Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Cultivating Blessings and Realizing Virtues (修持福德 證一切智)
Date: November 10.2017
“The Dharma-treasury of all Buddhas contain the all-encompassing wisdom. The cause of all Buddhas is cultivating and upholding the fruit of wisdom. By actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions, they cultivate good affinities. The realization of all virtues demonstrates the virtuous fruit of Buddhahood.”
As we practice the Buddha’s teachings, we must place great importance on the all-encompassing wisdom of the Buddha’s Dharma-treasury. The treasury-nature of the Buddha-Dharma is something we must now be mindful of. How do we engage in spiritual practice? What practices enable us to attain Buddhahood? What is must important is to return to our [true] nature. Speaking of the Dharma-treasury of all Buddhas, where is the Dharma of all Buddhas stored? I must say again to everyone, this refers to all-encompassing wisdom. All Buddhas have this all-encompassing wisdom, not just Sakyamuni Buddha. It is [the wisdom] of all Buddhas. It belongs not only to all Buddhas; in fact, it is the treasury-nature all sentient beings intrinsically have within. When we can bring it forth and apply it, that is all-encompassing wisdom. When it is buried, covered up, it is the mind of unenlightened beings.
Actually, the Buddha’s all-encompassing wisdom is our nature of True Suchness. Our nature of True Suchness if the treasury-nature of all Dharma. When it comes to all natural phenomena, it is difficult for us to completely comprehend. Yet, all natural wisdom is inherent to each of us. we all have the Dharma-treasury inside [of us]; all people are replete with it.
For the past few days, I have been reminding you all about all-encompassing wisdom, the innate enlightenment of all Buddhas. In fact, sentient beings and the Buddha have this in common. However, the Buddha has already brought forth this innate enlightenment and natural wisdom, while we sentient beings are lost in our confused unenlightened state. We remain full of afflictions that cover up our nature of True Suchness. This is why we remain unenlightened. The Buddha continually made it very clear to us that the cause for all Buddhas [to attain Buddhahood], the seed [of Buddhahood], is our Tathagata-nature of True Suchness. The Tathagata-nature of True Suchness is contained within each one of us; it is always present. This is why we must engage in spiritual practice!
Since this nature is inherently within us all, where else would we go to engage in spiritual practice? As we just mentioned, ordinary beings are covered by ignorance and afflictions. In spiritual practice, we must layer by layer remove our afflictions, eliminate them and wash them away until we are completely clean. With Dharma-water, we can cleanse and eliminate our ignorance and afflictions, thereby allowing our nature of True Suchness to radiate and shine forth.
So, we absolutely have to deeply plant the seed of Buddhahood in the ground of our minds. We must cultivate and uphold the fruit of wisdom. This fruit of wisdom originates from a seed. So we say that before becoming a large tree, a tree is just a seed. After becoming a large tree, it will blossom and produce more seeds. This is the same principle. Before becoming a tree, that tree was a seed. How can we help our seeds sprout and grow from a small tree into a big tree? For this, we must become gardeners. We must all cultivate the field of our own minds. So, as farmers or gardeners of the ground of our mind, whether we cultivate crops or plant big trees, [we sow] many seeds in the ground of our mind. However, we must work hard of we wish for these seeds to grow. Seeds must first be sown before all the [necessary] causes and conditions can come together. If seems that I often use this analogy, but I wonder, after hearing it, do you all understand this principle?
To summarize, in upholding our spiritual practice we must remain resolute. This is “cultivating and upholding”. In spiritual practice, we must form aspirations and persevere. We must accept the teaching from the Buddha and follow these methods to rid ourselves of afflictions. Afflictions are the filth of our ignorance, which endlessly cover and sully the ground of our minds. Thus, all this accumulated ignorance obstructs and blocks our wisdom. In this way, ordinary beings are deluded while Bodhisattvas are wise. Bodhisattvas practice according to the teachings and walk the Bodhi-path. They are firm in their aspirations and practice according to the teachings, constantly advancing. Their goal is to attain the fruits of wisdom. They want their trees to grow tall so that they can flower and produce many seeds which they can then sow throughout the world. This is engaging in spiritual practice.
