Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Liberation Through the Fivefold Dharmakaya (五分法身 覺照解脫)
Date: march.22.2018
“In body, speech and mind, we must free ourselves from all [negative] karma. To refrain from wrongdoing is known as the Dharmakaya of precepts. We must cease disputes, calmly contemplate without Leaks and free ourselves from deluded thoughts; this is known as the Dharmakaya of Samadhi. With liberated understanding and views, we can eliminate dust-like delusions. Realizing the true principles is known as the Dharmakaya of wisdom. Attaining the ultimate wisdom and liberation’s understanding and views is known as the Dharmakaya of enlightenment’s understanding and views.”
Be mindful in reading and understanding this! We should be mindful, for this is the Fivefold Dharmakaya. To take the Dharma to heart, we must have these five elements. We must remember them. Precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation and liberation’s understanding and views; these words are very important. They start with our actions, speech, and thoughts. We all need to be very mindful. “In body, speech and mind, we must free ourselves from all [negative] karma.” We should know that in regard to many things, our afflictions and ignorance create all karma. It starts with our actions, speech and thoughts, so we must carefully look after our actions, speech and thoughts. In every action that we take, every time we open our mouths to speak, in any thoughts we think, we are always creating karma, karma of actions, speech and thought. If we are inclined toward goodness, then any karma we create will be good karma, but should a single thought go astray, all of the karma we create will be negative. We need to be very careful in everything we do so that we can refrain from wrongdoing, not make mistakes and never deviate. This is called the Dharmakaya of precepts. The precepts enable us to guard against wrongs and stop evils. All of us should still remember this. Whether in regard to our physical actions, the speech from our mouths, the thoughts arising inside of us or so on, we must be certain to take care so that we never leave the right path. This is known as refraining from wrongdoing. We should neither make mistakes nor do anything that is not correct. This is known as the Dharmakaya of precepts. When it comes to our speech, we should cease all disputes. We must put an end to the arguing, the gossiping about others’ shortcomings, the stirring up of conflicts; this all creates karma of speech. We should be mindful to take care when it comes to our karma of speech. So, “We must cease disputes [and] calmly contemplate without Leaks.” We should put effort into being mindful, talk less about others’ faults and really think more about what it is that we ourselves should do, about what our own responsibilities are. With what we heard of the sutra this morning, we must take the Dharma to heart. Whatever it is that we heard, we should briefly review it. Have we done it? Have we taken what we heard to heart? As we go about our daily living, are we able to practice these things? If we are, then this is being without Leaks. We listen and take it in, then accomplish it; we are able to practice the teachings our whole lives. This is cultivating contemplation without Leaks.
Cultivating contemplation, we should all still remember this! “Freeing ourselves from deluded thoughts [is] known as the Dharmakaya of Samadhi.” If we can do this, then we will never argue with others, nor debate with others. We will cease conflicts. Naturally the Dharma we hear remains eternally in our minds. Because our minds no longer engage in discursive thought, we are able to cease all argument. This is because we are always engaged in calm contemplation. Contemplation means that the principles we have heard have become part of our minds; in our actions or our speech, in everything that we say, our minds are always together with the Dharma. We are certain never to become distracted, so we can distance ourselves from deluded thoughts. This is the Dharmakaya of Samadhi. We are constantly contemplating the Dharma. This is because we ordinarily take care to take the Dharma to heart without any Leaks. For this we need to have Samadhi. For the mind to remain settled, we must cease all argumentation and [be careful] in all our actions. We can understand, so if we are clear, if something is right, we will do it. If we are unclear, or something is incorrect, then we must not do it. When we are clear that something is correct, then we can say it. If we are unclear or do not understand, if something we might say may not be correct, then we should not say it. If we can do this, we will rarely make mistakes and our minds will naturally become distanced from deluded thoughts. Since everything we do will be true and everything we do will be correct, our minds will no longer be unstable, but very peaceful and firmly rooted. In this way our minds will remain settled and free of discursive thoughts. This is why it says we will “Free ourselves from deluded thoughts; this is known as the Dharmakaya of Samadhi. With liberated understanding and views, we can eliminate dust-like delusions.”
