Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: All Sentient Beings Have Buddha Nature (眾生皆有佛性)
Date: April. 19, 2013
The Buddha’s nature is perfect and enlightened; He abides in the light of perpetual calm. To transform sentient beings, He repeatedly returns to the Saha World. He manifests in the ways of sentient beings, teaches according to capabilities and conditions. At the Vulture Peak assembly, the conditions for transformation were fulfilled.
After He attained enlightenment, Sakyamuni Buddha was able to comprehend our intrinsic nature. We each have an intrinsic nature. Once we are in touch with our intrinsic nature, we have attained the most perfect enlightenment. To enlighten self and others and have perfect enlightened conduct is to be completely awakened. Our enlightened nature is luminous, [with it] our wisdom is no longer obstructed by afflictions. We have previously discussed the Ten Grounds of Bodhisattvas. Included is the Ground of Blazing Wisdom, where wisdom glows. So, imagine what the Buddha’s state is like. At the stage of Buddhahood, the light of His wisdom is truly tranquil and still. The Buddha’s perfect enlightenment is the light of perpetual tranquility, truly still and radiant. Therefore, this is perpetual Nirvana. We call the Buddha’s perfect stillness Parinirvana. Actually, the Buddha’s mind always abides in the Land of Peaceful Illumination, never arising and never ceasing. Only this can be called perfect enlightenment. To transform sentient beings, He repeatedly returns to the Saha World to manifest [the appearance of] arising and ceasing. This physical appearance was used to teach and transform sentient beings, so His daily living was the same as theirs. In clothing, food, housing, and transportation, the Buddha lived exactly as ordinary people did. He did this solely to go among them and teach according to their capabilities and conditions. At the Vulture Peak assembly, the conditions for transformation were fulfilled. When He taught this sutra, He did so at Vulture Peak. Indeed, He not only expounded the Lotus Sutra at Vulture Peak, He taught many other sutras there as well. Except this time, the teaching He gave on Vulture Peak was different from those in the past; this was the Perfect Teaching. Of the Six Fulfillments, it is one of the fulfillments especially mentioned.
Six Fulfillments: 1. Such: Fulfillment of Faith 2. I have heard: Fulfillment of Hearing 3. One time: Fulfillment of Time 4. The Buddha: Fulfillment of Host 5. At some place: Fulfillment of Place 6. Together with certain people: Fulfillment of Assembly.
The Buddha is the one teaching the Dharma. He has enlightened Himself. What does that mean? It means that one realizes one has Buddha-nature. I believe that when we all practice, we all need to first know and believe that we have Buddha-nature. Then we will be willing to practice. What method should we use to return to our intrinsic, enlightened nature? First, we need to recognize [we have it]. Therefore this is called self-enlightenment, knowing that we ourselves have Buddha-nature.
Consider how many people there are who live in a hazy and confused state. If you tell them “There are Buddhas, and every person has Buddha-nature, they would not believe it. Without believing that everyone has Buddha-nature, why would they want to practice? Some may lack the appropriate karmic connections; they have never heard of the term “Buddha,” how would they know they have a Buddha’s awakened nature? Such an idea be unknowable.
Therefore, we are very blessed to be born here and for the Buddha-Dharma to have spread to China so that great patriarchs and masters could bring the teachings to Taiwan. Living in present-day Taiwan, we lead a life of peace and stability that allows us to hear the Buddha-Dharma. In this peaceful an stable life, we know we need to become self-enlightened; we know need to engage in spiritual practice. Moreover, after enlightening, we must enlighten others. To enlighten others means we understand that we are not alone in having Buddha-nature. It is not limited to humans; all living, moving beings have Buddha-nature. This is the Dharma spoken by the Buddha.
Thus, He greatly respects the lives of sentient beings. He greatly cherishes sentient beings because He knows that all living begins have Buddha-nature. Therefore, the Jataka Sutra recorded that He had lived as all sorts of animals. He was born as different kinds of animals to transform human beings and other animals. He repeatedly re-entered the Six Realms and returned to the Saha World to help awaken others. As we all know, the Saha World is where we patiently endure. This world we endure is full of suffering. Buddha has already attained purity, clarity and liberation but He returns [to this world] to teach sentient beings according to their capabilities. So, aside from enlightening ourselves, we must also enlighten others and have perfect enlightened conduct. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must cultivate our minds and temperament so that our conduct is proper. This is called spiritual practice. We should constantly remind ourselves that since we have Buddha-nature equal to that of the Buddha, we can also arraign Buddhahood. However, our conduct must be proper; we must correct our actions and conduct. Have we really, in faith, accepted and upheld the Buddha’s teachings? If we can truly follow the Buddha’s teachings and disciplines, then we are engaged in spiritual practice. During the Buddha’s lifetime, by persevering, He actualized the vows that He had aspired to numerous kalpas before. For life after life, He continues to transform sentient beings in the Six Realms. This was His vow and practice. So in terms of vow and practice, the vow is internal, and the practice is its physical realization. To manifest and help sentient beings so that we each recognize our Buddha-nature, He continually aims to spire everyone, one by one. This is how He enlightens others. Through His actions, He shows that everyone can be enlightened. This is called perfect enlightened conduct. Perfect enlightenment is the realization that we all have the same Buddha-nature. We all need to know that our intrinsic nature is no different from the Buddha’s intrinsic nature.
The Nirvana Sutra states: Self-enlightenment is to know that one has Buddha-nature. Enlightening others is to know that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Perfect enlightenment is the realization that we all have the same Suddha-nature.
