Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Great Hero Easily Transforms Sentient Beings (大雄世尊 易度眾生)
Date: November.06.2018
“The great hero uses the great power of wisdom to destroy the unwholesome phenomena of greed, anger, delusion and all desires. He eliminates the suffering of birth, death and parting from loved ones. He has attained supreme enlightenment. He has transcended the worlds of heavenly beings humans, unenlightened beings and noble beings. He is praised and revered by all in the world. Thus, His epithet is the World-Honored One.”
We must mindfully seek to realize and even more so, to understand. “The great hero uses the great power of wisdom to destroy greed, anger, delusion and all desires.” When we engage in spiritual practice every day, this is what we must mindfully guard against. When we face our surroundings, is there anything that causes us to give rise to resentment? Is there anything we cannot resolve or overcome that will lead to deluded thoughts? Most importantly, do we have unconscious thoughts of greed? This is what we must constantly be vigilant of every day. “The great hero uses the great power of wisdom.” This means that Sakyamuni Buddha had already overcame greed, anger and delusion, all of these thoughts. In daily life, when facing conditions, people and matters [the Buddha] does not give rise to the slightest thought of greed, absolutely not. He is completely pure, not to mention [free of] anger and delusion. The Buddha’s spiritual cultivation began when He renounced lay life and engaged in ascetic practice. It continued until the moment. He saw the morning star and become enlightened in an instant. He had completely eliminated all delusions and ignorance; He had swept them all away. He had completely eliminated them all, and there was nothing left, so He was very pure. [His mind] had returned to [the state of] a great perfect mirror. This mirror is free of all defilement. It is perfectly pure. The surface of this mirror of the mind is very clean. At any time, in any environment, it is free of greed, anger and delusion; [there are none of] these thoughts or defilements. The mirror of His mind is in the state of a pure, great and perfect mirror, so He can be called “the great hero [who] uses the great power of wisdom.” This state is clear and He clearly understands all Dharma, so naturally, He can understand all things in the world. With this courage, He is without delusions or hesitation. Everything that He does is clear and decisive. Only “the great hero [who] uses the great power of wisdom” is able to see things and do things with such clarity and decisiveness. “The unwholesome phenomena of all desires” are the various desires of people in this world. He does not have any of these.
Because of greed, people of the world give rise to desire. With great and desire, we then give rise to anger and delusion, one after the other. If we eliminate our desires, we will not give rise to anger and delusion. They will gradually be eliminated and disappear. These are the true principles. So, as we engage in spiritual practice, the most important thing is to first eliminate greed, anger and delusion. This is the method which we should start with. If we do not know how to engage in spiritual practice, this is where we start. We start from [eliminating] our thoughts of greed. When we do not have greed or desires in our minds, naturally we will not deviate in direction. When we do not go astray, we will naturally not have anger, so we will not lose our temper. When we do not get angry and our minds are calm, naturally, our minds will be free of delusions. This principle is very simple. We must maintain the purity of our mind; these three methods are the prerequisites for this. So, we must begin to work hard, then, naturally, “the unwholesome phenomena of all desires” will disappear completely. We can earnestly keep this Dharma in our minds as a way to eliminate greed, anger, delusion and so on from our minds.
For the past few days, we have been discussing how we can transform our mindset. If we learn the Dharma, naturally, we can transform our thoughts of greed, our bad temper and our ignorance into doing “conditioned good deeds.” This is “all-accomplishing wisdom.” We must put in the effort, starting from the external conditions that we connect to. From the external conditions, we must increase our vigilance so that our consciousness is not pulled along by external desires. Also, when our minds are clear, we can earnestly exercise profound discernment. With this “profound discerning wisdom,” we carefully contemplate [things]. Since we want to do conditioned good deeds, we must earnestly exercise profound discernment to see whether this is how it should be done.
