Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Faith is the Source of the Path (信為道源 諸法實相)
Date: December.19.2018
“Faith is the source of the path which leads us to the ultimate truth of all phenomena, the pure virtues of the Three Treasures and worldly and world-transcending roots of goodness. We must forever uphold our faith and joy from deep within. With clear and pure minds, we must widely cultivate deep faith.”
We certainly must be mindful! “Faith is the source of the path, the mother of merits. It nurtures all roots of goodness.” It seems like we are always saying this, but for what reason? It is because “faith” is “the source of the path.” To reach the path to Buddhahood, to reach the source of this path, we must start at the abode of the Buddha, “the Tathagata’s room.” This is where we must begin to pave this path. Do you still remember? We must “enter the Tathagata’s room, wear the Tathagata’s clothing and sit in the Tathagata’s seat.” We all must begin to make vows to learn from the Buddha. We learn from the Buddha because we hope to achieve something. If we do not hope to achieve something through our learning, then why bother learning? So, we learn because we hope to be able to achieve something. What are we learning?
We learn from the Buddha in order to achieve Buddhahood. This is just like anytime [we ask] any ordinary person, “What skill are you learning?” Everyone wants to learn a skill. Everyone has something they want to achieve. This is true regardless of how far we go back. In the past, people learned to build houses because they wanted to become master [carpenters]. People learned to make clothing and learned how to become tailors because they wanted to become master [tailors].
The principle is the same! Everything must be learned. If we want to learn from the Buddha now, then of course we must first walk this path, the path of the Bodhisattvas. We must first form aspirations to practice the Bodhisattva-path. To become Bodhisattvas, where should we start? Well, we first need to have faith; we must have faith that in each of us lies the nature of True Suchness. In order to attain Buddhahood, we must discover our nature of True Suchness and constantly follow the path of our nature of True Suchness. How should we walk this path? This Bodhisattva-path is a track; we must walk along this track. So, as we learn, we need to have a goal, a goal that gives us direction and a path that leads us in a direction that will bring us closer to our goal.
So, our direction is toward the Buddha. The Buddha first told us, “You must discover your nature of True Suchness. It has always been there within you, and you have always been a Buddha.” The Buddha-nature is intrinsic to everyone. We have always had it! It is just that we have lost sight of it. Where did we lose sight of it? We lost sight of it somewhere along this path. If we can get back to clearing this path, we will naturally come to see our nature of True Suchness. So, in order to “clear a path,” we need the Six Paramitas. We must use these six methods to clear the path. These six methods require many kinds of tools; we cannot just clear the path with our bare hands. We need to use many kinds of methods and many kinds of tools, and we also need everyone to work together. This path has always been here to give us this direction to walk in. We have just let the weeds grow on it so long that they have become a wall, a very thick wall that blocks us [from the path]. Now that we know our direction, we must clear it, but to use our own two hands to clear it, we must have tools. With just our two hands, we would be unable to clear all the brushwood and thorns away. There are six tools we must use. These are six specific tools, but they actually have multiple uses. By the same token, the Buddha-Dharma is also like this. The Buddha gives us a direction and gives us many methods to use, so we must earnestly make use of these methods. We must have deep faith that we are headed in the right direction. If we believe this is the right direction, we must put the teachings into practice by making use of these methods to advance forward.
