Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Gradually Enter the Buddha-Wisdom through Faith (深信精勤 漸入佛智)
Date: December.27.2018
“The Buddha’s words are genuine, true and not false. With tranquility and clarity, He examined the truth without Leaks. Only through deep faith and diligence can we gradually enter the measure of the Buddha-wisdom. If we try to measure it with the measure of our own mind, on the contrary, we will be unable to enter it.”
We must be mindful! We must earnestly listen [to the Dharma]. As we listen, we must not just have faith, but we must also understand it. Didn’t we discuss this previously? This is the same with the Buddha. As He began to teach the profound Dharma, He constantly gave us reminders and instructions. All of us must have faith. The Dharma is real, so we must give rise to a reverent and faithful heart to take the Dharma to heart. This way, we can make use of [the Dharma] regularly in our daily living.
We learn the Dharma so we can apply it. As we learn it, we must make use of it. If we listen to the Dharma and then forget about it, it will be useless. The time we spent listening to the Dharma will be wasted. “With each passing day, we draw closer to death.” With each day passing, our life diminishes. We hope that in this lifetime, as our life fades away, our wisdom-life will grow. If we do not take the Dharma to heart, how can our wisdom-life grow? People often say that, “Without experience, we cannot grow in wisdom.” After we listen to the Dharma, we understand and have faith in it.
When we encounter matters in our daily lives, “Oh! It turns out that this is how the Dharma is closely related to this matter.” As we encounter these matters, we can then use the Dharma to resolve them. This is how we make use of what we learn. Matters and principles must come together. When matters and principles do not come together, a matter is just a matter, and a principle is just a principle. They are isolated from one another. If this is the case, it will be meaningless for us to learn and listen to the Dharma. If in our life and our daily living we do not resonate with or make use of [what we learn], then we will be wasting our time. Wouldn’t this be a pity? Not to mention that life is the most important thing in our lifetime. With our life, we will be able to fulfill our wisdom-life.
However, without the Dharma, we will create negative karma during our lives. These karmic forces will then accumulate from this lifetime into our future lifetime. If we can accept the Buddha-Dharma in this lifetime, [we gain] knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge comes from the world, and wisdom comes from the Buddha-Dharma. The knowledge we have in the world comes from connecting the first five consciousnesses with external states. With our ears, we listen to sounds. Because we are born in this environment, as we listen to these sounds, we know to analyze them and discern among people and matters. Our ears listening to sounds is how our ear-root encounters sound-objects. Our eyes can see the forms in our surroundings. Whether something is high or low, long or short, green, red, black or white, we know how to differentiate them. When we differentiate all these, as our eye-consciousness connects with the external states, we differentiate them, and in our minds, we then form [the idea] that we like this form and hate this color. We will gradually go even further to distinguish whether something is precious or cheap. What we have greed and desire for is what people call “a treasure”. When people say, “This is valuable,” our minds will begin to become attached to the value of that [object]. Then, our minds will begin to pursue, to crave, to grasp and so on. Complicated matters [begin] when our eyes see and when our ears listen to things [surrounding us]. So, we accumulate sound-objects and form-objects. These then come together with the feeling of our bodies. As we act with our bodies, we think of how to grasp what we are attached to. Our bodies begin to encounter the surroundings. With our bodies encountering the external states, we can differentiate things that are hot, cold, soft or hard. I feel more comfortable this way while. I feel more uneasy with this. From these points, we begin to discriminate. This then gives rise to our indulgence in material pleasures nowadays. These all come from our bodies. The sense organs of our bodies connect with the sense objects in our surroundings. This is how the sense organs connect with the sense objects, which then creates consciousness. We love to eat tasty foods. Some people crave sweets and savory foods. Due to our craving for taste, we have caused harm to so many living things.
When we listen to [the sounds] of nature, aren’t those beautiful? For instance, we hear the birds chirping. At this time in the early morning, [our environment] is tranquil. Other than my voice speaking right now, there is only the sound of birds chirping. When it comes to the states in nature, nature is intrinsically beautiful, but people nowadays tend to reject natural matters and objects. They believe that “man can conquer nature” and have created other sounds, other sound-objects. They created many genres of music and others. They enjoy listening to rock music, western music and Chinese traditional music. They enjoy these [man-made sounds]. In the natural surroundings outside, the air quality is excellent. However, there are so many people [today] who crave pleasures and think that being in the sun is bad and too hot; it is more relaxing inside with air-conditioning. This happens when our bodies [encounter] external conditions.
