeds that have begun to sprout will continue forever. When the seeds sprout, we must begin to continually cultivate them. Then, small trees will become large trees, and large trees will flower and bear fruits that are bursting with seeds. So, [we] “help the Buddha-Dharma continue forever and [can be] called the Buddha’s Dharma-children.”
It is just like a large tree that continually bears fruit and produces seeds. The seeds we plant in our minds, through earnest cultivation, will likewise produce their own seeds. Thus we can be called Dharma-children. As children of the Buddha-Dharma, we must “journey on the Great Vehicle”. The Dharma we journey on is the Dharma of True Suchness. It is the Dharma of the supreme meaning. We journey on the infinite meaning of the Great Vehicle. With the principles of the supreme meaning in our minds, we journey on this Dharma; this is the Great Vehicle Dharma, which requires us to go among people and transform sentient beings. When we open our hearts, when we expand them, they can encompass the universe; this is the principle of the supreme meaning. This principle of the supreme meaning is born from the Buddha’s speech.
Although Rahula was the Buddha’s disciple, he was also the Buddha’s child in His lay life. However, the Buddha had already become the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and the kind father of the four kinds of being. He understood the truths of the Three Realms and the principles of all things in the universe. There was nothing He did not completely understand. So, He wanted for His own son to be transformed and become a monastic. Though Rahula entered the path at an early age, he was doted on by everyone. Even though he was very mischievous, with time and experience, he gradually matured. Still, his mischievous demeanor and child-like mindset had not been fully eliminated. When the Buddha realized this, He gave him a strict lecture. After that lesson, Rahula repented completely. He knew that every word the Buddha said was true. Although [the Buddha’s lecture] was very strict, He simply used a bucket used for washing feet to make several analogies. He helped Rahula understand that he had to become someone others can trust in life, a truly useful person. He had to become someone who could go among people with the ability to benefit them, so first he needed to cultivate his own root of faith and make his words credible. While among people, he had to treat them amiable and sincerely, had to show his respect and have a heart of gratitude. He understood this, knew he must always correct his mistakes and constantly repent, as if cleansing his mind. Whatever conditions he faced, he had to be patient. This was what the Buddha’s lecture firmly secured in his mind. As part of his life in the Sangha, each morning, he had to clean both outside and inside the area they were staying. Every day, after he finished cleaning, he would get ready to beg for alms in the village with the Sangha. After they returned from begging, they ate and washed their bowls. Then, they prepared themselves to contemplate the Buddha’s Dharma by sitting in meditation. This is how he spent his day. Shortly after noon, it was time for the Buddha to teach the Dharma. Rahula quickly prepared to join everyone, and they listened to the Buddha teach the Dharma; this filled them with Dharma-joy! However, dusk had fallen, and it was time to return to his quarters. When he returned to quarters, he saw his clothes and alms bowl outside; someone must have put it there. Who was staying inside? He knocked on the door. The person who answered had traveled from afar to hear the Dharma. He was a bhiksu, and since he had to stay the night, someone had brought them to these quarters and let him inside. These quarters were where Rahula stayed. But, this bhiksu had gone inside, and he even took the clothes, alms bowl and things that were Rahula’s and placed them outside. Rahula already knew that this person had come to seek the Dharma. But now he was occupying Rahula’s room, and all of the belongings inside had been moved outside by this bhiksu. With so many people [in the Sangha], each person had their own quarters, so where could Rahula stay for the night? It was getting dark already. He took up his clothing and alms bowl, but where could he go?
