Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Power of Samadhi and the Four Practices (以三昧力 勤行四修)
Date: June.29.2018
“We must protect sentient beings with our power of Samadhi and help them not give rise to conflicts. We must follow the Dharma-nature and not go against it. We must be replete with the Four Practices and abide in this state. We must listen extensively and retain and uphold without forgetting so that we can understand the wondrous principle and spread the Dharma.”
Let us mindfully seek to comprehend this. In learning from the Buddha and the Dharma, we must have right mindfulness. From the time the Buddha taught right up until the present, the Dharma has always been singular; the teachings are never any different. We must discipline our minds so that we never deviate from right mindfulness. To be in Samadhi is to [give rise to] right mindfulness and right thinking. It is only with this power [of Samadhi] that we will be able to protect sentient beings and help them not give rise to conflicts. With right thinking and right mindfulness, our minds will never deviate. If our minds never deviate, we will be mindful in our each and every action. As we cultivate and take the Dharma to heart, we must bring it together with the people, matters and objects in our daily living. Only then will learning the Dharma become useful. We learn the Dharma in hopes that we can take it into our hearts and then use the Dharma in our hearts to then transform sentient beings. This is called “transforming ourselves and others” and “awakening ourselves and others.” What enters and transforms our minds is Right Dharma. When it then goes on to transform others without deviating, it is still Right Dharma. So, we should remain in Samadhi and protect sentient beings with the power of Samadhi. Let us mindfully seek to understand this. We hope that sentient beings will not give rise to conflicts, so we ourselves must first be able to realize the Dharma and take it to heart. When we abide in right mindfulness, we will not have any conflicts with others. If we can have right mindfulness and go on to teach [the Dharma] to sentient beings, then, naturally, sentient beings will no longer argue among themselves. How important it is to protect with the power of Samadhi! Inwardly, we use it to protect our own minds, and outwardly, to protect sentient beings so that they avoid conflict among themselves. This is truly very important. Thus, we must be very mindful. “We must follow the Dharma-nature and not go against it. We must be replete with the Four Practices and abide in this state.” In our hearts, we should all be very familiar with the Four Practices. I often remind everyone repeatedly about the Four Practices.
The Four Practices: 1. Practice with reverence 2. Practice with nothing further 3. Uninterrupted practice 4. Extended practice.
These Four Practices should abide in our minds. Moreover, if we form aspirations and are willing to be in the Saha World, among stubborn sentient beings, we cannot lack the Four Practices. When our Four Practices abide in our minds, the Buddha-Dharma will forever abide there. We should put our hearts into remembering the Four Practices once again. Do you remember? “Practice with reverence”. We must always have a reverent heart. “This means having utmost reverence and paying respect to the Buddha-mind without ever becoming indolent or retreating.” We must have reverence. From the beginning, we must have sincerity and reverence; we must embrace our faith with a sincere and reverent heart. As we take in this faith, we never depart from the practice of reverence. This way, with wholehearted “reverence,” we “pay respect to the Buddha-mind.” We often say that when chanting the Buddha’s name, we must take Him into our hearts. We must seek to comprehend the Buddha-mind. We must never become lax. The Buddha-mind’s concern is for the Saha World. The Buddha-mind’s concern is for the Three Realms. The Buddha-mind empathizes with sentient beings, so we must comprehend the Buddha-mind and have reverence for the Buddha’s mind. We must not become lax or retreat. This is to “practice with reverence”. When we begin to engage in practice, if we do not have faith or reverence, then there is nothing more we can do. So, we must “practice with reverence.”
