Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Exhorting People to Do All Good Deeds (勸修諸善 忍為急務)
Date: Dec ember 26.2017
“By teaching and exhorting others and practicing all good deeds, we can advance diligently and guide people to enter the right path. We must exercise loving-kindness and wisdom to go among and widely transform people. We must also rely on our power of patience to exhort and encourage those who promote this sutra in the era of Dharma-degeneration. In exhorting and admonishing others we must know the sutras and the vinaya and take practicing patience as a priority.”
Do you understand what this means? It tells us that we must teach and exhort others. We must be determined to widely spread the perfect teachings of the Lotus Sutra. We must teach it and share it [with others]! When we take the meaning of this sutra to heart and actualize it in our daily living, the realizations we gain in our daily life will meld together with the Dharma. When we feel very joyous in everything we do, [our experiences] and the teachings of the sutra will come together as one. The Dharma is inherent to our spiritual practice. Spiritual cultivation is all about practicing all good deeds. Consider how we constantly speak of “actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions.” Is it difficult to give of ourselves to others? It is not difficult at all. Yesterday, we discussed how, if we see someone carrying something too heavy, if we are able to reach out a helping hand, then we are doing a good deed. When we see others working very hard, if we drink water, we should also ask them. “Are you thirsty?” If they are also thirsty, we should reach out and pour them some water to meet their need and quench their thirst. This is practicing giving and forming good connections. It is also a way of practicing good deeds. There are many ways to do good deeds. When it comes to speech, when we urge others to speak kindly, that is “exhorting”. At the same time, we must practice all good deeds. Even the smallest action can be a good deed that can harmonize our interpersonal relationships. We can transform others by working together. In working together with others and engaging in spiritual practice together, each individual’s habitual nature is different. We must be accommodating toward others encourage and entice them [to join us]. We need to form good connections with them and guide them to work alongside us. These are all ways of practicing good deeds.
So, [by practicing] “all good deeds, we can advance diligently and guide people to enter the right path.” If we can be very earnest and diligent, we can guide others toward correct understanding, correct thinking and correct behavior. Is this difficult to do in our everyday living? When we hear this, everyone wonders, “Is this also Dharma?” Yes, this is absolutely Dharma. All Buddha-Dharma must be actualized in our daily living. If we do not form positive affinities with others, we are going against the rules; we are transgressing against the Six Points of Reverent Harmony for monastics. To be in harmony with each other, we must help one another, cherish one another and guide and support one another. These are among the Six Points of Reverent Harmony. We need to abide by these rules.
When it comes to living in society, it is the same. We transform others through giving, beneficial conduct, loving speech and working together. This is also very important. Isn’t this what we need to practice? Isn’t this Dharma? So, giving, beneficial conduct, loving speech and working together are all to be practiced in our daily lives. It is just that we neglect them most of the time. We think that the Dharma is so profound, but actually, [learning] the Dharma is just a matter of earnestly disciplining our minds and bodies in our daily living. We need to have restraint in body and mind. This is what is most important. So, we must “exercise loving-kindness and wisdom.” The Buddha taught us that we must exercise and uphold loving-kindness and compassion. Living in this world, the best is to bring happiness and peace to others. [To bring] peace and happiness, [we must give] sentient beings what they need. Serving others in this way is exercising loving-kindness. In order to bring everyone peace, happiness, joy and ease of mind, we must apply our wisdom. So, we must exercise loving-kindness and wisdom.
As Buddhist practitioners, aren’t we constantly practicing to draw near the Buddha’s wisdom? That is right, we must draw near the Buddha’s wisdom. If we can do this in our daily living, then everyone will be happy and at peace. Wouldn’t this bring us peace and happiness too? With the four elements out of balance, can sentient beings be at peace? There are so many disasters occurring! We must put an end to disasters before everyone can live in peace and happiness. We must make an effort [to enable] everyone to share this compassionate mindset. It is not enough for a small number of people to have compassion; we must exhort a majority of people to widely practice compassion. [We need] everyone to spread this compassion, exercise loving-kindness and uphold the Buddha’s teachings. If we wish for everyone in the world to live in peace and happiness and exercise the Buddha’s compassion, we must apply our wisdom to going among people and widely transforming sentient beings.