For example, in Turkey, to help their family children who are 7 to 11 years old must go out to work to support their family. When we found out, we could not bear it. Therefore, we thought of ways to help them. We support these families so the children can go to school. The children can go to school while their family can still meet their needs. This is right. Although our regular aid is simple and frugal, since this is how most people live their lives. So, we use this method to help them.
[Sometimes] there are problems, such as when our Deputy CEO Scott Liu, went to Turkey together with lsaac Chiu. They saw a family of three generations. The grandmother was holding her grandchild, and her daughter was only 18 years old, yet she already had two children. When this little baby was born, she had a deformity. She did not have all her toes. This child was only 6 months old. If [Turkey] was as advanced as Taiwan in medicine, surgery would have been performed after birth. But the public hospitals in Turkey do not have a cosmetic surgery department. So, it would have cost a lot of money. The child was already 6 months old when they came to us for help because her grandparents and parents could not bear [to see her suffer]. What could they do? They borrowed money from their friends. But their friends are also refugees. So where did they borrow the money from? All the way from Germany. They raised money from everywhere they could and yet it was not enough. They therefore came to Tzu Chi for help. The causes and conditions happened to be such that we went to Turkey. When we saw their situation, we immediately made a sensible decision for her. Given her situation, the child had to be quickly taken to the hospital. There was no time to waste. While the child was still young, we quickly had to do the surgery for her so that she could grow up safely and happily, instead of being disabled when she is older. This was a very wise decision; it was the right thing to do. This is how we “transform consciousness to wisdom”. This is “all-encompassing wisdom”. When sentient beings connect to conditions they solely use their consciousness; they do not have this kind of wisdom. Once they learn the Buddha-Dharma, they gain “all-encompassing wisdom”. They transform their “consciousness” into “wisdom”. When our Six Consciousnesses connect with conditions, we very clearly discern them. After discerning them, we contemplate them. This is “profound discerning wisdom”. We must carefully think, observe and contemplate. We must contemplate what is right. In our minds [we think], “They went to Turkey from Syria as refugees, while we are in Taiwan. So what do they have to do with us? Oh, all sentient beings are equal!” So, this is called “universal equality wisdom”. Indeed, all sentient beings are equal. The children of others are like our own; we cannot bear to [see them suffer]. Because of this, we had to quickly take the child to the hospital. We made this wise decision because we see all sentient beings as equals. From their report back to us, the child is already in the hospital receiving surgery. We were very happy to hear this. We feel that this child, from this point on, can now grow up safely like other children.
This is exercising “universal equality wisdom”. Did we ask for anything? No, we did not. This is called “great perfect mirror wisdom”. We have helped them, and now the child has bright [future]. This child will not be disabled and will have a clear direction in life. So, our minds will also be at ease. Do we ask her to repay us? No. This is the “great perfect mirror wisdom”. Once we give, we have nothing to worry about. This is how we transform consciousness into wisdom. How can we [abide] in unconditional Dharma and exercise goodness in everything we do? This is what we must do as Buddhist practitioners. We must not ask, “what use is it to listen to the Buddha-Dharma?” There are [sues]! This is how we make use of it. When causes and conditions converge, we can use appropriate and true methods to help sentient beings.
In order to help sentient beings, first we must work hard ourselves. Like “the great hero [who] uses the great power of wisdom,” this is the direction we must go toward in our practice toward this direction. To this practice toward this direction, we must work hard to eliminate greed, anger and delusion. From this point, to attain the great hero’s power of wisdom, we must work hard throughout this process to eliminate greed, anger and delusion.