The second is to “practice with nothing further.” The blessings and wisdom we must cultivate are our spiritual nourishment. We cannot lack nourishment for our wisdom-life. The seeds in the field of our eighth consciousness require our nourishment. In the fields of our mind, we must constantly cultivate them. Only then will our wisdom-life continue to have sufficient nourishment. So, when we “practice with nothing further,” we cultivate blessings and wisdom among people. Everyone knows that “cultivating blessings” [means] to go among people and from joyful affinities with them. We must earnestly give without expectations and also be reverent to all sentient beings. When we go and serve them, we must also respect them. Then, there is wisdom. Actually, this is wisdom; this is the Three Spheres of Emptiness. We forget about the things we gave them, forget about how we helped them before, forget about going there to help. We do not keep any of these things in mind. We are just always grateful and joyful that so many people combined their power to help those people. However much we gave them, we are not concerned about it nor do we remain attached to it. Together, we treat each other with respect. This is how we gave mindfully. We are grateful for each other; gratitude is everyone’s common feeling. This is how we cultivate blessings and wisdom, the two kinds of spiritual nourishment. We should always be grateful. We cannot do without this nourishment.
The third is “uninterrupted practice”. “Uninterrupted” means courageously and diligently advancing without any interruption.
We must be mindful and never interrupt [our practice]. In our daily living, in the early morning, we enter the prayer hall, sincerely and reverently pay our respects and chant the Buddha’s name so that we may take His heart into our hearts. Every day, we dedicate ourselves among people. This is how it is, from early in the morning until nighttime. This is all “uninterrupted”. We never stop; we are never interrupted.
The fourth is “extended practice”. Throughout an endless period of time, we engage in “the myriad practices of Bodhisattvas as we perfect the cause and approach fruition.”
We must engage in practice for a very long time. This time continues on endlessly. In this endless time, we are always on the Bodhisattva-path, engaging in Bodhisattvas’ myriad practice until our cause is perfected and we reach the fruit of Buddhahood. While we are practicing, we never keep track of the time. Without interruptions, we courageously and diligently advance forward. We will continue to advance for a very long time. If others ask us how long we will keep going, [the answer is], we just keep going. After we take our last breath in this lifetime, we will start again in our next lifetime. Lifetime after lifetime, we will likewise be storing up nourishing provisions and engaging in practice with reverence, practice with nothing further, uninterrupted practice and extended practice. We must continue on like this. These are our Four Practices.
Although we may feel that this is a very simple thing, nevertheless, when it comes to our wisdom-life, this is the most important thing. The Bodhisattvas present there were able to make vows before the Buddha by using these Four Practices. They used the Four Practices and the “power of Samadhi” to protect their own minds. So, they were able to make vows before the Buddha knowing clearly that, in the future, sentient beings would be very stubborn. They knew this very clearly, but because they had the Four Practices, they were willing to spend a long and continuous period of time courageously and diligently advancing forward. With reverent thoughts of the Buddha, with this reverence, they continued to advance forward.
So, “We must listen extensively and retain and uphold without forgetting so that we can understand the wondrous principle and spread the Dharma.” These Bodhisattvas used this mindset. They listened to the Dharma with reverence. They listened to the Dharma with uninterrupted, continuous aspirations. They listened to the Dharma with extended periods of spiritual practice. They always engaged in extended [practice], uninterrupted [practice] and [practice] with nothing further. Thus they always maintained this reverence. We must “listen extensively and retain and uphold without forgetting”. Only by going on like this without interruptions can we continue to preserve the Dharma forever. “We can understand the wondrous principle and spread the Dharma”. We must learn, listen and understand more. Of the wondrous principles within, in learning one [principle], we can understand ten, hundreds, thousands or even 10 million [principles]. The more we listen, the more we come to understand. As we take the Dharma to heart, all the things about the universe that we want to understand, we will understand right away; we will realize them as soon as. This happens after a long period of accumulation. We must maintain constant reverence to protect right mindfulness. We must not have discursive thoughts; we must stay focused and single-minded to protect our minds and protect sentient beings. Lifetime after lifetime, we should always be mindful.
We should put effort into remembering this previous [sutra] text. “They will say such things as….” Who will be saying these things? That group of evil bhiksus. This is the Bodhisattvas describing how in the future era of Dharma-degeneration, there will be evil bhiksus who themselves crave wealth and offerings. They will teach the Dharma among people, yet they will act like this. There will be another group that engages in spiritual practice away from people and engages in ascetic practices. With these two groups, each has their own different methods of spiritual practice, but neither is correct. Those who engage in ascetic practice will see themselves as better than others. Those interested only in fame, wealth and offerings will slander those who truly spread Right Dharma. They are the group of bhiksus whose minds do not abide in Right Dharma but only seek fame, wealth and offerings. They often slander those who have the aspirations to go among people to spread Right Dharma.
