Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: With Faith, Enter the Sea of Buddha-Dharma (佛法大海 信能為入)
Date: April. 11, 2013
With faith we can fulfill causes and conditions that lead to the Bodhi-path that shows us the virtuous Dharma of Suchness. Here and now, people are filled with knowledge and cleverness. If the great teachings are not promoted, [people] cannot be trained.
This means we must have faith; with faith we can fulfill all causes and conditions for success. To expound a sutra, the Six Fulfillments are necessary. Actually, “Suchness” refers to what is true. The truth is “such”; it is what is, the source of our innate Buddha-nature. With True Suchness, we can bring everything to fruition. The principle of all things in the universe is within True Suchness, so the virtuous Dharma of True Suchness is the Bodhi-path. If, from the start, we lack the element of faith, we will be unable to fulfill the necessary causes and conditions. We Jing Si Dharma-lineage practitioners are able to gather in one place, share the same spiritual ideals, go in the same direction, and be aligned in one mission. So didn’t all this begin with faith? The Tzu Chi School of Buddhism is the path to working with others in this world. Together, we become Bodhisattvas who respond to all pleas. Didn’t this begin with faith? As we are now gathered here to peacefully listen to Dharma and pay respect to the Buddha, we must believe this came from good causes and conditions. With good karmic conditions, at this time, these unique causes and conditions have aligned [for us to be here]. Meanwhile, there are so many people in this world who lived in different environments and with different mindsets. Therefore in this world, all things happen because of causes and conditions. We each have different causes and conditions. We often say that we must have the Right Faith and be aligned with the course of True Dharma. Therefore we must believe in what is true, in True Suchness. With True Suchness, the true Dharma, we can choose the straight Bodhi-path. When we walk this great path, we can be at peace, we can feel free, so this is the virtuous Dharma. Such virtuous Dharma of True Suchness, this true principle, is the great Bodhi-path. At this time and place, this world is filled with worldly knowledge and cleverness. The present era and the era of the Buddha, over 2000 years ago, differ greatly. Now, with advanced technology, more and more people are educated and have earned advanced degree. Does advanced education lead to understanding true principles? Not necessarily.This results in a world filled with knowledgeable and clever people.
Their vast knowledge of things has downed out the true principles; because they read so much, know so much, they have become more proud, more arrogant.Therefore we must use these great teachings.“If we do not promote great teachings, people cannot be trained.”The Buddha came to train and awaken sentient beings.As I keep saying, the Buddha, ”opens and reveals” but whether we “realize and enter” the teachings depends on us.Are we all capable of comprehending the teachings of the Buddha?
The Buddha saw that the capabilities of humans varied greatly.Their levels of kindness and stubbornness also varied greatly.So He [expounded] the Dharma at different levels.Some levels are only accepted by those with sharp capabilities and others are comprehended by those with dull capabilities.He patiently use all kinds of methods to slowly lead us along.In the end, He put aside the skillful for the dire by giving the true, great teaching, which is the Lotus Sutra.He revealed this great teaching to continually build and strengthen the faith of sentient beings.
Once we have established steadfast faith, we can practice the great teachings.
Consider the Buddha.Before He expounded the Lotus Sutra, He sat down to contemplate, to enter Samadhi.Many people felt a sense of anticipation because the Buddha emitted light and manifested forms, which differed from how He normally expounded the Dharma.Therefore those with steadfast faith eagerly anticipated that the Buddha would give great teachings, expound great Dharma.Those with insufficient faith lacked patience.So before the Buddha expounded this sutra, before He even spoke any Dharma, 5000 people had already left.To this, the Buddha said, “It is good that they left.”Their faith was not sufficient, their will to seek Dharma was not firm.
With their stubbornness and level of capability, they could not accept this.Consider how important faith is!
Therefore “such” refers to the Fulfillment of Faith.Every sutra begins with “such”.We have great faith, so we can flip open this sutra, and in faith, we accept the principles constrained in this sutra and practice accordingly.See how every sutra ends with, “All were filled with joy, and in faith, received and upheld [the teachings].”Because we believe, we read this sutra and listen to this Dharma.Thus, this is faith.
The Fulfillment of Faith is “such”: that with faith we can enter the great sea of Buddha-Dharma.
So in the beginning of sutras we declare our faith.Those with faith say, “Things are such.”Those without faith say, “Things are not such.”
“With faith we can enter the great sea of Buddha-Dharma.”We must have faith and believe the Buddha’s teachings heard by Ananda and promote the True Dharma anew.Therefore we must all feel respect toward it.If there is doubt in our hearts, we cannot accept it.So “in the beginning of the sutra, we declare our faith.“”This is clearly evident.”The word “such” helps to solidify and deepen our faith.
