Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Appearance of Radiating Light (光相所照 莊嚴說法)
Date: January.29.2018
“First this explains [Sakyamuni’s] circumstantial retributions of magnificence, then explains His direct retributions of expounding the Dharma. In our four cardinal and intermediate directions above and below, there were infinite lands; each direction had Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers. Each Buddha had countless trillions, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas.”
We talked about this sutra passage previously. Let us try to recall it. This previous sutra passages use appearances to illustrate the principles. The imagery described was the emergence of the stupa of treasures at Sakyamuni Buddha’s Lotus Dharma-assembly. The stupa of treasures emerged from the ground. This is when He began describing the meaning behind this imagery. We must mindfully seek to comprehend the principles contained here. These principles can help us more thoroughly understand circumstantial and direct retribution. Sakyamuni Buddha, in His past lifetimes over innumerable kalpas, spent lifetime after lifetime living among people, or throughout the Five Realms. His only wish was to deliver sentient beings by teaching and transforming them over many lifetimes. His circumstantial and direct retributions always followed His heart’s intent. When He came to the world, He took human form. When He went to hell to be together with those who were suffering for their crimes there, He helped people there also; there is a moving story about this. Likewise, when He was born into the animal realm, [He came as] an elephant-king, a lion-king, a deer-king, and so on; it depended on the situation. With His circumstantial and direct retributions, wherever He went, He [manifested there] to deliver sentient beings. Whatever realm He manifested in, He always manifested a magnificent appearance. He was always very dignified, and He moved others by His example. He went wherever He intended. No matter where He went, He always dignified His surroundings. He served as a role model to teach others. When His causes and conditions matured, He [attained Buddhahood] in the human realm. Though this was over 2000 years before our time, He is still our guiding teacher to this day. We still follow the Dharma that Sakyamuni Buddha passed down to us. We still make use of it and practice according to its teachings. The Buddha spent many lifetimes in the realms of sentient beings in order to deliver them by teaching and transforming them. So, we must clearly understand this. “First this explains [Sakyamuni’s] circumstantial retributions of magnificence.” In whichever realm He appears, He is always a role model, and the forms He uses to teach are always magnificent. “Then [it] explains His direct retributions of expounding the Dharma.”
Besides His magnificent human appearance, His circumstantial retributions also brought about His birth in that particular era, in that country, as the son of a benevolent king. This was also magnificent. Furthermore, his thinking was different from the average person. He had wisdom far beyond His years; his thinking was transcendent. Despite the many pleasures of palace life, his thinking and views [were focused on] how he saw the wealthy living [compared to] the many people who suffered outside the palace. He realized that regardless of whether one is well-off or in hardship, everyone’s life shares the same course. Everyone experiences aging, illness and death, these states of impermanence. Furthermore, people were also divided into castes. Some were highly respected, but others were looked down on and poorly treated. He felt that this was unfair. Human life is impermanent, and on top of that, people were segregated by caste. Wanting to break this ideology, he decided to leave the lay life. He realized that even being the king, his influence would be limited to a single place. On this vast Earth, India alone is very large, yet those who ruled as kings were still limited [to their sphere of influence]. [The prince] saw these widespread inequalities and the impermanence of life. Thus, he believed that only by thoroughly understanding the principles and learning to change people’s mindsets could he then change the lives of everyone in the world. The only way he could change the way they lived was with the principles. So, he began engaging in spiritual practice. While engaging in spiritual practice, he suffered wind, frost, snow and ice. For many years [He endured] the four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter, living out in the elements. Whether conditioned or unconditioned phenomena, he came to clearly understand everything. Practicing earnestly in stillness at this time, he completely quieted his mind, stilled his thoughts and focused on coming together with the universe. He silently contemplated the universe and the rising and setting of the sun, as well as time, space and the vast natural world; these were all principles he serenely contemplated. Over a long period of time, he completely eliminated his afflictions, ignorance and dust-life delusions. With thorough understanding, he finally awakened and became one with the universe. As many principles as the universe contains, that is how many principles the Buddha absorbed into His ocean of enlightened wisdom. It is boundless! He wanted to teach this to all people. So, “in the four cardinal and intermediate directions, above and below, there were infinite lands.”