When it comes to these people, “They will say such things as, ‘All these bhiksus and others are greedy for offerings, so they teach heretical doctrines. They fabricated this scripture themselves to deceive and confuse people of the world. Because they hope to gain fame, they particularly teach this sutra’”.
These are the words of those future evil bhiksus, words that they use to slander people who have a proper mindset and protect sentient beings. This is truly the wind of ignorance. The [wind of] ignorance in their minds will stir up waves of trouble. Unable to accomplish it themselves, unable to engage in spiritual practice, they will say the Dharma that others teach is heretical doctrine, that they fabricated it themselves, that it is not Right Dharma. The [evil] bhiksus will say that those who spread Right Dharma are not spreading Right Dharma, but heretical doctrines instead.
Indeed, some people [say], “As lay people, if you want to seek blessings, make offerings to the Three Treasures. Focus on making offerings to the Three Treasures”. Do you remember this? Some people say, “Everything is karmic retribution. The hardships those people suffer now are all due to their own karma. Since their suffering is retribution for their own karma, why bother saving them? You would be violating the law of karma!” This kind of argument is something we used to hear a lot of in the past. This is the same principle. Since the era is different, we should follow the times and open [different Dharma-] doors. Do we actually have to go beg for alms? They used to beg for alms in the streets. This is because the Buddha back then had just established the Sangha. He wanted to enable everyone to discover the Buddha-Dharma, discover the Sangha and discover the teachings of the Buddha. In particular, at that time, those who followed the Buddha into monasticism came from all kinds of different backgrounds. Some were from the palace, while others, out of the Buddha’s compassion, were [take in] regardless of their castes. He took them all in as long as they wanted to engage in spiritual practice. Everyone was equal. The Buddha broke down the divisions between the four castes. So, for everyone, as long as they had the faith and were willing to engage in spiritual practice, the Buddha took them in out of compassion.
Since the social hierarchy had produced such disparities among them and the Buddha wanted everyone to live equally, everyone had to go into the world to beg for alms. First, they had to [tame] their haughtiness, their prideful and arrogant hearts to be able to beg for alms from door to door. They were limited to the village. They could not go outside of village. Wherever they had settled down, they had to [beg for alms] in that village. Within the small town or village, monastics allocated [the houses]. They were allowed to beg for alms there, but they were limited to seven households, seven families. If they were at a household with their “measuring vessel,” their alms bowl, and if that household was better off than others, was reverent and willing to make offerings, the household would fill their alms bowl in one go. [Then they would say,] “That’s all for me today. I have plenty. Visiting one household is enough today”. If a household was not that well-off, or if the benefactor, the person who was willing to make the offerings, only gave a little as an empty gesture, if the monastics did not get enough, they could go to the second household. If, after going to the second household, they still had not received enough offerings, then they could still go to the third household. After the third household, [they might say,] “That will do; I will stop here”. If they still did not have enough, they could go as far as the seventh household. But if by the seventh, they still did not have enough, they would have reached their limit; they could not go to an eighth household. This was the system during the Buddha’s time to tame their arrogant minds. He established rules to prevent greed; there rules controlled [the monastics’] arrogance as well as their thoughts of greed. This was the way of life that He gave them. This was in the Buddha’s era. He wanted to enable lay people to become familiar with the teachings of the Buddha-Dharma. He wanted there to be monastic groups in the world to listen to the Buddha’s teachings. At that time, the Buddha also promoted the merits and virtues of making offerings to the Three Treasures, the Treasures of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. This is wondrous Dharma that can be passed on in the world and can eliminate sentient beings’ suffering. So, these are treasures. The Dharma came from the Buddha’s mind and the Buddha’s mouth. It was though the monastics that the Dharma would be continuously passed down in the future so that the world will be replete with the Buddha-Dharma. if a monastic went to someone’s house, and someone there had afflictions, they could also seek counsel form the monastic and the monastic would be able to teach them. This was how they spread the Dharma. When the monastics would beg for alms, the benefactor would make material offerings and the monks would be able to make offerings of the Dharma. They gave mutually to one another. This is also called conditions for transformation. This too was a way of spreading the Dharma. This was when the Buddha was in the world.