Bodhisattvas must practice up until they reach the state of Buddhahood. During this process, in their minds, they have already begun to cultivate the fruits of wisdom. In our spiritual cultivation, we must practice the Six Paramitas, practice creating blessed affinities through all of our actions. As we all know, the Six Paramitas are six methods of practice, giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom. These six methods [provide us] countless ways to meet the needs of others. In this way, we cultivate blessed affinities with all of our actions. To attain Buddhahood, we must be replete in both blessings and wisdom. We must be replete in blessings and also replete in wisdom. Thus, one who attains Buddhahood is called the Two-Footed Honored One of blessings and wisdom. Only in this way can one attain Buddhahood, so we must use the Six Paramitas in all actions to create blessed affinities. As we walk the Bodhisattva-path, we must endlessly accumulate blessed affinities through all our actions; only then can we turn our blessings into virtues. All our blessings will then give us a very dignified appearance. In this way, by continually accumulating virtues, we demonstrate that we have already begun to bear fruit from the seeds of our causes. Taking the seeds of this fruit into the world, we go among people to create blessings and form affinities with sentient beings. This is how we spread seeds of goodness.
Suffering abounds in the world; because of the karma sentient beings accumulate, the collective karma of sentient beings has already caused the climate of the earth to change. These changes are very extreme, so many disasters are occurring around the world. A few days ago, July 8,「2016」, Typhoon Nepartak, a very powerful typhoon, [made landfall in Taiwan]. It was unusually powerful and very large, yet it was advancing very slowly. Everyone’s eyes were on [this typhoon]. Many [weather bureaus] around the world were following this typhoon, observing Taiwan. It was such a large and unusual typhoon that some were comparing it to a ferocious beast. As we can see, it was a very severe typhoon. On July 8, at 5:50 am, it made landfall at Taimali Township. There are not many people living there, and the buildings are simple. Although for those in Taitung and Taimali this was not a small disaster, considering Taiwan as whole this strong storm did little damage. It seems we were fortunate this time. We should truly be grateful!. It was not until the afternoon of the 8th that the eye of the storm finally left Taiwan, going out to sea over the coast at Tainan. By the afternoon [the next day], the typhoon had already made landfall in Fujian. However, as the typhoon passed over Taiwan, it was weakened by its topography. Thus, they typhoon became less severe, and as of yesterday, it was categorized as a tropical depression.
Nonetheless, it caused great devastation in Fujian. In Quanzhou and many places around Shishi City, it caused major flooding. Due to the flooding, in many towns and villages, the water is already touching the roofs of low houses and the first story of higher buildings. This is very severe flooding. I immediately asked, “Are the Tzu Chi volunteers safe?” “Yes, they are.” Moreover, according to the reports they sent, are the places where we provide tuition assistance safe? Also throes places are safe. However, the water continues to rise. There will probably be very extensive damage, so we have already begun [planning] how to gather manpower and how to assist where the water has receded. We are very concerned, so we are in constant contact with them there.
Back here in Taiwan, in Taitung and Taimali, now that the devastating typhoon has passed, we can see that, although Taimali suffered the most damage, it is mostly metal sheet roofing that has been ripped from house. There are also some more simple and crude houses that have collapsed completely. Currently in Taitung and Taimali, what they need most is heavy machinery. They need cranes, bulldozers and so on. There were no landslides this time, so there is no mud that needs to be cleared. After the flooding and wind passed, only roofs had been ripped away and windows had been broken. So, we have already mobilized 400 to 500 Tzu Chi volunteers to help. Beginning yesterday, in Taimali, we have started a Cash for Relief program. More than 30 local residents participated. There are also 50 to 60 volunteers assisting to help them get things cleaned up quickly. It is truly very heartwarming, seeing our volunteers from Hualien and Taitung. Mobilize like this. three tour buses left yesterday from Hualien. CEO Lin is leading the team along with the [hospital] vice superintendent and medical professionals. There are also our [administrative] staff as well as our Pure Practitioners and others, a total of three tour buses. They arrived yesterday to support [in the work]. During the day today, there should be even more people joining.
Even more moving was [the fact] that, yesterday, the Taiwan Railways Administration, due to this disaster in Taitung, offered, without ant fee, an entire train form Taipei. They announced that anyone going to Taitung to offer assistance could ride for free. Many people began to do so, and many Tzu Chi volunteers also took this train. Some carried equipment with them, knowing that they would need saws, woodworking tools and tools for water and electricity there. When those bringing tools were loading them unto the train, they might have caused some slight delay, but the railway staff told them, “Relax! Take your time with the equipment.” They did not rush us. with this [disaster], we can feel the love of our society. Neighbors are helping neighbors, villages are helping villages, countries are helping counties and cities are helping cities. Even the Taipei City government assisted by sending heavy machinery and technical personnel south to lend support. The New Taipei City government also mobilized several dozen pieces of heavy machinery, including cranes, bulldozers and so on. However, the [northern] Suhua Highway was blocked, so they had to take a detour via the South-Link Highway to get there. Seeing this is truly very moving!