So, we cannot lack faith, and we must work hard. Whether we work hard or not depends on us. We are heading to a far-off place, but the path is right in front of us. As long as we move in the right direction through all the weeds and brushwood, we will be able to put these methods into practice and earnestly clear this path, the path to Buddhahood. It is not that the path is not there. All we need to do is clear it for the path to appear, for it has always been there. So, this “leads us to the ultimate truth of all phenomena”. We must put these methods to use. By using these methods, we can diligently advance and move forward step by step; by diligently advancing, we will naturally see the truth of all phenomena. The ultimate truth will manifest before us. As long as we are truly clearing in the right direction, then we will come to see this true path, and not only will we see it, we will also steadfastly walk upon it. This requires us to be very mindful. So, “the pure virtues of the Three Treasures” are our methods. If we want to engage in spiritual practice, what methods must we rely upon? The Buddha gives us a great many methods. These methods are the safest and the most orderly. They lead us in the right direction, and there is someone to guide us along. This is a very safe path, but we must rely on “the pure virtues of the Three Treasures”. Everyone should know the Three Treasures. They are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
The Buddha was the first to achiever enlightenment. He was the first enlightened person and discovered the source of the true principles. In an instant, the depths of His minds came together with the celestial starlight, the radiance of the star in the sky, and made a connection. Suddenly, the principles of all things in the world manifested in full before Him. He swiftly returned to His [intrinsic] nature, to the ocean of His enlightened nature. So, there is nothing He does not understand, nothing He does not know. He has complete understanding of all phenomena. As soon as the Buddha attained enlightenment. He clearly understood everything in the world, both the permanent and the impermanent. He clearly understands both the principles of permanence and impermanence. In this world, what is the divide between [non-living] matter and living things? The Buddha understands this clearly. As for time, how do things accumulate in this space? The Buddha understands this. As humans in this space, how did we come to be born, to be alive? What conditions affect us during the course of our lives? How did we get here, how do we live our lives, and how will we leave? What is the cause and effect of our leaving? He understands the law of karma clearly as well as the law of arising and ceasing. In all that is permanent and impermanent.
The Buddha wants to teach sentient beings these [principles] one by one, but sentient beings’ capabilities and patience have their limits. Their capabilities are shallow, and their patience is limited. In a very short amount of time, the Buddha has to teach so many principles. Are we really able to absorb them all? People nowadays are in such a hurry. “Please explain all of these things for us. You have five minutes to teach them all.” Is this possible? Is it possible to finish teaching everything in just three to five minutes? Our understanding would be so superficial. Isn’t this too short [of a time]? Isn’t this too short [of a time]? For anything we do, we must make a plan. If I wanted to explain from the very beginning for how much time would it take? Once you absorb these things and digest them, how will you analyze what you have learned? Will you be able to think of what you have learned and share it with others? This is still not enough, for we have to experience it. Once we gain realizations through experience, we need to share about them. Actually, to share everything with everyone in a short amount of time is very difficult. The Buddha clearly discovered that. “All sentient beings have Buddha-nature, and this Buddha-nature is the same as mine. It is connected with the universe. It is one with all things in the universe; everything is encompassed by my ocean of enlightened wisdom. I am telling you all that this is something that I have experienced. You all have it inside you. You all should also have this experience.” Does this mean we have experienced it? We have not experienced it at all! “Ok, let us take it slow. I will teach you slowly, but do you have the patience to listen? Do you have a long enough time to listen?” These are the difficulties we face when we are trying to transform others.
So, in the Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy, He first tells us that this is difficult, and it is not just we alone who have difficulties. The Buddha first guides us to form aspirations. We must form the aspiration to enter the Tathagata’s room. To enter the Tathagata’s room, we must take “a heart of great compassion as our room” and “gentiles and patience as our clothing”. He told us this first. We must wear the clothing of gentleness and patience and open our hearts to accommodate sentient beings. We must be very diligent as we perform conditioned good deeds. Performing conditioned good deeds means practicing the Bodhisattva-path. It means opening our hearts, accommodating sentient beings and relieving them of suffering. We must perform conditioned acts of goodness while going among people. We must take “the emptiness of all phenomena as our seat”. Going among people, we must remain undefiled. Our minds need to remain very pure, like the lotus emerging from [the mud]. “The emptiness of all phenomena is the seat.” In addition to being like lotus flower, [we must also see] all things as empty. Since everything is empty, nothing can defile us.