With liberated understanding and views, we too become liberated. Since we never do anything wrong, our minds remain very settled and we uphold the precepts closely. We are clear in everything we do, so our minds are naturally free of afflictions. We are without ignorance, so we are naturally liberated. We become liberated. With liberated understanding and views, our dust-like delusions are completely done away with as well. This is like the Buddha in. His understanding of all things under heaven; there was nothing in the world He did not know, no principle He did not thoroughly understand. So, the entirety of His dust-like ignorance and afflictions had been completely eliminated. This depends on the karma we ordinarily create through our actions, speech and thought; if we can recognize these clearly, our minds will naturally have Samadhi and we will naturally become liberated. We become liberated by distancing ourselves from ignorance, delusion and afflictions. This is what the Buddha realized, what the Buddha taught us.
So, “Realizing the true principles is known as the Dharmakaya of wisdom.” If we can do this, then we will know the true principles of all things in the universe. This, then, is wisdom, the Dharmakaya of wisdom. So, we “attain the ultimate wisdom and liberation’s understanding and views”. We naturally attain this. Ultimate means we can discern everything; this wisdom is called discerning wisdom. With this discerning wisdom, if we can be mindful and maintain Samadhi in our minds, we will naturally be able to discern clearly all things in the world; we become clear on all the principles. So, we “attain ultimate wisdom”. This wisdom is called “discerning wisdom”. There is also “impartial wisdom”. All sentient beings in the universe are equal. When it comes to everything in the universe, all visible things of every description, we are able to discern and understand them all. We understand everything clearly. We are aware of and understand everything. This is discerning wisdom. So, we “attain the intimate wisdom and liberation’s understanding and views”. Through this wisdom, we can understand everything completely. We can discern all things clearly. We have these understandings and views, so we become liberated. Liberation’s understanding and views is the ultimate wisdom that discerns everything in the universe very clearly. “It is known as the Dharmakaya of enlightenment’s understanding and views.” The Dharmakaya is all together fivefold, meaning there are these five true principles. When we concentrate the five true principles in our Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind, if we can uphold these principles well, then we will naturally be clear in all things. We will be clear and aware, understanding and discerning. We will understand all things very clearly. So, most important to our spiritual practice is the Fivefold Dharmakaya. This is precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation and liberation’s understanding and views. The Dharmakaya is all together fivefold. We must be mindful in seeking to experience and understand this since all Dharma [is taught] through speech.
If our minds can remain fixed in Samadhi, if we can attain the Fivefold Dharmakaya, we will never transgress in our actions. Because the Dharma is in our heart, our speech will be pure; we will not make mistakes. Not only will we not make mistakes in speech, we can teach the Dharma through speech. So many teachings are passed on through speech. The Buddha-Dharma came entirely from the speech of the Buddha, and all the true principles flowed from the mouth of the Buddha as well! It is done through speech, through talking. So, in “conveying all the sutras through speech,” not only will we not make mistakes, everything we expound will be true principles.
Conveying all the sutras through speech, grasping Mount Sumeru in hand and tossing it into another land, moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot and spreading the sutras while standing upon the summit of existence are four inconceivable tasks, but are not as difficult as teaching this Dharma.
Because we are very clear with regard to the Fivefold Dharmakaya, we understand very clearly the true principles contained in the sutra. The sutra teaches the Dharma this way; how can this be brought together with the world’s many matters so that we can understand? There are countless sentient beings; the afflictions in the world are boundless. So, since countless sentient beings have countless and boundless afflictions, the Dharma is needed to cure them. Whatever kind of affliction it is; we use that kind of Dharma. In the process of expounding the Dharma, we must find ways to bring it together with those countless afflictions and worldly appearances of every variety. With appearance of people, matters and objects, how can we treat the disease and how can we treat the disease and prescribe the right medicine? We need to use the Buddha’s teachings in the sutras, use this Dharma to treat it. So, the Dharma must be taught orally. So, “conveying all sutras through speech” means that all of the sutras must be expounded orally, through speech. So in the sutras, there is also a passage that says this; we will discuss it later. “Grasping Mount Sumeru in hand and tossing it into another land.” This will be in a later passage. “Moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot and spreading the sutra while standing upon the summit of existence.” These four things, conveying all the sutras through speech or grasping Mount Sumeru in hand, picking it up like this and tossing it into another land, how can these things be considered easy? They are not easy at all! Yet, this is how the sutra describes them. So, “moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot” means the great trichiliocosm is being kicked around like a ball. Moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot is also very easy. However, in our imagination, it is not easy at all. But if we have the Dharma, then it is simple.
