Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Offerings of Dharma Perfect Innate Enlightenment (以法供養 成就本覺)
Date: November 09.2017
“At the Vulture Peak assembly, the Buddha opened up the provisional to reveal the true. It is clear and not false. When pure wisdom illuminates the spiritual training ground of innate enlightenment, the Dharma that we attain is the impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness, which does not discriminate between high and low. Prajna illuminates all phenomena, so they become the provisions for attaining Buddhahood.
As Buddhist practitioners, we should always be mindful, be mindful of our self-discipline. We need to be disciplined in our daily living. As we go about our daily living, in dealing with people, matters and objects, we must maintain an attitude of reverence. Only with reverence and love can harmony be maintained. We should be reverent toward one another, reverent in regard to material things and reverent toward heaven and earth. “By respecting the heavens and loving earth, we amass blessed conditions.” We should respect and love others, and we also need to benefit others. So, respect and love are things we necessarily need in our daily living .
Over the past few days during Typhoon Nepartak, we could see such reverence and love. When our Bodhisattva-volunteers heard that a typhoon was coming, all heightened their vigilance, establishing typhoon relief centers everywhere. They set these up and stayed in communication with each other. We saw that some working people had time off work because of the typhoon. Although in some places there was not much wind or rain, nor much damage, they had time off from work, and they made use of this time off to go visit those more vulnerable. Were the elderly safe? Had their homes been affected by the wind and the rain? Were they afraid? For those who had already been evacuated to safer locations, they visited them to calm and comfort them. There was an elderly couple that had been evacuated to a shelter, but they kept worrying about their home. By the Tzu Chi volunteers’ estimation, it seemed the typhoon was not going to hit the central or northern regions, but seeing how uneasy the couple was, in addition to comforting them, they told them, “Ok! We’ll take you to check on your home!” so, they brought them back to their home. It seemed the typhoon warning was soon to be lifted, so they went and gave their home a cleaning so they went and gave their home a cleaning. The elderly couple then peacefully settled in. They were very grateful. They were grateful for Tzu Chi’s volunteers; [they felt] they took even better care of them than their own families. They were truly grateful!
There were also those who used the their leave from work due to the typhoon to go visit the elderly. They cleaned their houses for them, remove old and broken [furniture] and then quickly brought recycled sofas and chairs to their homes, arranging them neatly. After cleaning their homes, they helped them change any old and broken tables and chairs for newer and better ones. Then they placed everything for them. One elderly person told them, “I am all alone. No one ever comes to look in in me. Having Tzu Chi volunteers here is just like having a big family. For you all to be concerned about me like this, to come care for me and help me straighten up my home, I am truly grateful.” These are our Tzu Chi volunteers. They knew a typhoon was coming but were able to be grateful that it passed without incident. Since people had time off from work and central and northern Taiwan, were not affected by wind or rain, they made good use of their leave time. Over those two days, they went to help, to care for those who were elderly or vulnerable. We can see that these are Living Bodhisattvas, and that the power of love is in the world. Under normal circumstances, they help others, not to mention during typhoon alerts when they redouble their caring effort. They used the time they had off for the typhoon to quickly mobilize everyone to exercise their strength in caring for others. Actually, as far as typhoons go, this was as a very unusual typhoon. It was very powerful and very large. The weather bureaus of many countries said that it was a typhoon of historic proportions. In Taiwan’s records, in Taitung, 61 years ago, there an equally large level 16 typhoon, but for the past 60 years there has never been anything this big. Nevertheless, this year there was this powerful level 17 storm, so many countries’ weather bureaus were focusing their attention on it, tracking its size and direction. This time in Taiwan, we truly need to be grateful. Though there was considerable damage south of Taitung, where a lot of metal sheeting used for roofing was ripped away and many windows were broken, overall it was not very bad. So, though the typhoon was very powerful, we suffered lightly. We are very grateful for this. We should also be grateful for how everyone brought out the love inside them. Bringing with our Hualine headquarters, our Bodhisattvas from the Department of Religious Affairs and the Charity Development Department joined together. All these young Bodhisattvas as well as our Pure Practitioners joined together and went to Taitung to care for [the needy there] and learn about [their situation]. The past few days everyone has been staying at the Typhoon Emergency Coordination Center, learning about the situation in different places to determine where the need is the greatest. In this way, once the typhoon passed, they could quickly mobilize people from different counties to help. This kind of power of love is truly very moving! Especially [touching] are our Bodhisattvas in Hualien. [To care for] the elderly who had to evacuate, over the past few days, our Tzu Chi volunteers from the Hualien area have been providing hot meals every day, going to the shelters to visit and care for the elderly there. Though there was actually no real danger here, they went anyway to visit and care for them. This is love, the love in people’s hearts. It is the nature of True Suchness. Everyone gave with such love in their hearts. All of us inherently have a sputa at the Vulture Peak in our hearts. We are all engaging in spiritual practice at this sputa at Vulture Peak, exercising the spirit of a Bodhisattva we have, the power of love.