For the sake of sensory [pleasures], human beings continuously take actions that constantly change the environment. These changes lead to damage; this is how it is. This is how we humans continuously keep changing our mindset and continuously seek “knowledge”. As we seek more knowledge, naturally, what we intrinsically possess will continue to become more distant from us. Because of this, what we encounter in our lives is nothing but greed, desires and afflictions, [leading us to] create [negative] karma. This creates imbalances in the entire world. This happens to the world, families and society as a whole. It is very worrying. Since more human beings are like this, our greater natural environment, without us being aware, has also continuously [gone through changes] over a long time.
Now, we refer to this world as “the evil world of the Five Turbidities”. These are all changes that we are unaware of. [The changes] were accumulated by people, which includes our [actions] nowadays. Now, we are very fortunate that we can still encounter the Buddha-Dharma, which is what the Buddha left behind for the present, 2,5000 or 2,6000 years later. We must be grateful that in the past, there were people who formed aspirations and made vows. From the Buddha’s birthplace, in the system [of teachings] in ancient India and in China, there were sages and great Dharma masters who formed aspirations to spread and seek the Dharma by obtaining the sutras and spreading them.
Later, they slowly carved the Buddha-Dharma on stones, wood and so on. They laboriously complied every word and sentence into sutras that were passed down. Even today, we can still trace them back, following the traces [left from the past]. We can still read [the sutras], and from these words, we can comprehend the Buddha’s spirit and ideals. From reading these words, we feel touched. “Oh! So these are the principles.” When we are touched, we can faithfully accept it. Apart from faithfully accepting [the Dharma], we must also practice it. Only by faithfully accepting and putting it into practice can we comprehend the great path. This is a definite principle. If we do not faithfully accept and practice [the Dharma], how can we comprehend and understand the great path? If we do not comprehend and understand the great path, how can we continue to clear the path? How can we continue to pave this road? So, we must “faithfully accept and practice”. We must mindfully accept the Dharma. When we go among people, our wisdom comes from our experiences. We must turn the “consciousness” that we develop from matters into the “wisdom of the Dharma. So, we must “turn consciousness into wisdom”. We should not only pursue knowledge, but we must also grow our wisdom. I hope that everyone can understand this.
We must “turn consciousness into wisdom”. We should not just pursue knowledge or just pursue consciousness. We must not only seek to understand, but we must also put it into practice to truly experience and comprehend the great path. This is what is most important. In our lives, if we can experience and comprehend the great path, the Dharma will be ours, not only the Buddha’s. The Buddha left the world and entered Perfect Rest more than 2000 years ago. In this period, there have been so many great masters and sages in the past who have continuously passed down His spirit and ideals. As for the Dharma that was passed down, we must absorb it and make it our own. Then we can apply it while among people, we must not say, “This Dharma belongs to the Buddha. Now, these people need the Dharma. Venerable Buddha! Please give them Your blessings.” It is not like that! The Buddha provides us with the principles, so when people need the Dharma, we must give it to them. This is how we pass down [the Dharma]. We must not say, “The Buddha will bless us and reveal our wisdom, so we can attain it without seeking it. There is no need to be mindful, to work hard or to approach [the Dharma]. All I have to do is to ask the Buddha, and I will be able to attain wisdom.” It is not like that! “All I have to do is to ask the Buddha, and I will be able to attain wisdom”. It is not like that! This Dharma left behind by the Buddha, His spirit and ideals, has throughout this period been compiled piece by piece by many people from the Buddha’s era to the present. [This way], we can trace His footsteps to understand His way of life at that time and understand His state of mind at that time.
[To know about] the Buddha’s era, we can trace and investigate from history. Truly, more than 2000 years ago, there was this country at this location at that time. There was truly this Great Enlightened One who manifested there. Nowadays, there are still ancient ruins there. All these truly [existed]. Regarding this noble being, why are there so many ruins still remaining? Of course, these all came from His wisdom. During that era, He influenced people’s perspectives and their behaviors, leading them to eliminate their superstitions and go toward the right path. He impacted and elevated people’s wisdom. This is what it was like. There are these historical facts, so we must have faith.
At that time, this noble being was very confident in His own words. “What I realized are the principles of all things in the universe. I shall analyze them for you one by one. Everyone, listen carefully! This is what human beings should encounter. Not everything is controlled by [destiny]. We are in control of our own life. We all have our enlightened nature, and we can understand it ourselves as long as we clearly understand the principles. After a long time, we will be able to benefit people. Nature will fulfill all things in the world. We must clearly understand this principle”.
