Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Buddha’s Great Compassion Is the Cause (佛之大悲心為因)
Date: August. 08, 2013
We have now heard the rare and precious Dharma.
There must be causes and conditions for the Buddha to expound the Dharma. With His great compassion as the cause and the desires of sentient beings as the conditions, He used infinite analogies to reveal the Dharma.
We should know that the Buddha’s great compassion is infinite. As I keep mentioning, He came because of one great cause, to teach. But all sentient beings must have great reverence and sincerity. By receiving the Buddha-Dharma with great reverence and sincerity, we sentient beings can awaken. Although the Buddha teaches the Dharma mindfully, if sentient beings are not moved, and are not responsive, then they still have a ways to go before [fully understanding] the Dharma. Why does the Buddha repeatedly come back to the Saha World? Because of His compassion. He feels for sentient beings in their confusion, as they continually suffer in the cyclic existence of the Six Destinies. Because of His great compassion, He cannot bear this. This is the Buddha’s cause, His intention. However, sentient beings have varying capabilities. Therefore, the Buddha had to teach according to abilities, with the conditions that sentient beings desired.
If sentient beings cannot accept it, the Dharma cannot help them, even if it is supreme, subtle and wondrous. This wondrous Dharma must be taught according to capabilities. He tailors His methods according to the sentient beings He is teaching. If they cannot understand the true principles, then He uses analogies to awaken and develop their faith and understanding. Because the Buddha is compassionate, He has kept waiting. No matter how stubborn sentient beings are, the Buddha still does not give up. Out of compassion, He keeps returning to and manifesting in the human realm. He uses all kinds of methods to teach the Dharma. This is the Buddha’s compassion.
But do sentient beings have the capabilities and conditions to accept it? No matter what, the Buddha will not give up; He uses every method. So, we must mindfully realize the Buddha’s compassion. We have to examine ourselves. Do we have the opportunity to receive His Dharma? Can we understand and awaken? Therefore, we have to be constantly mindful.
Good men, as I surmise, the Buddha, the World-Honored One, now wishes to expound the great Dharma, to let fall the great Dharma-rain, to blow the great Dharma-conch, to beat the great Dharma-drum, and to proclaim the great Dharma-doctrine.
As we have mentioned, Maitreya Bodhisattva asked Manjusri Bodhisattva a question during their exchange.Manjusri Bodhisattva answered by saying, “Good men”, as I surmise.”Good men” and “great beings,” refer to bodhisattvas.He called on them to pay attention.“I will say this to those who are capable of understanding.”Before Manjusri Bodhisattva gave an explanation, he addressed Bodhisattvas in particular [so people could reflect on] whether their capabilities have reached that level.[Then they may decide that] they need to mindfully and sincerely listen to Manjusri Bodhisattva’s explanation of the Buddha’s causes and conditions for still radiating light.This was a form of inspiration.So, Manjusri Bodhisattva especially targeted those with Bodhisattva status.
Therefore, He said “as I surmise”.We want to know who are considered “good men”.In modern times, it may be someone who does great deeds and accomplishes great missions.They can be called good men.
In this modern era, there are many people who do not do good deeds in this world but instead try to take shortcuts or deviant paths.They are not good men.In other words, although born men, some only do deeds of greed, anger and ignorance some do only deeds of greed, anger and ignorance.They act ignorantly, disregarding right and wrong.In their living, they have confused their minds, disturbed their families, and disrupted society.They cannot be considered good men.
So the title “good man” cannot be applied to just anyone.This came out of Manjusri Bodhisattva’s wisdom.
Over 2000 years ago, before giving an explanation he especially addressed those with Bodhisattva status at this Dharma-assembly.In our present time, this title applies to people who can embody everything good in the world and accomplish great deeds and missions.They have their ideals and seek to benefit others.This kind of people are called good men.
Next we talked about “surmise” from “as I surmise”.In his wisdom, Manjusri Bodhisattva wanted to explain the Buddha’s current appearance.He also wanted to consider this carefully.The Buddha is the Great Enlightened One.As for His every move, ordinary people cannot presume to know what He was thinking when He acted.No.He gave his explanations very cautiously.
This was also a teaching method and model.Then everyone would know that it is not easy to analyze a person, let alone explain why the Buddha was now radiating light and auspicious appearances.This reminds us to speak carefully.
When we speak about things, often times a small mistake can lead us far off-course.Even Bodhisattvas speak very cautiously, so it is even more crucial for us ordinary people to do so.As we are now learning the Buddha-Dharma, can we speak thoughtlessly?So, surmise means think deeply [and theorize].We must think very carefully and meticulously, and check everything down to the smallest details.If we do not accept it carefully and sincerely, if we cannot understand the depth of his thinking, how can this Dharma enter our hearts?
So after careful consideration, as Manjusri Bodhisattva surmised, the Buddha radiate light and manifested auspicious appearances for one purpose: to expound the great Dharma.
