Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: He Thrice Admonished the Assembly (三誡大眾 殷勤信解)
Date: December.26.2018
“As we listen to the Buddha teach the Dharma, first we must have faith in it, and then we must understand it. This is known as ‘faith and understanding’. Those with dull capabilities have faith in it, while those with sharp capabilities understand it. This is the faith and understanding of those with sharp and dull capabilities. Faith destroys deviant views and understanding destroys ignorance. The power of faith gives rise to true understanding.”
We must be mindful! Although this seems rather profound, it is not hard [to understand] if we are mindful. Entering the Buddha’s “door of the intrinsic” requires us to be very mindful. As we listen to the Buddha-Dharma, we start to have faith. We “have faith in it.” We must not just have faith, “we must [also] understand it.” This is called having “faith and understanding.” “Faith is the source of the path, mother of merits. It nurtures all roots of goodness.” We know this so well we can recite it backward. We are all very familiar with these words. Faith is the source of the path, mother of merits. We must enter the door to the Buddha’s teachings [and take] “great compassion as the room, gentleness and patience as the clothing and the emptiness of all phenomena as the seat.” Similarly, after hearing the Buddha-Dharma, we must enter the Buddha’s door through our faith. By entering the Buddha’s door, we enter the Tathagata’s room.
Having entered the Tathagata’s room, we must wear the “clothing of gentleness and patience.” People dress in clothes as a form of propriety. If we [go about] undressed, we truly lack propriety. So, in our culture and society, in this human world, we must have etiquette. So, we must dress ourselves with propriety, with proper and neat attire, to indicate our respect for others and respect for ourselves. The principle is the same for learning and having faith in the Buddha-Dharma.
In learning the Buddha’s teachings, we must learn the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom. [We must] learn the Buddha’s compassion, “enter the Tathagata’s room and wear the Tathagata’s clothing.” How we interact with people and handle matters begins with ourselves. We must be able to build up this compassion and have sympathy for sentient beings and love and cherish ourselves because we are also sentient beings. To love and cherish ourselves, we must grow our wisdom-life. We know that our bodies come from our parents. We make use of this body that our parents gave us in this space and time. We make use of it in this space, in our interactions with people, and in this time, in which “we draw closer to death with each passing day.” Since we live in this world, we must understand how to respect and cherish ourselves. Life passes in time without our noticing. To bring our wisdom-life to fruition, we must seize the time that we have. So, we must love and cherish ourselves and bring our wisdom-life to fruition. Going among people and perfecting our spiritual cultivation among them is “benefiting ourselves” by giving of ourselves among people. Sentient beings’ [lives] are full of suffering, so we must give of ourselves [to help them].
“Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” Our place of practice is among sentient beings; we have already entered the Tathagata’s room and given rise to “compassion” as we go among people. So, we should have faith in the Buddha’s teachings, which lead us to go among people to practice the Bodhisattva-path. We must have faith.
So, as we listen to the Buddha-Dharma, it always teaches us to cherish ourselves. We must have love for ourselves, and we must go one step further and love others. This is what we call awakening ourselves and awakening others. When it comes to compassion, we must have faith and perfect our own cultivation. Because of the life our parents gave us, we are also sentient beings. The Buddha wished to transform sentient beings; His target is us, as we are also sentient beings. So, we humans, along with all other sentient beings, as we listen to the Dharma the Buddha taught, need to awaken to it. We must have faith and understanding and attain awakening. Sometimes, upon hearing the Buddha teaching us to be compassionate, we may only be compassionate toward others. We may have not considered that, while we practice compassion toward others, we must also have compassion for ourselves. By saving others’ lives, we are perfecting our own wisdom-life.
Previously we have spoken of how [Bodhisattvas] arise because of suffering sentient beings. We must serve in response to sentient beings’ hardships in their lives and help relieve them of hardships. This actually brings our own wisdom-life to fruition. Only then can we benefit both ourselves and others. As we benefit others, we are benefiting ourselves.
