Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Revealing What Is True and Not False (花開蓮現 顯實不虛)
Date: January.10.2018
“At the Vulture Peak Assembly, [the Buddha] opened the provisional to reveal the True [Dharma], which is not false. Great wisdom is innate enlightenment. The spiritual training ground is pure True Suchness. The impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness does not discriminate between high and low. Humans intrinsically possess the same nature. The true principles are contained within all consciousnesses.”
We must be mindful! The Dharma requires us to mindfully experience it. Only when we are able to actualize the Dharma in our daily living will this be the True Dharma. “At the Vulture Peak Assembly, [the Buddha] opened the provisional to reveal the True [Dharma], which is not false.” This means that after the Buddha attained enlightenment, He began to think about how to help people experience and awaken to their nature of True Suchness. This is the Buddha’s original intent. However, this is easier said than done. The Buddha resolved to patiently guide sentient beings according to their capabilities.
Beginning at Deer Park, He started to give teachings, explaining that the world is full of suffering, that everyone is equally [subject to] birth, aging, illness and death. Even people of wealthy families or kings are unable to predict how long they will live; they cannot make such predictions. So, the Buddha analyzed the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death in the world so that everyone could comprehend that the cycle of birth and death is impartial. He then analyzed the disparities between the poor and the rich, those of high status and low. With different social classes, why are some people born into poverty? On top of poverty they experience illness, on top of illness, disability. Some are born with missing limbs or are born suffering from illnesses. There is suffering from illnesses, suffering from hardships and poverty and suffering from birth, aging, illness and death.
He also analyzed the suffering from the world’s natural disasters, caused by the accumulation of many karmic forces. These are the appearances of suffering that He analyzed. The Buddha then analyzed the imbalance within people’s minds. The way people live gives rise to afflictions and results in man-made disasters. Small disasters affect a family, medium disasters bring chaos to a society and large disasters drive a country into war. This arises from a single thought. So, a single thought creates all the suffering in the world. The Buddha patiently [analyzed] each layer to help everyone recognize suffering and cultivate blessings.
Cultivating blessings also happens during this cycle of birth, aging, illness and death. We must seize our time and our karmic conditions to understand the principles and quickly cultivate wisdom and create blessings. He even taught us how to transcend this cycle of birth and death and no longer return to cyclic existence in this world. From the simple to the profound, from the obvious to the subtle, He explained one layer after another, even how people come [to be born]. It is through the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. Starting with a thought of ignorance, we are led by karmic forces to a certain household, a certain pair of parents. We follow our affinities there. No matter what kind of environment we end up in, we may be born without all of our limbs, certain to be physically impaired. In this life, regardless of whether we are born into a poor or wealthy family, our situation may be complicated; we may be rich but suffer illness and so on. This is the workings of karma. Born among the rich, we can benefit others and further add to our blessings. This is all demonstrated through [the workings of] karma.
All of this is the Dharma. The Buddha, starting at Deer Park, taught everyone this path of spiritual practice. Everyone needed to have faith in and understand it and put it into action. He helped all people accept it, whether deeply or more shallowly. Some people had a very deep feeling about how the suffering of the world originates in ignorance. Ignorance is found in the world, in the way people interact with one another, affecting one another and mutually creating karmic forces. “I’m afraid! I should just avoid people and focus on engaging in spiritual practice. By ending my interactions with people, I can focus on my practice. I do not want to add to my karma; I want to escape the cycle of birth and death.” They think that by doing this they can transcend samsara. Actually, they have not put an end to their past karmic conditions. However, the Buddha did not say this to them. “Good! Everyone has come to engage in practice. First we should all calm our minds and thoroughly understand the Dharma.” This was how the Buddha taught in the Agama period. In His 42 years [of teaching], He spent 12 years giving the Agama teachings. He repeatedly taught this to everyone because. He worried they would overlook it and forget. Throughout these 12 years, the Buddha guided everyone in this way to find ways to eliminate their afflictions and refrain from creating more negative karma. They must “practice all that is good and refrain from all that is evil” and form good affinities. Having gone through the Agama period in this way, everyone already understood. The teachings of the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links, of Cyclic Existence and many other Dharma-doors were clear to them. They were alert and knew to distant themselves from these causes and conditions. They refrained from creating negative affinities; they knew to distance themselves from that, to guard against life’s afflictions and ignorance. The Buddha was aware of this, so He entered the Vaipulya period. Over eight years, the Buddha taught the Vaipulya teachings. He gradually guided everyone. “Besides benefiting yourself and maintaining the purity of your self-awakening, you still have unresolved karmic affinities, karmic affinities you formed in past lives. You still need to care about the matters of the people of this world and try to understand them.”
