Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Spreading the Sutra with the Three Directives (末世弘經 三軌法則)
Date: December 14.2017
“Only through doing things well can we excel in applying the principles. Entering the Tathagata’s room, wearing the clothing of patience and sitting upon the seat of emptiness are known as the Three Directives. In this era of Dharma-decay, to uphold the sutra and spread the Dharma, we must rely on the Three Directives to discipline ourselves and others so that everyone realizes the Great Path and gains great benefit.”
Do you understand this? “Only through doing things well can we excel in applying the principles.” Indeed! We must first understand this thing. If we do not understand matters, then how can we understand the principles? Everyone must have better understanding. How can we not understand something so simple? I have told you that interpersonal matters are such simple things. If you are still hung up on them and cannot understand, then how will you understand when I talk to you about the principles? The same goes for me. If we ourselves do not understand matters clearly, then how can we teach the principles to others? Therefore, “Only through doing things well can we excel in applying the principles.” We must understand all matters; only then will we be able to use the principles to understand matters. If not, then how can we possibly teach the principles to others? How can we explain the origin of these matters? We must reconcile mattes with the principles and unite them; only then will we be able to bring purity to peoples’ hearts. Sentient beings are ignorant and afflicted all because they cannot see matters clearly. Sentient beings cannot see clearly with regards to people, matters and things. We must reconcile [these matters] for them and [help them] adjust their minds so matters and things will become clear to them. We must analyze things for them so they understand the origin of this matter. “This principle and originating cause has brought about the existing matter troubling you.” If they come to understand this, that this is the origin of these principles, [they know,] “From this kind of beginning, things continued up until the present, such that the way I look at everything is with greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, these Five Turbidities, covering my mind. Thus I was unable to clearly understand their origin in the principles. This brought me so much ignorance and so many afflictions throughout lifetime after lifetime.” We must start from worldly matters; there are so many things we must learn. “Through experience, we grow in wisdom.” This is the principle behind this saying. Without experience, we cannot grow in wisdom. We must go among people. Among people, there are so many matters and things. How do sentient beings’ ignorance and afflictions come about? Bystanders see more clearly. We are not the in the situations ourselves, so we are able to see things clearly because we view these matters with a very pure mind and can analyze the principles behind them. Naturally, when we can listen to and take in a lot of these worldly matters, we will be replete with the Dharma’s principles. The principles of the perfect teaching have all poured into our minds, so we see worldly matters very clearly. When it comes to the afflictions and ignorance of the people of this world, we understand them ever more. Naturally, when it comes to others’ affairs, we will use the principles we understand to explain these matters for them. Only by doing this can we bring purity to their minds. This is called “transforming sentient beings”. With the Dharma we understand, we have transformed their minds. Because their minds were in a state of ignorance, we use the Dharma we have studied and received, and, whatever their current afflictions, use this Dharma to transform their minds. We explain things to them, and once they understand, they naturally accept it and turn their state of mind around, turning their afflictions into Bodhi. Then they can transform more sentient beings. This is using the Dharma; we can use the Dharma to purify people’s minds. For this, we need people to spread the Dharma. Those who spread the Dharma must have a great understanding of worldly matters. Only then can they apply the principles of the Buddha-Dharma to give the teachings and spread the Dharma to myriads of sentient beings. So, this is very important.
We must always be mindful. If we put in the effort, we will gradually draw near and enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the clothing of patience and sit on the seat of emptiness. These Three Directives [for Spreading the Sutras] are the methods by which we must transform sentient beings.
In the previous sutra passage, the Buddha said to the Medicine King, “If there are good men or women who, after the Tathagata enters into Parinirvana, want to teach the fourfold assembly this Lotus Sutra, how should they teach it?”
This is in the previous sutra passage. So, what we need to know now is, how do we teach them? We must use a method, which is to draw near the Buddha. We must enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the clothing of patience and sit on the seat of emptiness. This is how we transform sentient beings. After the Buddha has entered Parinirvana, to transform sentient beings there are three very important directives, which are guidelines. In a moment, you must listen very mindfully to learn how we can enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the clothing of patience and sit on the seat of emptiness. We must learn how to enter [this room]. After the Buddha has entered Parinirvana, for those who want to uphold this sutra and spread the Dharma, this is very important and is something we must be mindful of.
