Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Having Faith in the Teachings without Doubt (淨心信奉 於法不疑)
Date: April.26.2018
“To realize and understand the practice of great spiritual aspirations, we must first strengthen our faith and vows. The disparity in causes and effects is extremely subtle and wondrous. Good and evil karma [follow us] like our shadow; retribution really does exist. The ancient Many Treasures Buddha came to listen to the Dharma. The present Venerable Sakyamuni gathered His multiple manifestations. Devadatta received the Buddha’s predictions. With wisdom and compassion, Venerable Sakyamuni bestowed predictions free of resentment.”
We must mindfully seek to comprehend this! If we want to comprehend the great path, we must very mindful seek to comprehend this and delve deeply into the sutra’s meanings. We must also strengthen our spiritual aspirations, our faith and power of vows. We must strengthen our faith and power of vows. In particular, in this chapter, everyone must truly have deep faith to comprehend and understand it. It is inevitable that some people will have doubts. Devadatta was so evil. He “destroyed the harmony of the Sangha” and also “killed an Arhat”. There was even a time where he was determined to kill the Buddha. He once pushed a rock off a mountain and injured the Buddha’s foot, which bled. This is “drawing the blood of a Buddha.” He had also done this. He had committed three [of the Five] Great Offenses, yet he did not repent. In the end, he even used a very poisonous toxin. He applied an extremely poisonous toxin to his fingernails. Then he expressed a desire to repent so that he could come close to the Buddha in order to poison and kill Him. But who would have thought that, before he could even reach the Buddha, the ground would suddenly split open. When Devadatta reached that spot, the ground cracked open. He fell beneath the ground and flames erupted from below; he was buried alive underground and lost his life.
However, after this incident, when the Buddha was teaching the Lotus Sutra, He still bestowed predictions of Buddhahood upon Devadatta. Everyone felt, “This is a matter of good and evil [karmic retributions] and the journey of spiritual practice. How can this be? Can an evil person really attain Buddhahood? Why did the Buddha still bestow predictions of Buddhahood upon [Devadatta]?” So, we must be very mindful. We must not have doubts. We must have the aspiration to comprehend the great path and must strengthen our faith and power of vows; We must be very firm in this. We must believe that “the disparity in causes and effects” is truly very subtle and wondrous.
“Good and evil karma [follow us] like our shadow; retribution really does exist.” There absolutely are retributions for good and evil [actions]. If this were not so, didn’t Devadatta say that he possessed great spiritual powers? Then how did it happen that, when he got there, the ground split open in such a manner, and he was unable to use his spiritual powers to jump across the crack in the ground? Why did he fail to jump over it and ended up falling underground like this? This shows there is karmic retribution for both good and evil; it is not true that there are no retributions. We must have faith in this. Look at the ancient Buddha; Many Treasures Tathagata, for the sake of listening to Dharma, vowed, “Wherever the Lotus Sutra is taught, I will go there to listen to it.” This was His vow, a vow which he had yet to fulfill. When He attained Buddhahood, He lacked the karmic conditions to teach the Lotus Sutra. So, He vowed that wherever the Lotus Sutra is taught, His stupa of treasures will manifest at that Dharma-assembly to bear witness to the Lotus Sutra. This is His one great cause in the world.
[He wanted to] help everyone understand that Buddhahood is attained through the Lotus teachings. So, the ancient Buddha, Many Treasures Buddha and His stupa, for the sake of hearing the sutra, both appeared at the same time. As for the present Sakyamuni Buddha, He lived over 2000 years ago. When the ancient Buddha appeared, at that time, Sakyamuni Buddha wanted to help everyone believe in the ancient Buddha inside the stupa. Everyone wanted to see [the past Buddha], but first Sakyamuni had to gather together His multiple manifestations. This means that, to see the Buddha, we must be replete with the Dharma. As for our nature of True Suchness, in order to believe in our nature of True Suchness, we must have deep faith in and comprehend the great path. We must listen to the Dharma, understand it and genuinely believe in the Buddha’s teachings. Only when we are willing to take them to heart will we be able to return to our intrinsic nature. Then our intrinsic Buddha will be able to manifest.
The Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures shows us show, in order to see the Buddha, we must gather together the Buddha’s multiple manifestations, the Buddha’s Dharmakaya. The Buddha’s Dharmakaya is the Buddha-Dharma, so the Dharmakaya is the Dharma. It is very simple; all the true Dharma is the Buddha’s Dharmakaya.