Next is “spreading the sutras while standing upon the summit of existence”. These four things are indeed hard to conceive of. They are truly inconceivable! Yet, the sutra talks about these four things. For us, things like these are inconceivable! However, these four things “are not as difficult as teaching this Dharma”. Of course, these things are very difficult, yet teaching the Dharma is even harder than these. It speaks of conveying all sutras through speech, or grasping Mount Sumeru in hand and tossing it into another land, or using one foot to move the great trichiliocosm that way. These are not easy; they are also inconceivable. To go to “the summit of existence” and spread the sutras is also impossible for us to imagine. The sutra actually also says that these four “are inconceivable”, but as far as the Buddha is concerned, these are not very difficult. The most difficult is expounding this sutra. Expounding this sutra is difficult.
So, what is “the summit of existence”? The summit of existence is in the fourth kind of heaven of the form realm. It was originally called Akanishtha Heaven. Try to understand this first, then when you see the passage it will be clearer. So, because it is “located at the summit of the form realm, it is called the summit of existence. In the form realm, it is the highest summit, the highest place. So, this not an easy thing to do. Thus, it says, “How can we uphold and teach the sutras? How can we be fearless among people?”
How can we uphold and teach the sutras? How can we be fearless among people like Purna Maitrayaniputra with his unobstructed eloquence? If we want to grasp Munt Sumeru as if it were a fine feather and fling the great trichiliocosm like a mustard-seed by attaining Maudgalyayana’s spiritual powers, we can do this at will.
This is like Purna Maitrayaniputra. Does everyone still remember Purna? In the Chapter on 500 Disciples Receiving Predictions, Purna Maitrayaniputra began lead everyone. Purna had realized the Buddha’s intent. He understood the Buddha and he hoped the Dharma could be transmitted. The Dharma can meet the needs of sentient beings’ minds. Stubborn sentient beings need the Dharma to tame them. Purna was not afraid of difficulties. He was able to teach the sutras, for he had unobstructed eloquence. When it came to the Buddha’s teachings, Purna could go anywhere and teach the Dharma among the people. This was Purna Maitrayaniputra. He was replete with the wisdom of unobstructed rhetoric and unobstructed meaning. He had all the unobstructed wisdoms. He had these abilities. So, the Buddha here was explaining how truly difficult it is to expound the sutras, unless you are someone like Purna, someone with no concern for his own life, someone who can give so unselfishly, who can realize the Buddha’s intent and can willingly spread the Buddha’s teachings universally without any regard for his own life. You have to be someone like this. Purna was replete in unobstructed eloquence as he upheld and taught the sutra.
Next is to “grasp Mount Sumeru as if it were a fine feather and fling the great chiliocosms like a mustard-seed. This is like Maudgalyayana. Maudgalyayana could keep one foot on the ground, and while standing on the ground, his other foot could reach the peak of Mt. Sumeru! During the Buddha’s era, the Buddha often described Maudgalyayana as being the one who was foremost in spiritual powers. He came and went freely. That was Maudgalyayana. So, his strength was such that there was nothing he could not do, whether it was moving the trichiliocosm or moving Mt. Sumeru elsewhere. There are used as a kind of description. Nevertheless, teaching the sutras is difficult, so one should be like Purna Maitrayaniputra in order to be able to spread the Dharma. Thus, we mindfully seek to experience this. Among the Buddha’s disciples, some had vast spiritual powers. Among the Buddha’s disciples, some formed aspirations without regard for their lives. This is diligence.
Come, let us continue. Let us mindfully try to comprehend this. “If you teach this sutra…”.
The previous passage stated, “If you teach this sutra, you will see me, Many Treasures Tathagata and those transformation-body Buddhas. All you good men should consider this carefully. This is a difficult task, so you should make great vows”.
This is what this passage said, the passage we spoke about yesterday. To teach this sutra is extremely difficult. If they could teach this sutra, then “[They] will see me”. They would see Sakyamuni Buddha because they had comprehended the Buddha’s mind, because they had completely understood the original intent of the Buddha. The Dharma the Buddha had taught had been completely understood by them. They were replete with the Fivefold Dharmakaya, so they were able to experience this, able to understand it. So, they saw the body of the Buddha, and even Many Treasures Tathagata’s body, as well as the Buddha’ multiple manifestations, the Dharma he taught. This is now being demonstrated by many people. Everyone can accomplish this. for example, yesterday in the Jing Si Hall in Hualien, we saw Tzu Chi Four Missions as they reached their 50 years mark. The success of the 50 years of Tzu Chi’s Four missions, was on display yesterday on the stage there. In the medical mission, our doctors help those who are suffering from illnesses around the world. The world’s illnesses are not just ailments of people’s bodies, but aliments of the macrocosm all over the world, for the four elements have become imbalanced. Society has become imbalanced and this has given rise to all kinds of ailments. “Medicine Buddha’s 12 Great Vows,” was performed on stage [through sign language]. Our medicine-kings and Bodhisattvas in white, those in all Four Missions, those in the culture and educational missions as well as the staff in the charity mission all displayed their talents there. This is what we have accomplished in the world. This is the Dharma, the 12 great vows of Medicine Buddha. whatever various imbalances people may have, wherever there is sickness or symptoms of illness occurring in the world, wondrous medicine is needed to cure it; great medicine-kinds are needed.
