Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Upholding What Is Difficult to Uphold (難持能持 諸佛歡喜)
Date: April.03.2018
“The Buddha, for the sake of the world of turbidities after His entering Parinirvana, gathered people to uphold the sutra. He made it clear that upholding what is difficult to uphold will bring joy to all Buddhas. To uphold [the sutra] even temporarily means that, in every inhalation, we do not abide in the [5] Skandhas or [18] Realms and, in every exhalation, we are not entangled by our affinities with sentient beings; we turn this sutra constantly.”
Be mindful! Sakyamuni Buddha in His later years, in accordance with the worldly human lifespan, also knew that he had grown old and had to prepare to pass down the Dharma. He had to prepare, in the hope that the Dharma would be spread everywhere, so that people everywhere would be able to accept it, make use of it and broadly spread the Dharma throughout the world. The Buddha also left instructions, just as worldly fathers do; when they have a lot of property, they want their business, assets and so on to be inherited by their children, so they [leave instructions] for how to carry on their family business. The world’s great entrepreneurs and famous people are like this; they all expect their children to be able to take on their enterprise and carry on the family estate so that it will continue to be maintained.
But for Sakyamuni Buddha, all sentient beings on Earth are His only child. Everyone in the world is part of this big family. This big family [has] its family business, family traditions and family name; how could He ensure the family name would remain pure forever and ensure the family would live in joy, harmony and peace? He hoped for every family to live in joy and harmony. This is what the head of any big family [must do]. And likewise, in the end, He too had to depart from [this world]. There is no one in the world who will live forever. The Buddha also lived according to the principles and [natural] order of this world. The Buddha awakened to all the true principles of the universe. In the very instant of His awakening, He became one with the universe. These true principles that the Buddha awakened to are intrinsic to everyone. Everyone has them. Everyone has this awakened nature. Everyone is capable of becoming one with the principles of the universe. It is just that sentient beings simply do not realize this. So, He ardently hoped to pave this path to enlightenment, to pave it from the state of noble beings to the realm of ordinary beings. He hoped that ordinary beings, that is, all sentient beings, could also follow this same path, thoroughly awaken to the true principles and become one with the universe. It is not only the Buddha who can attain this; all sentient beings on Earth intrinsically possess [this potential]. The Buddha comprehended these true principles and hoped everyone would quickly become familiar with them. He furthermore considered sentient beings’ thoughts, resolve and awareness; when it came to the path to the true principles of the universe, they still seemed so very far away. He had to think of a way [to help them]. Thus, He came to a decision and went to Deer Park to teach the Four Noble Truths. He thought about which principle sentient beings need the most and are most capable of understanding. The [principle] that sentient beings can most directly comprehend is “suffering”. Every sentient being who comes to this world experiences suffering. The Buddha was a prince who lived in the palace. Although [life] in the palace meant that every single day He enjoyed material goods, worldly desires and worldly pleasures, He still was not completely [fulfilled]. After witnessing aging, illness and death, this royal prince, though he enjoyed the pleasures of the palace, was astonished and terrified, for He was unable to understand these conditions. So, he saw these inequalities in society, and how this unequal society discriminated [against people]. [Suffering] is something everyone experiences. Even for people living in wealth, danger is always lurking without them being aware of it. For those who live lives of hardship and find it hard to make a living, they feel that suffering every day. [He saw] this obvious suffering as well as the impermanence and changes of life, the suffering we are not aware of, the suffering of aging, illness and so on.