Having already awakened, He was no longer [limited] by His environment. In the four cardinal and intermediate directions, above and below, in this great space, in this universe, the number of worlds is incalculable. This was His state after awakening and [realizing] the principles. His circumstantial and direct retributions were accumulated from everything that He experienced and understood in past lives. He constantly accumulated wisdom, always by going among people. He sought teachings [from Buddhas] and went among people to experience them. He formed aspirations and created good affinities. The affinities He accumulated with sentient beings were boundless and infinite. Actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions is not something one can accomplish in a lifetime but over many accumulated lifetimes.
So, “Each direction had Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers.” Five trillion, do you remember? To gather together His manifestations, He emitted light from the tuft between His eyes that illuminated all of [these worlds in] the east. Everyone should still remember this. In that direction alone, [His light shone] through as many Buddha-lands as the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers. This represented the many lifetimes [He had spent]. In the four cardinal and intermediate directions, since Beginningless Time, [He engaged in practice]. The lands in one direction alone were so numerous. So, this shows us that, “Each Buddha had countless trillions, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas.” In the east alone, [there were lands as numerous as] “the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers.“ The sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers,” this number, is the same as what we spoke of previously in the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City, the number referred to by “dust-inked kalpas”. Dust-inked kalpas in the past was Great Unhindered Buddha’s era. Sakyamuni Buddha already taught us about that time long ago in the distant past. This was a very long time ago. Now, this is talking about the lands where Sakyamuni’s manifestations had gone to transform and deliver sentient beings. How many of these were there? In the east alone, there were as many Buddha-lands as the sands of five trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers. In those many lands, Sakyamuni Buddha spent so much time, Sakyamuni Buddha spent so much time, an infinite amount of time, transforming and delivering living beings. [Among] the sentient beings in those places, “Each Buddha had countless trillions, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas.” When a Buddha appears in the world, He will have countless numbers, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas. This is because He openly teaches the Dharma.
When a person teaches the principles, the subtle and wondrous principles, many people will listen and take them to heart. Taking them to heart, they realize the principles and put them into practice. When so many countless people also begin to openly discuss the true principles, then even more people will come to hear them. The Sutra of Infinite Meanings says, “Infinity arises from one, one gives rise to infinity.” This is the principle. Thus, “Each Buddha had countless trillions, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas.” This is the same principle. If we thoroughly understand the principles and accept these teachings into our hearts, then naturally our afflictions, ignorance and mistaken views will continue to decrease and the seeds of our wisdom-life continually increase. Clearly discerning worldly matters and the principles depends on wisdom. So, we must mindfully seek to experience this.
All Buddhas have the original intent of safeguarding and expounding the wondrous Dharma. Above, below, in the four intermediate directions, this radiant appearance illuminated everything. Because of this radiance, the assembly could see without obstruction.
All Buddhas can accomplish this. One being can change the views of so many others, changing evil into good. Thus, transforming people’s views is the original intent of all Buddhas. Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. All of us, through our Buddha-nature, can exercise our inherent abilities; we can express these latent abilities. Teaching and transforming all beings like this is the original intent of all Buddhas. They hope the True Suchness in sentient beings can be awakened, that their inherent ability, their latent ability, can be expressed. So, “They expound the wondrous Dharma for the sake of all the sentient beings.”
These Buddha, in their wisdom hope to awaken the intrinsic nature of True Suchness in everyone. “In the four intermediate directions, above and below, this radiant appearance illuminated everything. The light emitted from between His eyes illuminated not only the east, but also above, below and in the four intermediate and the four [cardinal] directions. [It illuminates] the east, west, south and north, the four intermediate directions, above and below. The east extends infinitely eastward. And the west? The west also extends endlessly. So, east, west, south and north are limitless. The east itself again has an even further east. The west itself again has an even further west. So, the east, west, south and north each has its own east, west, south and north, which all extend endlessly. So, this one light illuminated at once [everything] above and below and in the four intermediate directions. That radiance illuminated everything. Because of this radiance, the assembly “could see without obstruction,” This radiant light was unobstructed.
