Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Stay Away from Evil, Draw Near Virtuous Friends (遠離諸惡 親近善友)
Date: December. 06. 2013
The Buddha’s wisdom is profound, vast and difficult to penetrate. Ultimate reality cannot be understood through false appearances or meanings, nor through thinking, reasoning or analysis. It is the ultimate reality of all things.
The Buddha’s wisdom is profound and vast, difficult to penetrate. Wisdom is the ultimate reality, which is not false or illusory. We need to understand this. Nothing we face in everyday living is everlasting or real. However, we humans clearly live is this [seemingly solid] environment. So, the Buddha said this is the state of existence among formation, existence, decay and disappearance. We humans live on this planet, and this planet exists in the universe. This world that we inhabit contains so many incredible things, the mountains, rivers, earth and so on. These things have been there. To us humans, they have always existed. But to the Buddha, [they go through] formation, existence, decay and disappearance. So, this is extremely profound! The Buddha’s wisdom is profound and vast.
This kind of wisdom is so deep and very hard to understand. Moreover, human knowledge still has a long way to go before it can comprehend this wisdom. Therefore the ultimate reality, the True Suchness that the Buddha has realized, was originally in all of us. But none of us can comprehend it. It is truly very wondrous. Therefore, what all of us see are illusory appearances. A tiny ant may want to know how tall Mt. Sumeru is, but it cannot. Right now we humans, because we have the technology, can determine that the Himalayas, which include Mt. Sumeru, are over 8000 meters (29,000 feet) high. Before we have knowledge, we do not know anything. Once we have knowledge, we only half understand. Only with true wisdom can we completely realize this ultimate reality.
So, right now we are just like ants looking at Mt. Sumeru. Our distance from the Buddha’s wisdom is still very great. So, “ultimate reality cannot be understood through false appearances or meanings” because it is already at a state of True Suchness. The Buddha tells us that the Dharma of True Suchness is very simple; The one nature is the ultimate reality of True Suchness. This is what the Buddha realizes with His wisdom. He points directly to our minds, so we can understand our true nature. He directly tells us that inside each of us, we intrinsically have Buddha-nature. But we are still unable to comprehend this through “thinking, reasoning or analysis.” As ordinary people, we cannot use our knowledge to contemplate or understand this. But, this does not mean we never will.
Indeed, awe were originally equal to Buddhas but we have delusions; our minds are not clean.The mirror of our minds is not yet clear.This mirror has always been in our minds, but it cannot yet reflect our external conditions.So, we cannot think and reason [things out].
What our mirror reflects is not ultimate reality, just delusions, which are not real
The Buddha’s true wisdom contains the principles of the ultimate reality of all thin are contained in the Buddha’s wisdom.Now, the Buddha was [addressing] Sariputra as a representative, as leader of the Sangha’s Small Vehicle sages.Because the Buddha wanted to proclaim the Great Vehicle Dharma, He explained the ultimate reality to Sariputra.That was how He opened the door to wisdom for Small Vehicle practitioners who had attained the fruit of Arhatship.These people awakened and recognized birth and death, that life is impermanent and that cyclic existence in the Six Realms is filled with unbearable suffering.So, they quickly began to practice to transcend cyclic existence.In striving only for self-awakening, though they were not in conflict with others and understood that all things are illusory, they were unable to open their hearts and move forward.
Now the Buddha came to tell these people of.Small Vehicle capabilities that if they can keep moving forward, they will reach they will reach a very broad and beautiful state of mind.This state of all things and sentient beings is very wonderful.When we recognize this, our minds will no longer fluctuate and we will not be tempted by worldly desires.Once we realize this, we need to walk through this great doorway to understand the suffering of sentient beings and extensively transform them.
Therefore, the Buddha told Sariputra, “The wisdom of all Buddhas is extremely profound.This wisdom-door is difficult to understand and enter.”
Not even Hearers or Pratyekabuddhas can understand all of it.
Even those who attained spiritual fruits cannot understand the Buddha’s process of spiritual cultivation.It is such hard work.He has already attained Buddhahood; why does He continuously return to this world?All Bodhisattvas have also engaged in spiritual practice and are pure in body and mind and have transcended delusions and defilements.Why do these Bodhisattvas continue to return on the ship of compassion, entering this defiled and deluded Saha World?These Great Vehicle sages continuously return in this way.So, why are Small Vehicle practitioners scared of doing so?[They should] come [to see] that this is wisdom, that this is what the world is like.
Therefore, “it cannot be known by any Hearers or Pratyekabuddhas”.But now the Buddha has opened this wisdom-door of the Great Vehicle.Once He opened it, He reminded Sariputra that it is “difficult to understand and enter”.Because you want to go in there, you must all first understand that this is not the Dharma you learned in the past.These are teachings that you must mindfully comprehend, starting now.If you only apply the limited capacities we had in the past, you will not be able to comprehend it. It is hard to understand and enter.
“What is the reason?” So, why is it? The Buddha said, “All Buddhas have, in the past, drawn near to countless Buddhas.”