But everyone feared being entangled in karma. So, they were a bit hesitant about the Vaipulya. However, the Buddha used wisdom to draw them in and guide them and help them accept the Vaipulya teachings, going one step further with these skillful means to go among people to care for them. Once the Buddha opened up this concept, [people began to] create blessed causes and conditions. Everyone understood and no longer rejected this. They understood their karmic causes and conditions and their causes, conditions, effects and retributions with other people. But the Buddha then went another step further. He spent 22 years discussing the Prajna teachings. The past teachings were about “existence,” the existence of suffering and conditions. They were all part of the truth of suffering, the principles behind suffering, and the principles behind the interaction of causes and conditions. Everyone understood this very clearly by now.
After that, He used the Prajna teachings. The Prajna teachings discussed “emptiness”. Everything that has “existence” has come together, but in the end, it is all ultimately empty. After hearing the Prajna teachings, everyone clearly understood that, indeed, everything in life is ultimately empty. Through birth, aging, illness and death, we pass through our life in this way. Won’t everything completely disappear in the end? Just what kinds of things will happen in future lifetimes? In future, lifetimes the karmic retributions will be even more frightening. They were clearly aware of the workings of karma, but they still treated them as empty. They did not want to contrive any more affinities. So, they stopped at [teachings of] “emptiness” and feared “existence”. They were afraid. So, in this process, the Buddha knew the time had come. Since they understood that “existence” is the source of karmic forces and since they knew about “emptiness,” they should no longer be attached to the two teachings of emptiness and existence. Everyone was clear.
Because of this at the Vulture Peak Assembly, the Buddha began to open up the provisional to reveal the True Dharma. In the past, He did not tell anyone, “It was because of your capabilities that I guided you with skillful means.” He did not say this in the past. Everyone thought, “If I practice this way, I will transcend the cycle of birth and death.” So, when the Buddha taught skillful means at that time, whether He was discussing emptiness or existence, he left that door closed. Everyone thought that was the way things were. “We will practice what the Buddha teaches.”
Now, He took the “provisional,” which is the skillful means, and opened that door so we could all see the ultimate truth the True Dharma inside. This is just like taking us into the storehouse of treasures. In that storehouse, we see this treasure and that treasure. There are many treasures, and we see them all. In fact, in this storehouse, there is still one more treasure chest. This most exquisite treasure chest has not yet to be opened. So, all that people could see was the exterior of the treasure chest. At this time, He truly opened the lid of the treasure chest. After the skillful, provisional teachings, He opened the next set of doors. This is “opening the provisional.” Within the provisional , there is the True Dharma. So, the “provisional,” the skillful teachings, these doors, had now been opened by the Buddha. “Look, inside here you can find the True Dharma, the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. This is everyone’s treasure. Earlier, I helped you understand the Five Roots and Five Dusts. I told you all that the eye-root connects with the form-object, and the ear-root connects with the sound-object. He explained them all to us one by one. Later He explained what we take in, the convergence of the Roots and Dusts. He used these principles to explain that when the Roots and Dusts converge, it is our consciousness that makes contact. Our mind, our consciousness, makes contact with external conditions. He helped us understand this, layer by layer. When ordinary beings’ minds make contact with external conditions, the [sixth] consciousness considers good and bad actions. The [sixth] consciousness is where we have dust-like delusions. We take in so many states from the outside world. This is the sixth consciousness, the sixth consciousness before the seventh. What we take in from the Five Roots and Five Dusts is given to the sixth consciousness. After we categorize this signal, [we think], “I really love this thing, how can I obtain it? This signal, this information, is then contemplated by the [sixth] consciousness. This results in the consciousness of afflictions, in dust-like delusions. In this process, afflictions lead us to create karma. This is also where those who are sharp and clever act from. Then, we take action with our bodies to create much karma. Once karma is created, [the process repeats]; the sixth consciousness feel that momentary happiness. Then the seventh consciousness thinks, “I now possess this!” Since we possess, have obtained it, it is then taken into the eighth consciousness. This is how the Buddha, layer by layer, helped us comprehend and understand. The eighth consciousness is where everything is stored, our karma, all our afflictions, all our ignorance and our karmic consciousness. After we take action, everything returns to the eighth consciousness; all the karma we create is stored in the eighth consciousness.