This is similar to how [my] voice now travels. In particular, with today’s technology, the microphone in front of me automatically broadcasts [my voice]. It is transmitted to the “cloud,” from which it is broadcast everywhere. Not only is it broadcast throughout Taiwan, but throughout the world, as long as this frequency can be received. This is minds can be communicating with each other. Sentient beings can understand the Buddha’s mind. We can also hear the Buddha’s inner voice as well. So, we often talk about “one who knows our heart,” someone who understands what we want to say. We, too, can understand the Buddha’s intent; we can understand this wondrous Dharma too and resonate with what is in the Buddha’s mind. The Buddha’s intent was to safeguard the wondrous Dharma. We [need to] understand and realize what the Buddha taught us. It is like a frequency we can [tune in to]. Adults can understand and so can children, whether they are far or near, old or young. A group of little Bodhisattvas came from Tainan to share with me. They too listen to my morning teachings. They are full of insights. One by one the children shared with me the lessons they had learned. It brought me joy to listen to them. They told me, “Master taught us that all living, moving beings have Buddha-nature. We should cherish causes and conditions, and we should listen to the Dharma. When father and mother go listen to the Dharma, I tell them that I want to go with them to listen to the Dharma.” The parents bring their children. It brings the parents joy to have their children by their side as I speak to them. They are so happy. I was asking them questions and they would answer me. They told me how, in listening the sutra, for more than a whole month they encouraged one another to take notes. They even brought their notebooks to show me.
They were still small, only in kindergarten, and could not yet write Chinese characters. They could only use the Chinese phonetic alphabet and draw pictures. I asked them, “What have you drawn there?” Yanhe said, “Master told us the mind is like a storehouse, with seeds inside it. These things are the seeds.” “What are those square things?” “Those are the fields! Master told us the seeds ae sown in the fields, as if growing rice.” He then repeated a principle to me, telling me, “One gives rise to infinity so one can harvest many good seeds.” Looking at another one of their drawings, I said, “What have you drawn here? Why is it such a mess?” He said, “Master also told us that if the mind has evil seeds, those evil seeds are just like bombs. An evil thought is just like a bomb that is waiting to explode.” That’s what he told me! This was in Tainan.
Yanhe also told me, “Five good things have happened to me since began listening to the Dharma. There are five things I have gained.” I asked him, “What are the five things?” He told me, “The first thing is that listening to and taking in the Dharma makes me very happy. This is called being filled with the Dharma-joy. Every day I listen to the Dharma, I have a lot of energy.” [I asked], “And the second thing?” “The second is that I can practice diligently with many good friends.” I again asked, “And the third? What else have you gained?” “The third good thing is that, after listening to the Dharma together, my friends and I can slowly eat breakfast together, unlike when I oversleep at home. My mother calls me to get up out of bed and I am late for class and have to wolf down my food.” He said, “When we finish listening to the Dharma, it is still only 6am, so my good friends and I can slowly eat our breakfast and finish it all.” I then asked him, “And the forth?” “Later, after breakfast, when we head off to school, we never need to rush. I used to have to eat so quickly, since I was already late for school. Now I can eat a good breakfast. I can eat my fill and still arrive early at school, I am never late.” Then I asked him, “What is the fifth?” The fifth, he said “The fifth is, at noon, after we eat, the teacher wants us to take a nap. Now when we rest after lunch, I fall asleep as soon as my head is on my desk. Before, I could never sleep, and I would fidget restlessly at my desk, and the teacher would mark me down as ’naughty.’” He told me that, since he started listening to the Dharma, he has never since been marked down as being naughty in the teacher’s book. These were his “five gains.” So, from listening to the Dharma, these are some of the insights they have gained.
This is what one of the children told me when he came here. Those children in Tainan do this day after day. I believe they are listening right now like always. They are a group of small Bodhisattvas! “In the four intermediate directions, above and below.” When someone teachers like this, throughout the “south, west and north” everyone can hear them. This “[radiance] illuminated everything.” This is a kind of metaphor. This is a kind of metaphor. “Because of this radiance, the assembly….” Seeing the light, everyone knew what it meant. Seeing the radiant light from between His eyes, everyone then understood. [Their understanding] was without obstruction. They listened to the Dharma without obstruction.
The previous passage said, “In all those lands, the ground was made of crystal. Trees of treasures and precious clothing made the lands magnificent. Countless trillions of Bodhisattvas filled the lands. Precious curtains were spread everywhere, and jeweled nets hung from above.
This was what was described previously, the magnificence and purity of those lands, the orderliness of the jeweled trees and how everyone wears precious clothing. Those precious clothes are the clothing of gentleness and patience. Everyone there is very dignified. The circumstantial retribution of being born in those lands is magnificent. There are many Bodhisattvas [living] there.
The Buddhas of those lands, in a great and wondrous voice, expounded all Dharma. They also saw the infinite trillions of Bodhisattvas all over those lands expound the Dharma for the assembly.
The Buddhas of those lands, in a great and wondrous voice, expounded all Dharma. Every Buddha in those lands continually expounds the wondrous Dharma there. There ae also many Bodhisattvas. They are “all over those lands, expounding the Dharma for the assembly.” There are both Buddhas and Bodhisattvas teaching the Dharma there; those lands are full of the wondrous Dharma.