I saw a story about a child in South Africa. In South Africa, there is already the second and third generation of Tzu Chi volunteers. When the first generation of volunteers started, they had moved from Taiwan to South Africa to establish business. They began doing Tzu Chi’s work. Their children attended school there and become Tzu Chi youth volunteers. After they married, there is now a third generation. This [grandchild] grew up in a Tzu Chi family. She is now ten years old. One day, she learned where oil comes from, that people need to drill into the ground to extract oil, and how this pollutes the air. This was what she learned. She also watched [news] about a United Nations conference regarding how the changes in our climate are caused by pollution of the earth and sky. She learned that to reduce the earth’s temperature we must adopt vegetarian diet. She saw how, at the United Nations summit, the Tzu Chi volunteers there advocated at the meeting for January 11 to be a worldwide vegetarian day. [They hoped] the world would join “1/11” [and abstain from meat] on January 11. When this child saw this, she understood why all families need to adopt a vegetarian diet. It is because this is very important for environmental protection, because it is very important for the earth. When she saw these things, she made up her mind and told her mother that she wanted to do something to help the earth. Her mother thought this was just child’s talk. She was only 10 years old, so what could she possibly do to help the planet? Of course, her mother encouraged her, “You can do anything you want to do!” But what did she want to do? Her mother, Yachi Yuan, is a Tzu Chi commissioner, a second generation commissioner. She said, “Go ahead and do what you want to do.” So, this child started by asking her father, “Before you come home today, can you cut a piece of wood for me?” Her father wondered what she was going to do with it. But he took a piece of wood and brought it home. His daughter began by taking pen and paper and write out her plan of action for how to promote vegetarianism and how to guide people to become vegetarian. She prepared this very mindfully. This ten year old girl has a nickname. Her parents call her “Little Ant”. She is like an ant who wants to climb Mt. Sumeru. With her aspiration, she began to write down her plan for how she would promote this in the Chinese district. She wrote out a plan to call on everyone to join “1/11” and abstain from meat on January 11. She very mindfully wrote down some slogans.
Sometimes she would get very frustrated when she wrote a character wrong. She wanted to write in both Chinese and English, and she wanted to write something very moving to inspire people to become vegetarians. Sometimes, she had trouble writing, so she kept writing until she was in tears. Her mother and father did not intervene; instead, they encouraged her from the side. So she kept on writing like this. After writing for several days, Little Ant wondered just how long she should continue writing. She needed both pictures and words, so she invited her cousin over. Her cousin was the same age as her, so she asked her to join in. Thus, they began [working]. These two children had the same interest, so they slowly and carefully wrote and cut out [fliers].
After several weeks, they had finally made over sixty fliers with hand-written slogans. When they were done with the preparations, that day, she said to her parents, “We are ready now.” She got up early to prepare some snacks and tea to go out and promote vegetarianism in her community. They thought, “The neighborhood is so big, how long will it take for us to walk?” They two children then had an idea. They each put on a roller skate on one foot in order to move faster. They set out like this and began to go around their neighborhood. They were very brave. At the first home, they knocked on the door and eloquently spoke about these great principles. “The earth is our home. Only with a healthy planet can we be blessed. Right now, Earth is running a fever. We need everyone to help rescue our planet! The way to save the planet is very simple; we just need to eat vegetarian. Please remember, on January 11, we are encouraging people around the world to adapt a vegetarian diet for one day. This was how they started.” The girls thought to themselves, “The best would be to eat vegetarian every day, but if they cannot do it every day, at least they can start with that one day.” Like this, they knocked on everyone’s door. When people opened their doors, they would tell them this. for those who agreed to sign up, they would take down their name and address. Their signature meant that they would participate on that day.
So, they were very brave. Some people thought, “These children are so young, but they still know how important it is to treasure the earth.” [The girls] were so dedicated, so the adults signed up for their sake. [Some asked,] “Why do I need to sign? Do I need to write my address?” The children would tell them, “It is because between now and January 11, there is still a lot of time. We are afraid you might forget so we will come see you again.” You see, these children, [did this] for an entire day! Going around like this on their roller skates, they asked many families [to do this]. However, while the two children altogether had over 20 people sign up on that day, the majority of people still refused them and gave them unfriendly looks. One even said to them, “I cannot go even a single day without fish!” so he did not respond to their appeal and instead shut his door. The children felt very hurt from this. they made one round like this, and at noon, they found a place to rest and had a bit to eat and drink. They felt very discouraged, but Little Ant said, “This is not bad, we have more than 10 responses.” They counted their successes and realized they had more than 10 families. “Let’s go! We still have half a day left.” With half a day to spare, they went around again and collected more than 20 [signatures] in total. Look, how adorable they are! Really, this child is so young, but her parents and grandparents have taught her by their own example and had a big influence on her. Her family have always been vegetarian; her family is a Faith Corps member and her mother is a Tzu Chi commissioner. Her grandparents are also [Tzu Chi volunteers]. Last year (2015), I kept calling on all little ants to climb Mt. Sumeru. Because she was so little, her mother called her “Little Ant”. Although she was little, her ambition was great, so she would not forget [her aspiration]. She was very dedicated.