Just look at the sky. It is full of pollution. Is it the [sky itself] that is polluted? No, space cannot be polluted. If there is pollution in the sky, it is because of the desirous thoughts of people nowadays. For several hundred, even thousands of years, sentient beings’ desirous thoughts have been continuously accumulating to the point where they are over flowing. This is why there is pollution in the sky. When we talk about air pollution, it is the air itself that is pollution, not the space in which the air is contained. It is gases that pollute the air, which are created by humans due to their ignorant minds. What does ignorance look like? It is invisible, just like the air. The air is also invisible. If you were to take a large plastic bag, open it, wave it through the air, then quickly seal it, this plastic bag has been inflated. “Why is it inflated? It was completely flat before, so why has it expanded? It is because there is air inside. What does the air look like? Quickly! Take it out and show me!” If you open the plastic bag, the air is invisible. This is “emptiness”. However, it still exists. Whatever exists fills the entire bag up and inflates it. This is “existence”. So, this is air. The numerous principles behind all things in the universe are all like this. Things slowly take form and pollute [the air], and this is how the earth is slowly being destroyed. All the earth’s mountains and rivers are being destroyed on a constant basis. This is why disasters are so frequent. These things, these gases, have all been created out of our ignorance and afflictions. The Buddha wanted to cure people of their afflictions, ignorance and delusions. So, He spent a very long time [engaging in spiritual practice] until He eventually became one with the universe. Then there was nothing He did not understand nor any principle He did not comprehend. He completely understood all matters and principles. He wanted to tell this all to everyone, but teaching it all took Him a very long time, not just His present lifetime, but many past lifetimes as well. So, because of this, when He attained Buddhahood, there were many Bodhisattvas [present]. He had to explain, “They all have affinities with me. They were all transformed by me, and this is why they are so accomplished”. This was difficult to believe in and understand. How could [His disciples] possibly believe this? So, we must have faith. The root of faith comes from “the pure virtues of the Three Treasures”. We must rid our mind of ignorance and afflictions and delusional thoughts. We must have faith in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, in the Buddha’s enlightenment, in the existence of the principles and in the Sangha’s [ability] to spread the Dharma. So, the Buddha was very mindful. He expounded the Lotus Sutra to teach the Bodhisattva Way and inspire people’s hearts. So, the Buddha recruited Bodhisattvas. He was recruiting Bodhisattvas. He had to recruit Bodhisattvas in this world; He had to recruit them. Everyone must come to understand “the pure virtues of the Three Treasures”. This is what we need to learn. Where can these pure virtues be seen? They can be seen in our body, speech and mind, in our actions, in our words, in the thoughts we give rise to and in how we express these thoughts. This is how we accumulate the pure virtues of the Three Treasures.
So, these are the “worldly and world-transcending roots of goodness”. This is the root source. Talking about all the principles of the world, the source [of these principles] lies here. Only by having faith can we realize the earth’s principles. Only then can we come to clearly understand the principles of all living things, the principles of life. So, we need faith, for without faith we cannot accept [the principles]. We must have faith and willingly believe in them from the bottom of our hearts. So, we must mindfully seek to accept the Buddha’s teachings, He enlightenment. Thus, “We must forever uphold our faith and joy from deep within”. We must [uphold faith and joy] from deep within, forever and ever, for a long time, not just for this lifetime, but for many lifetimes to come. When we look back to the past, we must have had the causes and conditions to have been transformed in the past. This is why, in this lifetime, we are so determined to learn the Buddha’s teachings; we all share this common aspiration. This means that we must forever uphold our faith and joy from even deeper within. To [uphold] “faith and joy” means we must be willing to have complete faith. This is the meaning of “faith and joy”. We must have deep faith and rejoice and be very willing to seek [the Dharma].
So, “With clear and pure minds, we must widely cultivate deep faith”. With a completely pure mind, we will be very willing to go anywhere in the world to spread the Dharma we believe in to everyone, to do conditioned good deeds, to earnestly do good deeds and to earnestly go among people and transform them. To do this, we must absolutely have faith. We must have very clear understanding, and we must walk [this path].
So, the previous sutra passage said, “At that time, Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to restate his meaning, spoke in verse”. By now, we should more or less understand the previous passages. Maitreya Bodhisattva raised these doubts. He spoke up to get to the bottom of things. “How can there be so many of these very accomplished Bodhisattvas? How long did this take the Buddha? This could never have been accomplished in this lifetime, in a matter of decades. We hope the Buddha [will explain] from the very beginning. How did they come to form aspirations? In their long course of spiritual practice, how did they accumulate [so much virtue]?” He wanted to investigate the source of their faith.
Maitreya had asked about this before, but he still wanted to repeat himself once again. He repeated himself bit by bit, expressing himself in verse.
We explained this earlier “At that time, Maitreya Bodhisattva, wishing to restate his meaning, spoke in verse”. In the past, from the Sakya clan, the Buddha left home and went near Gaya, where He sat beneath the Bodhi tree. Since then, not much time has passed.
The time that had passed since the Buddha left the palace and attained Buddhahood had been only a few decades. Once He attained Buddhahood, the time He spent teaching the Dharma up to the Lotus Sutra, that is, the process by which He taught the Dharma after attaining Buddhahood, had only lasted a little more than 40 years. How could He have transformed so many people? There were so many disciples.