Since all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas [continue to] return to this world on the ship of compassion. They have been here for a long time. From the time They first aspired to engage in spiritual practice, They have drawn near to countless Buddhas. So, now we know how long it takes to draw near to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and virtuous friends.
How long did Their spiritual cultivation take? Perhaps we need to measure it in years, not numbers [of Buddhas]. So, “countless Buddhas” are very many. This signifies that Their spiritual practice took a very long time.
Many kalpas ago They began forming aspirations and have since interacted with countless Buddhas.Manjusri Bodhisattva already said this at the beginning Manjusri alone spent lifetime after lifetime teaching sentient beings. And Sakyamuni Buddha is now telling us that, since the distant past, He too had drawn near to countless Buddhas. By drawing near, we are firmly aspiring to walk the Bodhisattva-path. And not just for one lifetime, but for lifetime after lifetime.
If we want to do so, we must completely “transcend all evil and deviant views”. The first step is to transcend all evil. About spiritual practice, I often say, “Refrain from all evil, do all good deeds.” This means to transcend all evil and refrain from any evil deeds. This is part of spiritual practice. We draw close to virtuous friends because they teach us to transcend all evil. Whether it is a thought that stirs or an action, we must distance ourselves from all evil. Not only must transcend the evil created by the body, we must also transcend evil knowledge and views. If our thinking deviates even slightly, if our knowledge and views are just a bit off, we will fall again.
Deviant knowledge and views are evil. They are the demons of the mind. These demons continuously disturb our right knowledge and views. So, aside from transcending all evil in our external conditions, we must moreover distance our minds from evil. Evil knowledge and views are demons of the mind. Therefore, we must “draw near to virtuous and spiritual friends.”
“Draw near: To cultivate Bodhisattva-practices, we transcend all evil and deviant views and draw near to virtuous and spiritual friends.”
Indeed, spiritual friends can also be our close friends. From the Sutra of Infinite meanings, I often talk about the line, “Infinite Dharma-doors readily appear before us.” All Dharma is by our side, and those who expound the Dharma are the people in front of and behind us. Every person is manifesting a teaching for us. Indeed, these are our virtuous friends, our spiritual friends. So, we must constantly feel respectful. Everyone around us is a spiritual friend.
Therefore, the Buddha told us “draw near to countless Buddhas”. These spiritual friends are also engaging in spiritual practice. Perhaps they will attain Buddhahood sooner than us. Perhaps they are like Manjusri Bodhisattva. They have returned and manifested to guide ordinary people after having attained Buddhahood. Perhaps Sakyamuni is sitting next to us. Perhaps He is even closer; the Enlightened One may be in our hearts.
Therefore, we can draw near to countless Buddhas. We can draw near to them right now. Anyone who says things that benefits us and teaches us to have Right Faith, Right Samadhi, Right Thinking and to follow the rules and so on is a spiritual and virtuous friend to us. The Buddha had already draw near to so many Buddha and spiritual and virtuous friends. He has flawless wisdom. What about us ordinary people? After others teach us, we forget it very quickly. We have many discursive thoughts, so we cannot practice according to teachings.
The Buddha is different. After He aspired to engage in spiritual practice, [the teachings from] virtuous friends He drew near were completely stored in his heart and transformed into wisdom. This is flawless wisdom. Precepts, Samadhi and wisdom are the Three Flawless Studies. Over countless lifetimes, He cultivated by listening to, thinking of and practicing precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. His wisdom was entirely drawn from listening, thinking and practicing and by [cultivating] precepts, Samadhi and wisdom.
So, this is how we can “exhaustively practice all Buddhas’ infinite teachings of the path and forge ahead with courage and vigor. Thus, His name is widely known.”
Having encountered infinite Buddhas and spiritual friends and listened to so much Dharma, He was able to absorb it is all into His mind. Therefore, He could “exhaustively practice all Buddhas’ infinite teachings of the Path.” All Buddhas’ infinite teachings of the Path are in His mind and actions. These teachings are used to open this door. Once this door is open, this wisdom-door [leads to] extremely profound teachings. This is the door to very subtle, wondrous wisdom. It is a teaching of the Path.
The door to these practices is extremely profound. We must forge ahead with courage and vigor and not just [practice] to liberate ourselves.
After entering this wisdom-door, “we forge ahead with courage and vigor.” Since this wisdom-door is extremely profound, we need to be able to practice all of it by forging ahead with courage and vigor. This means we do not just take care of ourselves, we must also benefit others. Not only must we awaken ourselves, we also need to awaken other. This is how we truly enter the wisdom-door and understand the teaching Path. This Path leads us to “awaken ourselves, awaken others and have perfect awakened conduct.”
This Path is not the Small Vehicle path of limited practices; it is a Great Vehicle path of great practices to transform ourselves and others. This is the path to enlightenment. Therefore, we must put our hearts into really understanding it. Otherwise, it will truly be incomprehensible. I hope we can always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV - Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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