So, ordinary beings stop at this point. We bring our eighth consciousness with us, without any control. We may go anywhere; if we created blessings, our blessed karma may take us to an ideal family, an ideal country, an ideal environment. In the place our direct and circumstantial retributions take us, we will gradually grow up in that place and live an easy and happy life. We will spend our entire lives like this. This is how unenlightened beings transmigrate. If we bring ignorance along with karma, even if we are born into a life of wealth, we also bring with us greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt and continue to create ignorance in that place, continue to form negative affinities. This makes us “the poor among the rich.” In a world of riches, we do not know to cherish our blessings and still continue giving rise to thoughts of greed. We do not know to do good deeds and instead stop at no means [to get what we want]. Out of greed, we created karma. We may be considered rich but still continue to create karma. Thus, it continues accumulating, and returns to our karmic-consciousness. There are also “the rich among the poor.” Although they did not create blessings in their past lives, they have good affinities. They come here with their karma and are born into poverty and suffering. In this state of poverty and suffering, they experience all the sufferings of life.
However, because they had thoughts of goodness and good affinities, naturally those affinities will lead them to create blessed karma amidst their poverty. Take those in Africa, for example. Their circumstantial and direct retributions brought them much suffering. Many people experience suffering and hardship. But among those suffering are a group of seeds who have good thoughts; they are “the rich among the poor.” With that spiritual wealth, they can be very happy. They are happy every day. Every day they walk the Bodhisattva-path and walk it happily. Whether they are climbing over mountains, whether they are making long journeys over streams or muddy roads, even though it is hard on them, they still want to deliver provisions to families that are suffering more than they are. These are the rich among the poor. Even though their circumstantial and direct retributions in this life have brought them to this impoverished place, they have these good karmic conditions, so naturally they can open their hearts and make use of their collective strength. They can make use of these karmic conditions to help people and are very happy when doing so. This is the result of the different karma that each person creates.
We must believe this. This is how the Buddha, while giving provisional teachings, was actually teaching us the True Dharma. This is because we still have one door [to open]. The True Dharma is in the ninth consciousness. We ordinary beings are only using. The positive and negative karma we create are stored in the eighth consciousness. If we can create good karma, we should pure karma. Right now, what the Buddha is teachings us is to be pure, to do good and be pure. This pure good karma can enter the ninth consciousness, which is our intrinsic nature of True Suchness. This is the True Dharma. This is the last door in the storehouse. This door has opened. So, He “open the provisional.” The previous teachings were part of the process. The door at the end [leads to] the True Dharma. These are the pure seeds of goodness. This is the One Dharma, which is not false. Everyone intrinsically has the nature of True Suchness; we are all equal to the Buddha. If we just push aside all of our afflictions and ignorance, then this pure, wholesome Dharma, our nature of True Suchness, will manifest. This is the True Dharma of the One Vehicle.