The Buddha is the world’s Great Medicine-king. In the world, when people’s bodies are imbalanced, they need living medicine-kings to help them. Over the course of a little more than an hour, these multiple manifestations of the Buddha revealed themselves on stage. They are transforming the world with the Dharma. They are talking all of these ailments that and transforming them. How many people’s lives have been transformed? Whether they had gone to prison for a mistake or had griecous relationship between fathers and sons, all of these things were displayed on the stage, and all are true stories. There was one youth who, because of an accident, had the misfortune to become ill. He told how mindful they were in accompanying him, how the doctors had nursed him back to health, how they encouraged him and how the nurses cared for him. Each one of them is like a manifestation of the Buddha acting according to the Dharma who comes to save and deliver sentient beings. they are the Buddha’s multiple manifestations, and we have seen them. So it says, “All you good men”. The Buddha was calling on everyone telling everyone that they should know. “You should consider this carefully”. They must mindful and skillfully contemplate, not let their minds indulge in discursive thoughts. We must get rid of our afflictions and keep our thinking focused, put effort into contemplating this Dharma, and then put it into practice. when it comes to right and wrong, if something is wrong, then we should not do it. If something is right, then we should seize the moment and just do it.
So, “You should consider this carefully. You should think about these things well and promptly do what is right. However, “This is a difficult task”. To be able to do all of this perfectly is really nor easy! Still, if we want to teach this sutra, to be able to teach it perfectly, then we need to use the sutra continuously as if it were water cleaning the filth from sentient beings’ mind. When sentient beings’ minds are defiled, we should hasten to use Dharma-water in order to cleanse them. Those who save others may form aspirations to do good deeds, but it is still difficult for them to keep discursive thoughts from arising. They need to keep the Dharma in their minds so they quickly can regular their minds. This is why they need the Dharma.
So, we need to be able to expound the Dharma promptly and in all places. When among people, it is difficult for anyone to avoid having discursive thoughts arise. How can we forever preserve the purity of our karma of body, speech and mind? When our mind remains very peaceful and stable, we are always replete in precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. we absolutely need the Dharma; we must take the Dharma to heart. As for the sutras, they are not just for teaching, not just for listening; they need to be taken to heart. This is the thing that is truly difficult to do! So, we should form great aspirations. Everyone should form great aspirations, should always form great aspirations.
The next sutra passage states, “All the other sutras are as numerous as the Gangers’ sands. Even if you were to teach them all, it would not be considered difficult. If you were to grasp Mount Sumeru and toss it into another land across countless Buddha-lands, this would not be considered difficult either.
If you want to teach the other sutras, “as numerous as the Ganges’ sands,” this would not be difficult. It would be like grabbing hold of Mt. Sumeru; after someone threw it to us, if we gathered it up and put it to one side, this really would not be difficult. Throwing it “across countless Buddha-lands” would “not be considered difficult either”. Distributing Mount Sumeru across many lands would not be difficult. What then is it that is difficult? This will be explained later in the sutra; there are more things that are difficult.
First it says, “All the other sutras are as numerous as the Ganges’ sands. All the skilldul teacahings and sutras of the Three Vehicles are extremely numerous, like the Ganges’ sands”.
All other sutras are teachings of skillful means. As for those teachings of skillful means, if we were to teach them, this would not be difficult. This is because these teachings of skillful means are the sutras of the Three Vehicles; the Small, Middle and Great Vehicles. They are the foundation for entering the Great Vehicle. There are many teachings of skillful means. They “are extremely numerous, like the Ganges’ sands”. If you speak about teachings of skillful means, there are indeed many of these.
Even if you w4ere to teach them all, it would not be considered difficult: we may expound these skillful Three Vehicles, the incomplete teachings, but this would not be considered difficult.