Times are different now, and the Buddha-Dharma must keep up with the times. Haven’t we ourselves changed along with the present times? The greatest change has been the methods used to spread the Dharma. We have the technology. This technology enables me to speak here, then send my voice up into “the cloud”. When it come down from “the cloud,” it can be transmitted anywhere in the world; in whichever country people may be, as soon as the password is entered, the sound of my voice and my image at this time will appear before them in that place. This is the way we live now; in this present era, we must also spread the Buddha-Dharma according to the times. People can spread the Dharma. The progress of this era was made by people who set off in the direction of progress. So, we must definitely adapt to the times as we go.
In life in the past, in the kitchen, we had to chop firewood and make kindling. We also had to haul water and mill our rice. This was monastery life in the past. There is no need for this anymore. What need is there to chop firewood today? We cannot even cut trees down anymore; where would we even get wood to chop? We cannot chop firewood. Nowadays every household uses gas. In the kitchen, didn’t we used to burn rice husks in the past? Didn’t we burn firewood in the past? There is no need for this anymore. We used to have to haul water, but there is no need anymore. We placed water taps above the woks. With a turn of our hand, the water comes out. This is how we live now. These are part of modern progress. It is not possible to turn back, nor is it possible to stay where we are. so, we have to keep up with the times.
Still, we cannot allow Right Dharma to leak away. We cannot let Right leak away. We cannot let it leak away. We must have no Leaks; we cannot let it leak away. So, when it comes to the Dharma, we must persist in spreading Right Dharma.
Yet, for some people not only have the times changed, but their perspectives have changed as well. There is nothing true inside their hearts. “Their appearances are false and illusory; they are monastics in make [only].” They do not have anything true in their hearts, and when they see those who genuinely spread the Dharma, they do not understand the Dharma. They are stuck on [the idea that]. “Those people are now suffering the punishments of their karmic retributions, so you do not have to save them.” This kind of perspective is mistaken. Unfortunately, they apple [these views] in this way. They turn around and say that those spreading Right Dharma ae deviant, and that they deceive and confuse people of the world. This is why these Bodhisattvas said to the Buddha, “In the future, these people will slander us as we try to spread Right Dharma. The slanderous words they speak will be like this.” They will say things like, “All these bhiksus…,” They will say, “All these bhiksus and others are greedy for offerings, so they teach heretical doctrines.” They do not actually understand it, but they will say that [these teachings] are heretical doctrines. They will say that these Great Vehicle sutras are things these people fabricated themselves to deceive and confuse people of the word. So, these people [who will slander others] seek fame and fortune. They seek fame and fortune for themselves. There are lots of different sutras, but they have no faith in them. Not only do they not have faith in them, they even go so far as to slander them.
The following passage then says, “They will constantly seek to disparage us before the multitudes. Before kings, ministers, Brahmins, lay people and other assemblies of bhiksus as well, they will slander us and say are evil. They will say we are people of deviant views who teach heretical doctrines.”
This is what those people are like. They will constantly slander us before the multitudes. They slander all of those who dedicate themselves and genuinely want to spread Right Dharma. They will use means they can to slander them. They will even do it before the king and hos ministers and in front of lay people and so on. They will slander others and say they are evil, say they are people with deviant views who teach deviant doctrines. This is what those evil bhiksus will say about those who genuinely spread the Dharma. This is how they will slander them.
So it days, “They will constantly seek to disparage us before the multitudes. It is because they want to disparage them that they will say so many things. This is something we should be very mindful of. So, this section describes the slanderous words of evil people, the words that those evil people use to slander Right Dharma, which we talked about earlier.
They will constantly seek to disparage us before the multitudes: This explains how evil people will slander us. They will always seek to harm, disparage and criticize us in front of all assemblies.
