Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures (見寶塔品 古佛示現)
Date: Junary.03.2018
“Sakyamuni Tathagata gathered His manifestations from the ten directions, thrice transformed [defiled] lands into pure lands and so on. It is not only about seeing the stupa of treasures, but this alone is taken as this chapter’s title. Upon seeing the stupa of treasures, the assembly gave rise to rare and precious aspirations; only then could [the Buddha] open the stupa.”
Previously we discussed the Chapter on Dharma Teachers. Now we are already at the eleventh chapter. In the previous Chapter on Dharma Teachers, the Buddha emphasized how important this sutra is. This sutra is the Buddha’s original intent. His goal in coming to this world was to open and reveal to sentient beings His understanding and views.
This is all encompassed within the Lotus Sutra. A few days ago I kept emphasizing to everyone that we must uphold the Lotus Sutra. Even if it is just one line or one verse of it, if we delight in it and sincerely accept it, we will be covered by the robe of Sakyamuni Buddha. Everyone should still remember this. Furthermore, wherever this sutra abides, the Buddha’s entire body is there. This is His Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya is the principles. The principles are everlasting, and they exist everywhere. Wherever the principles abide, the Buddha’s Dharmakaya is present.
The Dharmakaya is without form or substance. Yet everyone intrinsically carries the Buddha’s Dharmakaya with them. We can all understand these principles; it is just that layers upon layers of ignorance keep covering us, leaving us with no way to clearly demonstrate these principles. Solely due to the ignorance that covers us, we have become unenlightened beings who create all kinds of afflictions of the mind. When our afflictions clash with those of others, we give rise to passion, enmity, hate and love.
In this way, these complicated emotions emerge. With this, our lives become full of suffering. At the beginning of the Introductory Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, we already received the Sutra of Infinite Meanings. The Buddha taught the Sutra of Infinite Meanings and then He fell silent. He sat motionless on the Dharma-seat. Of course, no one left for at that time they already recognized that the Sutra of Infinite Meanings He had just taught was “very profound, very profound, truly very profound.”
Everyone had already taken this in, but where is this extremely profound, wondrous Dharma found? After the Buddha finished teaching, He remained seated in silence to signify that following this, there was extremely profound and wondrous Dharma that the Buddha had not yet taught. Thus, He did not leave His seat. Everyone remained sitting in that place. Then the Buddha radiated light and manifested auspicious appearances. This made everyone who looked at the Buddha and saw this extraordinary light and these auspicious appearances give rise to joy in their hearts. They knew that the Buddha was about to expound the profound, wondrous Dharma stored in His heart. The light from His tuft [of white hair] illuminated everything in the east.
What lay to the east? The Buddha’s homeland was ancient India, and to the east of India is China. Many people from China later journeyed westward to obtain the sutras. The light from the tuft of hair between the Buddha’s eyebrows illuminated 18,000 lands to the east. In the beginning of this sutra, when the Buddha is sitting in Samadhi in the Introductory Chapter, it already [indicated] that this Dharma was to be spread in this way, from India to China.
In China, the Buddha-Dharma was spread very widely. This happened through the efforts of Dharma Master Kumarajiva and Dharma Master Xuan Zang. Many people from China traveled to the west, and from the west, Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna came to spread the Dharma from India to China; later, there was Dharma Master Kumarajiva. This sutra that we are discussing now was brought [to China] and translated by Dharma Master Kumarajiva, a Great Vehicle sutra he translated himself.
The Lotus Sutra is the Buddha’s original intent. It came from His first thought upon attaining Buddhahood, “Amazing! Amazing! All beings possess the Buddha’s nature of wisdom.” This was the Buddha’s first thought after attaining enlightenment. He realized that all sentient beings in the world are replete with true principles. Everyone innately possesses the nature of True Suchness, the Buddha-nature. This Buddha-nature encompasses the entire universe; it is one with everything. He understood that this is the same for all sentient beings; we are all equal to the Buddha. The Buddha became one with the universe, and we sentient beings are equal to the Buddha. We all possess the necessary conditions for becoming one with the universe and converging with the principles. They are inherent to us all. It is just that we sentient beings are obstructed by ignorance. So the Buddha decided to come and open this door for sentient beings. He wanted to open the door of our ignorance so that the nature of True Suchness inside us can come forth.