The Buddha’s perfect and harmonious teachings, the Lotus Sutra that He taught on Vulture Peak, are for the purpose of revealing the True Dharma. So, He unlocked “great wisdom [which] is innate enlightenment. The spiritual training ground is pure True Suchness.” From this we should be able to understand that everyone has wisdom equal to the Buddha’s. Everyone intrinsically possesses the nature of True Suchness, wisdom which is equal to the Buddha’s. This is our innate enlightenment. Where is this spiritual training ground of innate enlightenment? It is our nature of True Suchness.
Where is our nature of True Suchness? It is at the Vulture Peak Assembly. At the Vulture Peak Assembly, the Buddha opened up our innate enlightenment of True Suchness, which is our great wisdom. This is our spiritual training ground. Though the Buddha is more than 2000 years removed from us, we should know by now that the spiritual training ground of the Vulture Peak Assembly has never disappeared. It is in our hearts; It is everlasting. This Dharma-assembly must continue; we have to walk this road in order to arrive. We clearly know that everyone intrinsically possesses the nature of True Suchness, but our afflictions still exist. So, we must engage in practice and make use of other people’s strength. We make use of people’s afflictions and suffering, by going among people [to help]. So, we [apply] “the impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness.” We go among people with great loving-kindness and compassion. All sentient beings are our family members. They are the same, so all sentient beings are equal. We often see Living Bodhisattvas going among people, people whom they do not have any prior relationship with. These people are suffering, but after much effort, we finally overcome many difficulties to reach these people affected by disasters and suffering. Just as if seeing loved ones who are suffering, we embrace them and give them love. We have sympathy and universal compassion isn’t this the impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness? “Great compassion is the abode, [and] gentleness and patience are the clothing.” This gentleness is like a loving mother caring for her child; when she sees the child wronged or suffering, she will always go to comfort the child. This is the “impartial Dharma of great loving-kindness, which does not discriminate between high and low.” There is no difference between high and low.
The world is filled with disasters. Italy suffered this major disaster, an earthquake [in 2016]. It was only magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale, but because the epicenter was shallow, thousand-year-old structures were destroyed in an instant. Tourists all over the world visited these places. Look at these places of historical significance, these buildings. They were leveled, completely destroyed. It spanned three peaks, three mountain ridges, and numerous ancient buildings that were all listed as the world’s treasures were all destroyed in an instant. Think about it, this is life’s impermanence. The mansions nearby were likewise destroyed in an instant. Tzu Chi volunteers in countries throughout Europe whether from Germany, France, Great Britain and so on, had already begun to strategize how they were going to get together and take action. This is because in each of these countries, there are not that many Tzu Chi volunteers. Italy only has three certified commissioners and four to five who are still in training. These are the Tzu Chi volunteers of Italy. Because they do not have enough manpower, they must have Tzu Chi volunteers from other countries come and join them. This is the impermanence of the world. Regardless of how nice the conditions are, how stable the structures are, building that have stood strong for over hundreds or thousands of years still could to withstand this earthquake. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake decimated everything just like that. Life is impermanent. No matter how nice the conditions are, how precious [the buildings are] even if they are internationally-or nationally-treasured buildings, the same thing happened to them.
There is no difference between the high and low; none at all. So, “Humans intrinsically possess the same nature. The true principles are contained within all consciousnesses.” Human nature has been exactly the same since Beginningless Time. This is what the Buddha told us. We are equal to the Buddha “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature].” We are equal to the Buddha. We all intrinsically have this. All living beings are like the Buddha; they possess the Tathagata-nature “Humans intrinsically possess the same nature. The true principles are contained within all consciousnesses.” All sentient beings’ nature of True Suchness, the “true principles,” these truths and principles, are all the same. They are all stored in this consciousness. The consciousnesses of ordinary beings, whether it be the sixth, seventh or eighth consciousness, all contain these true principles. The purest of true principles is our nature of True Suchness, the ninth consciousness, the amala consciousness. This is the ultimate state, the Buddha-consciousness we reach upon awakening. The Buddha-consciousness is pure and undefiled, and is one with the universe. This is the true principle that everyone intrinsically possesses. So, in the past, “The provisional teachings of the past contained the truth.”