Thus “Those with faith say, ‘Things are such.’” Those who believe know that this is true, that the nature of all things is such. This is called the Nature of True Suchness.“Those without faith say, “Things are not such.” If we do not have faith, then this matter, these things, do not exist to us. When we talk about the law of karma, those who have faith in it say, “Indeed! As are the cause, so are the effects. As are the conditions, so are the retributions.” When people believe this, they will naturally follow this great Bodhi-path. For those who do not believe, things are different. Without faith, they think, “things are not such.” Thus “the Buddha-Dharma is infinite; faith is the first step to entering the Buddha’s path.” We must know that the Dharma is in finite and goes beyond what I just explained about Suchness. Many principles are contained within Suchness, the Buddha-Dharma explains that there is an infinite number. That is why I often say that every word we say, every action we take, is subject to the law of karmic cause and effect. We must always be mindful on this path. If we can be mindful, then our hearts will not leave this path. If we believe in the true principles of Suchness, this path will be in our minds. If such true principles are in our minds, then naturally all our words and actions are inseparable from this path, inseparable from Suchness. We believe in following this path. So only with such faith can we enter. Enter where? The great sea of Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha’s true and correct teachings are vast and numerous. If we are not mindful, we are incapable of comprehending the Buddha-Dharma. So we must first have faith. Only with faith can we truly take the first step on the Buddha’s path. In this way we can truly approach this door to “open, reveal realize and enter.” Without faith, how can we truly comprehend the Buddha’s principles? So without faith, we will be reluctant to practice. Then we will not be able to eliminate old habitual tendencies. So we should know that first, we must cultivate our faith. Before delving into the sutras, we must establish faith. Otherwise, no matter how many sutra we hear, how many sutras we recite, the words of the sutras will not remain in our hearts. When the words are forgotten, how will we stay on the path in our daily living? Thus, whether we are reciting or listening to the sutras, if we do not keep them in our hearts, once we have finished listening, we have already left the path. As we listen, we need to remain on the path. We may hear people point out, “This path goes here, and then these are conditions that will manifest. When you face these manifestations, you need to handle it this way.”“This path sould be walked in this way.” If we do not first nurture our faith, we will not enter this path, then we will not know the beauty of this great teaching. Thus we must all have faith.
Remember the Five Roots and Five Powers? We must first have Root of Faith, Root of Diligence, Root of Thought, and Root of Samadhi in order to attain the Root Wisdom. The Five Powers are the Power of Faith, the Powers of Diligence, the Powers of thought, the Powers of Samadhi, and the Powers of Wisdom. The Five spiritual Roots and Five Powers are part of the 37 Practices of Enlightenment.
As Buddhist practitioners, we all need to complete our practice, through practice we can succeed. The kind of Dharma we practice determines the skill we attain. Since we say we are learning Buddhism, we are following this course and will naturally end up on the Noble Path to becoming sages and saints. This is called the Bodhi-path.The Five spiritual Roots and Powers are fundamental and we should know that they begin with faith.
Therefore the Buddha-Sharma is infinite. If we have to faith, we will refuse to correct our habitual tendencies. Therefore, the first of five spiritual Roots is faith.
First among all virtuous Dharma is faith. There are many virtuous teachings, but if we do not believe, we will not apply them. So faith is extremely important. Without faith, virtuous Dharma is nonexistent. In order words, if faith did not exist first, virtuous Dharma would not be generated.
Therefore, faith is the foundation for initiating actions to gain understanding. Spiritual practice is about taking action. In spiritual practice we need to be firm in the direction of our personal cultivation. It is only in going forward that we can truly experience realizations. Without realizations, we cannot understand. To realize and understand, we must take action practice. We may be told that the scenery on this path is beautiful, in that place there is a Bodhi tree, a pine tree there, and a plum tree over there. But that is only what we are told. For us to really know, we need go to that place and experience it. We must walk forward so we can say, “Ok, that is how it is.” The truth does not enter the mind just through listening; we must initiate understanding to take action, or initiate action to gain understanding. Understanding and action must be simultaneous.
As we walk this path, we gain understanding. If we walk along but are not mindful, then we are just walking, and not seeing. In this way we cannot comprehend the truth. So, action and understanding must both take place. This also begins with faith.
Faith is foremost of all virtuous Dharma. Without first establishing faith, no proper practices can be realized.With faith as the foundation for initiating understanding and action, we can then enter and attain realization.
In learning Buddhism, we must first establish faith in our hearts. With faith, we can fulfill causes and conditions. Have faith; it is the path to virtuous Dharma and Bodhi. In this era, when people are filled with worldly knowledge and cleverness, we must have faith in this great Dharma, the great teachings given by the Buddha. If we do not penetrate it deeply, we cannot train sentient beings who are egotistical, arrogant and stubborn. Therefore we must believe in the virtuous Dharma of True Suchness. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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