Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Understand His True Magnificence and Virtue (通達真諦德莊嚴)
Date: July.30. 2014
The radiance of our hearts has no beginning and end, forever illuminating the boundless universe. Sentient beings respect and admire the one honored by the world. His subtle and wondrous true Dharma is infinite.
Spiritual practice is about our hearts and minds. We must sustain the radiance of our hearts. “The radiance of our hearts has no beginning and end.” Our minds were originally pure. We are intrinsically [this way]. From Beginningless Time it has been thus; in the future it also will be thus. This light in our hearts will always remain, but we ordinary people have not fully exercised its potential because it has been obscured. The light in our hearts is “forever illuminating the boundless universe.” If we manifest the light in our hearts, we too can, forever and ever, clearly illuminate the boundless universe. We will not be like the way we are now, knowing only one side but not the other. Furthermore, we are completely unaware of the true principles of all things in the universe. This is why we ordinary people are helpless.
The Buddha has already attained perfect enlightenment. He knows how to return to the light is His heart, so when He teaches us the method, we must earnestly accept it. We must learn from the Buddha. The Buddha is the one we “sentient beings respect and admire, the one honored by the world.” Thus He is called “World-Honored One”. In this world, He manifested the process of His practice and His attainment, making Him a role model for the world. Ordinary people should have faith [in Him] and give rise to respect and admiration. “His subtle and wondrous True Dharma is infinite.” The Dharma attained by the Buddha is very subtle and wondrous, and is the True Dharma. That true, subtle and wondrous Dharma is infinite. As for the boundless universe, it is everlasting. This Dharma will exist forever.
He tells all of us, I already know this Dharma. “The Dharma is intrinsically in us all. These teachings do not all belong to me, but to everyone. All of us have always had this Dharma.” So, what we attain is very subtle and wondrous. After a person awakens, the intangible state of mind [they attain] can penetrate the true principles of all things, and collect them in our minds.
Think about it, isn’t this wondrous? This is truly subtle and wondrous True Dharma. This Dharma is infinite, and has always been intrinsic to us. This is all about the mind. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must train our minds to be like the Buddha-mind, that pure, that bright, that clear and illuminating. He can penetrate the true principles of all things. This is all depends on the mind.
When the Buddha was in this world, one day, Ananda and a bhiksu named Vavgisa went into the city at the same time. They saw many people around. Suddenly, an elegant and beautiful woman passed in front of them. Vavgisa saw her and in that moment, he began to adore her. His gaze followed her and moved with her. Then she disappeared into the crowd. Suddenly, he realized what he was doing. In that moment, he reprimanded himself. He was a spiritual practitioner; how could the sight of such an elegant girl so easily attract his mind?
This should not happen to him.“Being born human is rare.I have finally been born human, learned the Buddha-Dharma and became a monastic in the Sangha.Yet, my mind gave rise to this desire, to this sexual desire.What should I do about it?I think I must protect my wisdom-life.I’d rather extinguish my physical life than my wisdom-life.”
This mental struggle was very painful.So, he shared his thinking with Ananda, who was walking beside him.He told Ananda, “I am willing to destroy my physical life in order to protect my wisdom-life.But how can I ensure that my wisdom-life will be everlasting?”
Ananda said very sincerely, “It was fortunate you awakened in time; this means your wisdom-life is stable.You must know that when lust enters our hearts, I easily causes us to be confused.Desire is like a torch next to dry grass.If we are not careful, a wind could blow the fire toward the grass, and the entire plain will go up in flames.In spiritual practice, we must protect our minds very carefully.We must promptly cultivate our minds.”
The Buddha teaches us to engage in “contemplation of impurity.”If we are usually in an environment where things go smoothly for us, when our minds give rise to thoughts, especially sexual desire, we must immediately engage in “contemplation of impurity”.
Contemplate the body as impure, contemplate all feelings as suffering, contemplate the mind as impermanent and contemplate all things as having no self.We must promptly engage in this kind of contemplation.When lust enters the mind, we feel as if our hearts are on fire.So, we must quickly engage in “contemplation of impurity”.