You see, such a young child is capable of doing something like that. What about us adults? We must not only “exhort others and practice all good deeds,” we must also “guide people to enter the right path”. This is truly not an easy thing. [these girls] exercised such great compassion in cherishing the earth. Only like this can everyone live in peace. These children’s vow was one of compassion, and they put their wisdom to use. Even though they are so young, to accomplish what they wanted they spent so many weekends preparing, writing out their plans and [creating] their slogans. In this way, these two children were able to carry out such an ambitious project. Thus, “exercising loving-kindness and wisdom” is something even young children can do. They can go among people and knock on doors, whether they know the people or not. They knocked on everyone’s doors to promote vegetarianism. This is not an easy thing. We must “go among and widely transform people. No matter how may people were moved by them, the girls wanted to continue [their promotion].
So, “We must rely on our power of patience to exhort and encourage those who promote this sutra in the era of Dharma-degeneration.” You see, these children were able to do this. The Buddha had compassion and loving-kindness for the future world of turbidities in the era of Dharma-degeneration. He hoped that everyone could take up this heavy burden and promote the perfect teachings. This is not difficult; we all must just out them into practice in our daily living. Whether adults or children, we all need to do this. this is truly bringing purity to peoples’ hearts. For this, we must have the power of patience. We must wear the clothing of patience. Great kindness and compassion are the room, gentleness and patience are the clothing; having the power of patience is very important. So, we must urge everyone to be earnestly diligent.
[We are in] the era of Dharma-degeneration. This sutra [is intended] for this era of Dharma-degeneration, for this age in the world of turbidities. We must exhort everyone to spread this sutra, to advance this sutra’s teachings. This is not asking people to give Dharma talks. It is about putting the teachings of this sutra into practice in our daily living. There needs to be people who spread the Dharma. in places like [the girls’] large neighborhood, there needs to be families like these. There needs to be families who are willing to serve others like this, like these commissioners and Faith Corps members, and there needs to be children with this kind of education who are exercising both compassion and wisdom. They responded [to the call] and took action, going to every household in their neighborhood to exhort everyone to eat vegetarian. When I see this, it makes me think that we truly, no matter what, must make good use of our karmic conditions. we must leverage them, leverage our causes and utilize our conditions, the causes and conditions for us to practice loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.
We must uphold the Six Perfections in all actions and devise ways to be of service to others, to lead everyone to understand how, in life, we can move in the correct direction. So, “advancing diligently and guiding people to enter the right path” is something we can all do; it is not difficult.
So, “In exhorting and admonishing others we must know the sutras and the vinaya.” We must thoroughly [know] the sutras, vinaya and abhidharma. In order to teach the contents of the sutras, after we listen to the sutras, we ourselves must quickly draw near the Buddha-mind to turn from the ordinary toward the noble. To do this, we need the sutras to help us uphold the precepts in our lives. The rules we live by must be correct. It is not only [monastic] practitioners that need precepts to live by, lay practitioners also need ethical and moral guidelines. So, “the vinaya” refers to the rules and precepts. It [compiles] what the sutras teach us about what we should and should not do. The Dharma taught by the Buddha is inseparable from the two doors, the door of admonishment and the door of exhortation. The door of admonishment is “refraining from all that is evil. We must not do unwholesome things. I constantly warm everyone not to do evil deeds, not even commit the slightest wrong. This is called the door of admonishment.