Not only was the light fading, but dark clouds gathered and heavy rain began to fall. In this heavy rain, there was nowhere to shelter. What could he do? He ran into latrine. Long ago, the latrine was just a pit. He had nowhere to go but the latrine, which had a roof and walls to shelter him [from the storm]. He had no choice but to stay in the latrine, so he sat down in this place. In his mind, a thought arose; “This is homelessness!” It was a helpless, desolate mindset. But, as soon as this thought arose, he quickly remembered, “I am engaging in spiritual practice now. The Buddha teaches that, I must be able to withstand and endure conditioned phenomena with a sense of patience. If it is manmade suffering, I must endure it. Even if it is due to the weather around me, I must have patience. [I may be stuck] outdoors, but even if I am in this small outhouse, [by] this latrine put, I should still have patience. Even if it is smelly and dirty, it is raining very hard outside, so I have to take shelter from the wind and rain. I should calm my mind and be at peace. Since I am in this space, my mind should also be present in this space.” In this way, he settled his mind. But, the rain fell harder and harder. On the lower ground or inside ditches and holes, in these low areas, water had begun to accumulate. In tropical areas, there are snakes, and these snakes often live in holes. Now that it was raining harder and harder, water was accumulating on the ground. Holes in the ground were being flooded, and a black snake, a venomous tropical snake, had emerged from its hole. This was very dangerous.
At the Buddha sat in meditation, suddenly, a thought of Rahula floated up in His mind. Immediately He wondered if Rahula was alright. It seemed like Rahula was in danger. The Buddha hurried to check outside. The Buddha approached the outhouse and made a coughing sound. Inside the outhouse, Rahula answered with a cough. The Buddha called out to ask, “Who is inside?” Rahula called back, “It is I, Rahula”. The Buddha called to him, “Rahula, come out quickly! I have something to tell you”. Rahula quickly stood up from the ground and quickly went to the Buddha. When he saw the Buddha, he could not hold back what was in his mind. Although he had gradually matured, he was still a child in his teens. Seeing the Buddha, he could not help but kneel by the Buddha’s feet. Holding onto the Buddha’s feet, he let out a cry. The Buddha let him cry, and after he cried awhile, He bent over to help Rahula to his feet. He made Rahula turn around and said, “Look! In front of the latrine pit. That snake has already gone into the latrine”. When Rahula saw this, he was shocked! “Buddha, thank you for saving my life!” The Buddha comforted him and brought him into [His] quarters. He first put him at ease, [saying] for this one night, he could stay in the Buddha’s quarters with Him. Rahula was very joyful. After all, he still had a child’s innocence as he was only a teenager. Now being able to share the Buddha’s quarters was as if he had been in hell and then suddenly arrived in heaven; he felt so happy. At that time, according to the Buddha’s rules, bhiksus and novices could not stay the night in the same room. But, this was a unique situation. After this, the Buddha went to Sariputra, since Rahula’s education was Sariputra an Maudgalyayana’s responsibility. He addressed them, but He spoke also to the whole Sangha. Though He was facing Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, this was to let everyone know. “In the future, for our young novices, we must make it our duty to look after them. We must ensure they have a place to live, a safe one they can rely on, in body and mind”.
So, from then on, bhiksus and novices had two days or more where they could share a room. This was for special circumstances; normally, each person had his own quarters, as we common to Sangha life in the Buddha’s era.
Speaking of Rahula, he had really matured. After the Buddha had lectured him, he truly took the Dharma to heart and [developed] his mastery of patience. Whether it was patience [with phenomena] or Dharma patience, he was able to completely realize it all. Thus, Rahula was the Buddha’s child and also a Dharma-child. [He was] the Buddha’s child in lay life, but now, in the Sangha, he was equal to the others. He listened to the Dharma with them, took the Dharma as nourishment, and taking it to heart, he developed his wisdom-life. From then on, sometimes when Sariputra went out to spread the Dharma, he would take Rahula along with him.