In the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures, we already explained this clearly, so we should be able to understand it now. The Dharma must return to its place. We all intrinsically have the Buddha-nature. As we listen to the Dharma, we quickly recall it from memory. How much have we listened to and how much have we understood? As for the sutra’s essence, how much have we remembered? We must quickly return [the Dharma to its place]. When we take the Dharma to heart, our intrinsic Buddha, our nature of True Suchness will emerge. If we do not take the Dharma to heart, then our nature of True Suchness will remain buried within our afflictions and ignorance. So, we must mindfully comprehend [the Dharma]. In these few chapters, starting from the Chapter on Dharma Teachers, the Buddha has been praising those who upheld the Lotus Sutra, those who were willing to form aspirations to uphold the sutra. After this came the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. Many Treasures Buddha, for the sake of listening to the Dharma, with His power of vows, even manifested His stupa of treasures at this Dharma-assembly; it emerged from the ground. This was all to bear witness [to the sutra]. This was how mindful the Buddha was. The Buddha rose into the air to open the door to the stupa of treasures. Once the stupa door opened, Many Treasures Buddha yielded His seat, and Sakyamuni Buddha entered the stupa of treasures and sat down. With this series of [events], we must clearly comprehend the meaning behind the Buddha gathering His multiple manifestations.
We often say that the Buddha’s Dharmakaya is the true principles. We must take the principles to heart, for in each person there is a stupa on Vulture Peak. Has our stupa emerged yet? Before we open the door to the stupa, we must take the Dharma to heart. Have we taken the Dharma to heart? Has the Dharma returned to its place? Did we listen only to forget about it? Did we listen only for it to leak away? Did we re-collect what leaked away? This is the intention behind the sutra, for us to earnestly listen to the Dharma without any leaks in our mind. As we listen to the sutra, we must not let it leak away. If it leaks away, we must quickly re-collect it and recall the meaning of the sutra. We need to have this kind of mindset. So, it says, “The ancient Many Treasures Buddha came to listen to the Dharma. The present Venerable Sakyamuni gathered. His multiple manifestations.” This was how it was in the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures. Now, in this chapter, Devadatta received predictions of Buddhahood from the Buddha. He received predictions from the Buddha, but by then he had already fallen into hell. Why did such an evil person [receive predictions]? In particular, the sutras have described how he tormented the Buddha in previous lives. Countless kalpas ago, when Sakyamuni Buddha was the king, Asita the mystic told the king, “As long as you listen to me and obey my orders, I will give you the Dharma.” This was the cause behind Devadatta receiving predictions. Although the king at that time gave of himself so diligently and that mystic tormented him so much, no matter how he was tormented, the king patiently endured ascetic practice. He did not harbor any resentment, but only a heart of gratitude. All of this served to train his mind, his mind and his conduct. This also trained this spiritual practitioner’s great spiritual aspirations.
We want to comprehend the great path, but have we put [the teachings] into practice upon this great path? The ancients say that when heaven bestows great responsibility upon a person, it [first] makes them go through great physical and mental hardship. By the same principle, for spiritual practitioners to our aspirations must be very earnest. We must strengthen our faith and power of vows and put them into action. So, we must have faith in [the reasons] why the Buddha bestowed predictions upon Devadatta.
Yet, due to the karmic law of cause and effect, good and evil karma [follow us] like our shadow, and retribution truly exists. In the Buddhist sutras, during that era, at the Bamboo Grove abode in Rajagrha, the Buddha brought 500 disciples with Him there to engage in spiritual practice. One day during that time, a bhiksu came to look for Ananda. He slowly said to Ananda, “Venerable [Ananda], I heard that the Buddha public reprimanded Devadatta in front of many people and banished him from the Sangha, that he was prohibited from living with us and practicing with us. Everyone is talking about this. Did Devadatta commit such a great transgression? Did Devadatta make such a great transgression? Did he really violate the precepts to such a great extent? The Buddha even said that he will fall into hell for one great kalpa. Is that true? Can Devadatta not be saved? Will he be left to continually degenerate? Is there no way for him to remain in the Sangha? This news is spreading outside, and everyone is discussing it. For what reason did the Buddha punish him so severely? What happened?”