“Even if you were to teach them all, it would not be considered difficult, there are so many sutras. You could take any of them and any would teach you how to do good and so on. None of them are difficult. The sutras that exhort us to do good are many and anyone can teach them. Thus, “It would not be considered difficult”. Although there are many you could teach. As for “these skillful Three Vehicles, the incomplete teachings,” they are not very thorough, because you are teaching a little bit of this, a little bit of that; none of them are very complete. So, these are “incomplete teachings”. You teach of emptiness, but what about existence? You are teaching to capabilities, yet it is still not that comprehensive. “It would not be considered difficult”. This is still not difficult. “Conveying all the sutras through speech, grasping Mount Sumeru in hand, moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot and standing upon the summit of existence to spread the sutras…”. When we hear of these four tasks, they all sound inconceivable. They sound incredibly difficult, yet “These four tasks, although difficult, are still not as difficult as expounding this Dharma”. What can we ultimately say? “To uphold and expound all sutras,” can be done “only by those who are fearless among people”. Purna, with his eloquence, was able to talk about these sutras. So, it is not difficult. Talking about teachings of skillful means indeed is not difficult. As long as one has a spirit like Purna, one who can do it, can talk about them.
Next, “If you were to grasp Mount Sumeru and toss it into another land…”. This is like grabbing Mount Sumeru, taking it and tossing it into another land. Moving it to another land like this would be just like tossing a very tiny seed; something like this would not be difficult. Think about it, how is this possible? Yet, even this would not in fact be difficult. The past Buddha, the present Buddha and future Buddhas as well, all of them are the same. Many Treasures Buddha had formed the vow that wherever the sutra would be taught, His stupa of treasures would appear there so that He could listen to the sutra and bear witness. This was Many Treasures Buddha’s vow. Sakyamuni Buddha would go to the Saha World for lifetime after lifetime, for the sake of stubborn sentient beings. He would come always to tame them. This was Sakyamuni Buddha’s vow, and He will still come again. Though He manifested the appearance of crossing into Parinirvana over 2000 years ago, according to the Buddha’s vow, until sentient beings in the Saha World have all been trained, He will continue coming to the world. This is “journeying on the Dharma of Suchness” in coming to the world. This is the “Tathagata”. This is why Sakyamuni Buddha is called Tathagata. He will still come again!
However, “In this evil world of turbidity, our two attachments are just as high.” They are very high. These two attachments are no less high than Mount Sumeru. Our attachments, and our ignorance, if we speak of their height, are even higher than Mt. Sumeru. We speak of ignorance as being solid and thick. It is thick, truly higher and thicker than Mt. Sumeru. Our arrogance, our overbearing arrogance, is the same; it is just like Mount Sumeru. So, we know that when it comes to this sutra, upholding this sutra is very difficult indeed.
In this evil world of turbidity, our two attachments are just as immense as Mount Sumeru. Our ignorance is hard and thick, and our arrogance is growing. If we are able to teach this sutra, we will be able to destroy the two attachments, put an end to ignorance and eliminate arrogance. Upon seeing us, those without faith will resent us, envy us and revile us with evil words and so forth. If we do not have great vows, we will back down and yield. This is indeed difficult.
If we can teach this sutra, “we will be able to destroy the two attachments, put an end to ignorance”. If we wish to teach this sutra, then we must first eliminate these kinds of ignorance and arrogance. These two attachments must be eliminated. Ignorance must be eliminated. This really is rather difficult. So, we “eliminate arrogance. Upon seeing us, those without faith will resent us [and] envy us”. If we are all still like that, if we are still arrogant and overbearing, then indeed, when other people see us, joy will not arise within them, so how will we then be able to transform them? If we are overbearing and arrogant, it means we still have afflictions and ignorance, so people will not believer us. ”Those without faith…”. If we ourselves do not have faith, then when others see us, they will have no faith either. Not only will they not have faith, they will “resent and envy” us. If we are not pleased when we see what others do, then no joy will arise in us. When others succeed, we will be very jealous. If our mind is like this inside, we naturally will be like this and others will also be the same. Naturally, in our relationships, we will “revile each other” like this “with evil words and so forth”. If we do not train ourselves first, then when others see us it will always be the same. So, for us to uphold this sutra, we must first tame these afflictions and ignorance. In our Threefold Karma of body, speech and mind, we must train ourselves. As for the Fivefold Dharmakaya we just mentioned, we must first be very well harmonized, for only then we can truly uphold the sutra. We must train ourselves very well in the Fivefold Dharmakaya and we must also establish great vows. Great vows are needed to uphold sutras, “If we do not have great vows, we will back down and yield. Then it will be difficult”. If we do not tame these tendencies, if we remain unwilling to form great aspirations in order to train ourselves, then even if we want to expound this sutra, this sutra will be very difficult to expound! So, we should be very mindful in realizing this, otherwise it may be that someone will revile us and with our state of our mind the way it is, others will also have the same state of mind. If we try to teach the sutra in such a state, not even having gotten rid of our own afflictions, while others have not gotten rid of theirs, then it would be a very difficult task. So, we must establish great vows, otherwise, under such circumstances, when both parties suffer such complicated circumstances, we quickly retreat in our spiritual aspirations. Because of this, when we talk about upholding the sutra, if as upholders of the sutra it is so difficult to tame our own afflictions, why even mention those listening to the sutra? Why mention those who have never heard the sutra? Why even mention those who take no joy in listening to the sutra? In such a truly turbid, truly complicated environment, if we do not form great vows, it will truly be impossible for us to persevere in upholding the sutra. So, we must first form great vows, tame our minds and be determined that no matter how difficult the circumstances may be, we will be like Purna in destroying the stubborn views of sentient beings. This requires us to first form vows ourselves. Thus, “Across countless Buddha-lands, this would not be considered difficult either.” Taking Mount Sumeru to a place very far away would actually not be all that difficult, nor would be these other four tasks.