In the Buddha’s lifetime, as the spiritual practitioners who lived with Him went among the people, lust easily led their gaze astray and their minds gave rise to desire.This is to say nothing of us now.
As we engage in spiritual practice now, there are many traps many temptations around us.So, we must be vigilant of ourselves.We must emulate the Buddha’s virtuous conduct, the way He practiced, the virtue He manifested, that whole process.We certainly must earnestly follow the process of the Buddha’s spiritual practice.Only then can we attain a state equal to the Buddha’s.
So, we must always protect the radiance of our hearts.So, we must respect and admire the Buddha and the Dharma the World-Honored One has attained.Through His practice, He attained subtle and wondrous True Dharma.We must give rise to a deep faith, and respect and admire this subtle, wondrous,True Dharma, which is infinite.
Actually, He came to teach us, to help all of us recognize that this subtle, wondrous, True Dharma has always been in our hearts.As long as the light in our hearts manifest, we can illuminate the world and all things.So, He hopes we can understand our minds.
This is just like Ananda’s warning to his fellow spiritual practitioner.Should he ever be tempted by external things, he [must] quickly give rise to a mindset of wiping clean the mirror in his mind and earnestly protecting his bring and clear mind.This is the same principle.We must all be like Ananda and help our fellow practitioners we must not be jealous of others.If we can do it, others can too.We must praise them, be happy for them, and even help them so they can surpass us.This is what it means to truly have a heart that encompasses the universes and penetrates its boundlessness.So, we must “eliminate the evil in all things”.
When things around us connect with our minds, we must not be tempted by them and must not keep such habitual tendencies in our minds.Therefore, we must always be mindful.
“If people faithfully refuge in the Buddha, the Tathagata will not deceive them. He has no thought of envy or greed, and He has eliminated the evil in all things. Therefore, throughout the ten directions, the Buddha alone has nothing to fear.”
Next, we continue talking about this sutra passage. “Throughout the ten directions, the Buddha alone has nothing to fear”. In the ten directions, [four cardinal], four intermediate, above and below everything is understood by the Buddha, to the point that His mind can encompass all things in the universe. Every one of us gives rise to thoughts of ignorance and afflictions; the Buddha understands this very clearly. So, to teach the Dharma to sentient beings, He fully abides in principles of ultimate reality. Because of the Dharma, His mind will never be defiled by impure things. So, His mind is very at ease. He appears in this world for one great cause, to teach selfless great love to all beings. So, “the Buddha alone has nothing to fear”.
In this world, it is the Buddha alone who can be that at ease and give to all sentient beings without any selfish thoughts. He hopes the Dharma we all attain is the same as His.In this world, this universe, the Buddha’s mind is the most pure, He had no need to be afraid or worried. Because He clearly understands all things, He has nothing to fear when teaching the Dharma.
As for ordinary people, they can teach the Dharma, but they still have many worries. Why are they worried? They worry whether they can accomplish this task. They wonder whether this place will be safe. Indeed, they worry about so many things. If it were me, I would never say I “alone have nothing to fear”.
So, these few sutra passages do not seem to be anything [special], but actually, they are the most important. We must value the reason the Buddha is so peaceful and at ease while we ordinary people, in our daily living, have so many afflictions. Why did people who practiced with the Buddha still give rise to these thoughts? When it comes to His disciples, why did the Buddha have to, over and over again, tirelessly teach according to their capabilities? Why? I always think, attaining Buddhahood is not an ordinary matter. But, what the Buddha first taught us was not ordinary Dharma. The remarkable [Dharma] He taught could stand the test of time and was attained by countless Buddhas through. Their practices over a countless number of kalpas. The Buddha told us, very calmly, that He never said that engaging in spiritual practice would immediately lead to attainment. So, we must really understand that the Buddha spoke true and genuine words to us, and we must accept them with sincerity. So, the Buddha said to Himself,
“My body is adorned with marks, I brilliantly illuminate the world. Honored by the boundless assembly, I speak of the seal lf ultimate reality.”