So, it says, “In this age of Dharma-decay, to uphold the sutra and spread the Dharma,” we must rely on the Three Directives. We must rely on these three things which are to enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the clothing of patience and sit on the seat of emptiness. These three are the Three Directives [for Spreading the Sutras]. These Three Directives are of directing ourselves and others, “so that everyone realizes the Great Path and gains great benefit”. We will be able to comprehend the great path. We will naturally comprehend the great path and delve deeply into the sutra treasury. Then we will have the Dharma [we need] to be able to transform sentient beings. Naturally, we will be able to lead the people harmoniously. This requires us to put our hearts into it. Only by first putting in the effort will we be able to lead the people harmoniously. So, these Three Directives are very important. “The Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras are the three guidelines for spreading the wondrous sutra in the time of Dharma-decay.”
The Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras are the three guidelines for spreading the wondrous sutra in the era of Dharma-decay. This is also the Dharma-door of the. Three Directives for returning to our nature. Thus, they are called the. Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras: 1. The room of compassion. 2. The clothing of patience. 3. The seat of emptiness.
Form this we can understand that the Three Directives are entering the Tathagata’s room, wearing the clothing of patience and sitting on the seat of emptiness. These are the Three Directives. So, we must understand that they are “the three guidelines for spreading the wondrous sutra in the era of Dharma-decay”. These three things are very important. “This is also the Dharma-door of the Three Directives for returning to our true nature.” These are for the sake of our nature of True Suchness. Don’t we want to return to our nature of True Suchness? Yes! We must return to our nature of True Suchness. That is why we need the Dharma-door of the Three Directives; it is very important. “Thus, they are called the Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras.” We must always have these Three Directives. These Three Directives are our guidelines. We must work hard and make the effort to comprehend and understand them.
Of these three guidelines, the first is the room of compassion. The room of compassion refers to entering the Tathagata’s room. This is the room of compassion.
The first of the Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras is the room of compassion: This means people who spread the sutra should abide foremost in the heart of great compassion.
The Buddha’s mind is one of great compassion. Don’t we constantly say [that we must] “take the Buddha’s mind as our own”? Our minds are equal to the Buddha’s. It is just that the minds of ordinary people are too far removed from the Buddha-mind. Now we all hope for the Buddha-mind to enter our mind. When our mind resonates with the Buddha-mind, this is great compassion. Having great compassion is entering the Tathagata’s room; this is what it means to have great compassion as the room. So, “This means people who spread the sutra should abide foremost in the heart of great compassion.” This heart of great compassion is the Tathagata’s room. What about the second [directive]? It is the clothing of patience. We must put it on, must wear it; we must wear this clothing of patience.
The second of the Three Directives for Spreading the Sutras is the clothing of patience: This means people who spread the sutra should wear the clothing of patience. They must be able to endure the unwholesome obstructions of sentient beings.
We often see and hear about how our commissioners dress very neatly when they go out. When they must gather together, as each person goes out, they will sometimes encounter someone who says, “Those are Tzu Chi volunteers!” Some people feel great respect for them. Some people are prejudiced against the Buddha-Dharma and Tzu Chi. When they see Tzu Chi volunteers, they start giving them a hard time, asking them about many difficult topics. It was like this for a period of time. When wearing the [Tzu Chi uniform] they had to be patient and endure this. I often hear commissioners say this. So, they are “wearing the clothing of patience” because they are wearing their [uniform]. If we wear this clothing, at the least it can protect us and prevent us from giving rise to thoughts of anger or hatred. We must be like this. We must have an article of clothing that, when we wear it, constantly reminds us how to tame our anger and hatred and how to subdue our greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. These are all reasons why we must constantly wear this clothing. “This means people who spread the sutra should wear the clothing of patience. They must be able to endure the unwholesome obstructions of sentient beings.” If we wear this clothing, we will be more vigilant of ourselves, and we will be able to patiently endure all unwholesome obstructions of sentient beings. First, we must wear this clothing. When we wear this clothing, no matter what great temptations are out there, when we put on these clothes, there are boundaries we will not cross. We cannot feel greedy whenever we see something or feel the urge to buy, to consume; we cannot! These greedy thoughts [are things that] we must learn to control. Because we are wearing these clothes, we will [only] go to vegetarian restaurants. This is very common thing. If we are wearing the [Tzu Chi uniform] and enter a restaurant [that serves meat], this is wrong. Similarly, during social occasions, when we wear these clothes, we will be able to prevent ourselves from doing things that we should not do. So, this article of clothing really can help us uphold so many [precepts]. When external situations [arise], we will know to discern between things we should and should not do.