“Conveying all the sutras through speech, grasping Mount Sumeru in hand, tossing it into other lands, moving the great trichiliocosm with one foot and standing upon the summit of existence to spread the sutras,” these tasks, are “difficult for the people of this world.”
“However, if we have the power of vows, none of them will be difficult for us.” It is really like this. There are a great many difficulties. Nevertheless, if we can form great aspirations and make great vows, if we can heighten our determination, we naturally will have aspirations, vows, strength. There will be nothing we cannot achieve. So, if we wish to listen to and understand this sutra, we must put effort into being mindful. We must be mindful, form aspirations, make great vows and be mindful in subduing our two attachments to self and phenomena. We see ourselves separate from others. As I speak here now, with everyone listening, those who are not mindful will nod off. Of course this is not happening now, but I have spoken for such a long time. How is it that you haven’t changed? Why don’t you eliminate your habitual tendencies? If I were to make an issue about these things, my own arrogance would rear its ugly head! Since I express everything so clearly, what is it that you still do not understand? Why don’t you want to change? I naturally would form prejudices against you. However, I will never give up on you. I too am training myself in this. I look at you all as a furnace, while I myself am a pile of scrap metal. This heap of scrap metal that is me must go inside the furnace to become refined. I am grateful to all of you for not correcting your habitual tendencies, so this heap of scrap metal that is me can continue to be refined in your furnace! We must refine ourselves until we can change. This way we can help each other change. This requires great vows because you are unenlightened beings and I too am an unenlightened being. For an unenlightened being to teach this sutra so everyone understands [is not easy]. So, we should mutually encourage each other. Humans have so many afflictions and there is so much suffering in the world. If you all had not formed aspirations, then how could you have performed. “Medicine Buddha’s 12 Great Vows" upon the stage in the Jing Si Hall? We have gone through 50 years now and have been running free medical clinics for 45. It has been 30 years since we built our hospital. There are so many doctors who, with the Buddha-mind, cure sentient beings both mentally and physically. They have the Dharma in their hearts. Of course, we are all still newly-inspired Bodhisattvas, and are all learning the Buddha’s teachings, learning the Buddha’s spirit, learning the Buddha’s compassion, learning the Buddha’s intent. As Buddhist practitioners, our “minds encompass the universe and the boundless world within it.” Every one of those doctors abandoned their status in society when they got up on that stage. For 10 minutes on the stage, you need 10 years of rehearsal! Did you know? Those doctors and nurses, just in rehearsing “Medicine Buddha’s 12 Great Vows,” wore out countless numbers of knee braces! I do not know how many knee braces they have gone through. Actually, everyone’s feet were very sore. Yet, they kept rehearsing anyway, always bearing the pain, practicing until they got it right. The most important things are unit and harmony. All the leaders of our six hospitals were there on the stage. All the supervisors of Tzu Chi’s Four Missions were also there up on stage. All of those who are leading others were there on stage. They work in concert with unity, harmony and love, everyone helping each other. So, this all requires them to have tamed their own minds, to have totally tamed any overbearingness and arrogance, to get rid of their afflictions. This is the only reason that it was such a beautiful scene. This is [the power of] the sutra!
So, we should be mindful and when we are together, we should mutually train and encourage one another. Most important is to form great aspirations and make great vows to help the people of the world. Let us always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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