Once, when Rahula and Sariputra went to beg for alms together, as they set out [they encountered] a group of people who loved playing tricks on others. Furthermore, they had no respect for the Buddha or the [bhiksus] in the Sangha. Not only did they not believe, but they were unwilling to respect them. This group of people were beggars, who had to beg food for a living. Every day, the bhiksus carried their alms bowls and also went door to door to sake for alms. To them, it seemed [the bhiksus] affected their chances of receiving food. Thus, when the beggars saw the bhiksus, they became upset. So, there on the road, it was as if they encountered hooligans. The beggars surrounded them completely and put filthy things into Sariputra’s alms bowl! When Rahula saw this, he could not bear it! He wanted to disband the beggars for his master, but these people became angry, and they beat Rahula with a stick. He was bleeding, but as he began to grow angry, Sariputra immediately stopped him. The beggars all left, but Rahula still felt some anger. Sariputra said to him, “In spiritual practice, we must have patience. The Buddha’s teachings and precepts are what we must bear in mind. Those people are so pitiable! See, their karma has left them without blessings and thus, they are suffering from poverty. They have fallen to begging and make no effort to work diligently. With this mindset, they have no work ethic. Even when they are begging they are unable to get any food. This is because they lack blessings. they are pitiful people. But what about us? As we neg door to door, we create affinities. Through begging for alms, we are helping the Buddha’s teachings to be closer to people. These families then have the opportunity to sow blessings and make contact with bhiksus. With these causes and conditions, we have the chance to speak to them and help them sow in their minds the causes and conditions of the Three Treasures, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This is our purpose when asking for alms. For them, they seek only to fill their stomachs, so they merely beg, while we ask for alms. We have a mission in asking for alms. We must practice diligently and seek the Buddha’s teachings. Then we go door to door to ask for alms to transform sentient beings with the Dharma.”
After Rahula heard this, he understood. He had to be compassionate and accommodating to [truly] take the Dharma to heart. He had to have patience with this kind of life and be patient with people, [despite] their ignorance and vile attitudes. He definitely needed to be patient. So, he was bleeding, his blood dripping down, but it was worth it. He was bleeding, but he also understood that the nourishment of Dharma had entered his mind. Although he suffered some small injuries and was bleeding a little, it did not amount to anything. So, he transformed his anger into a mindset of respect and gratitude.
Thus, Rahula learned from the Buddha and Sariputra that he should be even more diligent than others. So, as a Dharma-child, Rahula vowed to help the Buddha-Dharma continue and maintain his wisdom-life forever. Thus, he was considered a Dharma-child.
Children of the Buddha-Dharma must undertake the Great Vehicle practice. by going among people. With the Dharma, we hope to be able to go among the people to transform them. This is following the Buddha’s path. We must bear this in mind as we walk this path. As the Buddha‘s nourishment enters our minds, we should earnestly let our wisdom-life grow. In the Sangha, Rahula continually took in the nourishment of the Dharma and grew his wisdom-life.
The previous sutra passage says, “You will make offerings to Buddhas, Tathagatas, as numerous as the dust particles in ten worlds. You will always be the eldest son of those Buddhas, just as you are now.
Rahula will attain Buddhahood in the future, but before he attains Buddhahood, he must go through this long period of time. He must still spend time making offerings as part of his spiritual cultivation. He must still engage in spiritual practice [with] Buddhas. Tathagatas, as numerous as the dust particles in ten worlds. This will require a very long time. “You will always be the eldest son of those Buddhas, just as he is now. Then, [he will become]. “Treading on Flowers of Seven Treasures Buddha, [whose] land will be magnificent.”
Treading on Flowers of Seven Treasures Buddha’s land will be magnificent. The number of kalpas in His lifespan and the disciples He will transform during. His eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance will be exactly the same as those of Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha.
He must go through [the time it takes for] Buddhas, Tathagata numerous as the dust particles in the worlds of the ten directions to appear in the world. In the process of Rahula’s spiritual cultivation, he will [practice under] countless Buddhas, as Their eldest son. This is how long he must [wait] “Treading on Flowers of Seven Treasures Buddha’s land will be magnificent.” When Rahula attains Buddhahood in the future, He will be called, “Treading on Flowers of Seven Treasures Buddha.” His Buddha-land will be magnificent, and the number of kalpas of His lifespan, the disciples He will transform, and His eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance will be the same as Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha. there will be no difference. Ananda already received the Buddha’s prediction that when he attains Buddhahood, His epithet will be Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha. As we said, when Ananda attains Buddhahood, His land will be magnificent, and His lifespan will be infinite, like His eras of Right Dharma and Dharma-semblance and so. Now, the Buddha briefly explained to Rahula, “In the future, after going through such a long time in spiritual practice and being all Buddhas’ eldest son, you will then attain Buddhahood. Your land will be magnificent. Your lifespan, era of Right Dharma, and Dharma-semblance, etc. will be the same as Ananda’s. this was how the Buddha bestowed predictions of Buddhahood on Rahula.