Third is the “seat of emptiness”. The emptiness of all phenomena is the seat. This means “people who spread the sutra should abide in the principle of the supreme meaning of emptiness”. We must understand that emptiness here is true emptiness. Only true emptiness can give rise to wondrous existence. If we are biased toward emptiness, we will have attachments. So, the supreme meaning of emptiness is the perfect teaching. “Emptiness” here is wondrous existence. We must understand this principles clearly. “With great compassion, we must help all sentient beings attain peace and joy.” If we can enter the supreme meaning of emptiness, we will naturally be able to help all sentient beings attain peace and joy. this will help us follow the disciplines.
With great compassion they help all sentient beings attain peace and joy; this is the directive of assistance. Overcoming anger with gentleness is the directive of contemplation. Sitting on the seat of the supreme meaning of emptiness is the directive of true nature.
Regarding the supreme meaning of emptiness, what we usually practice is the “Three Spheres of Emptiness”. We give without expecting anything in return. There is no thought of “I am someone who gives, no thought of, “I have given so many things”. There are no “people who receive my giving”. We have clearly given so much of ourselves, but in the act of giving, we do not expect anything in return. We go and accomplish the things that we want to do. When we accomplish these things, as long as we see people receive our help, get back on their feet, attain happiness, enter the Buddha-Dharma and change their lives, so long as this is happening, we have no other expectations. This supreme meaning of emptiness is what the Buddha came to this world to teach us. when people help one another without expecting anything in reture, this allows our minds to be very pure and free of hindrances. Otherwise, the more good deeds we do, the pressure on us will grow heavier and heavier. “I have done quite a few things. I remember these things, I have done these things”. How can our minds have enough space for us to remember so many things? We are clearly giving to help others, so how can we still have so many things left on our minds? We have clearly accomplished these things, so why are we still attached to them? This is like walking down a road. From our starting point all the way to the other end, it is such a long way, so how can our feet still be stuck to the road? This is the same. So, “the supreme meaning of emptiness” is the same for wordly matters. After a matter passes, it is gone. This is just like the passage of time; after the moment passes, it no longer exists. “Overcoming anger with gentleness” means gentleness and patience are the clothing that subdue our anger. This is because when we wear the Tathagata’s clothing, the clothing of gentleness and patience, by wearing this clothing, we will be able to subdue all of our anger. This anger also includes greed, anger, ignorance and doubt. Our minds are inseparable from these things, so we must work hard to tame them. So, we must constantly observe our minds, and not allow these contaminations to surface.
Therefore, [we must] “sit on the seat of the supreme meaning of emptiness”. We must earnestly sit on the seat of the supreme meaning of emptiness. All principles [tell us], once things have passed, they are gone. It is the same with afflictions; once something is done, that is enough. Some people are constantly showing off. “I have such great karmic retributions”.
One day, a certain lay person, came to talk to me and said, “Master, I don’t know why I have such great karmic retributions.” Not a day went by that he did not say this. one time, I simply said, “Having great karmic retributions is good, but you do not need to constantly boast about it. This is nothing to boast about. You should said, ‘I want to do such and such.’ This is the most important thing. Do not always say, ‘I do not know why my karmic retributions are so great.’”