So, the prince was different from ordinary people. He contemplated these things very deeply and decided to go seek out [the principles]. These principles of change [govern how] people change without realizing it. They grow from childhood into adolescence, from youth into adulthood and into old age. During this process, how do these physiological changes occur? He also had these questions in his mind. He wanted to seek [these principles], in particular, those of aging, illness and death, parting form loved ones and meeting those we hate. Worldly suffering has its appearances and forms, so He manifested the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment. This begin from His appearance at birth and continued until He grew up, developed His ideas, became a monastic and began His course of spiritual practice. It went on as [He entered] this state of mind of spiritual cultivation and then His period of tranquil meditation, that instant of enlightenment when. He became one with the principles of the universe. In that instant, His mind opened and became tranquil and clear. He wanted to [organize] the Dharma, first from His personal experiences and the insights He had gained, which He would bring back to teach everyone about “suffering, causation, cessation and the Path”. This was the suffering that He personally experienced in walking upon this path. In the course of His spiritual practice, He experience [the truth of] “causation”. The principle of “causation” strengthened His aspiration to seek the path and His decision after attaining Buddhahood to deliver sentient beings. This was from [His grasp of the Noble Truths], suffering, causation, cessation and the path, so helping everyone learn about “suffering” enable them to understand that they must seek out the path; it is only by seeking the path that we are able to attain Buddhahood.
So, “suffering, causation, cessation and the path” are the Four Noble Truths, and everyone listened to these; from the first five people [He transformed] all the way until He was about to enter Parinirvana, the Buddha had transformed countless people. By His side, He had over 1000 disciples. This was the Buddha’s course of spiritual practice. So, since the Buddha had attained Buddhahood and had so many disciples, beginning with the Small Vehicle Dharma, He taught according to their capabilities. Those with Small Vehicle [capabilities] accept the Small Vehicle Dharma. Those with greater capabilities accepted the Middle Vehicle of Solitary Realizers. [Practitioners] of the Solitary Realizer Vehicle understood the 12 Link of Cyclic Existence. For those of even greater capabilities, the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle [Dharma], that of benefiting others as well. These are the teachings of the Three Vehicles. [Then the Buddha] combined the Three Vehicles. For over 40 years, the Buddha observed people’s capabilities [to see if] their capabilities were great, average or limited. It was not that the Buddha only discovered people of great capabilities 40 years later. In fact, at the beginning, the Buddha also had to teach people according to their capabilities. We often say, “Lay Bodhisattva-practitioners have great wisdom [Great wisdom] is not reserved for those who have become monastics. There are also lay Bodhisattvas [of great wisdom], such as the lay practitioner Vimalakirt. He was a lay person, but he still accepted the Buddha-Dharma. His great capabilities surpassed those of the Solitary Realizers and Hearers. He had the great capability to accept the Great Dharma. This was after the Buddha attained Buddhahood and taught according to people’s capabilities. However, lay Bodhisattvas are unable to pass on the Buddha’s Dharma-lineage. Only disciples who have renounced the lay life are able to pass on the Buddha’s Dharma-lineage. This is because lay people still have family ties, so they are unable to completely eliminate their worldly ignorance and afflictions. Only by renouncing the lay life, severing their family ties and leaving behind the mundane world to enter the door to the Buddha’s teachings can people wholeheartedly accept the Buddha’s teachings; their minds are free of discursive thoughts and other troublesome matters, the endless entanglements of [worldly] ties and all kinds of family ties, the worldly familial ties that can entangle us. [Monastics] have completely rid themselves of the ties that surround them and are focused solely on spiritual practice. This is why only monastic disciples are able to pass down the Dharma-lineage. So, before the Buddha entered Parinirvana, He definitely had to teach the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra [contained] the Dharma which followers of both great and limited capabilities had accepted over the last 40 years. The Buddha then took all of this Dharma and greatly refined it again, eliminating any miscellaneous things so that the pure and essential Dharma could be gathered together.
This is the marrow and essence of the Dharma. It is just like the marrow [in our body], which functions to produce blood; we call this marrow. In fact, when it comes to the Dharma-marrow, if we are able to comprehend the existence of our Dharma-marrow, by grasping one truth, we understand all truths. By grasping one principle, earnestly and sincerely accepting it, we will be able to adapt to infinite afflictions and ignorance. With all kinds of things, if we can understand one principle, in the end we can adapt to all sentient beings of all types in this world and the numerous afflictions produced by ignorance and thus treat them.