“The number of these Buddha-children is immeasurable”. They have long practiced the path to Buddhahood and abide in spiritual powers.
They appeared to be so experienced; they could not have just begun learning recently. They must have “abided in spiritual powers”. They had long since become proficient in the power to thoroughly understand all phenomena. “They excel in learning the Bodhisattva-path”. They must have done all of this in the past. “They are undefiled by worldly phenomena”. They were like lotus flowers in the mud, which remain undefiled. Like lotus flowers, “they emerged from the ground”. It was as if they had suddenly emerged from a lotus pond. Like lotus flower after lotus flower, they emerged from the mud, every flower remaining perfectly pristine. Really, to say that they had been brought to fruition in such a short period of time in the Saha World is very hard to believe.
So, in the next passage, [Maitreya] said again, “They all have given rise to a reverent mind and stand before the World-Honored One.
This matter is difficult to conceive of How could any on believe in this? The Buddha attained Buddhahood very recently, yet He has brought so many to fruition. I hope You will resolve our doubts by explaining in detail in accordance with the truth.
The bearing of the Bodhisattva who had emerged from the ground was so reverent. Those present had never seen so many people, so many Bodhisattvas, suddenly appear in that way. They carried themselves with such reverence as they prostrated to the two World-Honored Ones before the stupa. They were so reverent and so disciplined as they paid their respects to the Buddha’s many manifestations who had come from afar. They circumambulated the Buddhas with such order and discipline. So many people gathered together before the World-Honored Ones. This kind of scene, these matters and appearances, are truly difficult to conceive of. An ordinary person would never be able to imagine this. If they could not imagine it, how could they possibly believe it? This was what Maitreya Bodhisattva asked.
They all have given rise to a reverent mind and stand before the World-Honored One. This matter is difficult to conceive of. How could anyone believe in this: Those Bodhisattvas had all given rise to reverence and stood before the Buddha. There were so many of them in the assembly at that time. How could people possibly believe this? This verse summarizes how difficult it was to believe this.
So, all of these Bodhisattvas were so reverent Such experience Bodhisattvas came before the Buddha and were so reverent. There were so many of them, and they were so experienced that this was difficult for everyone to believe. There were so many of them, and they were so magnificent and reverent. So, this really was inconceivable. How could the World-Honored One, the Buddha, have gained the respect of so many Bodhisattvas? How could He have taught so many people? This was truly inconceivable.
So, “This matter of His manifestation and their transformation in this lifetime was truly difficult to conceive of.
This matter of His manifestation and their transformation in this lifetime was truly difficult to conceive of . How could anyone believe in it? [Maitreya] wanted the Buddha to explain this to people of future generations so that they would firmly believe in and accept it.
If one were to say that these people were all transformed in the Buddha’s present lifetime and had attained fruition before them, then this indeed would be impossible to believe. This is why Maitreya Bodhisattva expressed himself so firmly. “How could anyone believe in it?” Maitreya Bodhisattvas really used such a tone while addressing the Buddha. He “wanted the Buddha to explain this to people of future generations”. This was because this scene, regardless of how it was explained, would be hard for them to believe. Even if they mindfully sought to understand, this still would not make any sense to them. Indeed, this was very difficult to believe. “Buddha!” We all believe in the Dharma You teach us. We all believe that the Buddha never speaks anything but the truth. We do not understand the principles all that well yet, but we believe in all of them. However, we simply cannot understand this one thing. It makes no sense! This is as if young 25-year-old man were to point to 100-year-old men and say, ‘These are my sons’. In the same exact way, this matter clearly runs counter to reason. So, this is impossible for us to believe. So, the Buddha must make these principles simple and clear enough for us to understand.
This is not just to convince those present, but also for the sake of future sentient beings who will need this even more. Since sentient beings are stubborn, if they don’t understand, they may easily damage the Dharma and create [negative] karma. This is very serious. So, I ask the Buddha to please explain it for us.” “In accordance with the truth” means a genuine explanation. “The Buddha attained Buddhahood very recently, yet He had brought so many to fruition”. Everyone He had transformed had come. This matter was of great concern.
The Buddha attained Buddhahood very recently, yet He has brought so many to fruition. I hope You will resolve our doubts by explaining in detail in accordance with the truth: In this lifetime, He revealed this manifestation and attained Buddhahood not long ago, yet He had transformed so many [Bodhisattvas]. [Maitreya] hoped that He would resolve people’s doubts by explaining this in detail in accordance with the truth.