The following sutra passage says, “South, west, north above and below and in the four intermediate directions, wherever the light from His tuft of white hair shone, it was also like that.”
These are the directions, the directions of south, west and north. [Here, it says] the south, the west and the north. Before it was only the east. Now it [speaks of] the south, west and north. In total, the fore cardinal directions, the four intermediate directions and above and below, make ten, which we call the ten directions. His manifestations were in all ten directions. So, these are the ten directions. The ten directions were all illuminated by the radiance that shone from between His brows. This beam of light [represents] the Middle Way. The Middle Way is just like a ray of light that illuminates all things in the four cardinal and intermediate directions, above and below. This radiance was seen everywhere. “When the light illuminated the east what [they] saw” was like this. It was the same in the other nine directions too.
South, west, north, above and below and in the four intermediate directions: There are the ten directions. When the light illuminated the east, what people saw as such. In the remaining nine directions, wherever the light shone, what appeared was the same.
So, “wherever the light from the tuft of white hair shone, it was also like that.” It was like this everywhere. “Wherever the light from the tuft of hair between His eyebrows shone.” It was just like in the east. So, it says, “It was also like that” “First this explains the circumstantial retributions of magnificence.” He first told of the magnificence of their circumstantial retributions. [He described] how in each of those lands, their surroundings were magnificent, “Then it explains the direct retributions.” As we just said, [the Bodhisattvas’] direct retribution was to expound the Dharma. In those lands, everyone was magnificent; they wore the clothing of patience and gentleness, and they all engaged in Bodhisattva-practices. The Dharma they taught was the wondrous Dharma. “In the four cardinal and intermediate directions, above and below, each direction had Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers” Just as it was in the east, above and below and in the four cardinal and the four intermediate directions, in the nine other directions, it was this way too. In all these lands as numerous as the sands of five trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers, in every place, there were still all these infinite lands.
First this explains the circumstantial retributions of magnificence,” then it explains His direct retributions of expounding the Dharma. The four cardinal directions, four intermediate directions, above and below each had Buddhas in lands as numerous as the sands of 500 trillion nayutas of Ganges Rivers.
“Each Buddha had countless trillions, infinite numbers of Bodhisattvas,” As long as a Buddha appears in the world, naturally He teaches and transforms countless trillions of Bodhisattvas. There were countless Bodhisattvas in those lands. This is how the Dharma is continually passed on. “The Buddha [there] were infinite and Their followers [there] were infinite” Their followers are the many to whom They give the Dharma. These are Their countless followers. There were leaders and others accompanying them. There were the leaders, and there were the followers. “Countless groups of leaders and followers.” There were so many groups of people like that, bringing more and more people. They “expound the Dharma for the assembly.” There were many groups there that continually expounded the Dharma, spreading the Dharma very widely. “This radiant appearance illuminated everything. Because of this radiance, the assembly could see without obstruction.”
For each Buddha, there were countless trillions of Bodhisattvas. Because the lands were infinite, the Buddhas were infinite and Their followers were infinite. Countless groups of leaders and followers expounded the Dharma for the sake of the assembly. Wherever the light shone, because of its radiance, the assembly could see without obstruction.
When the great assembly saw the radiance, they no longer had any obstructions. They were unobstructed in listening to the Dharma; the radiant light was also unobstructed. This is like the light of the sun, which shines unobstructed. This is just like the Dharma. Sounds are also broadcast unobstructed, as long as the frequency matches; we must tune in with our mind. When our mind is tuned into the Dharma, it will automatically reach us unobstructed. The mind’s afflictions obstruct the Dharma. When the Dharma is obstructed, it is like something is blocking the sunlight. It cannot come through. When it comes to our nature of True Suchness, if it is blocked by ignorance and afflictions, it cannot shine through. So, we should work hard to first eliminate ignorance and afflictions. Without the Dharma, we cannot eliminate them. With the Dharma, by using the Dharma, we can get rid of our afflictions one by one. Only then will the light of the Dharma reach our nature of True Suchness. As soon as we thoroughly understand, we will no longer have any afflictions.
The sutra passage below again says, “At that time, each of the Buddhas of the ten directions said to all His Bodhisattvas,’Good men, now I must go to the Saha World, where the Sakyamuni Buddha is, and make offerings to Many Treasure Tathagata’s stupa of treasures.”’