“Practice all that is good” is called the door of exhortation. The Buddha’s teachings are all for the sake of opening these two doors. They are inseparable from the principles of “refraining from all that is evil” and “practicing all that is good”. We must truly accept and uphold these at all times. It is the same for pay practitioners and monastics. To accept and uphold the sutras and the vinaya, we must be [aware of] all kinds of teachings. It is easy to uphold minor [principles], but what about when we encounter major difficulties? When that happens, we must patiently endure. As for interpersonal relationships, sentient beings are stubborn and hard to transform. But are we to abandon them? We must still wait for their capacities [to mature]. We must still show our care and wait patiently for them to change with time. We must wait for the right time, for the right causes and conditions. This is like [the woman] the Buddha could not deliver, who Ananda had to deliver! This is why we must uphold [the teachings]. We cannot bear for sentient beings to not receive the teachings, to not have the guidelines of this discipline. So, we must mindfully exhorted them. There are many [precepts], some minor, relating to our daily living. Others are major, [to be used] when we encounter serious obstacles. We must still patiently endure and continue on. Right now, we must act urgently. Time is running out. We cannot just sit idly by and do nothing. it is just like those two girls said, “We must quickly do something to help the earth.” Yes, this was their vow. For the sake of sentient beings and the earth, we must do something; we must not wait. We must engage in spiritual practice. “In exhorting and admonishing others we must know the sutras and the vinaya and take practicing patience as a priority.” That is right, we must practice and uphold this. as we just said, the Buddha’s teachings are inseparable from the two doors, the door of exhortation and the door of admonishment.
“Refrain from all that is evil” and “Practice all that is good.” “Refraining from all evil is known as the door of admonishment. Practicing all that is good is known as the door of exhortation.” I hope that everyone can do this; it is very simple. So, we must all be mindful. We must not wait; time is running out.
Continuing on, the previous sutra passage says, “Great compassion is the room, gentleness and patience are the clothing and the emptiness of all phenomena is the seat; being here, they expound the Dharma.”
We should all be very familiar with this. we should take these verses to heart until we can recite them fluently. We must understand their meaning very clearly. So, “When they teach this sutra….” The following passage says, “When they teach this sutra, if people denounce them with harsh words and attach with knives, sticks, bricks or stones, they will bear the Buddha in mind and will thus patiently endure. In trillions of lands, I manifest my pure, solid and strong body. For countless billions of kalpas, I expound the Dharma for sentient beings.”
[When it says] “When they teach this sutra,” it refers to when someone forms the aspiration to expound the Lotus Sutra.
When they teach this sutra: When they repeat the teachings of this wondrous Lotus Sutra.... this is to advise people who spread the sutra out of compassion for [people in] the future. They must use their power of patience to earnestly encourage others. To promote this sutra in the period of Dharma-degeneration they must take patience as a priority.
This is when the Buddha begins to urge everyone to engage in spiritual practice. Not only must we practice, we must also accept and uphold the Lotus Sutra. This is what this passage says. So, we must “spread the sutra our of compassion for [people in] the future”. In addition to exercising compassion and wisdom, we must also awaken our loving-kindness. We must awaken compassion in our hearts as we think pf people in the future. This is just the future as seen from the Buddha but also the future as seen from our present time. The Buddha’s future is our present, but there are many more eras ahead of us.
Take for example our young children of today. In the future as seen from their future, I hope that everyone will be able to encounter this sutra, form vows and go out to spread it. This is spreading the sutra for the future. “They must use their power of patience to earnestly encourage others.” We must also encourage others. We must be very diligent and form great vows ourselves. This is like these children who went to encourage others; after encouraging them, they also took down their names and addresses. The girls said, “It is a long time away, so we will be back!” Think about it, isn’t this the power patience? In order to spread and promote vegetarianism, the two girls persisted without giving up. Promoting the sutra like this is also a matter of having a great vow. It is exhorting and admonishing people to refrain from evil, to refrain from taking life by eating the flesh of sentient beings. I believe these children will continue. Maybe they will not have to wait until “1/11”. Maybe these people will change more quickly and become vegetarians already now. It is possible! In addition to the environmental benefits, the children can also tell them about the health benefit of vegetarianism. They can also tell them that killing living things is not right.
In this way, they can slowly advise and guide them. Isn’t this promoting the sutras? “Refrain from all that is evil and practice all that is good.” This is having compassion. These children have compassion. The Buddha’s compassion must be passed down to later generations. Thus, we need the power of patience. Will we be able to continue to pass it down? We hope that the children will continue to do so, but what expectations do we have for ourselves? We must be earnest and encourage others. We must awaken and benefit ourselves and others; we must promote this sutra in this period of Dharma-degenerations and take patience as a priority. We must persevere in our patience and constantly maintain this state of mind. We must be mindful. “If people denounce them with harsh words and attack with knives, sticks, bricks or stones.”