The accomplishments of [those Bodhisattvas] were very inspiring indeed, but how could people believe in this. So, [Maitreya] asked the Buddha to explain this in detail in order to resolve everyone’s doubts. So, in this section of repeated verse, [Maitreya] hoped they would be able to come to understand these appearances more clearly, for these matters and appearances were truly difficult for them to understand.
This describes how these matters and appearances were hard for them to believe in, so [Maitreya] asked the World-Honored One to explain this in detail, to explain according to the True Dharma in specific terms. This means explaining the true principles one by one.
You see, the Buddha also told them, “Ever since I attained Buddhahood beneath the Bodhi-tree near the City of Gaya, I have transformed sentient beings”. This amount of time was very short, so there was no way all these people could have been transformed in such a short amount of time. So, [Maitreya] asked the Buddha to clear up everyone’s doubts, for they all had a hard time believing in this. So, “Maitreya asked the World-Honored One to explain this in detail, to explain according to the True Dharma in specific terms”. If He taught the True Dharma in general terms, this would be very hard to believe. So, he asked the Buddha to explain this in detail, to clearly explain these things one by one, so everyone would be able to understand better. “Explain according to the True Dharma in specific terms…”. He had used skillful means in the past.
Now, He was going to explain the One True Dharma. Now, He would explain this One True Dharma further. “This means explaining the true principles one by one”. When it comes to these true principles, we must earnestly explain them one by one.
In the next passage, [Maitreya] goes on to say, “By way of analogy, this is like a strong, young man, only 25 years of age, pointing to 100-year-old men with white hair and wrinkled faces and saying, ‘These are my sons’. The sons also say, ‘This is my father’. The father is young and the sons are old. No one in the world would believe this”.
No one in the world would believe this! [This would be true] for everyone, not just now, but for people in the future as well. People of future generations would find this even more impossible to believe. This strong, very young man, who has yet to reach his prime, points to these 100-year-old men and says, “These white- haired, 100-year-old men are my sons”. Their faces are wrinkled, for they are very old. Their hair is white and their faces are wrinkled, yet this young man says, “These people are all my sons!” How could anyone ever believe this? Even more unbelievable is how these old men also go on to say, “This young man is our father”. Indeed, these matters and appearances fundamentally do not accord with reason. How could anyone believe this? This is hard to believe.
The father is young and the sons are old. No one in the world would believe this: The matter differs from what is natural, so how could any believe this? These two verses use analogies to describe why the principles are hard to believe in.
So, “[The young man says,] ‘These are my sons’. The sons also say, ‘This is my father”’ This is truly impossible to believe. How could this possibly be explained? It would be hard to explain indeed! So, “The father is young and the sons are old. No one in the world would believe this”. Not just the people in the present, but people in the future would also find this impossible to believe. This is impossible to believe. It really is impossible for anyone to believe. So, Maitreya Bodhisattva was very compassionate. He hoped that we future sentient beings would be willing to have faith in the Buddha. He hoped we would accept the Lotus Sutra and form aspirations to learn the Bodhisattva-path, that we would practice upon the Bodhisattva-path, be free of doubts along the way, believe in it and walk it to the very end.
So, in this passage, [Maitreya] feared that people would have doubts, since these matters and appearances were truly at odds with the principles. When we listened to the Dharma before, we might have genuinely listened to it, but all we did was say, “Oh! That makes sense, now I know!” We still have yet to understand it fully. We have yet to fully realize and understand it. We just know about it and have been inspired, but we still lack true understanding. This is like a glass of water. We say, “This [water] is so hot!” “But it is so cold outside, that I will drink a glass of hot water”. We see the steam rising from that glass of water and believe that the water is hot. On such a cold day, if we could drink this water, it would be very nice. Or maybe in the summer, we’ll say “It is so hot out!” “Let’s drink a glass of cold water”. We see that the water looks so refreshing. This glass of water is quietly sitting there. The water really looks cool and refreshing, but without drinking it, how could we know if this cup of water is salty or tasteless? As for the hot water, is it just hot, or is it scalding hot? There is really no way for us to know.