These Bodhisattva said to the Buddha that in the distant future, in the era of Dharma-degeneration, among sentient beings, this kind of appearance of Buddha-Dharma would surface. In the era of Dharma-degeneration, amidst the Buddha-Dharma, these kinds of evil bhiksus would appear. Towards those who spread Right Dharma, there would be lots of slander like this. So, “They will always seek to harm, disparage and criticize us in front of all assemblies. Those evil bhiksus, those evil people, will always slander us; they will “seek to harm us.” They will do it in front of the king and his ministers, before Brahmins or those engaging in purifying practices. To those truly engaging in purifying practices, the evil bhiksus will also tell them that “There are such bhiksus doing such and such things among people.” They will give rise to evil thoughts and also want to incite everyone to [slander them].
Before kings, ministers, Brahmins, lay people…: They will go before the king and his ministers. Brahmins are those who engage in purifying practices. Lay people are practitioners who live at home. Kings are the benefactors of Bodhisattvas. By telling the kings the Bodhisattvas’ faults, they cunningly scheme to put distance between the two to get [the kings] to draw close to them instead.
In summary, they will be everywhere, telling the king, telling the ministers, telling the Brahmins. They will go to the benefactors and tell them, “Those who practice the Bodhisattva-path, those who truly go among people to actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions, those individuals who serve others, are doing everything incorrectly.” “Faults” mean mistakes. They will say everything they do is incorrect. They will “tell [of the Bodhisattvas’] faults,” saying that everything they do is incorrect. So, “They cunningly scheme to put distance between the two.” “The two” refers to those who are practicing and spreading the Right Dharma and the king, his ministers and the lay people; they will devise all kinds of cunning schemes, thinking of every way possible to distance them and prevent them from getting close to [these Bodhisattvas]. “It is better if you only stay near me. Do not draw near those who teach the Great Vehicle Dharma. Do not get close to them. Just make offerings to me. You should draw near me instead.” This is what those evil bhiksus will say. Even “to other assemblies of bhiksus as well, they will slander us and say we are evil.” It will not just be these people. They will unite with many people to say that everything others do is incorrect. So, in “other assemblies of bhiksus as well,” they will incite everyone, “incite all sorts of slander and say bad things about us.” It is not enough they say these things themselves; they will also incite others to go along with them in slandering [practitioners] and say that we all have deviant views and teach heretical doctrines. They will unite everyone to attack the Great Vehicle sutras, saying they are heretical doctrines.
So, they “say we are people of deviant views who teach heretical doctrines”. This shows that “evil people lack wisdom and do not understand the meaning of the sutra. So, they say that those who uphold this sutra have deviant views and teach heretical doctrines”.
Those evil people, those evil bhiksus, do not try to understand the meaning of the sutra themselves. They do not understand it. In order to receive offerings, they will continue to slander “those who uphold this sutra,” saying their views are deviant. For those who teach the Great Vehicle sutras, they will slander them by saying that they have deviant views. In this way, they think that the Great Vehicle sutras are heretical doctrines. This is very tragic. This is what will happen in the era of Dharma-degeneration in the distant future. The Buddhist [community] can also give rise to deviant thinking like this. They are people like this who are dishonest and only crave fame, wealth and offerings within the Buddhist [community]. So, before the Buddha entered Parinirvana, He lamented how “The lion’s parasites eat the lion’s flesh”. People fake the form of the Buddha’s teachings to harm the Buddhist community. These are “the lion’s parasites,” parasites on the lion’s body. This will be very worrisome indeed when the era of Dharma-degeneration comes.
The next passage then says, “Because we revere the Buddha, we will endure all of this evil. For this they will mock us,” saying, ‘You are all Buddhas!’ All these words of arrogance and ridicule we will endure and accept”.
Because we revere the Buddha, we have a reverent heart, a heart that reveres the Buddha. We must [be reverent] over a long time. So, we say that the Four Practices are very important. Because we revere the Buddha, we need to patiently endure [evil]. To pass on the Buddha’s wisdom-life in the future on behalf of the Buddha, we need to patiently endure all evil.