Formation, existence, decay and disappearance exist in the world and in the universe. The Buddha clearly taught the principles about the universe. See, in the Chapter on Emerging from the Ground, the Bodhisattvas emerging from the ground were abiding in the empty space of the Saha World. We can see that our world is in the universe. There is space above and beneath. The east, west, south, north, the four intermediate directions, above and below all have their own directions and their own space. This is the Buddha’s wisdom from more than 2000 years ago. This is how He described the world. If we earnestly investigate it, we see that this describes the universe and its endless void. Earth, this world, is floating in the universe. In what used to be called “the great void”, in the universe, it is only one of the worlds.
So, the Buddha often used the sands of the Ganges River as an analogy for this. Indeed, the universe consists of so many planets and worlds. There was a group of astronomy professors who came to visit me. They gave me a map of the solar system. [When I asked], how many celestial bodies are there in the vicinity of Earth? [These professors] said, “In this [map], the solar system Earth belongs to is right here”. I said, “In this region, how many worlds are there? Professor Ip told me, “There are infinite [worlds], as many as the sands of the Ganges River. I cannot tell you how many there are”. “Ah! In just a corner of the [universe], there are so many [worlds!]”. He said, “Master, as you can see, the sun is only this small spot here. This dot here is the sun. We can barely see the earth. This is how big it is”. With such a big map, in such a small corner, how could there be countless planets? [We are just] one solar system. Everyone, human beings are truly insignificant.
In short, the Buddha was a great scientist. He understood astronomy and geography. This is the wisdom of the Buddha. So, we must have faith in it. We must earnestly “turn consciousness into wisdom”. In our daily lives, we must not only react to our environment and give rise to afflictions, ignorance or doubt. Instead, we must quickly and mindfully seek to comprehend the Buddha-Dharma.
So, in this passage, we will repeatedly tell everyone that we may discover many inconceivable things in the sutra passages. We must believe that “the Buddha’s words are genuine, true and not false”. Since it is recorded in the sutras, we must believe it to be true and not false.
We have discussed this previously, and [the Buddha has] reminded us many times. So, in the Buddha’s mind, His world is “tranquil and clear”. Because His state of mind is “tranquil and clear”, He examined the true principles of all things in the universe. He “examined the truth” with great detail and knew it like the back of His hand. There was not a single thing He did not understand. So, He already understood everything clearly. This was the Buddha’s wisdom. “The truth” refers to the principles. He thoroughly understood them. He “examined the truth” clearly and without Leaks.
“Leaks” refers to afflictions, ignorance and delusions. The Buddha’s state of mind is free of afflictions, ignorance and Leaks. So, there was a time in the past when I continuously told everyone to earnestly be mindful and practice the Three Flawless Studies. When it comes to precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, we must earnestly take good care of our minds. We must safeguard our minds and not keep circling in ignorance. The Buddha has completely eliminated the ignorance [in His mind]. His state of mind is tranquil and clear. When it comes to the matters and things He sees, He will examine the truth”; He will not let any of them leak away. This is the True Dharma.
So, in what way can we acquire the same state of mind as the Buddha? “Only through deep faith and diligence.” Because we are ordinary beings, to learn the Buddha-Dharma, the only way is to have deep faith and diligence. Our minds must focused, and we must be diligent. This way, we can turn the knowledge we encounter into wisdom in our [minds]. We must have deep faith in the Dharma and be very earnest so that in our daily living, we can continuously resonate with the principles. This is to be “without Leaks”. So, “we can gradually enter “the measure of the Buddha-wisdom”. Naturally, we will continuously come together as one with the principles. The principles will resonate with how we deal with people and matters. This is in pour daily living. So, we must be very mindful.
So, “If we try to measure it with the measure of our own mind, on the contrary, we will be unable to enter it.” If we only use what we understand to “measure” the Buddha, we will never be able to comprehend Him, so we must first have faith in His teachings. We must not only have faith in what we know and [not take in] what the Buddha said. When we listen to it, it makes sense. However, we do not want to put it into practice. We still do things the same way we did. If we only cultivate our own practice and do not put any thought into the Dharma taught by the Buddha, then we do not take it to heart and we continue to act however we like. No matter what people tell us, we will not correct our actions. This is “measuring with our own mind”. We do things with the measure of our own minds. We are unwilling to accept the True Dharma from the Buddha’s wisdom. This is how it is taught, yet we cannot accept it. Most people are attached to “the measure of [their] own mind”. They are stuck in their own ways. They act according to how they think. With their “knowledge” and “consciousness,” they will walk on their own path. So, they will go in the opposite direction of the Buddha-Dharma.