Eliminating greed, anger and delusion can be a very complicated process. As for “the unwholesome phenomena of al desires,” how can we clearly recognize these things? We must clearly discern what is wrong so we do not give rise to greed to seek, grasp or take action [out of desire]. This is keeping “the precepts”. We must uphold “the precepts” to prevent evil from arising. We must have precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. We must first have these precepts in mind in our spiritual cultivation. The Dharma prevents us from overstepping the boundaries and doing the wrong thing. So, we must understand these unwholesome things to quickly stop doing them. When we keep the Dharma in mind and are disciplined, we will have a way to eliminate greed, anger, delusion etc. Only then can we attain Samadhi and give rise to wisdom. So, with wisdom, naturally in our life, [we will be at peace with] many things that are beyond our control, such as birth, aging, illness, death, not getting what we want, meeting those we hate, the raging Five Aggregates, separation in life or by death and such sufferings. Naturally, we will gradually come to accept them. Amidst [the Five Aggregates of] form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness, in our daily lives, we can reduce much of our ignorance. If we can see through “form”, all sorts of matters will no longer enter our minds. Thus, desires for sensual pleasures will not arise in our minds. Without desire for sensual pleasures in our mind, we will naturally be at ease.
So, amidst form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness, when it comes to our actions, we must be very clear about what we should and what we should not do. In our actions, we must also be very clear. Time and space are imperceptibly fading away. When we face [things] in space, we must not be confused by them. We should seize time for virtuous actions, and we must do what is right while we are amidst the Five Aggregates. Amidst the circumstances we face every day, when we can understand the sensations in our body and mind, then, as we experience life, death and parting from loved ones, we will naturally be able to be at peace. Of course, the Eight Sufferings of life also include [the suffering of] the raging Five Aggregates. If we can understand all of this, we will naturally come to be at peace with the suffering of the world and face life and death as something natural. This is what we must learn. “He had attained supreme enlightenment. He has transcended the world heavenly beings, humans unenlightened beings and noble beings”. This means that [the phrase] “great hero in the sutra passage is praise for Sakyamuni Buddha. Sakyamuni Buddha has already attained the great power of wisdom of the great hero. Thus, He can be called “the World-Honored One”? Why is He called the World-Horned One? This is because He has eliminated much greed, anger and delusion. The process of greed, anger and delusion is very subtle and intricate. When it comes to the afflictions in our daily lives, He has already eliminated all of them. Even [the suffering] of birth, again, illness and death no longer hinders or bothers [Him].
In this way, “The mind is without hindrances, there are no hindrances, so there is no fear”. In His mind, all of the subtle and minute dusts were completely eliminated. Because of this, when He practiced in the Bodhimanda, as He continued on, He saw the morning star and became enlightened. At this time, “He attained supreme enlightenment”. With this supreme enlightenment, once He awakened, He understood all the true principles in the world flawlessly, and His mind became completely pure.
So, as He taught the Dharma and transformed people in the world, He earned the respect of heavenly beings, humans, unenlightened beings and noble beings. Both His worldly teachings and world-transcending teachings were praised and revered by everyone. Thus, “He has transcended the worlds of unenlightened beings and noble beings. He is praised and revered by all in the world”. This is the World-Honored One, praised and revered by all. Ordinary beings and world-transcending noble beings praise Him. He is revered and praised by everyone, so how should we address Him? To address Him respectfully, we call Him “the World-Honored One”. The World-Honored One has attained “the great power of wisdom of the great hero”. In the process to attain “the great power of wisdom of the great hero”. He had to work hard to eliminate greed, anger and delusion. Along the way, He never deviated from the path. So, the state He attained at the end was this. He is the World-Honored One revered by all. This is related to the sutra passage. We must mindful and listen clearly.
The previous sutra passage states, “The have also revered and respected all past Buddhas and planted all roots of goodness”.
They have also revered and respected all past Buddhas and planted all roots of goodness. As soon as these sentient beings see my body and hear what I teach, they all immediately believe and accept it and enter the Tathagata’s wisdom.
The root of goodness is planted like this. We previously discussed how to engage in spiritual practice, from practicing “all-encompassing wisdom” to achieving “profound discerning wisdom”, and how we can attain “universal equality wisdom”. In the end, our minds will attain “great perfect mirror wisdom”. This is how it is. This was His process. All Buddhas have gone through this, thus they are worthy of reverence and respect. “As soon as these sentient beings see my body and hear what I teach, they all immediately believe and accept it and enter the Tathagata’s wisdom”. Why did these sentient beings joyfully praise the Buddha upon seeing Him? Why did they respect Him so much?