Because we are both helping others and ourselves, we can say, “[We are] grateful!” So, we must have faith in the Buddha’s teachings. We need deep faith and through understanding; we cannot settle for a partial understanding. The Buddha taught us to serve others, but we do not realize that as we help others, we are also fulfilling our own [spiritual practice]. If we do not consider this second half, then we will always think, “I am the one who helps others”. In this way, we will not give rise to gratitude, and our spiritual aspirations will not last.
“As we listen to the Buddha teach the Dharma, first we must have faith in it”. To “first have faith [in it],” we must begin to accept [the teachings] with wisdom and take “great compassion as the room”. We must have faith in what the Buddha taught, that as we care for others, we at the same time help ourselves fulfill our [spiritual practice]. We must have faith. When serving others, we can also experience [the Dharma], for we “comprehend the great path and form the supreme aspiration”. Only by going among people can we understand sentient begins’ suffering and how truly unbearable it is. So, as we serve others, we see that sentient beings are helped and understand sentient beings’ suffering. Then, we will naturally comprehend the great path. “Without experience we cannot grown in wisdom.”
In today’s world, there are many natural disasters. For example, we often say that the US is like heaven on earth. [However, in 2017], in Houston, Texas, during the floods there, it was like the disaster survivors were in hell in the midst of heaven. Our world can become a heaven, but it can also become a hell. Those in heaven are not aware; they do not know the values of “the path”. However, those in hell on earth are constantly seeking to create heaven on earth. They wish to create a heaven. So, during this flood, what we came to realize about the US is that many foreigners believe that as long as they can make it to the US, they will be in heaven. Many people from different countries work very hard; they wish to be able to go and work in heaven. They wish to build a heaven in their lives. They are unaware that, after overcoming so many hardships to reach the US, it is still not easy to become an official US resident. Some work for decades, continuously working hard to save money. However, those who work without documentation, those who do not obtain proper documentation, are referred to as undocumented residents. When the time they requested to spend in the US ends, they have to leave, but they do not dare return [to their country]. It is hard to leave again once they return, and their life back home is difficult. They hope to work and make money in the US. No matter what, they wish to stay in the US. But they do not have official residency. They have to hide and work hard to apply again, but their application never makes it through so they become undocumented residents. Some, many decades later, still have yet to obtain official status. They have to leave, but cannot return to their country. They want to live here [in the US], but they do not have official residency. They cannot obtain legal work here, so they work odd jobs in secret. There are many residents like this.
During this flood, we discovered that they are actually very many. At that place, after the flooding, the homes they rented were destroyed. Their simple, unpermitted structures had been flooded as well. They could not report this or receive any government assistance. Their lives were difficult to begin with; on top of this, they could not reveal their status. Think about it; were these people suffering? They really were suffering!
Our Bodhisattva[-volunteers] witnessed [their suffering]. Tzu Chi volunteers from across the US, including the CEOs and the other leadership came together in Houston. They then split up, continuously surveying the disaster area and holding relief distributions. Among the people they encountered and provided assistance to, there were so many heartbreaking stories. We heard [the volunteers] share [their experiences]. They said that there was a family who was facing a situation like the one we just mentioned. They were truly miserable, [some with] no place to live in and only an old car packed with things damaged by the flood. Those things were all ruined. Because they came to receive [aid] from us, Tzu Chi volunteers saw them; volunteers saw their physical condition and how they were truly suffering. After hearing their story, they watched them receive [the aid] and walk toward their car. Tzu Chi volunteers accompanied them to their car. They saw that in the car, after opening [the car door], all the family belongings were there, but nothing was usable. They had suffered a disaster like this, but they could not get any help. Worst of all, they could not express their suffering, the hardship and suffering [they were in]. We cannot describe how they made it through their days. We saw many people who were like this. So, that people is normally a heaven on earth. These Bodhisattvas regularly show their love by caring for others. They have been engaged in Tzu Chi’s work. But in the past, each [region] was responsible for its own states. Wherever there was a disaster [in that region], [volunteers in that region] would go there. [The disasters] never used to be this serious. They spent more than 20 days there, experiencing daily [what it was like there] and being with the disaster survivors. They were surrounded by disaster survivors. In the 20 or so days they spent there, everything they heard was from people in hardship. These newly-inspired Bodhisattvas had these kinds of realizations.