This is the Lotus Sutra, the essence of all sutras. So, the Buddha had to pass it down; He had to [transmit] this most essential teaching and pass it down to His disciples so that everyone could comprehend it.
However, to uphold the essence of this sutra is very difficult. Once we take it to heart, we must whole-heartedly uphold this mission. There are so many heavy turbidities in this world. To face such a turbulent, turbid world is truly difficult. So, on one hand, the Buddha had to recruit and encourage people to form aspirations so that they could accept the spirit of this sutra. But He also had to continually warn everyone that implementing this spirit in this world would entail all kinds of hardships.
Once we comprehend it and take it to heart, we must have the spirit and determination to face this world. So, the Buddha first spoke of the many difficulties. Accepting [this sutra] is not an easy process. Once we accept it, there are still various hardships we must face from sentient beings’ different capabilities. This is what He constantly warned us about. So, “The Buddha, for the sake of the world of turbidities after His crossing into Parinirvana, gathered people to uphold the sutra. The world of turbidities is full of all kinds of hardships, and sentient beings are severely defiled by their ignorance and afflictions. While we are in this world, we must persist in putting this sutra into practice and go into the world to be able to save people; we must go into the world to bring purity to people’s hearts and guide everyone to turn from evildoing to goodness.
To turn from [the state of] unenlightened beings to noble beings is not easy. So, now the Buddha urged everyone to make great vows. The universal vows that all Buddhas make are the Four Great Vows. We must be resolute in our “vow to deliver countless sentient beings”. We must be resolute in our “vow to eliminate endless afflictions”, our vow to learn the limitless Buddha-Dharma and our “vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood”. We must persist in this resolute mindset until we attain Buddhahood.
So, we must “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions”. Only through the causal practice will we be able to attain the fruit of Buddhahood. This is what we have been discussing lately. So, “He made it clear that those who can uphold what is difficult to uphold will bring joy to all Buddhas”. He made it clear that it would be very difficult to form this kind of aspiration and go among people. Especially in the long term, it will be very difficult. However, if we are able to do this, “He made it clear that upholding what is difficult to uphold will bring joy to all Buddhas”, all Buddhas will exclaim in praise and rejoice.
Also, to “uphold [the sutra] even temporarily, means that, in every inhalation, we do not abide in the [5] Skandhas or [18] Realms”. This means we must engage in spiritual practice; we must make vows that while we are still alive and breathing, we must always be aware of the Five Aggregates. The Heart Sutra says the “Five Aggregates are empty in nature”; thus, “we do not abide in the 5 Skandhas or 18 Realms”. We already understand the principle of the Five Aggregates.
The realms are the 18 Realms. The 18 Realms are our Six Roots, Six Dusts and Six Consciousnesses. These three groups of six make 18. These 18 are called the 18 Realms. We use our Six Roots to connect with the Six Dusts of the external world. These Six Dusts in the external world are taken in by our [Six] Consciousnesses. So, there are the Five Roots and Five Dusts, but actually, there is also our “mind”. When there is a long thing, we see it with our optical nerves and eyes; then our mind follows [our eyes] there to determine that it is long or round. Thus, we discern objects by using our “mind”. Every object [we see] goes through our eye-root. While among the Six Dusts, our Six Roots and Six Dusts connect like this to produce our consciousness. In all, there are 18 Realms.