If people denounce them with harsh words and attack with knives, sticks, bricks of stones: If people come before them and denounce them with harsh and vulgar language and moreover hit them with knives, sticks, bricks or stones….
Some people, if we try to teach or exhort them, will scowl at us, and many might even curse at us. this is because they refuse to listen, and because what we say seems to go against their beliefs. They know that meat comes from living beings, but now there is a group of people exhorting them not to kill living beings or eat their meat. So after hearing us promote vegetarianism, not only will they be unable to accept this, they will also start to slander us. When we call on them to do good deeds, not only will they be unable to do them, they will also slander us. So, to practice food deeds and to spread the Dharma both require patience. “If people denounce [us] with harsh words….” These people exist; we hear this often, “I advised someone to do something and they cursed at me.” We often hear these things.
Purna Maitraynoputra said, “If people merely denounce me with harsh words, I am grateful they did not beat me with sticks or killed me with knives. I am very grateful to them.” Yes, we must be grateful. What if they do use a knife, a stick or club? Or throw rocks at our heads? What do we do? We must have Purna’s spirit of gratitude and Never-Slighting Bodhisattva’s earnestness. We must still never dare to slight others. We must still respect them. This is the mindset we must apply. So when people denounce us with harsh words, when people use impolite, filthy words to curse us we must remain patient all the same. Even if they attack us with knives, sticks, bricks or stones, we must still be patient. Even if they injure our bodies, we must patiently endure. We must take the Buddha-mind as our own. How did the Buddha engage in spiritual practice? We have now just started to learn from the Buddha. [We must] learn from the Buddha and bear Him in mind. This means we must be patient.
They will bear the Buddha in mind, and will thus patiently endure: When things go against their wishes, when afflictions arise and challenging conditions appear, because they bear the Buddha in mind, they will patiently endure all evils of the world.
This speaks of when people go against our wishes. This is how things are in the world; things do not go our way nine times out if ten. So, “When things go against their wishes, when afflictions arise” [refers to] when others go against our wishes or when, exhorting someone, we go against their wishes. Then we have gone against each other. When we exhort others to do good deeds, we may go against them. They may not like hearing they must do good things; this may go against their wishes. So when this happens, we might not be able to persuade them they might not comply with our wishes. This is what happened to those two girls who promoted vegetarianism. Some people said, “I can’t live without meat and closed their door in rejection.” But they still felt were going well; they got 10 or 20 positive responses that day. There were likely more than 10 or 20 refusals, but [the girls] could be understanding and joyful. This is the same idea.
So, when challenging conditions appear, we must quickly call to mind that we are spiritual practitioners. [we take] the Buddha’s mind as our own; we must accommodate even the most stubborn sentient beings and wait for opportunities to teach and transform them. This is what it means to “patiently endure all evils of the world.” Sentient beings are stubborn by nature. No matter how negatively they [act toward us], we must patiently endure, endure these “adverse conditions without giving rise to anger”. We must not give rise to anger or hatred. This must be our aspiration at all times; we must be willing to five of ourselves to help others. So, we must be patient and “abide peacefully in the principles with unwavering minds”.
The patiently endure adverse conditions without giving rise to anger. They peacefully endure, abiding peacefully in the principles with unwavering minds. With wisdom, they peacefully abide in the empty nature of the ultimate reality of all phenomena. This is known as “patience”.
We must peacefully endure. “The emptiness of all phenomena is the seat.” How does it matter how people sound or look? “The emptiness of all phenomena is the seat.” When we serve, it should be without expectations. As long as we abide peacefully in the principles with unwavering minds, this is “peacefully abiding with wisdom”. With wisdom, we peacefully abide in the Dharma. Thus, external conditions will not affect our state of mind. [This is] “the ultimate reality of all phenomena. This is known as patience.” Actually, if we understand the principles of all phenomena, these various shapes and forms, what is there to take issue with? There is ni need; we simply endure them patiently. These are the Three Directives for those who uphold the sutras.
Thus [it says], “In trillions of lands, I manifest my pure, solid and strong body.” The Buddha said [this]. If there are people who spread this sutra in the future, the Buddha Himself said that, in trillions of lands, He “manifests [His] pure, solid and strong body.”