However, opening this door, the door of ignorance, is easier said than done! So the Buddha had to continuously contemplate the conditions that sentient beings experience in the world and the environment they experience to help them enter the door. Thus, He decided to begin with limited teachings. So, the first group of people He transformed, who followed Him to become monastic practitioners, had all been His elders in the palace. They were His maternal and paternal uncles. Some were His paternal uncles and some were His maternal uncles; they were His relatives from both his mother’s and father’s side. When the prince first left the palace, the king was worried, so he sent royal relatives, his closest relatives, to go out and find him. He hoped that through their feelings of kinship they could summon the prince back to the palace. Still they were not able to persuade the prince. He was single-mindedly focused on discovering the true principles for the sake of all sentient beings in the world. The world’s sentient beings suffer so much. He was born in the palace into a happy life of luxury and riches with many people to serve Him. He led this kind of life, but all He saw was people in suffering. The slaves and the untouchables lived lives full of hardships.
Moreover, He thought about the many contradictions of human life, birth, aging, illness and death, the laws of nature by which [all things] arise and cease. The prince’s thinking and perspectives had differed from ordinary children ever since birth. As he grew up, His way of thinking was also different. In ordinary beings, our sixth, seventh and eighth consciousnesses all become part of our karmic consciousness. In perceiving the external world, the Five Roots, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, connect with the external Five Dusts, [the Five Sense Objects]. When the Five Roots and Five Consciousnesses connect with the Five Dusts, no matter what the external strata is like, we give rise to discursive thoughts. Greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt all form when the Five Roots meet the Five Dusts. Our minds give rise to thoughts; this is the mind-consciousness. When the Five Roots connect with our environment, our mind-consciousness takes it in. When our sixth consciousness perceives it, we think “Oh. So beautiful! I want that!” When we contemplate fame and status, we crave them and want them. We contemplate this and take action; our Six Roots [lead us] to create karma in the external world. Thus, the karmic forces that we create through our Five Consciousnesses and the sixth and the seventh consciousness eventually end up in the eighth consciousness. In our eighth consciousness, these karmic forces are carried [from lifetime to lifetime]. “We cannot take anything with us after death; only our karma follows us to our next life.” We carry it into this life. In this life, in the same way, the Five Consciousnesses and the Five Roots connect with the Five Dusts and pour sixth consciousness forms cravings and gives rise to discursive thoughts. We start to scheme and create karma which then returns to our eighth consciousness. This increases our afflictions, ignorance and negative karma, adding layer after layer; without any control, we are continually dragged along by our karmic consciousness. As a result, we spend lifetime after lifetime in this world. Our mind follows our environment; we act according to our environment and think and behave in response to our environment.
This is the case for unenlightened beings. But what about Prince Siddhartha? He was different; form birth, in his thinking, he took the things he perceived as he connected with the external world into his heart [and contemplated them]. He could not bear for the world’s sentient beings to suffer. Because of this, he thought about how he could help others. From youth to adulthood, the more he understood, the more he recognized the suffering in the world and its contradictions and unsolvable mysteries.
In this world, how could he possibly unlock the great principles of nature, its great mysteries? How could he help humanity [realize] that all people are equal in nature? The separation of the four castes was such that the rich stayed rich while the untouchables suffered in poverty. For generation after generation, they remained untouchables. When it came to this unequal caste structure, if he became king and succeeded to the throne, would there be any way to change it? It would be impossible. In the Buddha’s era, ancient India had many small kingdoms. Each city was its own kingdom, so there were a great number of small kingdoms. Kapilavastu was just one very small kingdom [among many] in ancient India. So how many people would he be able to influence? How could he possibly eliminate the caste system? These kinds of worldly matters are hard to change.