So, we say, “at the Vulture Peak assembly, the Buddha opened up the provisional to reveal the true. It is clear and not false.” In everyone’s heart we innately have a Vulture Peak sputa. Within the Vulture Peak sputa in all of us lies the Dharma of the One Vehicle. The Dharma of the One Vehicle, the intrinsic nature of True Suchness in all of us, is pure and undefiled love. It does not discriminate between different people; we all put our heart into caring for all people and matters in the world.
At the Vulture Peak assembly, the Buddha opened up the provisional to reveal the true. It is clear and not false. When pure wisdom illuminates the spiritual training ground of innate enlightenment, the Dharma that we attain is the impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness which does not discriminate between high and low. Prajna illuminates all phenomena, so they become the previsions for attaining Buddhahood.
When the Buddha was in this world, after having taught the Dharma among than 40 years, [He taught at] the Lotus Dharma-assembly. The Lotus Dharma-assembly was also called the Vulture Peak assembly. It was at Vulture Peak that. He taught the Lotus Sutra. At the beginning of the Lotus Sutra, He started by “opening up the provisional”. He wanted us to know that in the past He needed to help us understand that there was suffering in the world. The ignorance in people’s minds brings suffering into the world. This suffering in the world comes about as causes and conditions come together in the relationships between people. This is why suffering comes in so many forms and shapes. The Buddha, after analyzing human suffering, began to teach very clearly that all suffering is completely due to karma, due to karmic causes and effects. Moreover, this karmic cycle results from the arising of a single thought of ignorance. If we want to get rid of this suffering, to be liberated from the Five Realms and the Three Evil Destinies, then we must put in genuine effort starting within. So, He opened all kinds of Dharma-doors for us, allowing us to take good care of our minds. Thus, when we hear that all this human suffering is due to the karmic retributions we created, and this karma originates from our thoughts, we want to quickly take good care of our minds. We must not, due to our minds, create further entanglements with others and thereby give rise to even more karma.
After [hearing] this, everyone remained stuck in the Small Vehicle Dharma. After 40 years, during the Vulture Peak Assembly, the Buddha decided to open up the provisional. He explained the teachings given in the past to everyone anew. “You must not remain stuck in the Dharma that you heard in the past and be attached to what is inside your minds, caring only for yourselves. You should open the doors of your minds and enter the Vulture Peak Assembly. The Vulture Peak Assembly is never far from you; it lies within your heart. There is a Vulture Peak sputa within you. You inherently have the True Dharma in your mind. The True Dharma of the One Vehicle lies within your minds!” So, He “revealed the true”. “It is clear and not false.” This is truly the time to open the doors to our minds. “In the past, I was showing you the way. The state of your minds was like someone running far away, connecting to external states of ignorance and thus creating karma.” It was just like the poor son. Originally, he was from a wealthy family, but for the sake of having fun, he left home and kept going further away until he ended up down and out in poverty and suffering. This poor son is just like our mind. We have left our wealthy family; we broke away from it and remained outside.