So, not only did they have faith, but they also went among people to realize and “then understand [the Dharma]”. “Understand” means that they have gained realizations; they have truly accepted this Dharma and [the truth of] suffering in the world. The “suffering” that the Buddha spoke of arises from “causation”. As for “causation”, everyone has their story; everyone [has their story of] how they came [to the US] and became an undocumented resident. They were originally in their home countries, so why did they leave their home countries, and why were they willing to stay here as undocumented residents? It was very difficult for them. Now they even have no home to return to and no way to go back. They have no [residency] status to stay [in the US], so when they encountered impermanence and suffering, they could not even talk about it. From these people, Tzu Chi volunteers understood that this is true suffering; this truly inspired the compassion of Bodhisattvas. So, we must “exercise both compassion and wisdom”. When it comes to “comprehending the great path and forming the supreme aspirations, and forming the supreme aspiration” we must not only have faith and understanding; we must have personal experience. From deep in our hearts, we awaken to sentient beings’ suffering and the “causation” of “suffering”. In everyone’s past [lives] they have accumulated [karma], causing them to suffer from their karmic retributions. We are able to help them, but can we eliminate their suffering? We cannot. What about us? We who help others must be very vigilant of our wisdom-life; we must be vigilant.
It is true that suffering in life accumulates in this way, causing suffering and afflictions. In the past, because of greed and confusion as well as a lack of understanding of the principles, our lives were beyond our control; the law of karma is beyond our control. They worked very hard; these undocumented residents worked very hard, yet [their lives] were beyond their control. The circumstantial and direct retributions that are out of their control are the result of the karma they brought with them. Those who practice the Bodhisattva-path have comprehended and awakened. So, they have awakened their wisdom-life and have become more vigilant.
Regarding “cessation”, how do we bring about the cessation of suffering? To eliminate suffering, we must “enter the Tathagata’s room and wear the Tathagata’s clothing”. They can keep drawing near to these [disaster survivors]. Truly, when we see the pictures, we can tell that they have not showered for a long time from their haggard and dispirited appearance. The weather was scorching. We can imagine [what is must be like] to get close to someone like this. Yet, Tzu Chi volunteers opened both arms to embrace these people and be close to them. [The volunteers] abandoned their view of self and expressed their love. Their spiritual aspirations started to become firm. So, “We must understand it”. “This is known as ‘faith and understanding’”. So, we must have faith and understanding, comprehend the great path” and “form the supreme aspiration”. We must develop supreme faith and understanding and great compassion. Our compassion and wisdom have already been inspired.
We need circumstances like these to experience [suffering]. So, “Those with dull capacities have faith in it”. Under such conditions, even those who are dull-witted and not very sharp become capable of understanding. “Oh, this is impermanence! They are truly suffering; this is so sad! The Buddha taught us about the law of karma, so how out could this happen to them? Was it through the law of karma?” With such faith in these principles, they have experienced and understood them. If their capabilities are sharper, they will be able to “understand this”; they will have both faith and understanding. They will be able to comprehend the great path; they will have more than just faith. Faith requires us to go [among people], but we cannot merely go among them. We must also clear the path and walk it; we must put the Dharma into practice on this path, and the scenery on the path will become clear. This path is in the human world; the Bodhisattva-path needs us to walk it. Only by gaining experience among people will we be able to attain the karma of wisdom and bring our wisdom-life to fruition.