They only way is by using the principles, by [understanding] the law of nature. Only by guiding everyone to thoroughly understand these principles, starting from the most fundamental methods of equality, would he be able to accomplish change. By changing people’s minds and their way of thinking, the caste structure would naturally change too. This was the Buddha’s thinking as a prince.
Thus, he did not wish for comfort or ease, did not wish to live peacefully among such lavish luxuries and with many people serving him. Instead, he wanted to go into the outside world and experience the laws of nature. He wanted to understand the many religions, all the 96 varieties of religions, to know what they were actually teaching. So, he left the palace to seek the principles. He went out to experience the principles of nature and life. Thus, he began his search.
For so many years, he visited a great number of Brahmins who each expounded his own teachings. These 96 kinds [of teachings] each had their own unique principles, but much of what they practiced was not close to human nature. So, he sought another path, a path that connected [the laws of] nature with human nature and the principles. Therefore, he decided to quiet his mind in earnest contemplation and engage in ascetic practice. This was the process [He followed].
Although his maternal and paternal uncles, his elders in the royal family, came to persuade him to return to the palace, his mind was made up to keep advancing along the path he wished to seek for himself. Having attained Buddhahood, He could now understand which people He needed to transform. These five individuals were to be transformed as His first group of disciples.
Of course, after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha had the power of knowing past lives. He understood past karmic conditions. He needed to transform these five people who were to became His first group of disciples.
We have discussed before how in the Jataka Sutra, the Buddha formed this vow. “If you are by my side, call upon everyone to take of the meat from my body to sustain their lives”. This was [when He was] a king who made a great vow. He could not bear for his people to suffer from hunger. There was a famine due to drought which lead to crop failure. He could not bear it, so he transformed into a big fish. These five people were the first discover this fish, who seemed to be talking to them. “I wish to engage in spiritual practice. Please go tell the villagers to come and take of my meat to sustain their lives. This will fulfill my spiritual aspiration. If you do so, when I finally attain Buddhahood you five will be the first people I transform.” We have told this story in the past. It was in the Buddha’s Jataka Sutra. Once He attained Buddhahood, His power of knowing past lives also emerged. “These five people are the first group of disciples that I must transform.” That is why He began with “suffering, causation, cessation and the Path.” Though we say these are limited teachings for entering the Buddha’s door, [this was what was necessary to teach].
His royal relatives. These royal relatives where all the kin of his father and mother. They all belonged to the nobility, and they were used to comfort and luxury. So, He had to tell them about “suffering”. They had never experienced suffering before. It was only during this time, while following the prince in spiritual practice, that they experienced suffering. However, they did not understand the hardships and suffering of others since they had never gone out to experience it. Thus, He needed to tell them about “suffering”. Their understanding was quite shallow, so just to tell them about suffering, He had [repeat this teaching] three times. This was the Three Turnings and Twelve Applications of the Dharma-wheel. To teach the Four Noble Truths, He had to turn the Dharma-wheel three time. Only then were they able to comprehend the principles of suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. So, when we are teaching the Dharma, for the wealthy and noble to accept it is relatively difficult. They have not [experienced suffering] and are thus unable to comprehend the suffering of others [or know what suffering] feels like. So, for them to engage in spiritual practice and understand the Buddha-Dharma is truly difficult! Those who have such experiences will quite easily understand.
For instance, yesterday (August 21, 2016), I went to visit Taitung, to care for and listen to our Dharma-family there. Although it has been over a month, the Tzu Chi volunteers in Taitung still have yet to finish surveying the disaster [after Typhoon Nepartak]. The state of emergency has already passed, and they are now [planning for] how to help the survivors in the mid-and long-term. Now that the typhoon has passed, there are still many roofs that [have not been repaired]. In the past, our focus was on Taimali because the destruction was most concentrated there. Taimali is a hub between west and east [Taiwan]. To go from west to east, you must pass through Taimali, where the disaster [hit the hardest]. So, everyone focused their energy there. Our Tzu Chi volunteers from northern, central and southern Taiwan also mobilized. They took shifts over many days to come to Taitung and work with Taitung’s Tzu Chi volunteers in surveying the disaster. Some of Taitung’s Tzu Chi volunteers were themselves affected by the disaster. Their roofs were all damaged to some extent. Yet they still put their own needs aside and first hurried to help the disaster survivors in any way they could.