In trillions of lands, I manifest my pure, solid and strong body: How does one bear the Buddha in mind? One must contemplate how the Tathagata in the past, in infinite trillions of lands, manifested His pure body. This body is capable of enduring all evils. It is so solid and so strong that neither praise nor slander can move it. Like the roots and trunk of a tree, it is said to be solid and cannot be uprooted. Anything that does not change its form when influenced by other things is said to be strong. This means the mind is unchanging and unwavering.
This is the Buddha-mind. If we are able to take His mind into ours, then the Buddha will abide forever within our minds. It is everywhere. As long as the Lotus Sutra is present somewhere, the Buddha’s entire body is there. When we hear the sutra, do we remember it all? This is the Buddha’s entire body. Thus, the Buddha says, “In trillions of lands, I manifest my pure, solid and strong body.” When trillions of people have the Dharma at heart, they have the Buddha’s entire body. Moreover, His body is pure, solid and strong. This pure, solid and strong Buddha-body is the Dharmakaya. When we take the Dharmakaya into our minds, we return to our nature of True Suchness, which is pure and undefiled. This is what it means to “bear the Buddha in mind.” “One must contemplate how the Tathagata, in the past, in infinite trillions of lands, manifested His pure body.” We must contemplate how the Buddhas of the past, the Buddhas of the present and the Buddhas of the future forever abide in these trillions of lands. Thus, what They reveal are Their pure bodies. So, “This body is capable of enduring all evils. It is so solid and strong that neither praise nor slander can move it.” No matter if people slander or praise us, it makes no difference to those who uphold the sutra. When others praise us, we must not give rise to arrogance; that would be wrong. When others slander us, our heart must remain unshaken. In this way, we are “so solid and strong that neither praise nor slander can move [us].” This describes the Buddha’s pure body. We all innately have this pure body of the Buddha. What the Buddha has [learned] through countless Kalpas of spiritual practice, He teaches us, enabling us all to take His mind as our own. So, “Like the roots and trunk of a tree, it is said to be solid and cannot be uprooted.” This is like a great, thousand year-old tree. Its roots run so deep and so long that even if people try to uproot it , they cannot do it. This means it is very solid. So “Anything that does not change its form when influenced by other things is said to be strong.” The form of this tree is unchanging. It puts forth the same flowers and gives rise to the same fruits. From its roots all the way to its fruits, it is all part of the tree’s original form. This tree creates the same kind of caused and the same kind of effects. “This means the mind is unchanging and unwavering.”
Thus, “For countless billions of Kalpas, I expound the Dharma for sentient beings.” For countless billions of Kalpas, He expounds the Dharma for sentient beings.
For countless billions of Kalpas, I expound the Dharma for sentient beings: This is like Never-Slighting Bodhisattva from the teaching on the intrinsic. When he manifests, he has to expound the Dharma. When he expounds the Dharma, he has to manifest. The dual benefits of form and voice reach far and wide.
This is the Buddha’s dedication. For such a long time, lifetime after lifetime, He came to teach the Dharma. This is like Never-Slighting Bodhisattva from the teaching on the intrinsic. Also Never-Slighting Bodhisattva did this lifetime after lifetime. He did not fear people’s slander or cursing. He still treated all sentient beings with respect. In this way, “When he manifests, he has to expound the Dharma.” When a Bodhisattva manifests in this world, his aspiration will always be to expound the Dharma. What form does he take to expound the Dharma? “When he manifests, he has to expound the Dharma. When he expounds the Dharma, he has to manifest.” Teaching and doing are one and the same. We must say what we do and do what we say. Thus, our form and voice both benefit [others]. Expounding the Dharma, we have to manifest [These are] “the dual benefits of form and voice.” Even our form, our actions and so on [can teach]. Simply by seeing us, others will give rise to joy and give rise to the will to practice. Or perhaps they will resonate with the Dharma we teach and will be able to accept it. This is all beneficial for them. Whether it is seeing His body or listening to His teachings, these can both benefit sentient beings. We must be mindful. Buddhist practice is always a matter of the mind. We must return to the spirit of the Buddha. We must take the Buddha’s spirit and His Dharma into our minds. Our minds must become one with the Buddha’s. In forming aspirations, we are like small ants climbing Mt. Sumeru. Young children can form aspirations and vows; so what about us? So, let us always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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