Although our physical life slips away, as we experience our environment and the world, our wisdom-life grows. So, “This is the faith and understanding of those with sharp and dull capabilities”. With this kind of awakening, regardless of their capabilities, they can all believe in, experience and understand [the teachings]. “Faith destroys deviant views”. We certainly must have faith that this is the way things are. If we did not have these karmic conditions, how else could we have ended up with these karmic retributions? Everyone must believe this and rid themselves of their deviant views. We must not look for how to eliminate misfortune; we must understand that our karma is unescapable. So, we must have faith in the forces of karma and the law of cause and effect. This will destroy deviant views. “Understanding destroys ignorance”. We must never again have afflictions that create ignorance. Human life is impermanent, so what is there to take issue with? We must seize the present moment to help others. This will make us peaceful and free in body and mind. We saw that [the volunteers] held a distribution in a very large space. Everyone affected by the disaster was suffering greatly. However, at the distribution, inspired by the Tzu Chi volunteers, they were able to trade their tears for smiles. We saw these suffering people begin to smile. Not only did they smile, but they also began to take action. They were inspired. They were very happy and forgot their suffering. Even though they were suffering, Tzu Chi volunteers’ sharing and sincere giving comforted them. They knew that “There are many people in the world who care about us”. We are not alone. So, they raised their spirits and gained the faith to continue on. People were truly inspired to lift themselves up. The entire scene turned from suffering to joy.
Although their surroundings would still take a long time to clean up, and the road ahead would be long and hard, they at least had regained their faith. So, “Faith awakens true understanding”. Having strong faith can inspire a true awakening in us. Our world needs us to put the teachings into action. If Bodhisattvas only sit and write, sit and read or sit and lecture, it will be hard for them to truly understand the teachings! They must rise up and act and [engage with] their environment, entering into this world to experience it, like how volunteers went to be with disaster survivors to gain understanding. They experienced a great deal. There was a lot of information they sent back. Even by just seeing them, hearing their voices and seeing images of their dedication among people, we feel deeply moved. In these kinds of circumstances, we have gained understanding. Having gained understanding, we have steadfastly worked for so many years in going from a single point to now having so many people around the world that dedicate themselves to others. This is the result of understanding.
So, we must have “faith and understanding and put the Bodhisattva-path into practice”. The Buddha taught us the Bodhisattva-path, so we must enter the Buddha’s door. As we enter His door of the intrinsic, we must understand these things very clearly.
So, the previous sutra passage says, “At that time, the Buddha told those Bodhisattvas and all in the assembly, Good men, all of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words.”
We must have faith in, experience and understand them. We must not settle for partial comprehension or simply listen to them [and stop there]. [Instead], we must put the Dharma into practice. So, we must earnestly take in the following passage. The Buddha reminded them again.
The sutra passage below continues, “Again He told the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words’. Once again, He told all in the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words’”.
When the Buddha began to speak, He had to repeatedly remind them again and again, “All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words”. Altogether, he did so three times. “All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words”. “Again he told the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words’. Once again, he told all in the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words’”. Just imagine the gravity of His instructions. “If you want to listen, I will speak. When I speak, you must listen.” Truly, we must take the Dharma to heart. We must not just listen to it; we must take it to heart. To take it to heart, we must let it enter our life and become our impetus to action. It must be like this. In teaching the Dharma, we must be clear on when to be lighthearted and when to be serious. We must not always speak of it lightly, because if we speak of it lightly, everyone will take it lightly. The Buddha, at this time, upon entering “the door of the intrinsic, began to admonish us”. He spoke very carefully, so we must mindfully seek to experience and understand this. We must seize our time and constantly remind everyone to practice the Bodhisattva-path. Where is the origin of the Bodhisattva-path? Our lives are diminishing day by day, so we must ensure our wisdom-life increases daily. We must not waste our lives away. So, those who study the Dharma must also practice and teach the Dharma. We must put the Dharma into practice and start teaching it.