So, they all put others before themselves and joined in [the relief efforts]. In this way, when we see people suffering from a calamity, we all hurry to plan ways to help. While rescuers provide relief on the frontlines we are in the back, making plans. Once the emergency phase of the disaster is over, how can we help with their housing situation? In that place, they are close to the ocean, so every time there is a typhoon, they bear the brunt of the winds. They had not experienced such a big disaster before, but after this major catastrophe, what about the future? We do not know what it will bring. So, we must quickly help fortify their buildings so that they have disaster in the future, they will make it through safely.
Yesterday when I paid a visit there, our staff from the constructions office reported to me that some of the roofs had already been fixed and others had already been fortified with steel. Now, in [the next] two days, once we finish the roofs, it will be complete. This is what we must do in Taimali. There were also many schools [that were damaged]. One was a school we helped to build for the Project Hope for Disaster Risk Reduction. Besides this school we helped build, many others were also damaged by this typhoon. We must give priority to this. If they apply through the government, they will have to wait for approval and allocation of funds. This is a complicated [process]. It is better that we quickly help them repair. In this way it will be finished in time for the children to go back to school after this summer break. When everyone heard this, they were so relieved!
However, I heard that Beinan township in the coastal areas was also heavily impacted. Many of our care recipients there lived in unregulated buildings. In the past, they lived like this, but now [their homes] have been damaged beyond repair. They do not have the finances to repair them. What can these people do? There are still many unanswered questions. So, we must continue on with our assessment. There are still several hundred households that need [our help], so our Tzu Chi volunteers are continuing their efforts to care for them. We heard about one elderly person who lived alone. After the disaster, her daughter came back to see her. The daughter saw how Tzu Chi’s volunteers were caring for and comforting her mother, and she was very touched. She said that during the 9/21 earthquake (1999), she was affected by the disaster in that area. During the 8/8 flood in Kaohsiung (2009), they were also affected by that disaster. And now? Now, in the “7/8 disaster” the date Typhoon Nepartak struck in July, she was again affected by disaster. She said, “Every time there is a disaster, who is it that comes to help me? It is always Tzu Chi volunteers I see.” She said that she always takes comfort in this. This time, with her mother living alone and her house having been [destroyed], Tzu Chi volunteers came yet again [to help]. She was very moved. [Encountering] someone like this we truly wonder, why is her life like that? She lived through each major disaster only to encounter yet another. This truly [shows] karmic forces cannot be changed.
There was also the village chief of Xiangian Village in Taimali. He was affected by the disaster too, but for the sake of the disaster survivors, he constantly kept in close contact with us. He accompanied us to quickly go visit [survivors] and provide information about the circumstances of the disaster survivors and so on. He said, “Although my home is also severely damaged, it does not matter to me. These villagers of mine are more important.” So, we were also very moved by him. There is also a man who used to live in delusion until Tzu Chi volunteers turned him around. Now, he has given up drinking and put an end to his former bad habits. Following this disaster, Tzu Chi volunteers quickly brought him along, “Come! Although your home was affected, we should all go to help the villagers together. We need your strength. Since you can drive, can you please bring your car? We need your help too! Come, we are going to survey [the damage] and deliver supplies.” He said, “Okay!” His parents also said, “Go ahead and go. We will gradually take care of things here. The situation is so severe that we anyway cannot fix everything on our own. Everyone should combine their strength and work together.” So, this middle-aged person also [joined in the relief work]. He said, “As it is, with only my parents and myself, how would we be able to fix our house? It is better if I join the Tzu Chi volunteers and clean up everyone’s homes. This way, others will come together to help my family too, to help us clean up. By helping others we actually help ourselves.” He then said, “I am so grateful! I was really suffering. Looking at how my finances and everything I own are ruined and how I have to start all over again, it was the Tzu Chi volunteers who encouraged me and helped me. Every day the Tzu Chi sisters told me that I must stand up again and get to work. They gave me a Jing Si Aphorism, ’When you open your heart, your luck changes and blessings will come.’ Whenever I am tired or worried, I think of this phrase, and I get to work.” He even said, “Each day, the sisters give me an aphorism, so that I will have one to read every day. That helps me let go [of my worries] and continue to work hard.”