After Ananda heard this, he did not give a response. He only nodded his head silently. Indeed, that means Devadatta had truly done something really wrong and made a big mistake. The Buddha had truly said that, in the future, Devadatta would fall into hell for one great kalpa. This bhiksu then said, “Why is [the punishment] so severe? Is the Buddha so clear about Devadatta’s spiritual practice and his actions? Is the Buddha so clear about it? Is the Buddha so sure that Devadatta severely violated the precepts? Many people outside really respect Devadatta. He has great spiritual powers and engages in spiritual practice, so everyone respects him. He is also very dignified in his external demeanor. He truly seems to have great might and virtue, so many people admire and respect him. Is it true that Devadatta has no way to turn around? Could it be that he can no longer return to the Sangha again?”
Ananda replied, “Although in my course of spiritual practice. I have yet to attain very profound wisdom and cannot be compared to the World-Honored One, I have followed the World-Honored One, the Buddha, for a very long time. I believe in the Dharma He teaches. Since the Buddha spoke such words and Devadatta truly committed many great mistakes, severely violating the Sanagha’s precepts, there is nothing that can be done. Thus, we must have faith in the Buddha. The Buddha speaks the truth and speaks what is real. He definitely does not speak falsehoods. What the Buddha says is always consistent, so there is nothing that can change it”.
After this bhiksu heard this, feeling disheartened, he hung his head and left. Then, Ananda came before the Buddha and told Him, “Just now there was a bhiksu who pleaded for Devadatta, hoping that Devadatta would be able to return to the Sangha. This bhiksu said that many people outside praise Devadatta; they praise his great spiritual powers and magnificent demeanor. So, this bhiksu hoped that Devadatta could return to the Sangha. Otherwise, there may be a great controversy among people outside”.
Sakyamuni Buddha then said, “Sentient beings are ignorant. They are unable to understand. They are unable to comprehend my efforts. Go quickly and tell that bhiksu to come back. He must have become a monastic recently. He is unable to really understand the Sangha’s precepts and the Buddha-Dharma’s profound meaning. We must not allow him to misunderstand it. Go and call him back. I will explain it to him”.
Not long after, Ananda called the bhiksu over. After he came, the Buddha said, “Do you have problems with the punishment. I gave Devadatta?” The bhiksu did not dare to say anything, so the Buddha told him, “Many people are ignorant, so they easily create karma of speech. If you do not understand something, how could you keep talking about it to people outside? People will talk after only seeing the surface of things. They see how, on the outside, Devadatta manifests his spiritual powers and think that he is well-cultivated. In fact, he is lacking in virtue and harbors ill intentions. All they see is his spiritual powers, and they respect him for this reason, causing him to become more and more arrogant and develop a haughty mindset. It is because of this that he has fallen into this situation! Everyone must earnestly guard against karma of speech. If we want to praise someone, we must first understand whether the person is cultivated and virtuous. When we want to point out someone’s mistakes, we must first understand whether the person committed unwholesome acts. Is there truth to it. We must clearly differentiate right and wrong! We must not speak after merely seeing the surface of things. So, everyone must work hard to be mindful. If we do not work hard to guard against our karma of speech, it is possible that we will also create collective karma with evil-doors and suffer painful retributions in the future.”
The Buddha told this bhiksu quite a lot “as we engage in spiritual practice, we must not show off spiritual powers for the sake of wealth and offerings. Yet for the sake of wealth and offerings, Devadatta flaunted his majestic appearance and showed off to people. This was all wrong. He did these things completely out of his greed for wealth and offerings and to make people respect him. This kind of mindset is flawed. This is wrong. So, this person cannot be part of the Sangha, because being in the Sangha, would allow him to create even more severe karma. He explained this for the bhiksu to understand. He even told this bhiksu, “Devadatta destroyed the unity of the Sangha. He also once injured a Buddha. After making these mistakes, he even killed an Arhat. Think about it; how can he remain in the Sangha? Of course, with these transgressions, in the future, he will fall into hell for one great kalpa. This is undisputable. He must face the karma he created.” The Buddha explained to him again in this way the reason why Devadatta was banished from the Shanga.