So, when we are living in this world, we must be constantly aware. Breathing, inhaling and exhaling shows that we are still alive. In our every breath, we must not deviate from the Dharma. We must be very clear about this Dharma and remind ourselves to be vigilant so that we can discern what the external principles are like. How should we speak? In terms of people’s emotions, when we speak, we must pay attention to others’ emotions. We should be aware of our tone when speaking as well as how people feel about it. This is all accomplished by our mind-root. So, we must be [mindful] in each breath. When the sutra says “temporarily”, we must not think, “If I listen to the sutra for a little while, I will attain merit. If I recite and teach it for a just a short time, I will attain merit”. No. Once we understand the sutra, we must dedicate our whole lives. Because life is painfully short, throughout our lifetime, in every breath, we cannot depart from the Dharma. This is what “temporarily” means. This is because our life is also temporary; we will likewise leave at the end. There is only one thing that is everlasting, and that is our nature of True Suchness. We must return the Dharma to our nature of True Suchness, and in every breath, we must never depart from the Dharma. So, “In every exhalation, we are not entangled by our affinities with sentient beings; we turn this sutra constantly. We must go among people. While we are still alive, we must go among people but without allowing them to disturb our minds.
So, “not entangled” means that no matter what kind of afflictions sentient beings have, they will not defile us, and we also will not contrive good or bad affinities. We always give to others without expectations. We only [seek to] give; we do not think about whether we can obtain some benefit from others, so we are not concerned over gain or loss. Thus, “In every exhalation, we are not entangled by our affinities with sentient beings”. We have no concern over [personal] gain or loss. Our only concern is to “turn this sutra constantly,” that is, to turn the Dharma-wheel and constantly engrave this sutra into our hearts.
We must apply our wisdom to all people and matters and use this wisdom to transform sentient beings. So, we must mindfully seek to comprehend this in the Buddha’s lifetime, He would follow the conditions of this world to enter Parinirvana, so He earnestly urged everyone to enter into the Dharma and the Dharma-treasury. This was the Buddha’s earnestness.
So, the previous sutra passage says, “All you good men! After I enter Parinirvana, who is able to accept, uphold, read and recite this sutra? Declare you vows before the Buddha now. Everyone, quickly come before me and quickly make a vow. Put my heart at ease.
Then quickly put your vows into action “so that I can feel them”. This was how the Buddha very urgently exhorted, reminded and instructed them, hoping that everyone would speak up. “Declare your vows before the Buddha now.” He said again, “This sutra is difficult to uphold.” Again, He instructed us and again, He warned us that “This sutra is difficult to uphold.”
This sutra is difficult to uphold. If someone upholds it even temporarily, I will rejoice and so will all other Buddhas. Such people will be praised by all Buddhas. This is courage! This is diligence! This is what it means to uphold the precepts and be an ascetic practitioner. They will readily attain the unsurpassed path to Buddhahood.
“If someone upholds it even temporarily, I will rejoice.” Here, “temporarily uphold” is something we must mindfully seek to remind ourselves of. He did not mean that listening for a moment is enough, no. When the Buddha said “temporarily uphold, it refers to the span of our breath, our inhalation and exhalation.” Especially since lives are short and temporary, when we are willing to form aspirations like this, the Buddha will rejoice. “So will all other Buddhas.” All other Buddhas are the same. “Such people will be praised by all Buddhas.” All Buddhas will joyfully exclaim in praise, “This person is willing to make vows and undertake [this responsibility]. This is someone of courage and diligence.” This was the Buddha encouraging us again. Someone like this is courageously stepping forward to express their willingness to make vows and shoulder this [burden]. They are not carrying their own grocery baskets, but are taking up rice baskets for the whole world. This is taking on the Tathagata’s family business. “This is what it means to uphold the precepts and be an ascetic practitioner.”
They will readily attain the unsurpassed path to Buddhahood. This is something we must seek to comprehend. The Buddha also placed great importance on this and was very worried that those who would uphold the sutra in the future would not have this power of vows. So, the Buddha put His heartfelt effort into this.
The following sutra passage will conclude the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. Everyone must be very mindful. Today, as we come to a conclusion, we must heighten our mindfulness so we can understand. “Those who can, throughout future lifetimes, read and uphold this sutra are true Buddha-children who dwell in the ground of pure virtue. After I enter Parinirvana, whoever can understand its meaning will be the eyes of all the heavenly beings and humans of this world.”