For a period of over 40 years, we wandered around in this place. Now we have seen and entered this household. So, at that time, the Buddha called upon everyone to open the door, the door to their minds. All their treasures are stored there; they lie there undamaged. We have all always been wealthy; our riches lie within our hearts.
The principle is the same. So, He had now opened up the provisional and revealed the true. We need to conform how “All things are created by the mind”. During the typhoon, so many tool advantage of this rare time off work to visit and care for people not related to then in any way, giving of themselves. Like this, they prepared three abundant meals a day and sent the food, piping hot, to the people who had been evacuated to shelters, so they could enjoy three full means a day. These people are not related to them by blood, but they are connected with them through. Using this kind of love, this “unconditional loving-kindness and universal compassion, they have already demonstrated the True Dharma from within their Vulture Peak stupa, their inner nature of True Suchness, that pure and undefiled great love; they already demonstrated this. So, “When pure wisdom illuminates the spiritual training ground of innate enlightenment, [this is] the Dharma that we attain.” This wisdom, this pure wisdom, is already emitting its radiance. This power of love is being demonstrated. Our innate enlightenment is not merely for our own use, for self-love or self-benefit. We must at the same time benefit others and love others. Since we want peace for ourselves, we should want peace for everyone. The world is one family. Everyone in the Three Realms has always been part of a single family. This is how our pure wisdom shines with illuminating radiance.
Take for example our Tzu Chi volunteers from Wuhan, China. They had always wanted to make a pilgrimage to Taiwan. Before coming to Hualien for a few days, they first stopped in Taipei. While they were in northern Taiwan, Tzu Chi volunteers brought them along as they went to care for [aid recipients]. They took them to serve the disadvantaged by cleaning their houses and so forth. Although they were from China, they acted in perfect unity with our volunteers here as they went to look after, care for, help and serve people completely unrelated to them. This is a spiritual training ground. Our spiritual training ground lies inside of us. There is no need to seek the Vulture Peak stupa outside. Our Vulture Peak stupa lies within. The Buddha showed us the way to our spiritual training ground within. We each have a stupa at Vulture Peak and can practice at the foot of that stupa. This is our place of practice, our own personal training ground, from which we can always [attain] the Dharma of great impartial loving-kindness. We have always been practicing this teaching, the teaching of great impartial loving-kindness. The Dharma does not discriminate between high and low. When the Buddha was in the world, the Dharma He taught for over 40 years was skillful means, without the expedient teachings to pave the road, how would He have been able, at Vulture Peak, to reveal the Great Dharma of the One Reality? So, “the impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness does not discriminate between high and low. Truly, for the Buddha-Dharma, there is no difference between far or near.
Yesterday, people were doing a bowing pilgrimage in the rain. They too had returned from China; they are Bodhisattvas from Hangzhou. People from several places in China converged here to do a bowing pilgrimage. I told them, “It will rain this afternoon, so how will you do the bowing pilgrimage?” They replied, saying, “Wind or rain will not stop us. even if there is pouring rain, we will continue the pilgrimage as usual. Look at their diligence! The Dharma does not distinguish far or near, nor does it discriminate between high and low. It all depends upon our mind. If we are willing to be diligent, then nothing will be difficult. This is how “Prajna illuminates all phenomena, so they become the provisions for attaining Buddhahood”. These are our provisions. From our starting point as unenlightened beings, if we wish to return to our original Tathagata-nature, the place where Buddhahood is attained, we must travel along the Bodhisattva-path. This road is still very long, but we now have prajna. Prajna is pure wisdom. This pure wisdom, prajna, shines and illuminates. It illuminates a path for us a very clear path for us to walk. This is our provisions for attaining Buddhahood; it helps us in attaining Buddhahood. The Dharma is the provisions for attaining Buddhahood, for the growth of our wisdom-lives. This is what it is. Practicing the Bodhisattva-path is never east. Take for example the recent super-typhoon. When scientists from many countries saw the data pertaining to this typhoon, they kept on tracking it out of curiosity. In the end, Taiwan did not suffer much damage from the strong winds; this too was very peculiar.