This bhiksu finally understood. He could see that Devadatta had committed great transgressions in the Sangha. The Buddha had dealt with him and banished him from the Sangha. Devadatta did not leave on his own accord. The Buddha expelled him. We should be able to understand this part. Because Devadatta committed layers upon layers of [transgressions], he would inevitably fall into hell alive. And for how long? One great kalpas, contains four medium kalpas, and one medium kalpas is twenty small kalpas. This means 80 small kalpas make one great kalpas. He would fall into hell for such a long time. We must understand that he had to endure this for such a long period of time. After he leaves hell, there will then be causes and conditions that will begin to guide him because the Dharma still lives in his heart. This is because he had always been born into the same era as the Buddha, lifetime after lifetime. In summary, these karmic conditions are extraordinary, so we must make an effort to have faith in them.
The previous passage says, “All heavenly beings will use assorted flowers, scented powders, incense, fragrant oils, clothes, strings of jewels, banners and streamers, jeweled canopies music, songs and prostrations to make offerings to the wondrous stupa of Seven Treasures.”
After Heavenly King Buddha enters Parinirvana, His entire body will be [placed] inside the stupa of treasures. The stupa of treasures is very tall and big. Everyone will come to make offerings to it. There were so many, countless sentient beings there because of Heavenly King Buddha.
So, “Countless sentient beings will attain the fruit of Arhatship”. Also “Immeasurable sentient beings will awakeb to the state of Pratyekabuddhas. An inconceivable number of sentient beings will give rise to Bodhicitta, which means that they will form great aspirations”. They will “reach the point where they will never retreat”.
This is incredible. Devadatta will fall into hell for one great kalpa. But when he attains Buddhahood in the future, he will be able to [teach] for such a long time and will be able to transform so many people. After he enters Parinirvana, the right Dharma will abide for a very long time. See, these causes and conditions are incredible. This is all because he had listened to the Dharma for a very long time; he was always born in the same era as the Buddha. this is all due to his karmic conditions. However, spiritual practice is its own matter. He had listened to the Dharma but had yet to cultivate inner virtue, so he committed wrongdoings. He committed wrongdoings and created evil karma, so he fell into hell.
But from the practices he had cultivated, he understood the Dharma. The seed of his memory of understanding the Dharma had not been erased and still remained in his nature of True Suchness. As soon as he leaves hell, he will also have these causes and conditions; he will immediately understand [the teachings] and quickly attain Buddhahood. When he attains Buddhahood, his virtue will be great.
Thus, the world he will attain and the lifespan he will have [will be great], and the sentient beings he will transform will be able to accept the Dharma. They will easily be able to accept the Dharma. This is the wondrous seed of cause and effect.
The next passage says, “The Buddha said to all the bhiksus, ‘In future ages, if good men and good women hear the Wondrous Lotus Sutra’s. Chapter on Devadatta and believe in it and revere it with pure minds that harbor no doubts or delusions…’”.
We must believe in and revere [the teachings] with very pure minds. To have a pure mind means to be free of doubts. The Buddha reminded His disciples to remember to have pure faith.
The Buddha said to all the bhiksus, “In future ages…”: The Buddha reminded His disciples that if they all have pure faith in this Wondrous Lotus Sutra, they will benefit from it in future lifetimes, after Venreable Sakyamuni enters Parinirvana.
To have pure faith is to believe in and revere [the sutra a pure mind. Pure faith is faith without doubts. We must have faith in the Wondrous Lotus Sutra’s principles. So, if we can have pure and deep faith in the Wondrous Lotus Sutra, we will naturally be able to receive its benefits.
Just look at how many severe transgressions Devadatta committed. Although he fell into the hell realm, when he attains Buddhahood in the future, he too will be able to receive these benefits because his heart is full of those seeds; there are seeds of Dharma [in his heart]. Because of this, he too can [attain Buddhahood]. As soon as he leaves the hell realm, naturally, those causes and conditions will lead him to engage in the spiritual practice and attain Buddhahood and these many benefits.
So, for us right now, the Buddha has told us to carefully remember the Lotus Sutra. We must word hard to remember it with a pure mind and very deep faith. If we can do this, we “will benefit from it [in future lifetimes]” “after Venerable Sakyamuni enters Parinirvana”. Because the Buddha was about to enter Painirvana, He repeatedly instructed and reminded everyone to remember the benefits of upholding and accepting the Louts Sutra. He even explained in the Chapter on Devadatta that Devadatta will be able to be a Buddha for such a long time precisely because he benefitted from the Lotus Sutra. [The Buddha] wanted us to understand this. So, when the Buddha was still alive, He hoped for His disciples to understand this; He even hoped that sentient beings in the future would all understand it. So, [He hoped that] in the future, “good men and good women [would be able to] hear the Wondrous Lotus Sutra’s Chapter on Devadatta”. [He hoped that] everyone would be able hear the Chapter on Devadatta and “believe in it and revere it with pure minds that harbor no doubts or delusions…”.
