Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Make Offerings with Reverence(願誠意施供養)
Date: September. 10. 2014
Each of us always needs to be grateful because it is rare to attain human form, listen to the Dharma and always be immersed in the stream of Dharma. This is why we must always feel grateful that we can “receive the deep and profound grace of the Buddha-Dharma. It nourishes our minds and grows our wisdom-life. Thus, after the Buddha enters Parinirvana, we reverently make offerings with all kinds of jewels and treasures.”
This is something we can accomplish. We need to feel grateful as we receive the Buddha’s grace and kindness. The Buddha-Dharma is like water, it washes away the defilements from our minds. Therefore, we feel as if we are constantly immersed in the sea of Dharma and are cleansed by the Buddha-Dharma. This is the deep and profound grace of the Buddha-Dharma. We are also constantly nourished by the Buddha-Dharma that is around us. We must be like the land, receiving nourishment from rain and dew. Our pure intrinsic nature must receive this Dharma-water so we can be constantly cleansed and nourished. Then the seeds in our minds can grow. When seeds receive nourishment, they will grow. This is how the fields of our minds are nurtured so our wisdom-life can develop.
Thus, the Buddha-Dharma is like rain and dew. The Buddha had already attained Buddhahood countless kalpas ago. This means that He saw True Suchness, so how is it possible He did not see [the cycle of] birth, aging, illness and death and become weary of impermanence until this lifetime? That was just the appearance He manifested for us to show us that He is just like us. He lived in the same way we do; He also aged and, in the era He lived in, He experienced various kinds of suffering in life. Amidst suffering, He also saw the impermanence of life.
At that time, He manifested for us the appearance of “the need to seek out the principle of liberation.” He did this to teach us. After He became enlightened, He promptly taught sentient beings about suffering. He started with the truth of suffering. All His teachings from that time began with the truth of suffering. Then He helped everyone understand that their regular behavior leads to the “causation” [of suffering] through accumulation. After He told everyone that the things they regularly do bring about suffering, that this was the “causation” of suffering, then, to go further, He told them they must practice. He taught them many methods of practice. Because of sentient beings [varying] capabilities, how well they can accept the Dharma depends on their knowledge and wisdom. Thus, He first established these skillful means. However, time waits for no one, including the Buddha. Even He manifested the appearance of old age. As His time was running out, He had to teach [the One Vehicle Dharma].
Ultimately, these skillful means bring us back to ultimate reality, the pure and wondrous Dharma of the One Vehicle. This is how we return to the True Suchness in our intrinsic nature. The Buddha spent decades in this world coming up with ways to teach us sentient beings while living the same kind of life we do. For this, we must always be grateful. So, after the Buddha entered Parinirvana, sentient beings had to form aspirations and vows.
Aspirations and vows come from reverence; reverence comes from making a vow.
This is faith, vows and practice.Faith, vows and practice are indispensible to spiritual practitioners.And of course, we must be reverent.When we are reverent in our faith, we will make vows.From the moment the Buddha entered Parinirvana until now, it has been more than 2500 years.Do you remember that there were “5 periods of 500 years”?
Let us think about them carefully.While the Buddha was alive, people earnestly engaged in spiritual practice, so Right Dharma abided in this world.But 500 years later, though people still had faith, their diligence had gradually weakened.So, very few people attained realizations through their spiritual cultivation.
In the third period of 500 years, people earnestly listened to the Dharma.They “listened to the Dharma to gain knowledge”.At this stage, they treated the Buddha-Dharma as something academic to discuss.When these discussions were popular, did they put it into practice?It seemed fewer were doing so.
The fourth period was about appearances.Whether they built stupas, temples or carved statues, they had the attitude that, “Doing this brings merits, so I want to do this.”This was the fourth period of 500 years.
Next is the fifth period of 500 years.We are now at the end of this 500 year period.Do you know [which this is]?The period of conflict, when people’s hearts are not in harmony.When we lack unity and harmony, not only do we not respect and praise each other, we will actually slander each other.This is the state of the Buddha-Dharma in modern times.