“Those who can, throughout future lifetimes” refers to the future after the Buddha’s crossing into Parinirvana. This is during “future lifetimes” after the Buddha’s crossing into Parinirvana. In this future age, we are able to “read and uphold this sutra”. We are able to read and recite this sutra. This shows that when it comes to this sutra, if we are willing to read and recite it, this will make the Buddha very joyful. If we are able to do this, we “are true Buddha-children”. Because we are willing to open up and read this sutra, we will gradually enter into this sutra’s principles. [People like this] are true Buddha-children “who dwell in the ground of pure virtue”. When we enter into this sutra, we will be able to accept it. So, we will become true children of the Tathagata. We will also “abide in the stage of compassion and pure virtue”. Because we read this sutra and take it to heart, we will naturally tame our hearts. By entering into the sutra treasury, we will come to have a heart of compassion. “Great compassion is the room, gentleness and patience are the clothing and the emptiness of all phenomena is the seat.” We have discussed this before.
So, “To transform this [morally] weakened era, we must use a wind of purity sufficient to cleanse all that has been defiled. All come to rest in ultimate goodness, transformation-born by the Dharma, They realize the principles of the Dharmakaya.”
Now we find more and more in this evil world of Five Turbidities that people’s morals and ethics are growing weaker. In an era where moral principles are weakened, we must quickly transform and turn things around by using a wind of purity and virtue “sufficient to cleanse all that has been defiled”. This can cleanse away many defiled things and wash them away completely. Why do moral principles become weakened? It is because our ignorance and afflictions have caused us to lose sight of our pure intrinsic nature. So, our turbidities are quite severe People nowadays do not value filial piety and do not think much of doing good deeds. Now, we must turn this [world] around and eliminate our ignorance so that the bright mirror of our heart can illuminate all true principles. We must practice filial piety and do good deeds. We must promote [the idea] that “filial piety is the foremost of all good deeds”. Only with family values will society have morality. So, we must quickly transform [the world], eliminating turbidities and defilement.
Thus, in the Chapter on Faith and Understanding, first [the elder] brought the poor son inside. The elder taught him how to eliminate defilements and slowly led him into the magnificent home. The principle is the same. So, “All will come to rest in ultimate goodness”. We must eliminate these evil turbidities so that everyone can arrive at ultimate goodness. The ultimate goodness is accepting the Dharma.
“Having relieved them from suffering, Bodhisattvas then expound the Dharma for them”. We must eliminate our unenlightened mindset and accept the transcendent Dharma. We must bring purity to [our minds] and give to others without expectations. Although we go among people, we are unaffected by sentient beings who contrive affinities with us. This is what it means to be “transformed”. Thus, “[We are] transformation-born by the Dharma”. Our physical bodies that come from our parents are defiled, so we contemplate them as impure. When we accept the Buddha’s teachings and become the Buddha’s disciples, we are transformation-born through the Dharma and develop or wisdom-life. In this way, we will come to realize the principles of the Dharmakaya.
By reading this sutra, we will naturally become Buddha-children. “I am a true child of the Buddha, transformed by the Dharma”. This is what it means to develop our wisdom-life. Then, we will naturally come to abide in the room of great compassion, which is the Tathagata’s room.
Next, “After I enter Parinirvana, whoever can understand its meaning” means that after the Buddha’s crossing into Parinirvana, we must thoroughly understand the sutra’s meaning. We must put effort into being mindful to “understand its meaning and flavor”. With the meaning and flavor of this sutra, we must try to take in its fragrance. When it comes to this flavor, we must be able to smell it. We do not need to see or hear it; we can smell it. This is because the Dharma has transformed us and entered into our bodies and minds.
So, “[They] will be the eyes of all the heavenly beings and humans of this world”. They are the eyes of heavenly and human beings, the eyes of human beings in this world.
[They] will be the eyes of all the heavenly beings and humans of this world: They are the eyes of the humans and heavenly beings of this world. They open the eyes of humans and heavenly beings, truly helping them by explaining the teachings. Thus, to those who can explain and teach, all heavenly beings and humans should make offerings.