Believe in it and revere it with pure minds that harbor no doubts or delusions: With a pure mind free of doubt, we must have faith and reverence for this Dharma so as to have no doubts or delusions about this sutra. Believe in it and revere it with pure minds: This means we must purify our hearts as we believe, accept, revere and uphold [this sutra].
[He hoped that] everyone will be able to do this, to listen to this sutra and believe in and revere it with pure minds. [He hoped that] our minds will not give rise to doubts or delusions and that we will be able to have a pure mind free of doubts. To believe in and revere it with a pure mind, our minds must be very pure. When it comes to Devadatta’s ability to attain Buddhahood, we should not have any doubts about this. Not only should we not have any doubts about Devadatta attaining Buddhahood, we should also respect the Buddha Sakyamuni Buddha endured lifetime after lifetime of suffering and torment, but He did not harbor any past grievances and even bestowed a great prediction upon Devadatta. We can see that this was a noble being, a role model for spiritual practitioners. We must clearly differentiate good and evil. Good people will receive good retributions and attain Buddhahood. How much longer will it take? Devadatta has one great kalpa [in hell]; he is still in hell right now! Sakyamuni Buddha attained Buddhahood in the past, over 2000 years ago. Now, it is still Sakyamuni Buddha’s world. He is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and the kind father of the four kinds of beings. He is still teaching sentient beings, whereas Devadatta is still in hell. This is the disparity between good and evil in the time [it takes them to attain Buddhahood].
But Devadatta’s merits and virtues in upholding the sutra were not erased. They were not lost, so in the very distant future, he too will attain Buddhahood. So, if people “do not comprehend the Buddha’s great impartial wisdom,” if we are unable to comprehend Sakyamuni Buddha’s great impartial wisdom, which is to have equal compassion for all, if we are unable to comprehend it, then we will be unable to understand the meaning of this passage. Then we will not understand that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature.
If people do not comprehend the Buddha’s great impartial wisdom, they will not understand that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. They will merely remain attached to the various appearances of different phenomena. They will think that an evil person should go to hell while a good person should attain Buddhahood. This goes against the Tathagata’s great impartial wisdom; sentient beings and the Buddha are one and the same. The difference stems from their impure minds.
We must believe in this. This is all to tell us that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. All sentient beings, whether good or evil, have Buddha-nature; even animals and ferocious beasts have it. So, this means that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature, and Devadatta in particular also has the same Buddha-nature. However, we sentient beings are like this; we “merely remain attached to the various appearances of different phenomena”. The various appearances of phenomena are different. According to these different appearances of phenomena, we give rise to a discriminatory mindset. So, we should learn to have an “impartial perspective,” so that we will be able to have “an open heart and pure thoughts”. This is what we must practice.
Thus, “They merely remain attached to the various appearances of different phenomena. They will think that an evil person should go to hell while a good person should attain Buddhahood”. When we only differentiate something based on whether it appears to be good or evil, this is superficial! When we look at someone, they may seem to be good people on the surface, so how could they do such a thing? There is no way to see this! This is because we sentient beings only look at the surface of things. The Buddha has always said, “The mind, the Buddha and sentient beings are no different [in their nature]”. We merely look at people’s external appearance and immediately start to judge them. [We think,] “This person has good thoughts and engages in spiritual practice, so they will succeed and attain Buddhahood; But these people do not have good thoughts, so they will never attain Buddhahood”. But it is not like this. Everyone can attain Buddhahood because everyone has the nature of True Suchness. So, we should not think we can discriminate only based on appearances. We need to “view all with equal compassion”. As it is, like the Tathagata said, all sentient beings’ minds are equal to the Buddha’s. This is what the one with great wisdom [said]. If we criticize people in this way, naturally, our minds will not be pure. The Buddha hopes that everyone can, with pure minds, have faith in the Lotus Sutra. It is especially with this chapter that we must have a pure mind that is free of doubts and have deep faith in the subtle and wondrous law of karmic cause and effect. Everyone must mindfully seek to comprehend this.