For a very long time, these sentient beings followed. Bodhisattvas in spiritual practice Sakyamuni Buddha was a Bodhisattva before He attained Buddhahood. Ever since He formed the aspiration to go among people, He had formed good affinities with these sentient beings lifetime after lifetime, all the way until this lifetime. Sakyamuni Buddha’s causes and conditions had matured, so He attained Buddhahood. Thus, when these people heard the Dharma or saw the Buddha, they were very happy. “As soon as these sentient beings see my body and hear what I teach,…”.
In this lifetime, they became joyful upon seeing Him and hearing [the Dharma]. From then on, they began to follow Him and engage in spiritual practice. So, they could all believe in and accept [Him]. When they listened to the Buddha teach the Dharma, they could all take the Dharma to heart according to their affinities.
“This does not include those who first practiced and learned the Small Vehicle. I now also enable these people to hear this sutra and enter the Buddha’s wisdom”.
This is did not include those who first practiced and learned the Small Vehicle. For a very long time, they stagnated by only seeking to benefit themselves. From the Small Vehicle to the Middle Vehicle, from the Four Noble Truths to the law of causes and conditions, they only sought to benefit themselves. Though they heard so many teachings, they still only sought to benefit themselves. So, Sakyamuni Buddha then said, “I will now also allow [you] to hear this sutra and enter the Buddha’s wisdom. Now, I have let them hear the Lotus Sutra. In the past, I opened the door to skillful means to patiently guide them according to their capabilities.” Now, He began to teach the Lotus Sutra to let these people know that those practicing the Small and Middle Vehicle still had room for improvement. He hoped everyone could take another step into this great space.
So, they were at the Lotus Dharma-assembly. So, now, “at that time…” The sutra passage begins again. “At that time, those great Bodhisattvas spoke in verse.” After the Bodhisattvas heard the Buddha’s reply, they wished to repeat it again in verse they wished to repeat it again in verse. They “spoke in verse” to further praise the Buddha They said, “Excellent! Excellent! Great Hero, World-Honored One, all these sentient beings are easily transformed and delivered. This was because the World –Honored One told these Bodhisattvas, “These sentient beings are easily delivered, because they were with me in the past and have heard my Dharma. Now, we have guided them into the Bodhisattva-path. They have also accepted this Dharma and listened to this sutra. Thus, they are easily delivered I have helped them put it into practice.” The Bodhisattvas were happy to hear this. Thus, they praised [the Buddha].
At that time, those great Bodhisattvas spoke in verse: Then, all those Bodhisattvas heard the Buddha teaching with clever and skillful means so that those of both sharp and dull capabilities could all enter the wisdom of the Buddha. Thus, they praised Him in verse.
These Bodhisattvas praised Him because the heard the Buddha’s teachings, which all use clever and skillful means. He used clever and skillful means to gradually guide them to enter [the Buddha-wisdom].
“So, those of both sharp and dull capabilities could all enter the wisdom of the Buddha.” Whether they had dull capabilities or sharp capabilities, they were all able, one after the other, to gradually enter the Buddha’s wisdom. [To enter] the Buddha’s wisdom means to begin delving into the Lotus Sutra, this wondrous Dharma. How did He get everyone to [realize] that they all have the nature of True Suchness? He gradually guided them so that they all began to understand that they shared the same wisdom as the Buddha. Because of this, these [verse] help us understand more clearly. Thus, these verses praise Him like this.
Excellent! Excellent! Great Hero, World Honored One: They said “excellent” to praise the Buddha for using both the provisional and the true to benefit both Great and Small Vehicle practitioners equally, for being a great hero of high aspirations, for being diligent and courageous and for being the World-Honored One of myriad virtues.