When the radiant light shone at that time, each Buddha in the ten directions simultaneously said to all of the Bodhisattvas They led, “I must now go to the Saha World to make offerings in the place where Sakyamuni Buddha is, and also make offerings to Many Treasure Buddha’s stupa.” It was because of the radiance that They all came. “The Buddhas of the ten directions” each spoke to the Bodhisattvas in Their assembly.
“Good men. Now I must go to the Saha World, where Sakyamuni Buddha is.” So, “Now that the light illuminated those lands, They understood His intent, thus They came there.”
Seeing the radiance, they knew the Buddha’s intent. Thus, They all came naturally. Their minds were tuned to the Buddha’s mind. This is why They came. “And also make offerings to Many Treasure Tathagata’s stupa of treasures” means They were not just responding to the radiance; They came because They knew the Buddha’s intent and also to make offerings to Many Treasure Buddha in His stupa. The present Buddhas in Their realms came to make offerings to this ancient Buddha from eons in the past. [This respect] was mutual. This is like in our time, in a class at school, if we hear there is a professor from elsewhere invited to our school to lecture, then many students [will all listen]. Even those in other disciplines and other classes will all come together to listen to the professor who comes to lecture from afar. The principle here is the same. This is how we treat each other nowadays. Those Buddhas represent the Dharma. The manifestations of the Buddha’s Dharmakaya represent how all teachings in the universe have been brought together. This is how it has always been; the present and past are the same. The principles are always like this; they [remain] the same. So, They “wanted to make offerings to the stupa of Many Treasures Buddha” to respect the principles which came down from ancient times.
And now? Now, He was gathering the principles and bringing them together. He brought the Dharma together. ”They also wanted to make offerings to the stupa of Many Treasures Buddha.” This is explaining, how all Buddhas of the ten directions responded and came. They responded to the radiant light and all came together. “The Buddhas told their assemblies to come along." This means they were “one and the same.” When this Buddha’s radiance shone forth, all the Buddhas gathered together. This shows those They were one and the same. The present Sakyamuni Buddha never moved from His assembly at Vulture Peak, but from between His eyes, He emitted light. When this Buddha’s radiant light shone, all Buddhas in the ten directions [came together]. [This is a metaphor for] how the principles deep in His heart [all came together]. His true principles, the wisdom of all Dharma, wisdom of all paths and all-encompassing wisdom all came together. So, it says, “All Buddhas are one and the same. Originally, there is no self or other.” There is no division between me and you. The principles are the same for all of us, for him and you and me. The principles realized by Sakyamuni Buddha and the principles realized by Many Treasure Buddha are always the same; they are one. The ancient Buddha was like this, and the present Buddha is also like this. This Buddha is like this, and that Buddha is also like this. We all listen to the same principles. The principles do not change; it is our viewpoints and thinking that change. The principles remain forever the same. So, “Originally, there is no self or other.” The principles have always been like this. So, “By telling Their assemblies to come along, They responded provisionally according to capabilities."
The Buddhas told Their assemblies to come along: All Buddhas are one and the same. Originally, there is no self or other. By telling Their assemblies to come along, They responded provisionally according to capabilities.
When the radiance illuminated, everyone experienced it together. This shows They were “one.” The principles are the same. No matter how far, this shows that anything and everything in the universe ultimately returns to one principle. In the physical world this refers to “formation, existence, decay and disappearance." This is a kind of principle, formation, existence, decay and disappearance. In regards to human physiology, we refer to it as “birth, aging, illness and death” [We will also] ultimately disappear. As for the thoughts in our minds, they “arise, abide, change and cease.” They also disappear. The principle is the same. Whether speaking of emptiness, death or cessation, everything disappears. The principle is always the same; it is just the name we use that is different. So, it is one and the same; there is no self or other. This beam of light comprises so many principles. This is why They “came.” The principles all returned and became one with the universe. These true principles were summoned by the radiant light. They “told their assemblies to come along.” So, it was in this way that so many of Them all came together. “They responded provisionally according to their capabilities.” When it came to sentient beings’ capabilities, the Buddha taught the Dharma for over 40 years, first the provisional then later the true. Whether expounding emptiness or existence, they all return to [this same principle]. So, we must be mindful. The principle originally is one; it is just that sentient beings complicated it. Everything is in fact quite simple; it is just that, in our human societies, our minds have become complicated, making everything else more complicated also. We should now return to simplicity, which means we should brush away all ignorance. Let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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