In this era, more than ever, we must make vows to return to the way things were in that first period of 500 years.Our minds should still be the same as when the Buddha was in this world neither grater nor diminished.When the Buddha first manifested in this world, at that time, He taught that He had much faith in the world, because everyone intrinsically had Buddha-nature.Though much time has passed, we still have faith in the Dharma that He originally expounded.
Thus, in our hearts we should now accept the Dharma as if we were in the time when the Buddha was teaching.So, we should “reverently [make offerings] after the Buddha enters Parinirvana”.This is very important.
The Dharma is everlasting and unceasing.So, although He manifested the appearance of crossing into extinction, the Dharma that we have accepted is everlasting.We must make vows.Those vows must come from our reverence.If we can sincerely accept the Buddha-Dharma, then it will be as if the Buddha was still in this world and our minds were still equal to His.This helps us let go of what is difficult to let go of.
Many people in this world live in perpetual turmoil and confusion.They enjoy many comforts.But if we want them to forego those comforts to help others, that will be very difficult, because their bodies and minds cannot let go.People also cling to their wealth and treasures.If we want them to give up what they crave, that will also be difficult.
Therefore, the Buddha teaches everyone that sharing the Dharma can enable us to let go of what we crave and desire in order to accomplish meaningful things.
The most meaningful thing we can do is to ensure that the Buddha-Dharma abides in this world forever.Therefore, in this world, we must constantly teach the means that bring about awakening.This is why the sutra mentioned that we must give up jewels and treasures to build stupas, temples and so on.
We need to make offerings of these treasures.But let me remind everyone, we must give unconditionally.This is the Dharma we should learn.Next, we should make offerings with reverence.If we do not make offerings with reverence, we cannot truly attain the Buddha’s teachings.We must make vows out of gratitude.Gratitude and reverence are essential to making vows.
Then, the next passage of the sutra discusses “pure and glorious adornments”.
“Pure and glorious adornments decorate the stupas. Others have built temples out of stone, sandalwood, aloeswood, hovenia or other timbers, along with bricks, clay and the like.”
In “pure and glorious adornments”, “pure” is referring to the purity of our minds. When our bodies are pure, our bodies and minds will be pure comes from exercising utmost reverence. Both our internal and external states must give and make offerings out of reverence. This is what we discussed yesterday about “pure and glorious adornments”. Next, “[they] decorate the stupas”. We have talked about stupas in the past. Sariras are placed in stupas so people can look up to and admire the Buddha for a long time. Buddha-virtues are revealed through stupas. Indeed, another way to describe stupas is [something that reveals virtue]. Only those [structures] made as offerings to the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Arhats and spiritual practitioners can be called “stupas”.
In fact, the mundane definition for “stupa” is a place where remains are stored. This is what a stupa is in everyday terms. Actually, for those who are truly virtuous, [stupas are used to reveal their virtue]. So, “to decorate” means to adorn. They built tall stups to reveal virtue.
“[They] decorate the stupas. Others have built temples out of stone, sandalwood, aloeswood, hovenia or other timbers, along with bricks, clay and the like.”
Besides building stupas, they also built temples. Temples have existed for a long time. They are built with various materials, such as wood, stone or clay. Indeed, to “decorate the stupas”, we must return to the Dharma once again.
“[They] decorate the stupas. Others have built temples out of stone: Truth without tangible appearance is unconditioned Dharma. Wise application of the truth to manifest [principles through] worldly appearances is conditioned phenomena. Such is the building of temples and stupas, and adorning them.”
The Dharma is the Truth. The wondrous principles of absolute truth are without appearance. I always want everyone to clearly know that truths are everywhere, but they cannot not be seen nor touched. Yet they can be expressed by people. So, “truth without tangible appearance is unconditioned Dharma”. “Wise application of the truth” is the manifestation of true principles through our knowledge and wisdom. So, we “manifest principles of worldly appearances”. “[This] is conditioned phenomena”.