Their words of praise were “Excellent! Excellent!” Wonderful! This means they had great praise for the Buddha. They praised the Buddha “for using both the provisional and the true”. The “provisional teachings,” at the same time, were also to help them return to their nature of True Suchness. He did not give up on them; even though the Buddha was so old, before He entered Parinirvana, He had to complete [His mission] of helping sentient beings return to their nature of True Suchness. This was what the Bodhisattvas praised. They praised the Buddha for using provisional and true [teachings]. He adapted to both Great and Small Vehicle capabilities so that they could all accept it. He guided them to enter His teachings and encounter the Buddha-Dharma, patiently guiding them one by one while using methods to draw them in. [He was] “a great hero of high aspirations”. He helped everyone raise their aspirations so that they would not always be victims [of circumstance].
Actually, we ourselves can seize the value of life and utilize our life’s worth to go among people and benefit sentient beings. We are not helpless victims in life. We can exercise our worth in life by making use of our life to help other people. If we lack a great hero’s strength or high aspirations, this will be impossible. The Buddha guides us with the Dharma so that we can all overcome ourselves and the inferior aspirations of our limited self. The Buddha encourages us so that we can raise our spirits to become “a great hero of high aspirations”.
So, we can be “diligent and courageous”. Since our aspirations are so high, we must put them into practice even more. We must not have lofty aspirations without acting upon them. Our actions must reflect our high aspirations. We must be able to achieve this. This is being diligent and courageous. He is “the World-Honored One of myriad virtues”. This is how He was praised. He is “a great hero of high aspirations” and is “diligent and courageous”. He has already accomplished many things, thus He has “myriad virtues”. He has accumulated many [virtues] and actualized the Six Paramitas in all actions. Therefore, “All these sentient beings are easily transformed and delivered”.
All these sentient beings are easily transformed and delivered: People of great capabilities are extremely easily transformed; they do not need to wait for more skillful means. Those of average or limited capabilities can be liberated via skillful means. They will accumulate the roots of virtue and will be liberated from all things to enter the perfect mirror wisdom.
These sentient beings are very easily transformed and delivered; they are easy to teach “People of great capabilities are extremely easily transformed”. If their capabilities are great, they have already heard many teachings, and their mind’s training is very advanced. Thus, they are easy to teach. They do not need to go through skillful means. Upon listening, they can immediately awaken and understand. Whatever they hear, they can understand and practice. They can quickly form aspirations to put it into practice. “Those of average or limited capabilities can be liberated via skillful means.” Those with average or limited capabilities require more patience. So, there are people of great, average and limited capabilities. The Buddha taught according to capabilities as [sentient beings] gradually accumulated virtues in this way. The Buddha was very patient like this, for a long time. Some people can quickly mature [in capabilities] while some go at an average pace and some go more slowly. Yet the Buddha never gave up. In this way, it requires long-term accumulation to attain these roots of virtue. So, as we are learning the Lotus Sutra, we read about “planting all roots of virtue”. We must accumulate many virtues to be “liberated from all things to enter the perfect mirror wisdom”. We must remember to go from “all-encompassing wisdom” to “profound discerning wisdom, universal equality wisdom” and to return to the wondrous, perfect great awakening that is the “great perfect mirror wisdom”. This is what we must work hard on.
The following sutra passage states, “They are able to ask about all Buddhas extremely profound wisdom. After listening, they have faith and practice. We all rejoice for them.”
These sentient beings had received the Buddha’s teachings and they knew to ask questions. Indeed, we must ask questions to get answers. Next, we will look at the ones who asked questions. They were people of great wisdom in the world.
They are able to ask about all Buddhas’ extremely profound wisdom: In His place of enlightenment, when the Buddha first resonated with and awakened to His nature, He realized the state of tranquility and clarity, this pure, undefiled and extremely profound wisdom. This is also what, at the Lotus Assembly, Sariputra asked for three times.
