Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Buddha Freely Carrier Out His Intentions (佛暢本懷度無邊)
Date: July. 10, 2013
All things in the universe are still, subtle and wondrous, difficult to express in words. The Buddha, for the sake of one great cause, came to this world. Using very skillful means, He guided us on this course.
And on this course, He concentrated and brought forth the pure light of His heart to freely carry out His original intent.
Truly, in our daily living, we must know that all things in the universe are still, subtle and wondrous. Our words cannot describe the true principles of all things in the universe. Indeed, the truth of all things is all around us every day, but we are totally unaware of it. The Buddha came to the world for this great cause, which was to help everyone understand that hidden in our lives is the truth of all things. In the silence of our lives, true principles are available to us in abundance. Yet, we do not understand it.
So, we have no way to experience and understand His one great cause. Thus, He found it necessary to use skillful means to guide us and lead us onto the right course. Our minds are very unfocused. How can we focus ourselves again? Turning discursive thoughts into pure thoughts is truly not easy.
So, the Buddha had to very patiently guide and teach us, one by one. He used skillful means to guide us on a course that will help us concentrate and bring forth and bright, pure light of our hearts. The Buddha considered this for more than 40 years. To eradicate everyone’s discursive thoughts and allow everyone to focus their minds, He spent a lot of time working among people and guiding them. Now everyone’s minds were focused with a spirit of seeking to learn how the Buddha would carry out His originally intent. How would He set aside provisional skillful means
that He had taught in the past so people could focus on realizing the great teachings? Now was the time for the Buddha to freely carry out His original intent.
The Lotus Sutra is the Buddha’s original intent. Thus, He had to preserve these teachings so that the Great Vehicle could be passed down forever. The Great Vehicle, or His original intent, was the teaching of the Bodhisattva-path. It had to be passed down continuously. If it was not expounded in this sutra, the Bodhisattva-path would not always remain in this world. So at that time, He wanted to explain the Ultimate Truth. It can reveal the clear truth wherever it exists, and manifest the Dharma-realm perfectly.
[He] hoped that the Lotus Sutra will be passed down forever in the world.Wherever the Mahayana sutra reaches, it can elucidate the truth.Then everyone can truly realize, accept and apply it to the world.So it can reveal the truth wherever it exists, and manifest the Dharma-realm perfectly.
No matter where this Dharma goes, it will be accepted by whoever encounters it.This teaching can be truly perfected in the world; no matter what Dharma-realm it is in, it can always be applied.
What do we apply it to?To helping people understand that sentient beings, the mind and the Buddha are equal.How are they equal?In their [nature of mind].So sentient beings and the Buddha are equal.This is the most fully complete Dharma in the Dharma-realm.If our mind were not equal to the Buddha’s, then we would remain unenlightened beings forever.Unenlightened beings are still far from the Buddha.So, we must follow the Buddha’s example to realize that everyone has this intrinsic Buddha-nature.
Only when we can understand this Dharma will it perfectly, truly and completely manifest in the Dharma-realm.So, worldly appearances are always of one nature.All things in the universe are naturally still.Actually, in such a still universe, if we can fundamentally eliminate the discursive thoughts in our minds, our state of mind can also be still.Thus, worldly matters are always of one nature.
Although the world is very complicated, everything is actually the same, it is simply the Three Sciences and Four States of Existence.Formation, existence, decay and disappearance, birth, aging, illness and death, these things are consistent in our lives in the human realm.These are worldly matters.Don’t these states manifest in everything that we see and encounter in our living?
The world, universe and all things constantly undergo formation, existence, decay and disappearance.But we have short lifespans.Compare our lifespans to those in the heavens of the four heavenly-kings.One day there is 50 years for us here. One day in Tusita Heaven is 100 years for us here.If we compare our lifespans with heavenly beings‘，our lives are very short.What we experience is birth, aging, illness and death. everyone of us can feel these states. These worldy
matters are always of one nature. Worldy matters have been the same since the beginning.
Starting with the ancestors of our ancestors，don‘t we all go through birth, aging, illness and death？In our present and far into the future，won‘t the beginning and end of these phenomena still be the same？
So，sentient beings and the Buddha are equal.This is also true of the mind.Even in the Dharma-realms，time can be very long.We cannot comprehend the lifespans of the Earth and the true of all things in the universe.That kind of time is calculated in kalaps.In these long kalaps，arising and ceasing，formation, existence, decay and disappearance all take place in this universe.So this is to say，humans are merely one kind of living beings in this world. Human beings cannot ascape birth, aging, illness and death.Since we all go through this process，why
can‘t we thoroughly realize our fundamental intrinsic nature？
The Buddha wanted us to understand that among all the beings of the universe, human beings can thoroughly realize the truth of the cosmos. Humans are also necessary for the world to remain in harmony. Humans also need to help all beings live and interact in peace and harmony. If everyone can thoroughly realize the truth of the cosmos, isn't everything in the universe a pure land? Everyone says to seek the Land of Ultimate Bliss. The Land of Ultimate Bliss exists, but it exists in the state of the human mind. We should conduct our affairs with purity and unity, or practice with these principles. Otherwise, these truths will always be a mystery to us.