A space can be completely empty, then we use our knowledge to build something there. The Great Hall we are in is a good example of this. From its underground foundation, we keep building up. To create this space we are in, how many people’s expertise did we need? We needed all kinds of expertise, in cement mixing, in steel construction and in interior design. So much knowledge and wisdom were combined [to build this place]. This is “conditioned phenomena”. We must build temples, shrines and stupas and adorn them with dignity, so everyone knows this is a place to practice the Buddha’s teachings. We must further understand that in the era of the Buddha, there were “shrines”, not “temples”. Why were they called shrines? In olden days, “shrines” were places in ancient China where people made sacrifices to their ancestors. These places were memorials for ancestors. They were called familial shrines, or ancestral shrines: the meaning is the same. For the country, there were imperial shrines. They were all built to commemorate ancestors. “As we drink water, we must think of its source”. These places were built to recall and show respect to their ancestors.
“Shrines: In olden days, sacrifices were made to ancestors at these places. There are imperial shrines, ancestral shrines, familial shrines and so on. Places dedicated to gods and Buddhas are commonly known as deities’ shrines or temple shrines.”
These places were for making offerings to gods. Over time, these customs were passed on and there came to be many miscellaneous gods, all placed in those temples. There are so many gods we cannot name [them all]. Eventually, places dedicated to the Buddha were also called “shrines”.
Indeed, the shrines mentioned in Buddhist sutras were places of dignity and etiquette They were places to recall and pay respect to the virtues of the Buddha and ancient sages. Places to remember the virtuous are called “shrines”. This was the meaning of the word at that time. Places dedicated to gods and Buddhas are called “shrines,” commonly known as deities’ shrines, or temple shrines.
Now, [in Chinese] we put the two words, temple and shrine, together and say, “temple shrines”. “Temples” were once places for a country to house foreign guests.
Temples: These were once places for housing foreign guests In the Han Dynasty, Hung Lu Temple was established to host guests from all over the world.
The character “temple” is the character, for “scholar” on top of the character for “[propriety]”. “Scholar” plus “[propriety]” means a form of courtesy and law. “Scholar” refers to those with knowledge, people who make policies and rules. It was the place for a country’s officials to make laws and policies.
When foreign guests visit, nowadays we take them to a guest house or an executive suite. The principle is the same. In the tenth year of Emperor Ming’s reign Eastern Han Dynasty, Kasyapa-Matanga and Dharmaraksa traveled to China from Madhyadesa, bringing many scriptures on white horses bringing many scriptures on white horses. At that time, Emperor Ming began to seek the Buddha-Dharma, so he treated these foreign monastics as honored guests.To show his respect, he allowed them to stay in Hung Lu Temple. However, this place was for hosting guests, so they could not stay there long-term. Therefore, he built the White Horse Temple. From then on, temples became training grounds for spiritual practitioners. This is an example of how the Buddha-Dharma affects places where it abides.
So, monastic temples started arising in China beginning with the White Horse Temple. Foreigners from the lands in the West called them “sangharama”. “Sangharama” is often translated as “monastery” and can mean “communal garden”.A place where many people live together is called “sangharama”.
The place where they live is also where the Buddha’s disciples engage in spiritual cultivation and where the seedlings for the Path are planted. Their hearts are like seeds. Practicing together in the monastery is like continuously cultivating the seeds in our minds continuously cultivating the seeds in our minds. This is where we sow and plant the seeds of the Path. When we plant the seeds of the Path, if it sprouts it will become the seedling for the Noble Path and ripen into a fruit; so a monastery is also like a communal garden
As we live together in this monastery, this communal garden. We must allow every seed of the Path to sprout. Once it matures, it will ripen into the noble fruit. This takes place in a temple, so we must treat this spiritual training ground as a very holy place. In the past, temples were places where knowledgeable scholars with great propriety established rules of law. Therefore, it is a very holy place. So everyone, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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