Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Eliminate the Eight Sufferings to Attain Supreme Enlightenme (滅八大苦得無上覺)
Date: August. 25. 2014
“Cultivate of the Path and virtue takes place in this world. With focus, sincerity, faith and vows we attain Bodhi. The True Dharma is the One Vehicle; there is no other vehicle.”
We must always remember that since we are engaging in spiritual practice, we need to walk on the Bodhi-path. As we walk this road, our every step forward must be steady. This internal cultivation and external practice is part of our fundamental duty. In this world, we must be grateful to the people around us who allow us comprehend countless principles. Our minds must be focused, focused and not scattered, sincere and not false. Our minds must be focused and pure. We must use a pure mind for spiritual practice and must interact with others with a sincere, undefiled and simple mind. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must deeply respect the Dharma. Only when our faith is deep will we faithfully vow to practice the Dharma.
A vow comes from the depths of our hearts. It comes out of our hopes and our goals, as well as our direction. This is a vow. Since we make vows out of deep faith, we must diligently advance on the Bodhi-path. At the end of this road, we will realize our vows; that is our goal.
“The True Dharma is the One Vehicle; there is no other vehicle.” Haven’t we said this before? The Buddha comes to this world for one great cause, to teach the One Vehicle Path. The Buddha comes to teach us, to help us understand that if we only cling to conditioned phenomena, we will give rise to greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If we do this we cannot see the principles and instead, create a lot of karma. So, the Buddha wants us to see the principles rather than becoming attached to [things out of] greed, anger and ignorance. If we understand the principles, we will not give rise to more afflictions. This is the Buddha’s goal in this world, “to teach the One Vehicle Path.”
“All the World-Honored Ones teach the One Vehicle Path. Now all those assembled here should resolve all their questions. The teachings of all Buddhas are the same; there is only One Vehicle, not two.”
Why do “All the World-Honored Ones” comes to this world?
All the World-Honored Ones: All Buddhas utilize teachings of compassion and wisdom to eliminate unwholesome things such as greed, anger and ignorance, etc. By eliminating the eight sufferings of samsara, we end fragmentary and transformational samsara and attain supreme enlightenment.
“All Buddhas utilize teachings of compassion and wisdom.” Because of His compassion, the Buddha cannot abandon sentient beings. So, since Beginningless Time, He travels to and from the Saha World, because He is the founder of a religion here and the kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings. He comes to this world, life after life and His love for sentient beings is everlasting. The lifetime of a sentient being is very short and brief, but the Buddha will be in the Saha World forever. He exercises His compassion when He sees sentient beings coming to the world, lifetime after lifetime, and creating karma for the sake of people, matters, objects and various “conditioned phenomena.” But time goes by very fast and we will leave this life and then be reborn. How are we reborn? Into the Four Forms of Birth, womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born and transformation-born. We take on one of these four forms based on the karma we create in this lifetime.This is how we are reborn into the Four Forms.
The Buddha cannot bear to see this.Why are beings transformation-born in hell?Why are they transformation-born as microorganisms?Why are they transformation-born in heaven?Those reborn in heaven or hell are transformation-born.If we leave this life and are reborn in heaven, we will be heavenly beings.If we practice the Ten Good Deeds in this life, we will be transformation-born in heaven.We may also be transformation-born in hell.If we commit the Ten Evils over this lifetime, when we leave this life, we will reborn in hell.This is how we can be transformation-born.We may also be womb-born in to this human realm, with average virtues.
With a mix of both good and evil [karma], we are born human.
Some who come to this world will face all kinds of suffering and torment, while some come to enjoy pleasures.There are still differences.Some beings are egg-born.Chickens, birds, etc. are hatched from eggs.Some beings are moisture-born, which means they are born in the water.
Altogether, these are the Four Forms of Birth.These For Kinds of Beings live in the Five Destinies.