Just being content is good enough. [We need not] constantly think about how great our karmic retributions are. Thinking too much about our great blessings can blow up on us. Do we have extra? Having enough is the best, so we must act quickly and do what truly benefits people. Thus, we must take the “emptiness of all phenomena as our seat. We cannot constantly remain attached to how much we have or how much we still want; we cannot. We do not need to talk about how much we want to do or constantly think about how much we have done. We cannot do this either. However, this world needs history. This is what the history is; it tells what people did in the past. It is our model.
When we follow this model and put it into practice, we are bearing witness [to its effects]. The sutra treasury is also like this; it contains so many role models. The world also needs something like this; it needs many role models. This is what we call data. These numbers and quantities can be passed down to following generations, but our minds will always be pure. After we pass it down [to others], is it relevant to us anymore? So long as we teach it to others, what do we have left to concern ourselves with? It is not relevant to us. we still must teach the Dharma, though there is no Dharma to teach. We are merely talking to everyone. However, we must use a mind of utmost reverence, for this is how the Buddha’s teachings were passed down and taught to everyone. But once we teach it, as long as everyone can apply it that is enough. It is no related to us. So, “Sitting on the seat of the supreme meaning of emptiness is the directive of true nature.” It is still to us to serve as role models.
So, in the Textual Commentary of the Lotus Sutra, the “Three Directives” are [needed by] “those who spread the sutras”. We who spread the sutra must be replete with the Three Directives. These “directives” are regulations as well as guidelines. In other words, “Those who spread the sutra should take the Three Directives of compassion, patience and emptiness as their model and guideline.”
This is how it is. It is very simple. Those of us who teach the sutra must practice these three guidelines ourselves. The Three Directives are our models as well as our guidelines.
Come. Let us look quickly at the pervious sutra passage. It states, “Medicine King.” The Buddha called to Medicine King, Medicine King Bodhisattva. “If there are good men and good women, who after the Tathagata enters Parinirvana, want to teach the fourfold assembly this Lotus Sutra, how should they teach it?”
The Buddha wanted to remind everyone again, so He specifically called out to Medicine King Bodhisattva. Medicine King Bodhisattva was the recipient of the teachings.
The following sutra passage says this “These good men and women must enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the Tathagata’s clothing and sit in the Tathagata’s seat extensively to the fourfold assembly.”
This is what the Buddha said to Medicine King Bodhisattva and also to everyone. “These good men and women” were those present at the assembly. Whether they were lay people or monastics, men or women, together they formed the fourfold assembly. There were monastics and lay people. There were good monastic men, good monastic women, good laymen and good laywomen. So, this was fourfold assembly.
These good men and women: This shows that those who follow the Four Reliances must first possess the Three Virtues, the virtues of wisdom, grace and ending, before they can do the Buddha’s work. As the saying goes, “To do things well, we must sharpen our tools.”
So, saying “these good men and women” means that He wanted the fourfold assembly to understand that whether they were lay people or monastics, they “must first possess the Three Virtues”. He hoped that everyone, in order to expound the sutra and spread the Dharma, would be replete in the Three Virtues. The Three Virtues are, first, the virtue of wisdom, second, the virtue of grace and third, the virtue of ending. The virtue of wisdom is to enter the Tathagata’s room. The virtue of grace is to wear the Tathagata’s clothing. The virtue of ending is to sit on the Tathagata’s seat. We must possess these Three Virtues “before [we] can do the Buddha’s work. Only then will we be able to go among people to do the Buddha’s work, “for Buddha’s teachings, for sentient beings”. “For the Buddha’s teachings” means we must spread the Buddha’s teachings to later generations. This is also for the sake of sentient beings. Sentient beings abide in the world of the Five Turbidities, where they continuously reproduce afflictions and create so much suffering. So, they need the Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha-Dharma is the wondrous medicine that heals the world. We need the guidelines of the true principles in this world to guide sentient beings in the right directions.