A [mindset] like this is truly moving. He is able to be gradually evercome his time of hardship. Moreover, our Tzu Chi volunteers are separated into teams to work. When I hear how they serve others, I truly feel for them. In short, during this visit, I saw these Bodhisattvas and how grateful they were to our Tzu Chi volunteers from western Taiwan, the Tzu Chi brothers and sisters who came to accompany them. They were all grateful to each other. The typhoon this time truly helped them understand that people need to go out to serve others. This is the firm spiritual aspiration of Bodhisattvas.
This was how Sakyamuni Buddha came to the world. He came to this world and “gathered His manifestations from the ten directions.” Let us go back to the verse.
Sakyamuni Tathagata gathered His manifestations from the ten directions, thrice transformed [defiled] lands into pure lands and so on. It is not only about seeing the stupa of treasures, but this alone is taken as this chapter’s title. Upon seeing the stupa of treasures, the assembly gave rise to rare and precious aspirations; only then could [the Buddha] open the stupa.
The previous Chapter on Dharma Teachers has already come to an end. It is all about how the Buddha wanted us to sustain this Dharma for future generations. He encouraged us all to form Bodhisattva-aspirations to go among people and join everyone’s strength together to help those in suffering. We have often been talking about this lately. This was in the Chapter on Dharma Teachers. The Buddha placed such great importance on passing this sutra on to future generations. Wherever this sutra is, the Buddha’s entire body abides there.
Next, we will begin the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. So, at the beginning, Sakyamuni Buddha “gathered His manifestations from the ten directions, thrice transformed [defiled] lands into pure lands and so on.” It is not just about seeing the stupa. In the following, we will be able to see the stupa of treasures. “But this alone is taken as this chapter’s title. Seeing the Stupa of Treasures” is taken as this chapter’s title. Clearly, the Buddha and the stupa [have deeper meanings]. Inside is also Many Treasures Buddha. The meanings contained in this are very profound. So, “This alone is taken as this chapter’s title.” In [this chapter], later on, Sakyamuni Buddha and His manifestations from the ten directions will all gather. The meaning of this is very profound. It is not only about seeing a stupa of treasures and nothing else; seeing this stupa contains very profound meanings. This will be explained in the following sutra passages.
So, “Upon seeing the stupa of treasures, the assembly gave rise to rare and precious aspirations.” When everyone got to see the stupa of treasures, they found it quite extraordinary. How could this stupa of treasures suddenly emerge from the ground? Everyone found it truly extraordinary, so they all sought to understand it. So, they had to form rare and precious aspirations. Due to everyone’s rare aspirations, they sought the principles contained within. They had to first become inspired; only then could [the Buddha] open the stupa of treasures. This is all in the upcoming Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. Its contents are very abundant.
When Sakyamuni Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak, the appearance of Many Treasures served as a testimony. Many Treasures Tathagata was an ancient Buddha of the past who had entered Parinirvana long ago.
When Sakyamuni Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak, the appearance of Many Treasures Tathagata, Many Treasures Buddha, served as a testimony. When the stupa of treasures opened, Many Treasures Buddha was inside [Sakyamuni] Buddha thus entered the stupa and sat on the same seat as Many Treasures Buddha; this is the teaching we will be discussing. So, Many Treasures Buddha came to bear witness. Since Sakyamuni Buddha was in this world, teaching the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak, Many Treasures Buddha came to attest to it. Many Treasures Buddha was an ancient Buddha of the past. He entered Parinirvana a very long time ago. But now that the Buddha was teaching the sutra at Vulture Peak, He came to bear witness.