Do the truths still exist when we are deluded?Yes, the clear and enlightened truths do exist. But we as unenlightened beings are deluded, so we cannot realize these true principles. The world becomes chaotic because sentient beings are deluded. So, worldly matters are always of one nature, there is just one wondrous truth. The truth is always like this. There is no other still and clear truth.
The truth is of one nature. But how do we help everyone understand it? The Buddha had long concealed it in His mind. How could He carry it out freely? So right before the Lotus Sutra was expounded, He first “presented the Lotus Sutra without words. Without moving His lips, He presented it in front of the people”.
He manifested that light to guide everyone. He hoped that this ray of light would shine into people's minds so that everyone's complicated thoughts could be gathered into one ray of light. In order to guide everyone's mind to the light, the Buddha radiated light from His brow to illumine the 18,000 lands and all kinds of realms. In all these worlds, all forms of sentient beings in the Six Realms could be seen clearly in the Buddha's radiance. This light could penetrate everyone's hears, so they would understand,
“their destinies within cyclic existence, their good or bad karmic conditions, their positive or negative retributions, can all be clearly seen”.
This was the previous passage, where Maitreya Bodhisattva and Manjusri Bodhisattva focused everyone's minds to inspire them to seek the Dharma. They wanted everyone to understand that the lands that the Buddha's light illumined were not elsewhere, but in everyone's minds. They hoped everyone could accept this ray of brilliance into the Dharma- realm of their minds. They hope that everyone could understand that the truth of the cosmos was actually that pure and simple. It is all around us in our daily living, but we are too ignorant to realize it. During the long eons of formation, existence, decay and disappearance, we do not understand the things in the universe because we are lost. Thinking back to people and matters, who can escape birth, aging, illness and death? What era is free of the chaos of natural and man-made disasters? See, they all originate in the mind. The mind and the Buddha are equal.Everyone possesses this pure innate nature, but we just do not make use of it. So, we should understand this.
Then the Next passage states, “One could also see all Buddhas and saintly lion lords expounding the most subtle and wondrous sutras. The sound of the their voices was clear and pure, soft and gentle, teaching all Bodhisattvas, numbering in the countless millions.”
This describes the light the Buddha radiated, which illuminated everyone’s state of mind so that all could understand these 18,000 worlds. From the summit of existence sown to hell everything was illuminated. This describes the Buddha’s wisdom and the light of mind. This untainted brightness, these true principles, are always in the Buddha’s heart. The Buddha is the saintly lion lord; he expounded all sutras. He kept coming to the world for the sake of one great cause, which was to constantly teach the same principles. He tirelessly taught and explained these principles again and again. So, there is no other Great Vehicle, just one, the One Great Vehicle, which was the Buddha’s original intent, to teach the Bodhisattvas-path.
So, He expounded all sutras The sutras were taught with skillful means Sentient beings were still lost, so worldly matters had to be used to illustrate the principles. So, they were very subtle and wondrous. Skillful means also serve the purpose of guiding the hearts of sentient beings, so they are very subtle and wondrous
The Buddha’s voice was “clear and pure.” All teachings must first be spoken. In order to expound so many sutras, He had to use His voice to guide others. So [He used] a “soft and gentle voice, teaching all Bodhisattvas, numbering in the countless millions.”
Of course, the Buddha had spent a long time coming and going in this world, returning on the ship of compassion. The Buddha’s original intent was as vast as the universe. Since Beginningless Time we have had this intrinsic Buddha-nature. It has been concealed within us from the time the universe began. So, Buddha-nature is universal.
Not only does Sakyamuni Buddha have it, we all intrinsically have it. The pure intrinsic nature of Sakyamuni Buddha is not influenced or tainted by anything in the world. So, the radiance of truth is maintained. Seeing the confusion of sentient beings, He keeps coming back to the world to connect to worldly matters.
Therefore, principles and matters are one Since Beginningless Time, He has come to the world to teach sentient beings. So He is “teaching all Bodhisattvas, numbering in the countless millions.” However, do we have the karmic conditions to be taught and transformed by the Buddha?
Only if we do can we accept the Buddha’s teachings. We just need a longer time [to do so] .The Buddha had to accompany us very patiently. Sentient beings have dull capabilities so He has to patiently accompany us. If He did not finish teaching in this lifetime, He will continue in the next life.So, Sakyamuni Buddha is the fundamental teacher of the Saha World .
As the Saha World still exists, the Buddha comes back again and again to teach the Bodhisattva-path. So everyone, please be reverent and respectful .Where the Dharma exists, the Buddha exits.
So, in the Saha World, our fundamental teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha are ever-lasting. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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