So, we must have virtues. Thus, we must enter the Tathagata’s room. We must put on the Tathagata’s clothing. We must sit on the Tathagata’s seat. Thus, entering the Tathagata’s room is the virtue of wisdom. We must resonate with the Buddha’s mind and understand the Buddha’s wisdom. We are already capable of understanding this. this is called the virtue of wisdom. For the virtue of grace, we must deliver sentient beings. We understand the Buddha’s intent, which is to deliver sentient beings. We must have gratitude for the Buddha’s intent and we must be grateful to sentient beings for coming to help us fulfill [our practice]. Then we will aspire to repay sentient beings. Tis is mutual [benefit]. If we do not go among people, we will be unable to form good affinities and will be unable to attain Buddhahood. We have the Bodhisattva-path to walk upon precisely because of sentient beings. So, we must also be grateful for them. There is the Fourfold Grace that we must repay. Therefore, the virtue of grace is something we must have; we must wear the clothing of patience. As for the “virtue of ending, we must take the emptiness of all phenomena as our seat”. This is the virtue of ending. We must eliminate all our attachments, afflictions and ignorance “before [we] can do the Buddha’s work”. So, “To do things well, we must sharpen our tools.” If we want to understand these things, we need to first have these tools; only then will we be able to accomplish such good things. So, we must be very mindful. There are four we must rely upon, the Four Reliances. There are two sets of four Reliances. One is the Four Reliances of practice, which is how, as monastics, we must endure the hardships in our daily living.
The Four Reliances: 1. The Four Reliances of Practice. 2. The Four Reliances of the Teachings. The four Reliances of Practice: Wearing cast off rags, always begging for food, sitting under trees and using spoiled medicine. The practitioner must purify their minds, eliminate the Five Turbidities and destroy arrogance.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, He left the royal palace, which was very luxurious, bright and beautiful. [In the palace,] He wore strings of jewels. After leaving for the outside world, He removed them to engage in spiritual practice, exchanging them for plain clothes. Ever since that time, spiritual practitioners wore cast off rags. What other people did not want. Practitioners were “always begging for food,” they never had anything left over. They had nothing to their name. With only an alms bowl, they went door to door to beg for alms.
“Sitting under trees” [means] resting under a tree for a night. Trees can provide shade and covering, blocking out the dew and providing shade. The practitioners could sleep until dawn and sit in meditation. There, they used “spoiled medicine”. If their body had ant health problems, anywhere on the ground there could be medicine. If they understood medicine, anything that could treat illnesses was medicine. If they felt hungry and got no food from begging, there were many plants to fend off hunger. To live in nature is to depend on the nature world. They had to rely on the worst things to get by. This demonstrates how “practitioners must purify their minds, eliminate the Five Turbidities and destroy arrogance. So many people followed the Buddha to become monastics; there were people from wealthy families, royalty and nobility who also followed the Buddha to become monastics. These people typically led a very wealthy lifestyle.
Since they wanted to become monastics, they had to tame the Five Turbidities in their minds. They had to eliminate [the Five Turbidities] and destroy their arrogant mindset. These are the four Reliances of Practice. They are wearing cast off rags, always begging for food, sitting under a tree, using spoiled medicine and so on. They were able to live and get by like this.
The second set of Four Reliances is the Four Reliances of the Teachings. The Four Reliances of the Teachings are “relying on the teachings.” We must look at the teaching [and think], “Is it right?” If it is, we must put this teaching into practice. [We must] “rely on sutras of the complete meaning rather than those of incomplete meanings, rely on the meaning rather than the words, and rely on our wisdom rather than our consciousness.”
Now we have entered into the perfect teachings. The Lotus Sutra teaches us how to take these teachings, the past teachings, and unite them together under the Lotus Sutra’s [teachings of] wondrous existence within true emptiness. The principles of wondrous existence are all completely contained within this sutra of the complete meaning. As for [sutras of] incomplete meanings, if we are practicing these sutra teachings which are not complete, then we are talking the Dharma out of context; if we do this, we may go astray. So, we must “rely upon meaning rather than words”. This is how the principles are. As we listen to a principle, if we feel it makes sense and is very much in accord with worldly matters, then we must rely on the principles and unite them with what works in the world. This is “relying on the meaning rather than words”. It is not just doing whatever people tell us to do. No.