Due to their impure mind, they lack faith. Due to their lack of faith, their minds are full of doubt. They think the passage from this chapter of the sutra is nothing more than a demonstration of the Buddha’s virtue of forgiving grievances, wherein the Buddha instructs, wherein the Buddha instructs. His disciples and future practitioners that they must not dwell on grievances or harbor resentment. They even go so far as to suspect that this chapter did not originally exist and was not part of the Buddha’s teachings.
So, “Due to their impure mind, they lack faith.” If their minds are impure and have doubts, then they will be unable to truly accept this Dharma. Because they lack faith, how can they accept it? ”Due to their lack of faith, their minds are full of doubt.” So, these doubts will always be present. Thus, “they think the passage from this chapter of the sutra” is only to demonstrate the Buddha’s virtue of forgiving grievances. They think that this chapter is only to show that the Buddha was forgiving of grievances, that He was very well-cultivated, and that is all. The principles are not this simple. The Buddha demonstrated His virtue and explained how He became advanced in practice; in fact, this was to help everyone understand that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. Even though Devadatta was so evil, he will attain Buddhahood in the future. Not only will he attain Buddhahood, he will also have a very long lifespan. And not only will his lifespan be long, Right Dharma will also abide in this world for a long time. It will benefit sentient beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River. This means Devadatta also has his Buddha-nature. It was just that while he knew the principles, he lacked virtue, so he created evil karma. Evil karma will certainly lead to retributions. But he understood the Dharma; this shows that the Buddha-nature is clearly in his mind. It is just awaiting the opportunity. So, people think that this chapter is only to demonstrate the Buddha’s virtue, or that the Buddha was “instructing His disciples and future practitioners that they must not dwell on grievances or harbor resentment.” They think it was only about that, so they gave rise to doubts, thinking that the Buddha was only demonstrating His virtue; they did not know the reason behind Devadatta attaining Buddhahood. Thus, “They even go so far as to suspect that this chapter did not originally exist.” They think that this chapter was not in the Lotus Sutra originally, and that the Buddha did not teach it. In fact, if they do not believe that this chapter was in the Lotus Sutra, then they do not have faith.
These [beliefs] are impure, unfaithful and irreverent and sever the seeds of Buddhahood. If one cuts oneself off from the Buddha, how would one ever be able to transcend the evil destinies to continually be born into the same age as the Buddha and be able to hear this Wondrous Lotus Sutra? How would one ever rise up to Brahma Heaven or be born into a Pure Land and draw near Bodhi?
This chapter is truly very important. If we were to remove this chapter, we would be destroying the seeds of Buddhahood. Then, we would be unable to pass on the Dharma. From the Chapter on Dharma Teachers, to the Chapter on Seeing the Stupa of Treasures all the way to the Chapter on Devadatta, we have been talking about the seeds of Buddha-nature. This is the seed of Buddha-nature, our nature of True Suchness; it is very important! So, we must not neglect this chapter and overlook it. We must understand it very clearly. [If not,] how will we “ever be able to transcend the evil destinies to continually be born into the same age as the Buddha?” How will we be able to transcend the evil destinies to be born into the same age as the Buddha? So, we must understand that for us to encounter the Buddha every lifetime and live in the same age as Him is very difficult. To not only live in the same age as the Buddha but in addition hear the Wondrous Lotus Sutra is even more difficult. However, after Devadatta leaves hell, in the future he will still be able to live in the same era as the Buddha; he will also be near the Lotus Sutra and will hear the Lotus Sutra. This is due to a karmic cause, a seed. After he leaves hell, he will likewise be born in Brahma Heaven, in the pure land. This is all within the seed of our nature. So, as spiritual practitioners, we must mindfully seek to comprehend this. It seems very profound and difficult to understand. This is not easy, but we must have deep faith. We must believe there is a Buddha and that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. There is the Buddha-nature and there are also the principles of the universe. So long as we encounter good karmic conditions, we can accept these principles, continually practice the Buddha-Dharma and learn from the Buddha as a good role model. [We can learn] until we truly have no grievances and are free of love, hate, passion and animosity, until we completely eliminate all these. In this way, when karmic conditions arise again, we will take the Buddha-Dharma to heart with a pure mind free of doubts. In this way, the Dharma will draw closer to our nature of True Suchness. Our nature of True Suchness will converge with the Dharma, and we will become one with the universe. This requires us to be very mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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