There are Five Destinies because sentient beings create a complicated mix of karma.The beings of the Five Destinies co-exist here.On Earth, these beings [live brief lives].In this world, people who live to be 100 are indeed very rare.It is not easy for us to live to 100 here.So, don’t you think our lives are very short and brief?In each of those brief lifetimes, we create karma and are reborn into one of the Four Forms of Birth.The Buddha feels compassion for us, so He gives us suitable teachings.At times, He appears in this world to teach the Dharma to us, to help us understand.Sometimes He gives us clear examples so we will know.The Buddha came into this world by descending from Tusita Heaven and Form childhood to adulthood.He grew up in the same way as all of us.Then like [other monstics],He had to beg alms every day into order to have food to sustain Himself.He also experienced aging and illness.Then, at the end, He passed away and achieved Perfect Rest.These are the “conditioned phenomena”.
He manifested while He was in this world.During that period of time, His thinking, His perspective, the thing He understood and the realizations He attained were realizations of the truth of “unconditioned Dharma” contained within “conditioned phenomena”.He explained this to us in great detail.These are teachings of compassion and wisdom utilized by all Buddhas, all for one goal, to eliminate greed, anger and ignorance.
Because of the Three Poisons, we cling to physical objects and their labels and thus give rise to discursive thoughts.Therefore, our minds cannot become settled.
In the media reports on happenings around the world, we often see stories of greed, anger and ignorance.Greed leads countries to conquer each other.Some countries have oil, gold, iron, copper, other ores or gems.An abundance of natural resources is hidden within their mountains and rivers.In order to seize these resources, countries will engage in conflict.Aren’t most wars started for this reason?Desire for tangible objects causes people to chase after fame and profit.When people cannot satisfy their greed, they get angry.If there is no anger, countries will not go to war.If there is greed and anger, they kill and destroy without regard for anything.They kill living beings, cause harm to nature, as well as the land, not to mention other people.All this is caused by greed and anger.
Where do these come from?From ignorance. Because we sentient beings are deluded, we think of our short lives as something [forever] tangible, so we spend our entire lives fighting. We humans are so ignorant and deluded! Ignorance prevents us from thoroughly understanding principles. In our short lives, in order to possess things as our own, we damage the world, harm other people and destroy the land out of greed, anger and ignorance. All this beings with “ignorance”.
So these “unwholesome things” are what the Buddha hopes to eliminate. In order to do so, we must “eliminate the eight sufferings of samsara”. From birth to death, greed, anger and ignorance cause power struggles and mutual destruction, while ordinary people also live with “the eight sufferings of samsara”. Birth, aging, illness and death are four of the sufferings. Then there is also “the suffering of unfulfilled desires”. Though some people are very blessed and everything goes smoothly for them, they still suffer from unfulfilled desires. When we have desires, we will feel the suffering of gain and loss. There is “the suffering of meeting those we hate”.
Some who are childless beg for a child. Once they have one, will the child be well-behaved? Worldly assets [never truly belong to us]. Un-filial children are one reason this is so. People work hard their entire lives to earn money, but in the end, it does not really belong to them.Their un-filial children cuase them suffering [by exhausting their resources]. This is the “suffering of meeting those we hate. Love can be passionate. Loving someone can be bittersweet, a lot of work. When people finally come together, get married and form a family, not long after, they may begin to cheat on each other. This is “meeting those we hate” in our families. It also includes disharmony with our in-laws, or conflicts with our friends or relatives. There are many different kinds of “suffering of meeting those we hate”. There is also the “suffering of the raging Five Aggregates”, “Parting with what we love”, “meeting those we hate”, “unfulfilled desires”, and “the raging Five Aggregates”, along with birth, aging, illness and death together make up the eight sufferings.
However, we sentient beings do not try to understand these things. We only look at what is in front of us so when we encounter suffering, we do not know what to do. The Buddha teaches us from the beginning to help us understand that if we can thoroughly understand these principles, we do not need to pursue [these things]. For the sake of our desires, we create much karma. We may seek fame and profit, or to have children, and so on. When we cannot fulfill our desires, we suffer tremendous anguish. When we understand this principle, we will just let things happen naturally.
If we are content and grateful, we will not suffer from unfulfilled desires. Parting with what we love is part of life. Since we have created the causes for this and formed these karmic conditions, we should cherish the time that we have together and live harmonious and happily. When the karmic conditions [are over], we [can learn to] go along with the law of nature. Then we will not suffer as much from “parting with what we love”. Why should we suffer from “meeting those we hate”? Life is too short; why do we take issue over things? Why do we start feuds with others? “I know that his is karmic cause and effect; I should step back to see the bigger picture.” Then this suffering will vanish. Most important is “the raging Five Aggregates”.