We listen to so many sutras. In the end, which phrases make us feel that these principles can be brought together with worldly matters and are a path we can take to get us there? The sutras are a path, and this path is a road to walk on. It helps us to accomplish the worldly matters in our daily living. These are the true principles that help our minds constantly abide in the Tathagata’s room and wear the Tathagata’s clothing. They help our minds be very tranquil and free of attachments. After accomplishing things, if we can achieve this state of mind, we are “relying on the meaning rather than words”.
“Relying on wisdom rather than our consciousness” means we must rely on wisdom. This wisdom is pure wisdom. It is our amala consciousness, which is our ninth consciousness. It is not the eighth consciousness, which takes in our afflictions and ignorance. [We must not rely on] written words or follow whatever individuals write in the long commentaries. We cannot just do that. We should rely on our wisdom. We must use these principles to purify our minds and to eliminate our ignorance and afflictions so that we can enter our ninth consciousness. Slowly, the true principles will enter our minds and unite with our nature of True Suchness. This is our goal in listening to the Dharma and the sutras. [Our goal] is to gain a thorough understanding of people and matters, and then seek out the origin of the principles. Only then can we return to the origin of the principles. With the complexities and afflictions of worldly matters, we can use these principles to resolve these worldly matters, helping everyone understand and be able to reach their destination. This is also the Dharma.
So, “[They] must enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the Tathagata’s clothing and sit on the Tathagata’s seat. They must give rise to compassion, practice patience, and abide in the emptiness of all phenomena”.
This is something we must be very mindful of. We must enter the Tathagata’s room. We must put on the Tathagata’s clothing. We must sit in the Tathagata’s seat. We must have compassion and patience, must be free of attachments and sit on the seat of emptiness. To enter the Tathagata’s room is to wear the Tathagata’s clothing. We must seek to experience this. We must seek to understand it.
“Entering the room, wearing the clothing and sitting on the seat are known as the Three Directives. To spread the sutra in the era of Dharma-decay, we must rely on these Three Directives. Only by disciplining ourselves and others with these directives, will we be able to attain the great benefit of transformation”.
We absolutely must remember this. We must spread the Dharma. We have made vows to uphold the sutra and spread the flow of Dharma to later generations. We must enter the Tathagata’s room. This is the goal of engaging in spiritual practice for any one of us. Remember, the Tathagata’s room is the Buddha’s heart. The Buddha’s heart is one of great loving-kindness and compassion. A mind of great loving-kindness and compassion is one that is pure and undefiled; this is our nature of True Suchness. So, we must resonate with the Buddha’s mind and enter the Tathagata’s room, for “great loving-kindness and compassion is the room”. We must wear the Tathagata’s clothing. The Tathagata’s clothes are gentleness and patience. On the inside we have the Buddha’s mind within us; this is our nature of True Suchness. On the outside, when we go out in the world, we must have patience and gentleness and use gentleness and kindness. We must transform sentient beings and patiently endure all things. And so, gentleness and patience are the clothing that we must wear; this is on the outside. Only then will we sit on the Tathagata’s seat. When it comes to people and matters, if we have a thorough understanding of these principles, we will be able to sit on the Tathagata’s seat. The Tathagata’s seat is the emptiness of all Buddha-Dharma. So, these are called the Three Directives. We must be free of attachments. We must be very earnest, but we must also be free of attachments. “To spread the sutra in the era of Dharma-decay,” this is how we “direct ourselves and others”. These directives are our models to follow. We must become a model ourselves and practice. We must earnestly practice them ourselves. As we engage in practice, they are our model. We are in a group for spiritual practice and practitioners must go among people. We must constantly serve as a model ourselves. This is also to awaken ourselves. We ourselves must become awakened. We must be clear and aware; we cannot be affected by people and waver. Since we have awakened ourselves, we can use this Dharma to teach and guide others and also strengthen their spiritual aspirations, so that everyone can awaken. So, this is what is meant by “directing ourselves and others”. We must constantly remind everyone to not let things from the outside world affect us. We must awaken ourselves and others. Only then “will we be able to attain the great benefit of transformation”. If we can transform ourselves and others, then this is the benefit of spreading the Dharma throughout the world. “Then they should teach this sutra extensively to the fourfold assembly”.