Good men, I have, in the presence of past Buddhas, seen such auspicious appearances. After radiating this light. They immediately expounded the great Dharma. Therefore, it should be know that the manifestation of light by the present Buddha means He will also do such. Because He wished to lead all living beings to hear and understand this Dharma, which is difficult for all in the world to believe, He therefore manifests auspicious appearances.
This great Dharma was the Dharma the Buddha himself had confirmed with His true wisdom. He wanted to freely carry out His original intent. Each Buddha of the past, present and future share the same path. Although the Buddha had the cause to come into this world, He still has to be responsive to sentient beings' conditions because their capabilities are so diverse. So, He has to teach according to capabilities. Therefore, the Buddha has kept His true wisdom, these true principles, in His mind for a long time. How long? From the first moment He attained enlightenment. His mind fully converged with the ultimate principles of the boundless universe. He realized the karmic law of cause and effect of sentient beings in this word and so on. With His very detailed and thorough mind，He had, at that initial moment, fully realized absolutely everything. He missed nothing. All the ultimate and true principles were in His mind.
At first, He was very joyful. He wanted to share His thoughts with everyone. “The Dharma I attained is so wonderful. I am so joyful. All beings in the world have this perfect and radiant nature. He wanted everyone to know that He was not the only one who had it, we all have it. He felt this joy. But we could not comprehend the vastness and boundlessness of the mind. We do not know anything about the beautiful state of tranquility and clarity. That was what the Buddha wanted to freely express from that initial moment. He wanted everyone to understand this completely.
At that instant of enlightenment, all past Buddhas of the ten directions and Dharma-protectors appeared at once to celebrate His awakening and attainment of Buddhahood.He had so much to say to them “I am enlightened. I have now realized such and such things”. But the heavenly beings and dragon gods could not understand Him. And if even they could not understand, how could ordinary people understand?
So He concealed and kept this true Dharma in His heart. Then, more than 40 years passed. He used many methods to reveal teachings, hoping people could accept them. He wanted to inspire every person to connect their minds to true principles. He began to see that those with higher capabilities had started to slowly develop roots of goodness, which then matured. The ones who had not planted roots of goodness were slowly beginning to [develop these roots of goodness].
So when the Buddha’s conditions for teaching in this world were about to end, He had to quickly talk about these joyful things. The principles that arose from the convergence of His mind with everything in the universe were what He wanted to freely express and joyful share with everyone so they can achieve the same understanding. Thus, He freely carried out His original intent. Before, He feared this would be a waste of time because people would not understand or would misunderstand His teachings. But the conditions for transformation were ending, so even if people could not understand He was still going to speak it. So, the great Dharma had been concealed within the Buddha’s heart for such a long time. Now He was going to start expounding His genuine wisdom and the Dharma He had attained.
So Manjusri Bodhisattvas said, “Good men, I have, in the presence of past Buddhas, seen such auspicious appearances. After radiating this light, They immediately ecpounded the great Dharma. Therefore, it should be known that the manifestation of light by the present Buddha. Means He will also do much.”
Now Manjusri Bodhisattva raised the point that he also had attained Buddhahood in the past and had taught his disciples to also became Buddhas.Since he had been around for very long time, he used his own experiences to talk about the auspicious appearances of Buddhas. He described them based on his own past experiences of having seen all past Buddhas radiate this light before They began expounding the great Dharma.The light manifested Sakyamuni Buddha from was the same as the auspicious appearances of Buddhas from the past.
This “this” in “radiating this light” refers to the light and auspicious appearances they were seeing at the time. What he had seen in the past was the same as this. When a Buddha shows this auspicious appearance, He will “immediately expound the great Dharma. “Therefore, it should be known that, so everyone should know, “the manifestation of light by the present Buddha means He will also do such.”
The Sakyamuni Buddha that everyone saw was the same as all Buddhas in the past. “The manifestation of light means He will also do such.” This was the same as in the past. Because He wishes to lead all living beings to hear and understand this Dharma, which us difficult for all in the world to believe.
The Buddha wanted to enable all sentient beings to hear this now. In the past, He taught according to capabilities. Not any more He wanted make sure that “all attain,” that sentient beings all attain by hearing, and thus understanding, this Dharma that is difficult for all in the world to believe. So, He specifically mentioned that this is the Dharma that the world finds hard to believe. Therefore, the Buddha was radiating light and manifesting auspicious signs to inspire everyone to focus their minds and accept this Dharma with great sincerity accept this Dharma with great sincerity.
Fellow practitioners, we all sincerely want to learn the Dharma. In these times, we must clearly discern right from wrong. In this world filled with multitudes of beings, there are many disasters. So, it is definitely time to cultivate compassion. Therefore, we need to sweep aside our ignorance and develop our wisdom. To develop wisdom, we need to self-reflect more often on whether we have wasted time in the past, whether we have deviated even slightly from the true Dharma. Everyone, please always be mindful and constantly self-reflect.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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