So, all of us should be very grateful, use love to pave the path and use kindness to extend our compassion. Extending our compassion and spreading great love helped get us through such a great storm. It was originally estimated that all of Taiwan would be enveloped in this huge storm, in its powerful winds and heavy rain. This is what the scientists of many different countries forecasted. So, they tracked the typhoon, [thinking,] “What will happen to Taiwan this time?” Everyone was so determined. In their spiritual aspirations. Although there was a typhoon, they still willingly went out to help others. This is the power of love. It is also the poser of wisdom, making good use of their time to serve others. The ancients had a saying, “What people do, the heavens are watching, [meaning] the Dharma-protectors. Thus, we need to have a heart of gratitude. From both near and far, everyone brings their love together. This is truly inconceivable.
The previous sutra passage says, “why is this so? Because these people take joy in expounding the Dharma. The instant they hear it, they immediately attain the ultimate, “Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi”.
Actually, the pervious sutra passage is telling us is that wherever the Lotus Sutra may be or in whatever direction the Lotus Sutra is upheld, “Whatever places they go, people should pay respects toward them and.” It means everyone should show respect! Wherever the Lotus Sutra may be, wherever the Lotus Sutra is upheld, read, recited and transcribed or where it is taught and spread, in these places we should always show reverence. It is because the Buddha’s entire body is there; the Buddha’s Dharmakaya is there. We talked about this previously. So, everyone needs to be very respectful. “Wholeheartedly, with palms joined together, they reverently made offerings. At the start of the Chapter on Dharma Teachers, the Buddha said, “Do you see the 80,000 Bodhisattvas?” The 80,000 Bodhisattvas He spoke of included the right classes of Dharma-protectors. We should remember this when hear it. If we think back to when we first started explaining the Chapter on Dharma Teachers, the Buddha said in the beginning, “Medicine King Bodhisattva, do you see them? There are 80,000 Bodhisattvas here in this place of practice, listening to the Dharma. These were in fact the eight classes of Dharma-protectors. An assembly of Dharma-protectors were in that place. So, wherever the Lotus Sutra may be, we should make offerings. We should make all kinds of offerings to it, offer the most exquisite things in the world. This is because the Buddha’s Dharmakaya is in these places. we should bear heavenly flowers and make offerings to Him with all kinds of treasures.
Why is this? “Why is this so?” it is because we have great reverence. Those who uphold this sutra, read and recite it, we expound it and teach the Dharma, who listen to this sutra and take joy in expounding the Dharma, as they listen to the Dharma, are able to very quickly understand it, understand the meaning in the sutra and, having understood it, attain Anuttare-samyak-sambodhi. They awaken to and come to understand all kinds of phenomena, [the principles] of the macrocosm, of worldly phenomena as well as of psychological phenomena. We should all understand this thoroughly. This is what we talked about previously. If we think back, we should understand this very well. When all kinds of causes and conditions converge in the world, it results in great storms. When people’s minds are not in balance, when the world loses its harmony, it results in manmade calamities. When people’s minds are filled with severe afflictions and ignorance, they become physically and mentally ill. By the same token, when the universe foes out of balance at every level, it creates many problems.
The Buddha brought the Buddha-Dharma to the world. To treat our mental and physical maladies, to correct our attitude and actions. To adjust our behavior and lifestyle, we must begin form the inside. The Buddha-Dharma is capable of teaching all manner of disharmony in the world. So, we must effort into being mindful and offer reverence and respect, for safeguarding this Dharma is very important.
The next sutra passage says, “At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning spoke this verse.” This is the end of the long-form prose above. Next He needed to repeat [the teaching]. Because of its importance, He repeated it using verse. “Those who wish to abide in the Buddha-path and achieve natural wisdom must diligently make offerings to those who accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra.” What this means is, just as the long-form prose tole us, that in whichever place this sutra is present, we must be reverent.
So it says, “Those who wish to abide in the Buddha-path and achieve natural wisdom….” If you wish to walk the path to Buddhahood, then you must come to perfect your natural wisdom.