Then they should teach this sutra extensively to the fourfold assembly: You must know that these people who have faith and understanding and form great aspirations, have entered the room, worn the clothing and sat on the seat to expound the Dharma. Therefore, they should teach this sutra extensively to the fourfold assembly.
If we do this, we will be able to teach this sutra to the fourfold assembly. This is what the Buddha said to Medicine King “Come, Medicine King. In the future, this is how you will spread the sutra, uphold the teachings and pass down the sutra to future generations. This is how these people of future generations will receive this sutra from you so that your teachings will be passed down from generation to generation.” What kind of people can we teach this to? In the past, the Buddha said there were certain people whom we could not teach, and certain places that we could not teach in. In the past, He said that sentient beings capabilities were mismatched and uneven. They all had differing capabilities. We could not just go to public places to teach this sutra. We must do so to the right people in the right time and at the right place; we must teach the Dharma according to their capabilities. At this time, the Buddha called again to Medicine King Bodhisattva. Actually, He was also speaking to all of us in future generations. ”Good men and good women,” if these people enter the Tathagata’s room, put on the Tathagata’s clothing and sit on the Tathagata’s seat, they should teach this sutra extensively to the fourfold assembly. This fourfold assembly are these good men and good women. If their minds are already in accord with the Buddha-mind, if they have the determination to uphold [the sutra], and in particular, in this process of upholding, if they can be free of attachments, we must know that they are “people who have faith and understanding and form great vows.” They have already begun to enter the Tathagata’s room. This all depends on “faith and understanding and great vow.” We must have deep faith and understanding, We must form great vows and aspirations. “I vow to deliver countless sentient beings. I vow to eliminate endless afflictions. I vow to learn infinite Dharma-doors. I vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood.” [We need] “great loving-kindness without regrets, great compassion without resentment, great joy without worries and great equanimity without expectations.” The Four Great Vows and the Four Infinite Minds are what we must have, people like this who go among the people are entering the Tathagata’s room, putting on the Tathagata’s clothing and sitting upon the Tathagata’s seat.
When it comes to teaching the Dharma, “They should teach this sutra extensively to the fourfold assembly.” If we truly do it in this way, we will naturally be able to teach the Dharma to these people, Indeed! We should be able to teach the Dharma to these people. Listening to the sutra is knowing this path, these principles, These principles are a path. Listening to them, they are simple things that we can do. When we can change our mindset, what can’t we accomplish? So, as the fourfold assembly, if we are able to understand, we will enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the Tathagata’s clothing and sit on the Tathagata’s seat. In the Tathagata’s wisdom, He is already one with the universe. Whether it is compassion or wisdom, the Tathagata is perfectly replete in everything. As for us, we are still just learning. So, we should have faith and understanding and make great vows. We must have faith and understanding, We must make great vows and go among people to learn. We must not just talk about saving people; we must also have gratitude. How many commissioners and Faith Corps members go everywhere to do these things? The deeds that they do are truly more than what [ordinary] people can accomplish, Only Bodhisattvas can accomplish these. After they accomplish these deeds, they are not attached to them. After they help people, they say, “Thank you! I’m grateful to you”. They again continue to care for the people they helped. This is a Bodhisattva. Can we not do this? We can do it; it simply depends on our minds. It is something we can do so simply, but what we accomplish is not such a simple matter. This is what the Buddha-Dharma helps us to understand. We are not incapable of doing this. As long as we listen to the Dharma and have deep faith in it, we will be practicing the Bodhisattva-path. This is the path that we are now walking. So, we absolutely [must do it]. The Buddha-Dharma’s perfect teachings are not too deep to understand at all. We simply need to “enter the Tathagata’s room." We must take the Buddha’s heart as our own, this heart of great compassion. We must “wear the Tathagata’s clothing." As long as we are a bit gentler to others and a bit kinder, we can really get close to people. We can go among people and do things for the sake of sentient beings. After we do these deeds, we will be grateful. We will not be arrogant and say things like. “I was able to help you.” We do not do that at all. Then we will quickly accomplish the requirements of the Three Directives. We just need to truly form aspirations and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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