In this sutra’s Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures, Sakyamuni Tathagata’s manifestations from the ten directions each bring a Bodhisattva with Them to make offerings to the Stupa of Many Treasures. When They arrived at Vulture Peak, Sakyamuni Tathagata used His spiritual powers to thrice transform defiled lands into pure lands.
So, in this sutra, the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures is about Sakyamuni Tathagata and His manifestations from the ten directions as well as the Bodhisattvas who followed His manifestations. Each Buddha, each transformation-body of the Buddha, had a Bodhisattva who came with Him in order to make offerings to the stupa of treasures. The Buddha’s manifestations of the ten directions and Their Bodhisattvas came to make offerings to the stupa of treasures. They all came to Vulture Peak. Once He saw that all His manifestations from the ten directions and their Bodhisattvas had come, Sakyamuni Tathagata used His spiritual powers to thrice transform defiled lands into pure lands. “Thrice transformed” refers to how He [first] turned our defiled Saha World into a pure land.
This was the initial transformation, when “He transformed the Saha World alone” Next, He transformed another “200 trillion nayutas of lands.” Then He did this yet one more time. “He further transformed another 200 trillion nayutas of lands into pure lands.”
Because of this it says He “thrice transformed [defiled] lands into pure lands.” This is to demonstrate the richness of content of the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. In the Chapter on Dharma Teachers, Sakyamuni Buddha said that as long as there are people who uphold this sutra, wherever the sutra is, the entire body of the Buddha will be there. In the previous Chapter on Dharma Teachers, we already discussed this.
The Chapter on Dharma Teachers reveals that the Dharma and its teachers are both worthy of respect. The Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures describes how, wherever this sutra is taught, Many Treasures Tathagata will manifest to listen to the sutra.
So, the Chapter on Dharma Teachers “reveals that the Dharma and its teachers are both worthy of respect.” We must have respect for this Dharma. In the Chapter on Dharma Teachers it says we must respect the perfect teachings, the Great Dharma of the One Vehicle, and we must also respect people who uphold this sutra. This is in the Chapter on Dharma Teachers. “The Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures describes how, wherever this sutra is taught….” The Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures [goes on to say] that wherever we teach this sutra, we will see “Many Treasures Tathagata manifest to listen to the sutra.” This is certain; Many Treasures Buddha made this vow. Whenever the Lotus Sutra is taught, He will always come listen to it. Every Buddha has their own vows.
So, in the following we come to the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. We talked about this before. The Chapter on Dharma Teachers ends with, “People who draw close to Dharma teachers will quickly attain the Bodhisattva-path. People who follow these teachers and learn will be able to see Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sands.”
This means that we must earnestly draw close to the Dharma. To teach the Dharma, as we mentioned previously, we do not have to be monastics. The fourfold assembly can all teach the Dharma. Upholding the Lotus Sutra is the responsibility of the fourfold assembly, to spread the Dharma for future [generations] and teach the Dharma. If we can listen to these very proper teachings, the perfect teachings of the One Vehicle Dharma, [contained in] the Lotus Sutra, as long as we can earnestly listen to them, then “we will quickly attain the Bodhisattva-path.” We will quickly form aspirations to walk the Bodhisattva-path. See how we have so many Bodhisattvas in the world now. Wherever there is a disaster, Bodhisattvas from all directions come together. Isn’t this what happened in Taitung this time? When eastern Taiwan was [hit by a typhoon], Tzu Chi volunteers from western, central and southern Taiwan, these Living Bodhisattvas, all rushed to that place to help and [plan for] how to best serve the disaster survivors. Think about it, isn’t this a matter of practicing the Great Vehicle Dharma, of always being able to “see Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sands”?
Everyone has the Buddha’s heart; they all take the Buddha’s heart as their own. We all innately have the nature of True Suchness. As long as we can open the door of ignorance, our natures of True Suchness will appear, as we go among people to give of ourselves. So, in our spiritual practice, we must truly be very mindful. We must seek to comprehend the Buddha’s true principles. Exactly what were the teachings He gave us? We must mindfully seek to comprehend this. All Dharma can be found in our daily living, as long as we can always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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