“Natural wisdom” is our innate enlightenment, our nature of True Suchness. It is all the wisdom of nature contained within ourselves. Our minds merge with all the scenes of nature. This is our innate enlightenment. When the Buddha awakened, He became one with the universe, thus He was said to have become enlightened.
It is the same for all of us; we abide in the Buddha-path in the hope of eventually drawing near the state of Buddhahood. But we must first walk this path to Buddhahood. By continually walking this path to Buddhahood, we naturally come to have nature wisdom. This kind of wisdom means that we gradually approach becoming one with the universe and nature.
Those who wish to abide in the Buddha-path and achieve natural wisdom: If people want their minds to abide in the Buddha’s right path and achieve uncontrived, natural wisdom…. This true wisdom of innate enlightenment intrinsically does not increase or decrease, nor can it be practiced or realized. It is great impartial wisdom.
This is “those who want their minds to abide in the Buddha’s right path….” We want for our minds to abide in the right path of the Buddha. We must not be astray from the right path of the Buddha-Dharma, must not become separated from it. We must concentrate our minds and not become distracted or have discursive thoughts. We should fully concentrate our mind so that it abides in the Buddha’s right path. “And achieve uncontrived, natural wisdom.”
How is wisdom cultivated? We often say that everyone inherently has Buddha-nature. What we truly want to work on is our habitual tendencies. So, if we want to achieve uncontrived, natural wisdom, this wisdom is very natural; it does not really need to be cultivated. We must just eliminate our habitual tendencies. We need to get rid of our unwholesome habits and return to our natural wisdom. This is returning to our natural wisdom.
So, “This true wisdom of innate enlightenment intrinsically does not increase or decrease.” Our wisdom of innate enlightenment, our natural wisdom, has always been like this. For dust-inked kalpas, since Beginningless Time, we have always had it; it neither increases nor decreases. Because it is never increasing or decreasing, it “cannot be cultivated or attained”. Wisdom has always been intrinsic to us. do you think you can increase it through practice? What we must practice is self-cultivation. To return to our natural original nature. What we must do is getting rid of things. We need to get rid of our past unwholesome habitual tendencies.
Since our afflictions and ignorance are mistaken, we should promptly change them. So, we should know that we must put our effort into removing our unwholesome habitual tendencies. We must be mindful! Do not misunderstand when you hear that it cannot be cultivated or attained [and think]. “In that case, there is no need to practice.” This is not the case! We must work on our habitual tendencies. But that natural wisdom has always been intrinsic to us; everyone intrinsically has natural wisdom. This is why the Buddha said, “those who teach the Dharma have no Dharma to teach.” When we expound the Dharma, what is there to teach? The Dharma abides in our minds, so what Dharma is there to expound upon? We have just become temporarily confused. The external states are blocking the Dharma in our minds.
This is like the typhoon these past two days; these black clouds covered us so we could not see the clear skies. Now that the typhoon has passed, when we look up and see the sky, it is very spacious and totally clear. It was not that the typhoon brought the sky lower. No, it was the clouds that were low. So what is a cloud? It is just water vapor, moisture from the ground that rises with the heat. So, that water vapor rises in the air, and through the coming together of many causes and conditions, the moisture condenses and accumulates. Then where exactly will a big rain fall? This too depends on causes and conditions, on all kinds of factors that converge to make the rain fall in a certain place. We should know that it works this way. It is the same with our minds; ignorance rises and falls like this. At a certain time and in a certain place, our ignorance can manifest suddenly. Severe ignorance creates great karmic forces.
A few days ago at Songshan train station, the ignorance in a person’s mind manifested. At that place, he hurt himself as well as others. This person then continued on He went to central Taiwan and onward, taking buses and trains and so on; like this he kept on traveling. In yesterday’s news. They analyzed this. Why was there that object in that place which [exploded]? Indeed, where ignorance is next to explode, we have no way of knowing. This will depend on causes and conditions.