From human beings in the world nowadays, what they see all takes on this kind of [bias]; they view everything in this world from the perspective of their desirous minds. So, for the sake of fame, power and status, they struggle and fight. This truly is a catastrophe for the world. If we can take the Dharma to heart and open up our eyes, then, for the sake of everyone in this world, we will come to see the ultimate truth, and then we will be able to explain the principles of the world to them.
So, “They open the eyes of humans and heavenly beings”. We see the ultimate truth, so we can teach it to them and help them thoroughly understand what we see and hear and truly help sentient beings. We “help” them by working hard to explain all appearances of this world. As for these confusing appearances, we must explain them [for them]. “Thus, to those who can explain and teach…” means that we must explain and teach, that is, we must take the principles of this sutra and put effort into explaining and teaching them. “All heavenly beings and humans should make offerings” means that all the many heavenly beings and humans must respect [these teachers] who go among people to explain these principles.
The next [sutra passage] says, “In this dreadful world, if they can teach even for an instant, all heavenly beings and humans should make offerings to them.”
[We must do this] “in this dreadful world”. The evil world of the Five Turbidities is so scary. It is becoming more and more so; whether it is due to natural disasters or, even more so, manmade disasters and people’s state of mind, it truly is becoming more and more frightening. So, it says, “In this dreadful world, if they can teach even for an instant…”. The world after the Buddha’s Parinirvana has grown more and more defiled. The longer the world exists, the more dangerous it becomes. So, if we “can teach even for an instant,” if we can make the most of our time, then no matter where we are, we will use this Dharma to teach according to people’s capabilities and give everyone the opportunity to accept the Dharma.
“All heavenly beings and humans should make offerings to them.” So, if people can do this, all heavenly beings and humans should make offerings to them. Those who teach the sutra, if they can persevere amidst great difficulty and dispel delusions for everyone on Earth, eliminate ignorance and benefit others, should receive everyone’s offerings. So, the meaning of these previous verses is all about “the future”. In the future world, after the Buddha’s crossing into Parinirvana, [this sutra] will continue to be passed down all the way to today. Now, there is still a future before us, so we must also continue to pass it down.
These three verses praise the merits and virtues of those who will read and uphold this sutra in the future. This is the meaning of “in the future”.
This refers to “those who read and uphold the sutra” in the future. Whether it is in our current era or in the future, we must continually spread this sutra by being able to recite, read, uphold, teach and expound this sutra, as well as to continue to persevere in putting it into practice. If we do this, we will be “rich in resolute faith”. We will be very wealthy [spiritually]. Our hearts will be enriched. We will have a mind of compassion and be rich in the Dharma, for we will have entered the Tathagata’s room. Great compassion is the room. We have already entered the Tathagata’s room. So, we must be resolute in our faith; our faith must be resolute. We are already enriched by so much Dharma and we are replete in both compassion and wisdom. This compassion and wisdom comes from a heart of faith. Our heart of faith perfects our compassion and wisdom. We must transmit the faith in our hearts so that other people will have faith, and this will perfect their compassion and wisdom. This is known as “the ground of pure virtue”. It is the Tathagata’s room, a very pure, tranquil and undefiled realm. So, “They are the eyes of the world” means they “are replete with the Tathagata’s radiant wisdom”. This is what it means to be the eyes of the world. Worldly people [are full of] ignorance. The eyes of the Buddha are the great perfect mirror wisdom that can serve as a guide for the ignorant and deluded people in this world. This is what the Buddha did in this world.
They are rich in resolute faith, which is the ground of pure virtue. They are the eyes of the world. This means they are replete with the Tathagata’s radiant wisdom, worthy of serving as a guide for the ignorant and deluded people of the world.