The love and kindness of the people of Taiwan has been set in motion. This all started yesterday, and today they should all have arrived in Taitung and Taimali.
Also people from Tainan, Ksohsiung and Pintung came up via the South-Link Highway. They too brought heavy machinery and technical personnel. Tzu Chi volunteers also came via the South-Link from Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung. I feel like we very fortunate this time. After this powerful typhoon swept across Taitung county, although many roofs in Taitung county were ripped off and windows were broken, all the people there are safe. Taimali was heavily devastated, but [now that] the love from all over Taiwan has been brought together in that place, perhaps the process of rebuilding can begin quickly for Taimali. The reconstructed buildings should be stronger than they were in the past. The interactions between people are also very heartwarming. Our Tzu Chi volunteers and nuns from the Abode went to care for our Dharma relatives, caring for those both Taimali and Taitung. The images they sent back were very heartwarming. Both Tzu Chi volunteers from Hualien and local commissioners from Taitung went to [affected families’] homes. They exercised their abilities in consoling them and helping them settle their minds.
There was a 94-year-old woman who kept crying in her home. She was still trembling, still terrified. When one of our nuns from the Abode arrived, she quickly took her in her arms. She embraced her and, patting her, she said, “You do not need to be afraid.” She kept rubbing her chest, comforting her, [saying], “It is over! Grandma, do not scared. Do you live here along? Where are your children?” “[My son is in] Kaohsiung!” “Has he come back?” “He is back.” Her son them entered the room. “Your son is here. You don’t need to be afraid.” It is true; it is already over. There is no need to be afraid. She is 94 years old. Will her son take her with him when he goes back to Kaohsiung? I hope that after this incident, this 94-year-old grandma will no longer live alone.
In the same vein, [I hope] people will have safer shelter and will be better cared for as the reconstruction starts, [I hope] that in the future their houses will be more stable.
This is like our “Project Hope” for school reconstruction in Taitung. This time, [our construction] took heavy damage because we had just dug our the foundation. The rebar was in place, sticking up, fastened together and ready for the concrete to be poured. When this strong typhoon came the concrete had not yet been poured. Of course following such a big storm the rebar and casting structures will have to be redone. Yesterday, I met with the builders. I told them, “Quickly go there and reevaluate. See if any of the schools’ old classrooms have sustained any damage. Some of those we had not planned to tear down, those the government [deemed safe], may need to be reevaluated.” Perhaps if we start the construction from scratch, we might need to increase the scope of our construction. The remains to be seen.
In any case, once a disaster like this has passed, it raises everyone’s sense of vigilance regarding how to further improve safety. This is something we must take into consideration. So, this is a warning for mankind to be more vigilant. We must all be more vigilant; we must be reverent and apply our love. Those who were unaffected should quickly exercise their love by going to help those in the disaster-stricken areas. So they can quickly recover. This is what we call “creating blessings” or cultivating good affinities in all actions.
Instances like this disaster [allow us] to realize “the Six Paramitas in all actions”. In terms of creating good affinities, because of this disaster, everyone had the opportunity to quickly contribute and exercise the power of their love. We were all enabled to quickly show our love. “The realization of all virtues demonstrates the virtues fruit of Buddhahood.” This is a testament to Taiwan’s love, to how goodness is our treasure. This treasure is the Dharma-treasury of all Buddhas; it is all-encompassing wisdom. This love can encompass the universe, moreover, Taipei is not far from Taitung, nor are Tainan, Kaohsiung or Pingtung. They are even closer to Taitung. Hualien, Taitung and Yilan are also not far apart. When everyone’s live is joined in harmony and our hearts are brought together in unity, mutual love and concerted effort, we can all work as one. In all the people who have been mobilized, we can already see this goodness and love. It demonstrates their fruit of virtue. People throughout Taiwan have begun to dedicate themselves with love; this is truly praiseworthy. The world is full of suffering. All beings on this planet belong to one family. Everyone in the world is part of a single family. I hope that we can all use our love to “cultivate food affinities” and “[realize] all virtues” to “demonstrate the virtuous fruit of Buddhahood”, I hope that our love and kindness can be demonstrated in this way. This is something we can all do.