In fact, this is not what people’s intrinsic nature is like. This is due to their ignorance. Atmospheric pressure and people’s mental states follow the same principles. This wisdom of innate enlightenment that we inherently have, this natural wisdom, is the true wisdom of innate enlightenment. It is intrinsic, neither increases nor decreases. It is within us, this natural wisdom that neither increases or decreases. It can neither be cultivated nor attained. It is just like this; we naturally have it. It is equal in everyone. Sentient beings are all equal; there is nothing in particular that we need to practice, nothing particularly special. Actually, if we just get rid of all our habitual tendencies and elevate our spiritual aspirations, naturally, we converge with our natural wisdom. When we converge with our natural wisdom, its radiance shines forth and we discover our innate enlightenment. This too depends on us. if we do not dispel ignorance ourselves, then no dharma can help us.
So it says, “Natural wisdom” is “wisdom attained through constantly applying this innate enlightenment. It is the Tathagata’s wisdom that He awakened to and attained Himself. The Dharma previously unknown and unheard of appears before Him without hindrance. Thus it is called natural wisdom.”
Who made the Buddha awaken? No one did; the Buddha awakened and attained this by Himself. Ever since He was born in the world, He had always wondered, “Why is the world the way it is? Why?” He went out Himself to seek this “why” and later made the decision. “I must seek out the path for myself. I will keep on seeking myself. Where did He go to seek? He sought inside Himself. Through the natural realm and people’s way of life. He sought the enlightened nature inside of His own mind; in this way, He awakened and became one with the universe. This is the Tathagata. He “came to the world journeying” and awakened and attained realizations Himself.
The Buddha was like this, so we need to likewise follow this path. External states are there to alert us, to help is achieve realization, to help us understand that true realization is something we must awaken to by ourselves. So, “The Dharma previously unknown and unheard of appears before Him without hindrance. There was Dharma He had never heard in the past, but after His awakening, the true principles of all things in the universe completely manifested before His eyes. Nothing was left to hinder Him. “Thus it is called natural wisdom.” Though He had never heard it before, he naturally achieved realization of it. The true principles of all things in the universe all appeared before Him.
So, “They must diligently make offerings to those who accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra.”
They must diligently make offerings to those who accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra: If they want to abide in the Buddha-path and achieve this wisdom, they must rely on those who uphold the sutras, expound the Dharma and practice diligently. Thus they must make offerings to those who accept and uphold the sutras. If they want to abide in the Buddha-path to achieve natural wisdom, they must diligently make offerings to those who accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra, this is because those who make offerings to these Dharma-teachers are able to make offerings to the Dharma using the Dharma.
Because of this, we should know that to abide in the Buddha-path and achieve this wisdom, we must rely on earnestly upholding the sutras, upholding, reciting, listening to the sutras and teaching the Dharma. In this way, step by step, we continually and repeatedly teach and listen to the sutras, constantly listening to and then teaching them. This is upholding the sutras. It is not for others to uphold the sutras, it is we ourselves who must uphold them. Upholding the sutras and teaching the Dharma, diligently engaging in spiritual practice, these are things we should all do.
“Thus they make offerings to those who accept and uphold the sutras.” When others uphold the sutras, we should praise and make offerings to them, but we should also uphold the sutras ourselves. So, we earnestly engage in spiritual practice. This is how to achieve natural wisdom. They must diligently make offerings to those who practice the Lotus Sutra. This means that we make offerings to these people and take the Dharma as our teacher. We take the Dharma and the precepts as our teachers. We should also earnestly accept and uphold them ourselves. We should use the Dharma to make offerings, observe the precepts ourselves and act in accord with the Dharma. In truly making offerings to this sutra and to those who accept and uphold this sutra, we should respect each other. So, we should respect and cherish everyone. Just like how we say, “Respect heaven and love the earth,” [we should] “respect the Dharma and love our fellow humans. Though accepting and upholding this Dharma, we will know that we need to cultivate our love. We must cherish the earth and all people. This is what the Buddha-Dharma teaches us so we can know ourselves, awaken ourselves and take action ourselves. This I something that we must do ourselves. Let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