The following sutra passage says, “You will also be the eldest son of this Buddha. After this you will attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”
“In the future, it will be the same for you. Before you attain Buddhahood, you will also be Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha’s eldest son. After that, following the natural course of your spiritual practice, you will then be able to attain Buddhahood, supreme, universal and perfect enlightenment which is Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
You will also be the eldest son of this Buddha. after this: He will be the eldest son of Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Buddha. After this lifetime, you will attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi: He will become the supreme Honored One of unsurpassed perfect and universal enlightenment.
Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha’s eldest on. after that, in the future, he will be able to become the supreme Honored One of unsurpassed perfect and universal enlightenment. This was the prediction the Buddha bestowed upon Rahula. “He will always be the eldest son of all Buddhas.” This is something very special about Rahula. Becoming Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King Buddha’s eldest son means he will always be the Buddha’s child. That is to say, Rahula will always be the Buddha’s son. This was the prediction of Rahula’s fruit.
He will always be the eldest son of all Buddhas and will be the eldest son of Mountain-Ocean-Wisdom Free Unhindered King. He will always be the Buddha’s child. This is what is extraordinary in the predictions of Rahula’s fruition.
As part of Rahula’s spiritual practice, he will be the Buddha’s child in each lifetime. Lifetime after lifetime He will engage in spiritual practice like this. This was the prediction of his fruition. Out of so many disciples, it was very special and unique for Rahula, in every lifetime, to be the Buddha’s eldest son.
Since his great capabilities were awakened, he had the ability to help the Dharma continue. This is the meaning of being a Buddha-child. Due to the power of the Buddha’s teaching of compassion and wisdom, he will grow in the direction of the noble path and be able to propagate the Buddha-seeds, not allowing them to be cut off. Thus he is called a Buddha-child.
“Since his great capabilities were awakened, he had the ability to help the Dharma continue. This is the meaning of being a Buddha-child.” For Rahula, although we saw that in his childhood, at times, he was very mischievous, he gradually engaged in spiritual practice. He still secretly engaged in Bodhisattva-practice; he was someone of great capabilities, not someone with limited capabilities or a Small Vehicle practitioner. He wasn’t; he possessed great capabilities. So, “Since [his capabilities] were awakened, he had the ability to help the Dharma continue.” Since his great capabilities had been aroused, he had this kind of bearing. His great aspirations and vows caused him to want to share the Buddha’s teachings in order to propagate the Buddha-seeds and advance his wisdom-life. This was [the ability he developed]. So, this is the meaning of being a “Buddha-child”. Actually, Rahula was not the only one. We are all the Buddha’s children. He is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and kind father of the four kinds of beings. We must not forget this. “Due to the power of the Buddha’s teaching of compassion and wisdom, he will grow in the direction of the Noble Path.” This is the meaning and the principles. Because of the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom, the compassion and wisdom with which He taught, [Rahula’s] mind was awakened. Drop by drop, the teachings entered Rahula’s mind. The Buddha gave him a strict lesson, and due to the strength of the Buddha’s message, he continued in the direction of the noble path. His wisdom-life continued to grow along the noble path, and he was able to propagate Buddha-seeds. His wisdom-life continuously grew, just like a large tree, which once full grown, begins to bloom and bear fruit. Many seeds will be produced like this. So, he was “able to propagate the Buddha-seeds”. Over and over, more and more of these seeds were produced. So, he did “not allow them to be cut off. Thus he is called ‘a Buddha-child”’. He causes the seeds to be propagated continuously. This is a “Buddha-child”.
Next, the [passage] says, “At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this verse.” This passage was very important, so the Buddha wanted to help everyone understand why, lifetime after lifetime, Rahula will be the Buddha’s [eldest] child. This was highly unusual, so He restated the meaning.