Let us take a look at the previous sutra passage. “At that time the Wondrous-Honored One, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke this 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.”
[the Buddha] hoped the Dharma could be spread throughout the world. Accepting and upholding the Lotus Sutra means walking the Bodhisattva-path. Those who walk the Bodhisattva-path go among people to help them. We must hold great respect for [those who do this]. As we just mentioned, so many people loving dedicate themselves to help others. They are deserving of our respect and praise. Likewise, our government was willing, in several cities and counties, to mobilize people. Moreover, for Tzu Chi volunteers, they arranged a train south from Taipei. With everyone in Taiwan offering their love, we should all pay our respect toward this place. This is respect. This is the previous passage that we discussed before.
[It describes] the path of all Buddhas. We are [walking] the path the Buddha paved for us. He taught us that Bodhisattva must walk this path. We must pave the path with love and spread awakened love around the world. We must always diligently make offerings. “Making offerings” means giving of ourselves. We have talked about this for several days. “Making offerings” means serving others. Realizing the Six Paramitas in all actions is what we call “making offerings”. “[We must] make offerings to those who accept and uphold the Lotus sutra.” Accepting and upholding the Lotus Sutra is practicing on the Bodhisattva-path.
The next sutra passage states, “If there are people who wish to swiftly attain all-encompassing wisdom, they must accept and uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it.”
If we want the Buddha-Dharma to remain in the world, we must willingly accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must take the Dharma to heart in order to quickly attain [wisdom]. “[to] swiftly attain” means to quickly obtain all-encompassing wisdom like the Buddha’s. this all-encompassing wisdom is intrinsic to all of us, but we must eliminate our ignorance and afflictions. If we work hard, for every affliction we eliminate, our wisdom-life will grow a little. The power of our wisdom-life is found in following the Bodhisattva-path in this world. We must quickly put this into practice. Otherwise, no matter how much Dharma we hear or however well we know its concepts, will we ever truly know the vistas along the Bodhisattva-path? I am not sure, but I know the Dharma is like this. To experience it, we must put it into practice. In the disaster area in Taitung, people were frightened to the point of trembling, so we went to embrace them. When real people rushed to hug them, this gave them something to rely on. Later, those frightened people felt reassured knowing that so many people had come to help. For those who embraced and helped, [their] minds were free and at ease. It may be exhausting to go to such places, but if we can bring comfort to one person or two, three or five people, or if one group can bring comfort to another, this is a [worthwhile] spiritual journey.
By yesterday, they visited over 1,000 households; our Tzu Chi volunteers have already visited more than 1,000 households to distribute aid. Some 30 families said to us, “For you all to come care for us, has already made us so joyful and satisfied. We can afford it, so we want to re-donate this money to you.” Thus, we have sown [new] seeds. They are just like [us]. By donating, they too are creating blessings. Some 30 households willing re-donated the money because they felt they had enough. After visiting more than 1,000 households, we have created blessings and affinities with them. Therefore, we feel free and at ease.
Great compassion is impartial. It is hugging our own family members, like comforting our own family. In this way, we immediately experience the freedom and peace of giving. This is being free and at ease.
Thus, we can swiftly attain the all-encompassing wisdom of all Buddhas.
If there are people who wish to swiftly attain all-encompassing wisdom: If anyone wishes to swiftly attain the all-encompassing wisdom of all Buddhas…. This is the wisdom of the universal and perfect enlightenment of the Middle Way.
The wisdom of all Buddhas is like this. It requires us to help others and practice the Middle Way. [To attain] the wisdom of universal enlightenment, we must follow the Middle Way, without deviating. That is the Bodhisattva-path, the right path of the Buddha. So our all-encompassing wisdom [is like a seed]. A seed is something that it is able to grow. As we were just saying, seeds turn into sprouts, small trees turn into big trees and big trees flower and produce more seeds. This is what it means to be able to frow. By planting a single seed, you can grow a field of rice. As single seed can produce an abundant harvest; many seeds will spring forth. This is being able to grow.
When we have awakened, we must then help others awaken. When we understand, we must help others understand. When we go out to help people, we take them along to help others. This means there is potential for growth. We have already seen kindness and love mobilize throughout Taiwan. This is how we grow love. Each of us intrinsically possesses this all-encompassing wisdom. We have always [been able to] exercise its power. “They must accept and uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it.” They must accept and uphold it, and also make offerings.