The self-enlightenment differ from the unenlightened. As we are now self-enlightened, we are different from unenlightened beings. Because unenlightened beings are still confused, they do not want to seek [enlightenment.] First, they have no awareness. Second, they have no intention to make progress. So, these unenlightened beings still live in confusion. Enlightening others is different from the practice of the Hinayana, Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. Hinayana [teachings] are about self-enlightening, focusing on perfecting and benefitting the self: “I just need to enlighten myself. I can take care of myself, I do not pay attention others; no matter how others conduct themselves, I do not get involved.”This is not right. When we see others create karma and ruin their lives, we must feel compassion, we should have the mentality to transform others who work with us, who practice with us. We should use methods to embrace and help transform sentient beings. Do not watch others creating karma and just let them do it anyway. That we cannot do. We need to make haste and transform those we have affinities with. We cannot focus only on self-enlightenment.
We should choose to practice Mahayana teachings.So after our own self-enlightenment, after we understand, we must quickly inspire other to learn as well. If we are able to practice virtuous Dharma, we should also lead to cultivate it, too. This is the goal og our spiritual practical. Enlightening others differs from the Hinayana. One who has perfect enlightenment differs from. Bodhisattvas, who are not yet perfect but are still a place of learning. As we seek the Buddha’s way, we also transform sentient beings. There are still things that we do not know. There are still traces of afflictions.
Consider us all, haven’t we aspired to spiritual practice? But don’t we still have a sense of self? Don’t our views and understandings still exist? In our daily living, [we may think,] “what you are doing is wrong, and my way is right;” or “that person did such and such, that person is in the wrong.”
It seems we still have traces of affliction. We still did not understand completely, so we still have these traces of affliction. Even though we have made Bodhisattva-vows, followed the Bodhisattva-path, we are not yet perfect. We have not reached the Buddha’s state.
Perfection means to truly penetrate and understand perfectly. That is truly perfect enlightenment. We need to distinguish between right and wrong and not just senselessly be good. Some people do good recklessly; they do so without discerning right from wrong. Sometimes they lead themselves and others astray; that is not right either. This is due to lack of wisdom; their wisdom is not yet perfect. To reach perfect enlightenment, we need to go beyond the state of Bodhisattvas. No matter what circumstances manifest, our minds should be peaceful and at ease. But, in our work to help other sentient beings, we must be proactive. Then we can gradually reach the state of perfection.
Self-enlightenment sets one apart from unenlightened people. Enlightening others sets one apart from practitioners of the Hinayana. Perfect enlightenment sets one apart from Bodhisattvas. The host who taught Dharma at Vulture Peak was the prince of Kapilavastu, son of King Suddhodana He left home and attained enlightenment He was also called Sakyamuni. If He was not the Great, Holy Enlightened One, how could He expound Dharma of the Mahayana? This was the Fulfillment of Host.
Nepal is the home of the Buddha. In ancient days, it was called Kapilavastu. Even in the Buddha’s homeland, as it is also on this same Earth, sentient beings will create karma. They have collective karma so they will still suffer from disasters. The Buddha comes to the Saha World because there is much suffering. Moreover, sentient beings create more and more collective karma so that is why disasters occur so frequently on Earth nowadays. The Four Elements, earth, water, fire and wind, are not in harmony.
In the Kingdom of Kapilavatsu, it is the same. Disasters occur frequently in Nepal. The Buddha was King Suddhodana’s crown prince more than 2000 years ago. His way of thinking was different from ordinary people. He wondered, “Why is there such inequality in life? Why do people experience four great sufferings, birth, aging, illness, and death?” He saw that even one who was king, his own father, grew older year after year. His health also worsened year after year. This is the suffering of aging.Then the body becomes ill. Illness is also suffering. And in the end, following the laws of nature, is death. Being separated by death is also suffering. Even a king, one who possesses so much land, still cannot escape these four great sufferings.Therefore, he went in a quest to seek liberation from the four great sufferings. [He sought] ways to break down the distinctions of the Four Castes so that people could be equal and respect each other. These were his goals.
Therefore he sought Truth. He left home to begin his spiritual cultivation, then, finally became enlightened. After his enlightenment, he became Sakyamuni Buddha, which means the enlightened one of the Sakya tribe. His is full of wisdom and compassion, and is called “Mighty in Loving-kindness”, meaning an enlightened One with compassion and wisdom. So, He is Sakyamuni Buddha.
Envision this speaker expounding the Lotus Sutra at Vulture Peak. If this host who expounded the Dharma had not been and enlightened person of the Great Vehicle, how would He be able to sort through and integrate worldly Dharma world-transcending Dharma? How could He use them to pave a great Bodhisattva-path for everyone to walk? This Great Enlightened One was able to do it. He brought the Dharma into everyone’s heart, and opened a path toward enlightenment in everyone’s mind. This Enlightened Himself, others and had perfect enlightened conduct. He was the speaker, the host who taught Dharma at the Lotus Sutra assembly at Vulture Peak. This is called the Fulfillment of Hose in the Six Fulfillments.
In learning Buddhism, a true practitioner attains self-enlightenment, enlightens others, has perfect enlightened conduct. We must know that the perfect Buddha-nature abides in the light of perpetual stillness. Our minds must always be tranquil, still, bright. Only then are we really learning Buddhism. We are equal to the Buddha and also have an inherent nature of perpetual and still light. To help sentient beings, the Buddha returns to the Saha World. He manifests and lives as we do to learn according to people’s capabilities and conditions. Because the conditions had ripened, He expounded the Dharma to the assembly at Vulture Peak. Since we are Buddhist practitioners, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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