This is just like the Buddha at the Bodhimanda. He first resonated with and awakened to His nature. The Buddha had undergone cumulative [practice] throughout many lifetimes to engage in spiritual practice in this lifetime. He had walked on this path for a long time. He kept accumulating [His practice] until He arrived at the Bodhimanda. At that place, He saw the morning star, and He suddenly resonated with the star. His mind was instantaneously awakened, and He became one with the universe; He became enlightened. This all happened very quickly. “He resonated with and awakened to His nature; He realized the state of tranquility and clarity.” The essence of His mind and the universe converged and became one. This is tranquil and clear. He is in a pure state with “pure, undefiled and extremely profound wisdom”. How long did it take for the Buddha to work up to this? With all this Dharma, He faced sentient beings for over 40 years. At the Vulture Peak Assembly, the Buddha had to reveal the Lotus Sutra. Starting from that moment, He began to continuously praise the extremely profound, unsurpassed, subtle and wondrous Dharma.
This instilled in Sariputra’s heart the need to repeatedly seek out the depths of [this Dharma]. He kept wanting to know. Thus, during the Lotus Dharma-Assembly, Sariputra knew he had to ask the Buddha questions. He “asked the Buddha three times”. With Sariputra’s wisdom, he was “able to ask”. Among so many people, the Buddha continuously praised [the Dharma], but no one could understand [His intent]. Only Sariputra, in light of everyone’s doubt, represented everyone and stood up to ask the Buddha, “What is this extremely profound Dharma that the Buddha continuously praised. Throughout the past 40 plus years, the Buddha has never praised anything as mindfully and intently as this before.” So, Sariputra asked the Buddha to reveal this extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma. This was Sariputra’s wisdom in asking questions. So, these Bodhisattva said that, since someone had the wisdom to ask questions, they could all rejoice and listen. The Buddha could only answer if someone asked, and only with answers could more people hear the Dharma. This is a very common principle. It is the same for us and our world.
So, “They were able to ask about the extremely profound wisdom of the ultimate truth of all phenomena”. There was someone who asked “[Someone was] able to ask about the Buddha’s extremely profound wisdom, so they were able to listen to it”. We can only listen when someone asks. “After listening to it, they also had faith and put it into practice.” After hearing it, it made sense. They thought they should put it into practice and they were able to do it. “This all demonstrates how these sentient beings were easily transformed.” This means that after hearing [the Dharma], everyone thought that the Bodhisattva-path is not hard to walk and that they could do it too. So, they began to form aspirations one by one. “This means the Buddha used His wisdom to clearly understand all things in the present world.” He viewed all things in the world with wisdom.
This means the Buddha used His wisdom to clearly understand all things in the present world. Whether it was the Dharma of sentient beings or the Dharma not of sentient beings, He could understand it all without obstruction. This is known as “wisdom,” the unobstructed understanding of the world at present.
The Buddha taught the Dharma according to timing and capabilities. The Buddha’s era and our current era are different. The Buddha’s era is considered ancient for us, and our era now is the modern era. In our present era, there are many places where we need to apply the Lotus Sutra. So, the Buddha, for the sake of Bodhisattvas, taught the Bodhisattva Way and the Lotus Sutra. The Bodhisattva Way is the everlasting Dharma. So, the Lotus Sutra now [includes] all Dharma for the present world. The Dharma is needed right now in this world of severe turbidities. The Buddha-Dharma must be applied at this time. “Whether it was the Dharma of sentient beings or the Dharma not of sentient beings, He could understand it all”. The Dharma of sentient beings is for sentient beings of this turbid world. There are many evil [turbidities] in the world. Evil can also be [a form of teaching]. Evil [ways of life] lead to sufferings for sentient beings. We need conditioned good deeds to turn them around.