We must also mindfully understand this. When the Buddha says “My”, He is referring to Himself. The Buddha says, “My”, Sakyamuni’s, “body is adorned with marks”. We all know the Buddha has 32 Marks, but the marks the Buddha speaks of now are not part of his external appearance, but the ultimate truths He attained.
“My body is adorned with marks: The Buddha’s virtuous appearance is magnificent. In His heart there is the Threefold Truth, but in the end He manifests ultimate reality. This is the magnificence and virtue of the Buddha.”
The Buddha’s magnificence and virtuous appearance comes from His spiritual practice, from what His mind attained. Through His spiritual practice, He attained this level. What level? In His heart there is the Threefold Truth. The Threefold Truth are principles. Because we have no way to comprehend the principles of this world, the Dharma taught by the Buddha for these Small Vehicle practitioners starts with the truths of emptiness, illusiveness and the Middle Way. This is the Threefold Truth. As for the Threefold Truth, sentient beings have very many attachments, so the Buddha must use various teachings to explain them to us. No matter how strongly we cling to something in the end, we have nothing. Even when it comes to sages and noble beings, where are they now?
For example, in China, Confucius, Zhuangzi and Mozi are those widely considered to be virtuous people. These noble beings and sages, where are they now?Sakyamuni Buddha was also a noble being over 2000 years ago.As for this extraordinary noble being, where is His tangible manifestation now?
So, even Buddhas, sages and noble beings are subject to birth, aging, illness and death. The mountains, rivers and land are also subject to impermanence and deterioration, to formation, existence, decay and disappearance. Our minds are impermanent. We cannot see it, but our minds change often. If our minds give rise to wholesome thoughts, then everything we do will be good. If our minds are tempted by external phenomena and give rise to evil thoughts of greed and anger, delusions and ignorance will manifest. Then, everything we do will be unwholesome. All this comes about when our minds connect to all kinds of conditions.
So, the Buddha warns us all about “emptiness”. The tyrannical ruler of ancient times, Qinshihuang, where is he now? Though he ruled the world, where is he now?There is just emptiness. These are all illusive labels Illusory things cause our minds to waver, cause us to think of gain and loss. So, we must know that all things are Empty. If all things are Empty, does that mean we should stop working? If everything is Empty, if everything is illusory, why should we ever do anything? We need not do good things and we need not fear doing bad things, because everything is Empty and illusory. Don’t these [truths] contradict each other? The Buddha tells us of the Middle Way. We must know that Empty refers to true emptiness.
Within true emptiness there is “wondrous existence”. So, “wondrous existence” is explained through analogies, causes and conditions and expressions. This is the Buddha’s wisdom. So, He applied His wisdom to wholeheartedly teaching sentient beings, and the final principles [He taught] are to reveal “ultimate reality”. So, “this is the magnificence and virtue of the Buddha”. This is the virtue the Buddha cultivated, the appearance He obtained. I always tell everyone, “The virtuous attain”. When we engage in cultivation, we will attain. We will attain the affirmation of others and their trust. In this way, people will respect us.
So, everything we create, the conduct we cultivate, must always [come from] our wisdom.As we are wise, we must also be pure. We must find a way to realize the subtle and wondrous truths of true emptiness. When we are amidst illusory appearances, how can we penetrate their true principles? We must not allow our greed, anger, delusion and so on to obstruct us on our way to penetrating true principles. The Buddha has a “body adorned with marks” for “in His heart there is the Threefold Truth,” the truths of emptiness, illusiveness and the Middle Way.
If we can penetrate these truths, ultimately we can combine them. The Buddha [comes] to teach the One Reality, the ultimate truth, which is the One Vehicle. The Buddha already has [these characteristics]. Thus, His “body is adorned with marks”. So, everyone, when learning the Buddha’s Way, we truly must be mindful. We must not let even a bit of affliction or ignorance obscure our minds and give rise to evil thoughts in our minds as we engage in spiritual practice. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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