“At that time, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this verse, ‘When I was the prince, Rahula was my eldest son. Now that I have attained Buddhahood, he receives the Dharma as my Dharma-child.”’
Here, the Buddha restated Himself by repeating this verse. So, we must be mindful of its meaning. “When I was the prince, Rahula was my eldest son.”
When I was the prince, Rahula was my eldest son: Before I became a monastic and was still a prince, Rahula was my eldest son.
“Before I became a monastic” means before Sakyamuni Buddha renounced lay life, His single aspiration was to become a monastic, but His father, the king, continuously kept him from doing so. The king only had one son; how could he be allowed to become a monastic? He had to rule as heir to the throne! How could He renounce this? While the prince’s mind was set on becoming a monastic, his father commanded him saying, “Unless you have a son, you cannot become a monastic.” So, because of this, Prince Siddhartha married his wife, Yasodhara. But His father, the king, still said “Yasodhara is not pregnant yet, so you still cannot become a monastic”. Because of this, Prince Siddhartha made Yasodhara pregnant. From this, the royal family now had an heir within Yasodhara’s womb. Because this was the case, [Siddhartha] renounced lay life, and he left the city to become a monastic. There was another story that says it was when Rahula was born that Prince Siddhartha became a monastic. However, according to another story, Rahula was given the name [meaning] “Repeated-Obstructions,” as he spent six years in his mother’s womb. Which story should we believe? We cannot verify them, for they are both recorded in the sutras. If we look according to his name, he was called “Repeated-Obstructions” because he obstructed firstly, his father, secondly, his mother, and thirdly, he obstructed himself. These were his “Repeated-Obstructions”. He may have been in the womb for six years! But, because the prince already had an heir he could become a monastic. Whether Rahula had been born already or not, it was because [Yasodhara] was already pregnant that He was able to become a monastic. Rahula was the king’s grandson and Siddhartha’s son. So, “When I was the prince, Rahula was my eldest son”. This was the case in lay terms. “Now that I have attained Buddhahood, he will receive the Dharma as my Dharma-child. I have now attained Buddhahood, and Rahula has also become a monastic. He is taught the same as the other bhiksus. He is taught the same as the other bhiksus to take the Dharma to heart and nurture his wisdom-life.” Thus, he was a Dharma-child.
Now that I have attained Buddhahood, he will receive the Dharma as my Dharma-child: He accepted the Tathagata’s Dharma and was able to be called His Dharma-child. Moreover, those who follow the Buddha’s path and are nurtured by the Dharma are also called Dharma-children.
“He accepted the Tathagata’s Dharma and was able to be called His Dharma-child.” Because he accepted the Tathagata’s Dharma and nurtured his wisdom life, this made him a Dharma-child. “Moreover, [He] followed the Buddha’s path and was nurtured by the Dharma.” He followed the Buddha’s path, and he accepted the Buddha’s principles one by one. So, he was “nurtured by the Dharma”. Having cultivated the Dharma in his mind, the Dharma became his nourishment, and it caused his wisdom-life to grow. So, because of this, he was called a Dharma-child. Indeed Dharma-children are born of the Dharma. We must know that if any of us follow the Buddha’s path and take the Dharma as nourishment, we can be called Dharma-children, and the Dharma is born from the Buddha’s speech. The words the Buddha spoke were all true principles; they were universal, all-encompassing principles. They are the true principles we must make use of in this world. So, we accept the Buddha’s teachings as children born from the Buddha. Because children born of the Buddha’s speech [listen to] what He says through his speech, the children born of His speech thus help the Buddha-Dharma continue and propagate the seeds of Buddhahood. So, we can cause the Buddha’s teachings to continually flourish in the distant future. Thus, every one of us has this duty. Each of us is like Rahula, we are like the Buddha’s only son. This is also what this sutra passage tells us. The Buddha views all sentient beings like Rahula. The Buddha, the guiding teacher of the Three Realms, sees sentient beings as His only son. We must believe this. So, we must all not neglect the Buddha-Dharma. In our daily living, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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