Thus, we must apply the wondrous Dharma and offer them our long-term companionship. There is “the Dharma of sentient beings [and] the Dharma not of sentient beings. The Dharma not of sentient beings” is world-transcending Dharma, which is unconditioned Dharma. Sentient beings have appearances, are tangible and conditioned, but the Buddha-Dharma is our spirit and ideal. Wisdom is intangible and without form. It is intangible and without form, but it can be affected by our actions. The Buddha-Dharma teaches us how to transform our mindset. How do we transform our mindset? By exercising “all-encompassing wisdom”. How can we find a way to turn these phenomena around and transform evil into good deeds? With “all-encompassing wisdom,” we must do what we should do, and turn from wrongdoing to doing the right thing. We should leverage each other’s strength to do the right thing; we must apply the Buddha-Dharma in this world. We must use world-transcending Dharma to deal with worldly matters. “Whether it [is] the Dharma of sentient beings or the Dharma not or sentient beings,” we must use a world-transcending spirit to deal with worldly matters. We can understand them all without obstruction. If we have the world-transcending Dharma, when we are dealing with various afflictions and turbidities in this world, only with the world-transcending Dharma will we be free of obstructions. “He could understand it all without obstruction.” “This is know as ‘wisdom,’ the unobstructed understanding of the world at present.” In the present world, we can understand all kinds of worldly phenomena. We use world-transcending Dharma to understand worldly phenomena. I hope we are all very clear about this.
“After listening, they have faith and practice. We all rejoice for them.” After they heard [Their teachings], they developed faith and put them into practice. This is the Dharma the Tathagata taught. “They were able to have faith in, accept, understand and put them into practice. All of us Bodhisattvas also rejoice for them.” This is something people in this world can do, not to mention us, the Bodhisattvas. When the Buddha is teaching, we should also do the same, be able to listen, accept, have faith and put it into practice. This was what we did in the past. Even now, the Buddha is still [teaching] for sentient beings in the Saha World. We are also very joyful. So, as for “have faith and practice,” “Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. It nourishes all goodness.”
Have faith and practice: Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. It nourishes all goodness and eliminates all doubts and delusions. They also had faith they would attain Buddhahood. They constantly practiced the Bodhisattva-path for a long period of time. Rejoice for them: This means they all rejoiced along with them.
“Faith and practice” can motivate us to form aspirations. “[Faith] is the source of the Way, mother of merits.” How can we attain the Dharma, earnestly walk on this path and do all of these things well? We must accumulate merits and virtues. We must have a mind of faith and put the teachings into action to grow all virtuous Dharma. As we practice, we grow [in virtue]. “Without experience, we cannot grow in wisdom.” We must continuously go forward. If it is right, we just do it. In this way, we can “eliminate all doubts and delusions.” When we have done this and experienced this, then no matter what doubts we face, we can attain understanding and eliminate them. So, we must have faith in the Buddha and put [the Dharma] into practice for a long time. “They constantly practiced the Bodhisattva-path for a long period of time.” We must believe that, for a long time, the Buddha practiced the Bodhisattva-path like this. He accumulated [His virtues] in this way, with faith and practice. He accumulated “faith, vows and actions” for a long time, and now He has attained Buddhahood. So, we must have faith in this.
Because of this, the Bodhisattvas rejoice. Indeed, they rejoice because they have faith and practice. This is why we must put the teachings into action. We must remember to earnestly be mindful in learning the Buddha-Dharma. How can we cultivate high aspirations? We must have great strength and truly dedicate ourselves mindfully to serving the world. This is actually for our own sake. How should we engage in spiritual practice? We say we are practicing the Bodhisattva-path for sentient beings, but by practicing the Bodhisattva-path we actually benefit ourselves. There is “all-encompassing wisdom” and “profound discerning wisdom.” Without these sentient beings, there would be nothing for us to do. Because of these sentient beings, we have good deeds to do. For all these sentient beings with their myriad differences, we must earnestly and profoundly observe them. We must develop our profound discerning [wisdom]. Because of the Buddha-Dharma, with this profound observation, we know that all sentient beings are equal. We learn to accommodate one another and view others as our family. We are all equal.
If we can do this, in the end, our minds will attain “great perfect mirror wisdom.” Because of this, our practice of the Bodhisattva-path will help us attain our awakened nature. So, to be a great hero with great strength and great wisdom, we must be tempered among sentient beings. I hope everyone can always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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