The provisional teachings of the past contained the truth, just as a lotus flower contains the lotus pod. Opening the provisional to reveal the truth is like a lotus blooming to reveal the lotus pod. Outside of the lotus flower, there is no other lotus pod. With the provisional opened and the true revealed, we see the Middle Way in all Dharma.
The Buddha taught the provisional. Even though what He taught in the past were skillful means, the true was actually hidden in those skillful means. The True Dharma is like the bud of a lotus flower. The lotus seeds are already inside. Once the flower blooms, we will see this fruit. The lotus seed is concealed within the lotus bud. When the flower blossoms, the fruit will appear. So, opening the provisional to reveal the true is like the lotus flower blossoming. We will see the lotus pod. We will see the lotus pod, and the seeds are in there. So, “It is like a lotus blooming to reveal the lotus pod.” The principle is the same. The teachings the Buddha taught in the past were not a waste of time. They all contained the True Dharma; it is just that He did not make it transparent to everyone. [To reach] the True Dharma, we must brush aside our ignorance and go among people. We make use of others’ strength to refine ourselves. When we brush aside our ignorance, we will manifest the True Dharma within us. This is cultivating both blessings and wisdom. This is reaching the perfect teachings. This is the time when the Lotus teachings arrive. So, “Outside of the lotus flower, there is no other lotus pod.” Apart from this lotus flower, there are no other lotus pods. The lotus flower and lotus pod are joined together. So, when the provisional is taught, it actually contains the True Dharma. When the flower blossoms, we see the fruit. So, it is called the “Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower” because it has the fruit and flower at the same time. “With the provisional opened and the true revealed, we see the Middle Way in all Dharma.” We bring all the Dharma back to the Middle Way. He discussed emptiness and existence. He discussed emptiness in the Prajna period and existence during the Agama period. So, He taught existence and emptiness. Now, the Lotus Sutra collects both these topics; it is the Middle Way. This is like when a lotus flower blossoms, the lotus pod is in the middle. The principle is right here. We must truly be mindful. The Lotus Sutra is the Middle Way between emptiness and existence, the True Dharma.
The previous passage says, “All those banners and canopies were made from the Seven Treasures, gold, silver, crystal, mother-of-pearl, chalcedony, pearl and rose stone. The stupa was so tall that it reached the palaces of the Four Heavenly Kings.” The next sutra passage says, “From the Heaven of the Thirty-three, there fell a rain of Mandarava flowers in offering to the stupa of treasures.All the various heavenly beings, nagas, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and non-humans, trillions in all….”
Where is the Heaven of the Thirty-three? It is on the summit of Mt. Sumeru. Mt. Sumeru’s summit is the highest place of all. “In each of the four directions, there are eight heavens.” In the east, west, south and north, in each of those directions there are eight heavens in all and eight heavenly palaces. Four times eight is thirty-two, but in the center, there is the place where Sakro-devanam Indra lives. It is called the City of Good Views, and it is in the center. All of these together make up the Heaven of the Thirty-three. If we express this in terms of the Dharma, it is an analogy for the 52 stages of Bodhisattvas. We will explain this later on.
The Heaven of the Thirty-three: On Sumeru, in each of the four directions, there are eight heavens, and Indra resides in the center, thus making Thirty-three heavens. In terms of the Dharma, these represent the 52 stages of Bodhisattvas.
The Heaven of the Thirty-three is also called Trayastrimsa Heaven. It is the second heaven of the desire realm. It is still in the desire realm, because those in the Trayastrimsa Heaven still have their family and retinue. [In the desire realm,] there is also the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings. [The Trayastrimsa Heaven] is the second heaven of the desire realm, and it is on the summit of Mt. Sumeru. Everyone should know that in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, one day there is equal to 50 years in this world. One day in Trayastrimsa Heaven is equal to 100 years in this world. This means that it is very far away from our solar system. Indra’s Heaven is in the center, and “in each of the four directions there are eight heavens.” So, combined together they comprise the Heaven of the Thirty-three.