When teaching, we must be lighthearted when we need to be lighthearted, and be serious when we need to be serious. We must know when to be lighthearted and when to be serious. So, we must be very earnest. “Again, He told the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words.”. “He told this to them once again”. In hopes that they would strengthen their faith. We must strengthen our faith, and we must understand very clearly. At this point, the Buddha became more strict in order to teach us. So, “The people of all capacities accepting. His Dharma showed faith”. His stern instruction was an admonishment. An “admonishment” is meant to warn us and make us more aware so that we never waste our days or causally listen to the Dharma. When we listen to the teachings, every sentence must become part of our life and enter the very cells of our bodies. This Dharma is the source of our ability to create Dharma-marrow in our life. We must earnestly take very teaching to heart. By listening to it, it becomes ours, and we will be able to apply the Dharma in the world.
So, I frequently tell everyone to “transform consciousness into wisdom”. “Wisdom” is a word used in the Dharma. The Dharma must be applied in our daily lives with the things we encounter. So, [speaking of] wisdom, “wisdom” does not only exist in the archives of the Buddha-Dharma, within the Buddhist sutras. This is not the case. We must [apply it]. In what we encounter and what we experience, we must apply our wisdom in the world. So, I constantly say to everyone to “transform consciousness into wisdom”.
Whether the five consciousnesses or the sixth, seventh or eighth consciousness, [we must] [turn them into] “all-accomplishing wisdom,” “profound discerning wisdom,” “universal equality wisdom” and “great perfect mirror wisdom”. In our everyday lives, we must ensure that this mirror reflects things clearly and distinctly. We must earnestly grasp this. So, I constantly remind everyone that just listening to [the Dharma] is not enough; we must bring the Dharma out and apply it. The Buddha-Dharma is inherently applicable. But do we just use it as a decoration so we can say that we have studied the Dharma and leave it at that? Not at all. So, the Buddha admonished us. Now, His direction was [to give] “stern instruction [as] an admonishment”. He had to sternly remind and admonish everyone.
So, “The people of all capacities accepting His Dharma showed faith”. Everyone must come to accept this Dharma. It is not enough to just listen to it; it is not. We must see to it that everyone has accepted it. Sometimes we say, “Oh, please be mindful. How have you not taken in what has been taught? How have you not understood?” At this time, [the Buddha] constantly took note of whether or not they had taken the Dharma to heart and whether or not they had comprehended it. It is the same principle. There is not must time left. Truly, we do not have much time left. So, we must not live our lives casually. We must put our heart into it.
“Once again, he told all in the assembly ‘All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words”’. Once again, he told all in the assembly, “All of you should have faith in and understand the Tathagata’s genuine and true words”: The Dharma is so profound and wondrous that sentient beings have a hard time understanding it. So, He did this as many as three times to help them to deepen their faith.
Previously, “Again He told [this to] the assembly”. Now, he repeated himself. “Once again, he told all in the assembly”. He repeated himself¸ telling everyone again that they must have faith, that they must have faith in the Buddha’s words. “You must have faith! I am telling you all; you must have faith. You must take them in; you must learn. You must serve others. The Dharma is so profound and wondrous that” sentient beings have a hard time understanding it”. Isn’t this Dharma profound and wondrous? Regarding this profound and wondrous Dharma, sentient beings with dull capacities say, “I believe; I have faith”. They have faith, but they have yet to experience and understand it. They only have faith without understanding. This is just like what we previously described. Everyone believed in the Buddha’s words, but as soon as this scene emerged they were unwilling to believe that the Buddha had transformed so many beings. How could he have done so? How long did it take to transform so many people? Even if they believed the Buddha’s teachings, when these matters and appearances manifested, they were unable to understand. This is because they did not comprehend [the teachings] and did not put them into practice; they only listened to them. We must seek to comprehend them now and have faith and understanding. The world is impermanent, empty and full of suffering. With suffering, emptiness and impermanence, even heaven can become hell. When it comes to these karmic retributions beyond our control, all we can do is watch as they occur. So, we cannot understand what is beyond our control. “The Dharma is so profound and wondrous that sentient beings struggle to understand it”. How is it that we are unable to understand it? How is it that we are unable to comprehend it? “So, He did this as many as three times ‘All of you should have faith in and understand [this]”’. “Again He told the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand [this].’ Once again, he told all in the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand [this]”’. Just think, [He did this] three times! The Buddha told us thrice that we must believe. Just think about how difficult it is to have faith in this Dharma. So, we must remind ourselves to be vigilant. “So, He did this as many as three times to help them to deepen their faith”. So, we must all be very mindful to realize, have faith and understand it. “He admonished them three times”. Three times, He admonished us, telling us to focus, telling us to have faith and understanding and telling us to comprehend [the teachings].