So, “They will be unable to enter,” and they will act against the principles. As they listen to the Dharma, they still just act in their own ways. “With each passing day” our lives get shorter and shorter. If we refuse to change ourselves, we cannot take the Buddha-Dharma to heart. Then, our lives and the principles will grow further apart as our lives shorten. The principles exists, but we have not accepted the Dharma. We continue to act however we like and create our own karma. “We cannot take anything with us when we die. Only our karma follows us to our next life”. With our knowledge, with what we know, we do things in our own way. In this way, we can resonate with the Dharma. This is truly our loss. This is a waste, a waste of our time and a waste of our lives. This is something truly unfortunate.
So, everyone, please be very mindful. So, “We must faithfully accept what the Tathagata taught and practice in accordance with it diligently and sincerely”.
We must faithfully accept what the Tathagata taught and practice in accordance with it diligently and sincerely. Regarding the Dharma that the Tathagata taught, most sutras end with a phrase like. They faithfully accepted and practiced it.
We must be like this and faithfully accept the Dharma the Tathagata taught. With the teachings that the Buddha taught, if we accept them, we will be able to make use of them. So, we must be very clear about this. We must mindfully accept a master’s teachings so that his mastery will become ours. The principle is the same. So, we must “practice in accordance with it diligently and sincerely”. We must mindfully accept and comprehend [the Dharma].
“Regarding the Dharma that the Tathagata taught, most sutras end with a phrase like. ‘They faithfully accepted and practiced it’”. For each sutra, doesn’t it always end with people joyfully and faithfully accepting and practicing it? No matter which sutra we recite, [it ends with people] joyfully and faithfully accepting and practicing it, paying their respects and leaving. This is what they do at the end of each sutra. It is similar to how I end my talks with “Always be mindful!” when a person speaking gives such reminders, those who listen “should faithfully accept and practice it”. This is how [speaker and listeners] interact. Do you truly, faithfully accept and practice [the teachings]? I do not know. But if you accept them, they will be yours. “With each passing day, we draw closer to death”. We must bring our life together with the principles. So, I must ask everyone to be very mindful.
Next. Let’s look at the previous sutra passage. 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’”.
The previous passage says, “All of you should have faith in and understand”. The next passage continues, saying, “Again He told the assembly, ‘All of you should have faith in and understand’.” What happened next? “Once again He told [all in the assembly. Isn’t this three times? The Buddha gave “three admonishments”. He admonished, instructs and warns us that “Since you want to understand it, now, I am going to teach you. But, before I teach, I must warn you. You must believe that every word from the Buddha is true. The Buddha speaks the truth; He does not speak falsehoods or say false things. This is the Buddha. We must believe in the Dharma He teaches. If we do not believe in the Dharma after listening to it, we can easily slander [it].
In the previous sutra passage, the Buddha still had not even begun to speak, He began by admonishing them three times. We can see that He was about to reveal “the intrinsic” next. Everyone must build their faith first. If they had not built up their faith, after reading the next passage, they will feel that this is very far removed from us. In fact, we must be very mindful.
The next sutra passage continues, saying, “At this time, the assembly of Bodhisattvas, with Maitreya as the leader, put their palms together and said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One, we only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words’. After saying this three times, they said once again, ‘We only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words’.”
Maitreya likewise asked three times. At this time, described in the sutra passage, Maitreya led the assembly. They all saw how the Buddha was so earnest in admonishing them three times. He earnestly admonished them, so everyone pulled themselves together and earnestly straightened out their minds. So, everyone was also very earnest. “So, cherishing this,” they were earnest and cautious. Thus, with great reverence, they put their palms together again. The Buddha instructed them, “You must deeply believe in [my words]. You must place great importance on them”. So, Maitreya Bodhisattva and these Bodhisattvas reinvigorated their minds. They began to very diligently adjust their attitudes. They became very diligent and careful.
So, they reverently put their palms together again. From their mouths, they uttered such sincere words to make vows for themselves. “They vowed to spread and advance the Dharma that the Buddha taught. We will earnestly listen to [the Dharma]”. With Maitreya as their leader, everyone began to adjust their attitudes to faithfully accept [the Dharma] and express [their sincerity].
At this time the assembly of Bodhisattvas, With Maitreya as their leader, put their palms together and said to the Buddha: Maitreya and the assembly saw how the Buddha thrice admonished them sincerely like this. So, cherishing this, they reverently put their palms together and spoke sincerely. They vowed to spread and advance the Dharma that the Buddha taught.