From the Heart Sutra, we understand how the Five Aggregates are fall Empty. If we can see through things, we realize nothing is worth being attached to. Then will form, sound, smell, taste and touch mean anything to do us? They will not. The five sense objects do not really exist, so we do not need to greedily cling to them. Oftentimes, external conditions bring about much suffering for us. The Buddha uses various principles to explain this until we can understand. After we understand, we can practice [the Dharma]. Through our practice, we understand the aforementioned eight sufferings and the Four Nobles Truths. Hearers [and Arhats] eliminate “fragmentary samsara.”“I do not want to return to this world. I do not want to create all these bad karmic connections with sentient beings. I only want to awaken myself.” So, they want to eliminate “fragmentary samsara. ”
As for Pratyekabuddhas, they realize the concept impermanence and the law of karma. They also only seek to awaken themselves, though they are one level higher than Hearers. They know that to end “fragmentary samsara,” they must thoroughly understand the 12 Links of Cyclic Existence. But there is also “transformational samsara.” Though we clearly understand principles, the fluctuations caused by our habitual tendencies and our mental problems are uncontrollable. This is also part of our lives. We must work harder on our spiritual practice.
After learn these principles, we must work even harder and [to eliminate] “fragmentary samsara”and“transformational samsara.” After we thoroughly understand these principles, our minds must be completely pure and in a state of tranquility and clarity.
The Buddha comes to this world for the sake of doing this, to eliminate [samsara]. He taught all kinds of principles for eliminating greed, anger and ignorance in the hopes that we can all understand “the eight sufferings of samsara.” Birth, aging, illness and death are part of the laws of nature, but the suffering of “unfilled desires, parting with what we love, meeting those we hate” and “the raging Five Aggregates” are all created by our minds. If we can understand the true principles taught by the Buddha, we can then eliminate these kinds of sufferings. Apart from birth, aging, illness and death, we can gradually weaken the latter [four sufferings]. Then we can take the next step [to eliminate] “fragmentary samsara.” After we clearly understand the Four Noble ‘Truths, we must practice the 12 Links of Cyclic Existence.
The 12 Links of Cyclic Existence are the process of how we come to be in this life. The Buddha has thoroughly explained this to us. In the Lotus Sutras, this will be explained later as well. So, this is the Buddha’s goal. He hopes all sentient beings will eliminate “fragmentary” and “transformational” samsara and attain “supreme enlightenment.”
The Buddha wants all sentient beings to be equal to all Buddhas by attaining a state of non-arising and non-ceasing.
All the world-Honored Ones: All Buddhas utilize teachings of compassion and wisdom to eliminate unwholesome things such as greed, anger and ignorance, etc. By eliminating the eight sufferings of samsara we end fragmentary and transformational and attain supreme enlightenment.
We ordinary people are part of the Six Unenlightened Realms. Heavenly, unenlightened and noble beings all live in this world. Regardless of whether we are sentient beings or have transcended this world, all of us “respect and honor Him greatly. Thus, we call Him “the World-Honored One.”
The World-Honored One comes to this world to clarify these many principles that we do not understand. However, we unceasingly create ignorance and delusion. We know the eight sufferings of ordinary people.
Everyone knows birth, aging, illness and death, but [suffering of] “unfulfilled desires” or “meeting those we hate” or “parting with what we love” and so on all come back to the working of the Five Aggregates in our lives. This is what we really need to understand.
So, we must mindfully learn the Buddha’s Way. We must not allow one ignorance thought to bring about countless misfortunes in this world.
Therefore, “Cultivation of the Path and virtue takes place in this world” and moreover, “with focus, sincerity, faith and vows we attain Bodhi.” The Buddha comes to this world solely to teach that “the True Dharma is the One Vehicle.” This is the Buddha’s compassion. Thus, we call Him “the World-Honored One.” All beings in the Six Unenlightened Realms need to respect Him, so He is called “the World-Honored One.” Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)