He admonished them three times: He would reveal the intrinsic, the Buddha’s lifespan, which is such an extraordinary and great matter that it must be earnestly treasured. So, He profoundly admonished them and also instructed separately the Hearers, the Pratyekabuddhas and all the Bodhisattvas.
So, “He admonished them three times. He would reveal the intrinsic, the Buddha’s lifespan which is such an extraordinary and great matter” .He started explaining the “matters of the intrinsic” to us, “the Buddha’s lifespan” He started teaching the Chapter on the Tathagata’s Lifespan. So, everyone has to be very mindful, for this too is “an extraordinary and great matter”. Everyone must comprehend this with great faith. What we must comprehend is not only the text; we must pay attention to our daily life. This is because the Buddha-Dharma is Dharma for the world. [The Buddha] has taught the sutra to this point, and we can see that there is so much suffering in the world. We must earnestly seek to comprehend [this]. This type of “extraordinary and great matter” is what “must be earnestly treasured”. We must truly treasure these teachings. The Dharma teaches us this way that worldly matters and appearances manifest like this. This is something we can all see and experience.
“So, he profoundly admonished them, also instructing separately the Hearers,” the Pratyekabuddhas and the Bodhisattvas. It was not just Bodhisattvas whom He admonished. He also simultaneously admonished the Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. With life being so impermanent, we must awaken ourselves, respect our own lives and seize [the time] to develop our wisdom-life. The world is our place of spiritual practice; we must go among people and serve them to perfect our spiritual practice. So, we must awaken and be mindful.
“The Tathagata is one who speaks the truth, who speaks what is real, who speaks what is such, who does not speak what is false, who does not speak what is not so.”
So, in the Mahasamnipata Sutra, there is a passage that states, “We can say that fierce winds can be bound by rope and Mt. Sumeru can be moved by a breath of air. But we cannot say that there is any contradiction in the Buddha’s words.”
That is, we can say that wind can be bound by rope. But can wind actually be bound by rope? “We can say that Mt. Sumeru” can be moved with a breath of air, but is this really possible? We may or may not believe in this. Whether we believe in this or not, the Medicine Buddha Sutra states that the Great Mountain King can be moved, but the Buddha’s words cannot be altered. Similarly, the heart must not waver. The principle is the same. So, “We cannot say there is any contradiction in the Buddha’s words.” We can say that wind can be bound by rope or we can say that Mt. Sumeru can be moved by a breath of air, yet we cannot say that there is any contradiction in the Buddha’s words. The Buddha absolutely speaks with honesty; He absolutely speaks the truth and does not speak what is false. The Buddha’s words are the truth. So, we cannot say He speaks falsehood; He speaks the absolute truth.
So, all the Buddha’s teachings contain genuine, true and pure words. We must have faith in His teachings. We cannot slander the Buddha and say, “You should not believe in the Buddha’s teachings.” There are many things that we cannot believe in. We can say those things, but it does not matter what we say because people will not believe them. They are fundamentally unbelievable. How could wind be bound by a rope? How could Mt. Sumeru be moved by one breath of air? These are all impossible. If we say these things, no one will believe us. But if we say that the Buddha spoke falsehoods, not only will we create [negative] karma, but people will not believe us either. So, we must have faith that the Buddha speaks the truth. If we believe in the Dharma the Buddha taught, then naturally, regarding the Buddha’ teachings, we will be able to have faith and understanding. If we lack faith and understanding, we will never be able to take the Dharma to heart, and there will be no way for us to pass the Dharma on to future generations. So, everyone must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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