“The dreadful world” means that this world is very frightening and scary. People’s minds are difficult to fathom. When it comes to People’s minds, we cannot actually know what they are thinking. So, when their minds are disturbed by a wrongful thought of evil, this spins out of control to create a terrible disaster. Now the world is full of innocent people who suffer from these disasters. They are so many refugees who live every day in fear and dread.
"This dreadful world" is the evil world. People’s minds "have no faith in this sutra and even go as far as to slander it. For this reason, this world makes people feel fear and dread."
If we do not help this sutra be passed down, this evil world will grow even more evil. So, we must not say, "This world is so evil already, why bother teaching the sutra?" If we do not teach, it will grow even more evil. So, we must make an effort to form great aspirations and make great vows to transform this dreadful world and bring purity to this world. So it says, "For this reason, this world makes people feel fear and dread." When we try to do good and others do not affirm us but instead slander our good deeds as mistakes, this is very scary. So, we must have a very thorough understanding.
In conclusion: After the Buddhas crossing into Parinirvana, anyone who reads, recites, accepts and upholds the sutra like this is undertaking the mission of the Tathagata. Thus they are worthy of receiving offerings from humans and heavenly beings.
After the Buddha’s crossing into Parinirvana, those who read, recite, accept and uphold this sutra are taking up the Tathagata’s family business. For Sakyamuni Buddha’s great family of the world, who was willing to take responsibility? As the Buddha had become old, in several more years, the time to enter Parinirvana would draw near, so He was very worried about the world. If no one made aspirations to take on and accept this responsibility, who would shoulder the great family of the world? So, He had to entrust this bequeathed teaching. He left instructions and constantly bequeathed teachings for whomever was willing to take on this responsibility. So, whoever is willing to be courageous like this and courageously take on this responsibility “is worthy of receiving offerings of humans and heavenly beings”. Humans and heavenly beings will safeguard us. We do not need to be afraid as long as we have the desire and are willing to dedicate ourselves, as long as we are sincere. With firm sincerity, utmost sincerity, when we resolutely and willingly undertake this responsibility, then, naturally, in this dark world, heavenly beings will safeguard us. So, although there is great difficulty, this sutra is still safeguarded by the eight classes of Dharma-protectors. Furthermore, all Buddhas will rejoice and praise [us], and They will also safeguard us. So, we must be very mindful of this sutra.
The stupa of treasures appeared, revealing that ancient and present Buddhas are all the same. Beginning with the single ray of light, that illuminated the east, the Buddhas arrived from the ten directions. This perfectly demonstrates how sentient beings and the Buddha have always been the same. All Buddhas share the same path. Many Treasures Buddha, with His entire body within the stupa, confirmed that the Dharmakaya is ever-abiding.
In the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures, the stupa of treasures emerged from the ground, and Many Treasures Buddha’s entire body was also in the stupa of treasures. When Sakyamuni Buddha emitted a ray of light that illuminated the east, all the Buddhas from throughout the many worlds of the ten directions came and everyone gathered together. This represents the perfection and completeness of this sutra and demonstrates that sentient beings and the Buddha have always been the same. "The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature].” They have always been and will always be one. All Buddhas share the same path. The past Buddhas were like this. The present Sakyamuni Buddha was also like this. None of the past Buddhas ever departed from the Four Great Vows. Now the Buddha is guiding us and also perseveres in upholding the Four Great Vows. We must have this power of vows so that we will be able to persevere in the face of hardships. So, Many Treasures Buddha’s entire body inside the stupa of treasures appeared in order to testify that the Dharmakaya is ever-abiding. Every single one of us also has an ever-abiding Dharmakaya. This Dharmakaya is our nature of True Suchness. The Buddha already put the Dharma to use in this world. Our nature of True Suchness is everlasting throughout lifetime after lifetime. So, when it says “temporarily uphold,” this refers to our time in this life, this world. Our nature of True Suchness is everlasting. So, in future lifetimes, this sutra must be upheld forever. If we mindfully seek to comprehend it, this sutra will continue throughout the ages. We simply need to always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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