Trayastrimsa Heaven: This is the Heaven of the Thirty-three. It is the second heaven of the desire realm, located on the summit of Mt. Sumeru. Sakra’s Heaven is at the center and in each of the four directions there are eight heavens, thus forming the Heaven of the Thirty-three.
First, we must understand its environment and its distance from our world. One day in Trayastrimsa Heaven is 100 years for us; this is such a great distance. From such a high place in the sky, there fell a rain of Mandarava flowers as an offering to the stupa of treasures. We discussed the stupa of treasures previously. Because Sakyamuni Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra, the stupa of treasures emerged from the ground. Because the stupa of treasures appeared, Mandarava flowers rained from the sky. Those in Trayastrimsa Heaven and the Heaved of the Four Heavenly Beings all came to make offerings. Along the way, flowers rained down to help highlight the magnificence of this spiritual training ground. So, “All heavens rained down flowers to make offerings to the stupa of treasures. This shows their hearts and wholesome actions.” This shows the wholesome practices from our hearts; this wholesomeness is supreme and unsurpassed. This is also a metaphor. Everyone expressed their wholesome intentions, which were supreme and unsurpassed. They came to “dignify the Dharmakaya.” They used this supreme and unsurpassed spiritual state to dignify these true principles. With the true principles, we all must engage in practice with reverence. We engage in uninterrupted practice, practice with nothing further, extended practice, and also practice with reverence. We must always have reverence toward the true principles. These are supreme and unsurpassed wholesome actions.
There fell a rain of Mandarava flowers as an offering to the stupa of treasures: All heavens rained down flowers to make offerings to the stupa of treasures. This shows their hearts’ wholesome practices which dignify the Dharmakaya.
So, “All the various heavenly beings, nagas, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and non-humans, trillions in all…." There were so many of them. These are the eight classes of Dharma-protectors, heavenly beings and nagas and so on. They all have been transformed by the Buddha and came together to protect this training ground. In terms of worldly appearances, “These are the eight classes of Dharma-protectors,” the heavenly beings and nagas of the eight classes and so on; they have all gathered together. In terms of the Dharma, this means it is “inseparable from one mind." Although we talk about the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Beings and Trayastrimsa Heaven, heavenly beings and the eight classes of Dharma-protectors, when we analyze this in terms of the Dharma, we find that it is inseparable from our one mind. When it comes to our one mind, whether we are from the Heaven of the Four Heavenly beings, or Trayastrimsa Heaven, everything is inseparable from our minds. This is all virtuous Dharma; it was the same for the Dharma-protectors like heavenly beings and nagas.
The two classes of heavenly beings and nagas have good hearts. The remaining classes of yaksas and others have always had evil hearts. Because of their superior roots of goodness, they controlled all their evil thoughts, countless trillions of them, and transformed them into goodness.
The two classes of heavenly beings and nagas have good hearts. They all have cultivated blessings. This is goodness. These two classes, heavenly beings and nagas, represent goodness. They are fundamentally good. “The remaining classes of yaksas and others….” Yaksas, gandharvas and so on are evil. They are normally evil, just like the asuras and so on, just like animals. The appearances they manifest are considered evil. However, they were transformed by the Buddha, and likewise have the roots of goodness. Since they still have the roots of goodness, this means they were transformed to become good and have become Dharma-protectors. So, “They controlled all their evil thought, countless trillions of them, and transformed them into goodness.” This is how the Buddha-Dharma is the medicine capable of curing the world. Our minds are just like that of the eight classes of Dharma-protectors. Whether they are on Mt. Sumeru, or in Trayastrimsa Heaven, heavenly beings represent the peak. Not matter how high they are, the Dharma can reach that height. The height of their heart of goodness is the same. Even with everyone’s ignorance, the Dharma can likewise tame our minds and transform [ignorance] into good thoughts. This is how we explain this in terms of the Dharma. The Lotus Sutra is so perfect and harmonious. Through appearances, it manifests the principles. As long as we mindfully comprehend it, at any time in our lives, we will be in constant contact with the Dharma. We simply must keep the Dharma in our hearts and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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