They must accept and uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it: They should uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it. If they wish to swiftly attain supreme, universal and perfect enlightenment, they must themselves engage in the right practice of the Six Paramitas and make offerings to all Dharma-teachers.
When listening to the sutra, rather than forgetting what we’ve just heard, we must take it to heart and engrave it in our minds and establish our spiritual aspirations. Those who can do this are seekers of the Dharma. In seeking the Dharma, we hope to do so quickly “wish [to be] swift”. We desire to quickly take the Dharma to heart and attain “supreme, universal, perfect enlightenment”. We wish to engrave the Dharma onto our minds and set the course of our aspirations. Right understanding, right views and right awakening can be attained from this sutra. “They must themselves engage in the right practice of the Six Paramitas.” This is something we ourselves must work very hard for. We cannot ask the Buddha to give it to us. The Buddha came into the world only for one great cause, to teach us the Dharma so we can understand. He pointed out a path for us to walk. Since we know the teachings, we should study, accept and uphold them mindfully. But we must follow this path ourselves. “They themselves must engage in right practice of the Six Paramitas.” We must practice this ourselves. Right understanding and right views are things we must put into practice. Which way should we go? We can simply follow these six methods, the path that has already been paved for us. giving, upholding the precepts, patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom are [what we should actualize] in all actions. We should take advantage of our opportunities. To go among others. This is what we ourselves must accept and uphold. Moreover, we need to “make offerings to all Dharma-teachers”. Those who can teach the Dharma to others are the ones we should make offerings to. We must accept and uphold the Dharma ourselves while also making offerings. I kept telling everyone that “making offerings” means giving to others. We must do this ourselves as well as praise those who do it. This is accepting and upholding the sutra while also making offerings to those who uphold it.
From the two descriptions above, anyone who can accept and uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it is already certain to be able to gradually return to natural wisdom and ultimately realize all-encompassing wisdom.
When it says, “above,” it refers to what we previously discussed, that we must make offerings to those who accept and uphold this sutra and must also [accept and uphold it] ourselves. So, anyone who can accept and uphold this sutra and make offerings to those who uphold it, such a person, “is already certain to be able to gradually return to natural wisdom”. We can be certain about this. a person who accepts and upholds [this sutra] and who praises and make offerings [to others], who willingly gives of himself, teachers to do this and dedicates himself to doing this, such a person is certain to “be able to gradually return to natural wisdom”. Not only should we tell others to do this, we must be dedicated to doing it ourselves. Anyone who does this will undoubtedly return to natural wisdom. Our natural wisdom is our nature of True Suchness. We engage in spiritual to recover our nature of True Suchness, that heart that encompasses the universe, that is equal to the Buddha’s. it is one with the universe. This is what each of us should be able to do ourselves. This way we will “ultimately realize all-encompassing wisdom”.
Dear Bodhisattvas, this is what spiritual practice is about, so I hope that we can all be mindful. We can see how everyone is capable of this love. With great force, this love has been mobilized. [People] sent dozens of pieces of heavy machinery in a huge procession. This is like how during the August 8th floods caused by Typhoon Morakot, Tzu Chi volunteers from northern and central Taiwan mobilized in great numbers. Large, heavy machinery, cranes, dump trucks and bulldozers, 40 or 50 of them were lined up on the highway in a magnificent procession heading south. Every morning from Taipei Station, nearly 1,000 Tzu Chi volunteers would ride the high-speed train back and forth. They transported these people for free, going from the north in such great numbers. In the morning they went south to Kaohsiung, and they returned home in the evening. Among the volunteers there were entrepreneurs, teachers, scholars, artists and diplomatic envoys, all of whom registered to participate. Those people in blue and white uniforms. Would fill up those trains early in the morning. Thinking of [that time] several years ago, this was how Tzu Chi mobilized. Today in Taiwan, several country and city [governments] have mobilized people. Moreover, with the heavy machinery, although the northern Suhua Highway, was blocked, they took the detour to the south. Think about it; in the way that everyone has mobilized, these seeds of love have begun to be sown among people. As great trees, their seeds are maturing; this is cause for joy! They sow blessings for the world. I hope everyone in the world to return to their natural wisdom, to their intrinsic Tathagata-nature. This is kindness and love, using love to pave the path we walk. So let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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