So, we say, “Only the person who drinks the water knows its temperate”. If we do not experience the temperature ourselves, then we will have no way to know. We must touch it, pick it up and drink it. When we pick it up, we will know “This is warm; it is so comforting!” Only by drinking it can we know how hot it is. If the water is cool, [we will say]. “How refreshing! How nice! It is so refreshing to drink”. This is experiential understanding. Do we have experiential understanding? Oh! We are still far [from understanding] a great many matters and appearances. So, we should step bravely forward, and we will certainly come to understand. It is like the many disasters occurring these days. I always say, “Why are there so many disasters?” Actually, these extremities in the weather are all due to pollution. Where does pollution come from? It comes from failing to protect our environment, from a lack of environmental consciousness, from pollutants, from plastic and so on. What can we do about this? Whatever we throw out, someone needs to collect it.
I saw [a video] from Yiwu in Zhejiang, China. There is a lay practitioner there who has a commercial building in downtown Yiwu. Due to his deep aspirations, he gave us a place in that commercial building where we can all practice together. So, Tzu Chi volunteers practice together there. However, about 100 meters away from the building is a small outdoor market with stalls selling food or small knick-knacks. It was very dirty there, since so many people shopped and ate there. People shopped and ate there, so the trash built up over time. Everyone had to walk on all this trash, through such a dirty place. Even the food stands were like this. Tzu Chi volunteers made a resolution to [clean it up] personally, so they started going there every Wednesday. Every Wednesday, there would always be a group of Tzu Chi volunteers, dressed very neatly, who went among the food stalls there. They would first introduce themselves by saying, “We have come to clean up the area. We want to recycle these things.” Of course, people had to be persuaded first, and until they were persuaded, it would be hard to get them to do it themselves. So, our volunteers took the initiative, saying, “We will do it!” So, once every week, they went there to pick up trash. Even when people were eating at the tables, they would crawl under the tables to pick up plastic bags, paper and so on, garbage of that sort. The Tzu Chi volunteers dressed very neatly and went to other people’s stalls together, crawling under the tables to pick things up. They even cleaned up under the knick-knack stalls. First, they introduced themselves and then went about cleaning up. These people were really inspired. When the shopkeepers saw the Tzu Chi volunteers coming, they said, “Blessings!” I heard them yell out, “Blessings!” From the video they brought back, I saw how Tzu Chi’s words are even being used by stall keepers. Then [the stall keepers] began cleaning up to help the volunteers. Other people also began to take action. So, they continued picking up garbage. Like this, After several weeks, [the volunteers] went back and the night market was very clean compared to how it was before everyone mobilized. This was a problem that had built up over the course of several years. Yet [our volunteers] aspired to help the earth, to protect this world and clear the air, so they put the teachings into practice. “Purity begins at the source.” They had to begin [this work] at the stalls; they have done it, and now we can see that the ground and their surroundings are clean. Everyone, this is learning by experience. We must learn by experience in order to work joyfully and willingly.
First, we need to have faith. After this project, they said, “I have gained faith from doing this!” That is correct; faith comes from experience. Through outwardly doing [good deeds], we gain experience internally. This really takes time, a long time spent giving of ourselves.
Fellow Bodhisattvas, only through giving and personal experience will we gain realizations and be able to strengthen our aspirations. Only then will we be able to build the source of our faith, this path. “Faith is the source of the path, mother of merits.” “Faith” is actually the start of the path, the origin of the path. We must have faith in the beginning of this path. With faith, we will certainly have principles to analyze. This is like how Maitreya Bodhisattvas tried to get to the heart of the matter. The Buddha then proceeded to teach in detail, explaining [the principles] one by one to help us better understand. In the Chapter on Emerging from the Ground, people had already given rise to these doubts, so the Buddha had to begin teaching in detail.
So, we are now about to finish the Chapter on Emerging from the Ground. The “teaching of the intrinsic” is very important the Chapter on the Tathagata’s Lifespan. We are almost there. So, it is only with faith that can we continue on listening like this. When we listen, we must remember, and we must be sure to experience it personally. We must truly go and experience it. If we never experience it personally, it will be really hard for us to believe. We should be grateful to Maitreya for having these karmic conditions and creating these causes and conditions so that we can deepen our understanding of where the fundamentals come from. So, “Faith is the source of the path which leads us to the ultimate truth of all phenomena.” We need to understand this even more clearly. Everyone, we need to always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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