“World-Honored One, We only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words. We only hope that You will teach this. Venerable Buddha! We only hope that You will teach [us the Dharma]. We will all for sure faithfully accept it. No matter what the Buddha teaches, we, the disciples, will certainly accept it with sincerity and faith. Our minds will never have doubt again”. This is the sincere request raised by Maitreya Bodhisattva. He guided these Bodhisattvas to express this.
World-Honored One, We only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words: Whatever the Buddha says and teaches, we disciples will all sincerely and faithfully accept it without any doubts.
“After saying this three times, they said once again, ‘We only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words’.” So, it was not only three times. After three times, they sincerely asked again for the World-Honored One to teach this. “Because we are always reverent, we can faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings”. So, this is their reverence.
After saying this three times, they said once again, “We only hope that You will teach this. We will faithfully accept the Buddha’s words”: After they said this to the Buddha three times, the Buddha still remained silent. They had not gotten His consent or approval.
Because [Maitreya] asked the Buddha thrice and He remained silent during those last three times, so they asked again. The Buddha remained silent before because someone asked, “There are so many people, so how could You say that. You transformed all of them? People have doubts. Venerable Buddha, please explain it”. The Buddha remained silent. Maitreya asked again, but he used an analogy. “It is like a young man saying that these elderly people are his children. No one would believe in it! Venerable Buddha, everyone has doubts. Please speak [and explain for us]”. The Buddha remained silent. Maitreya brought up this question, but the Buddha remained silent. Eventually, the Buddha began to admonish them and give them reminders three times, saying, “You must faithfully accept and understand this. You must comprehend that the Buddha speaks the truth, because if you do not faithfully accept this Dharma and take it in, it will become harmful to you. So, everyone must faithfully accept it”.
At this time, Maitreya and the Bodhisattvas all adjusted their mindsets and requested again. Before that, the Buddha had still not spoken. So, at this point, they asked again. “Saying this three times means that each time the Buddha admonished them, Maitreya spoke to the Buddha once”. Thus, whenever they said they will believe in Him, the Buddha admonished them again. So, in their last statement, they [stated that] they would faithfully accept it.
After saying this three times: This means that each time the Buddha admonished them, Maitreya spoke to the Buddha once to declare that they would faithfully accept this. The Tathagata admonished them three times, so those with the capabilities requested the Dharma three times. They earnestly requested the Dharma three times like the thirsty desire water or the hungry desire food. This demonstrates how earnestly they would faithfully accept [the Dharma]. Once they requested the Dharma three times, they said once again that they only hoped that He would teach this to them. This means they requested the Dharma four times. After He admonished them three times, again He told them to listen carefully. This means He admonished them four times.
So, the Tathagata admonished us three times. “those with the capabilities” still thrice expressed that they would faithfully accept [His teachings]. Thus, this was the process of the “three admonishments” and “three requests”. “They earnestly requested the Dharma three times”. Maitreya asked three times. “We only hope that You will teach this”. They still continued to request. So, at this time, everyone was earnest, like how people who are thirsty desire water. This shows how earnest they were. “So, [they are like how] the thirsty desire water or the hungry desire food”. This demonstrates how sincere they were “and how earnestly they would faithfully accept [the Dharma]”. Those who were present were sincere. “Once they requested the Dharma three times,” They said once again that they only hoped “that He would teach them”. This means that “They requested it four times”. The Buddha wanted to reveal “the intrinsic” to this assembly. This passage continues from the Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy and the Chapter on Emerging from the Ground. “The manifest” had come to an end. Beginning with “the intrinsic,” they needed to readjust themselves. This [was based upon] how much trust people had in their minds. They could now believe, accept and practice according to the teachings. This reminded everyone again to adjust their faith and attitude.
So, now they had all expressed it. Therefore, they requested the Dharma three times, and later they requested it a fourth time. The Buddha admonished them three times. So, later, “He again told them to listen carefully.” After that, He began to want to teach, so He to tell them to “listen carefully.” He admonished them four times. Three requests came with three admonishments; Four requests came with four admonishments. We must be very mindful. We must have faith in what the Buddha taught. We must remember [His teachings]. We talked about this previously. The Buddha has been in the world for a long time. Since His initial aspiration until He attained Buddhahood, it had been truly a very long time. This was the path He journeyed on.
So, “For infinite kalpas, the Tathagata has manifested infinite bodies, entered infinite lands, expounded infinite Dharma and transformed infinite people. These are all skillful means.”
This was how He manifested in the world [He was now teaching] the Lotus Sutra. In the next sutra passage, [He] begins to reveal the intrinsic. He will begin to reveal the intrinsic. So, we must be very mindful in order to comprehend the Dharma we will continue to discuss later. The Dharma we will discuss later is truly profound. Everyone, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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