Because we revere the Buddha, we will endure all of this evil. For this they will mock us: Because we seek to reverently follow the Buddha, they will insult us to our face with slander and mockery. We will be able to endure all of these evils of adversities and afflictions.
When people insult us with all kinds of mocking language, we must nevertheless endure it all. Since we all reverently follow the Buddha, with all kinds of insults, when they ridicule us to our face and “slander and mock” us, we remain the same; we must still cultivate our practice of patience and endure this. So, we must endure all the afflictions [from others] violating principles. So, [they say] “You are all Buddhas!
They say that we are all Buddhas.” Actually, for those people, even when they speak words of praise, they still use all kinds of insulting language to mock us. So, we must change our mindset. Actually, the Buddha taught that all [beings] have Buddha-nature; it is just that they have lost sight of their intrinsic nature. This is the reason why we must still endure their sarcastic praises. Because we reverently follow the Buddha, we must be patient in everything we do. In order to spread the Dharma, we must also have patience.
All these words of arrogance and ridicule we will endure and accept: When it comes to this sort of arrogant and mocking speech, we will patiently endure it all for the sake of the Dharma.
“All these words of arrogance and ridicule we will endure and accept”. We must endure all of this, all kinds of irreverent, scornful, arrogant and prideful attitudes and words, whether in their voice or in their appearance. All for the sake of Dharma, we should endure them patiently. No matter how they look at us, how harsh their words may sound or how many people may attack us, how harsh their words may sound or how many people may attack us, for the sake of reverently following the Buddha, we need practice with nothing further, extended practice and uninterrupted practice. In our every thought, we must continually practice like this, cultivating the practice of patience.
Whether Bodhisattvas hear it or not, they will silently endure it. It is because the most extraordinary people regard all the four views as empty and regard right and wrong as one and the same. They do not recognize that they have a self, let alone take issue over right and wrong.
So, if Bodhisattvas hear it, “whether Bodhisattvas hear it or not, they will silently endure it.” Whether they let us hear it directly or their words come to us in a roundabout way, we must silently endure it. We must not reply to them. We let them revile us; there is no need to respond to them. If reviled, we do not respond but endure it all. It will pass as we endure it. Actually, once we endure it, our world opens up! So, we must engage in spiritual practice. People all have the four views, “view of self,” “view of others,” “view of sentient beings,” “view of a lifespan.” These are all truly empty.
There are many [principles] in the Mahaprajnaparamita sutras; they are concentrated in the Diamond Sutra. When the Diamond Sutra is further concentrated, it becomes the Heart Sutra. Doesn’t it say that all things are ultimately empty, that there is no view of self, view of others, view of sentient beings or view of a lifespan? These four views are all empty. [Bodhisattvas] regard these as “empty” “and regard right and wrong as one and the same. They do not recognize that they have a self.” Whether something is right or wrong, whether they disparage us directly or we hear of it in a roundabout way, in a rumor, it is all the same to us. We treat it as if no one is reviling us, as if we have not heard it. There is no difference between ourselves and other sentient beings. There is no difference between old or young either. There is no [difference] at all, so how could there be [any difference between] right and wrong? There is none.
So, these are not things that we wish to argue about. Truly, our aspirations must be uninterrupted; we must continue to courageously advance forward. To create blessed karma among people, we need to cultivate our nourishment for a long time. Our nourishment, blessings and wisdom, are what we must cultivate. We do not have much time. If we take issue with the world, with people and matters, with their sounds and forms, won’t this all just increase our afflictions? So, there is no need for us to increase our afflictions. Rather, we should put effort into the power of Samadhi so that we can protect our minds, use right understanding and right views and protect sentient beings, [help them] to not give rise to conflicts. We should follow the Dharma-nature and refrain from violating Right Dharma.
We use the Four Practices to abide in our intrinsic nature, which is within our hearts, inside our consciousness. We can come and go freely, so lifetime after lifetime, we always “actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions” until we perfect the cause and approach the fruition, until we reach the level of attaining Buddhahood. We must do this without interruptions. Whenever we listen to the Dharma, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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