Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Create Images that Inspire Respect and Faith (造像引生敬信)
Date: September. 12. 2014
In our lives, karmic conditions arise and cease. This is a very subtle and wondrous matter, difficult to contemplate and comprehend. Therefore, I want to share these [teachings on] “conditions”.
“The Dharma of conditions arising is perfect, subtle and wondrous.”
When conditions arise, in them we can see very subtle and wondrous Dharma, which is “difficult to see and understand, and also difficult to contemplate.” “In searching for the Buddha in our minds, we use a skillfully painted image to find the Buddha in our hearts.”
Indeed, [the purpose of] creating images or building templates, stupas and so on is only for us to solidly establish the Buddha-Dharma in the world. This allows other people to learn the Dharma when they see the image, while, at same time, allows us to find it in our own hearts. However, this takes various causes and conditions. For our minds to converge with the Dharma, we need [the right] karmic conditions.
So it is said, “The Dharma of conditions arising is profound, subtle and wondrous.” The way conditions converge is truly a subtle and wondrous thing; underlying this is very profound Dharma. I often tell everyone, we must believe the karmic law of cause and effect. When the Buddha was in the world, even the skillful, provisional teachings He gave were inseparable from causes and conditions. Even at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, when He set aside the provisional to reveal the true, He still talked about the law of karma. This clearly shows that cause and effect is a true principle of the Buddha-Dharma.
Therefore, “The Dharma of conditions arising is profound, subtle and wondrous.” It is so subtle and wondrous, thus it is “difficult to see and understand, and also difficult to contemplate.” Even when our own causes and conditions converge, we still have different karmic connections with different people. Within our social circle, we have karmic connections with our family with the friends around us and with our fellow spiritual practitioners. I think everyone’s [life] is different because of the arising and ceasing of their conditions, which may lead to unbearable suffering. But the convergence of causes and conditions can also help us accomplish our spiritual practice.
So, karmic “conditions” are truly inconceivable. The Buddha constantly taught the Dharma with analogies and causes and conditions. In one teaching, He talked about how, long ago, deep in the mountains, there was a spiritual practitioner who thoroughly understood the Dharma. He had already achieved Arhatship and he engaged in spiritual practice deep in the mountains. In a nearby village, there lived a child. The child was only seven years old, but had questions about the workings of life but had questions about the walkings of life. He hoped his parents would give him the freedom to leave home so he could seek the Dharma. He was able to reason with and convince his mother. She felt very reluctant, but she allowed her child to leave.
The seven-year-old looked everywhere for a good teacher. A few days later, the causes and conditions came together for him; he found this spiritual practitioner. The spiritual practitioner was very advanced in his spiritual cultivation, and felt this child was different from the children he typically encountered. So, he happily accepted him [as a disciple] and took him along to engage in spiritual practice in the deep mountains.
Both teacher and disciple worked very hard.Several years passed, until one day, as this child was sitting in meditation, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.So when he finished meditation, his teacher asked him, “Just now, when you were sitting in meditation, why did a smile appear on your face?What made you smile?”
This child sighed and said, “It was so incredible! While I was sitting in meditation, I seemed to see how five different mothers toiled for my sake and were afflicted, depressed and tormented.”
He said, “I saw that when my first mother gave birth to me, a neighbor woman who was also pregnant gave birth at the same time. So on that same day, two women in this village gave birth, and my mother was one of them. After I was born, the entire family was happy. Unfortunately, our karmic connection was weak and I passed away after a few days. Every time my mother saw the neighbor’s child, every time she saw anyone else’s child, she felt heartbroken. Every single day was the same for her; she felt tormented and afflicted. Then my second mother gave birth to me. After several months passed, I again passed away at a young age. My mother felt a piercing pain in her heart. This was my second mother. After my third mother gave birth to me,I lived for ten years before I died once again. After ten years together, this was hard on her. When this mother saw children my age, she would think of me. Even now, she still feels that sadness and affliction. Then I was born again, to my fourth mother. After 20 years, there was an accident and I died again. After spending 20 years together, she had placed so much hope on me. Suddenly, impermanence struck and she felt as if her heart had been cut by a knife. Even to this very moment, this mother still weeps over [my death]. My fifth and current mother gave birth to me and raised me. When I was seven, I sensed the profound mystery of life, so I wanted to seek the origin of our lives and asked my mother to let me leave home to engage in spiritual practice. My mother was very reluctant. Even now that I have become a monastic, my mother still cannot let me go. In these five lifetimes, over a period of time of between 20 and 30 years, these five mothers went through much suffering. The workings of karma are truly inconceivable. Thinking about these successive lifetimes of birth and death, my causes and conditions took me through very many familial relationships. These connections we had, good and bad, brought us together and pulled us apart.” So, his teacher asked him, “Now that you know these five mothers are, as a result of your time with them, heartbroken, afflicted, pained and tormented, what are you thinking?”
This child shook his head, smiled wryly and answered his teacher by saying, “What can be done?People’s lives are tormented by birth and death, so I cannot be attached to and linger on the numerous lifetimes I have lived over many kalpaks. There is nothing else I can do. Now that I understand the workings of cyclic existence, I have to be more earnest and work hard to transcend birth and death and put an end to fragmentary samsara. But [ending] transformational samsara will take more work.”
Therefore, “The Dharma of conditions arising”. How did these karmic conditions come about? After one mother gave birth, why did her karmic connection with him last only a few days? Why, after another mother gave birth to this child, just when he was so adorable and bringing so much happiness to everyone, why was their karmic connection terminated? And in this lifetime, [though] he could understand the purpose of life, his mother felt so much sadness when he left to engage in spiritual practice. The workings of these karmic conditions are wondrously profound, hard to see, understand and contemplate. We all go through birth, age, illness and death. If we just let each day pass, we cannot realize the profundity of life, it is “difficult to see and understand”, The only thing [we can do] is to find the best way to use this body that our parents gave us. We must quickly become mindful of this. In this lifetime, we must attain the Buddha-Dharma so we can be transformed.
If we do not attain the Buddha-Dharma, we will always live in a state of confusion and find things “difficult to see and understand and also difficult to contemplate”. If we want to understand, if we make this aspiration, that is good thing. Some people never even think of trying to understand things like, “How did I come to this world?” “What am I living for?” Many people never think about these things. So, now we have this opportunity to investigate how our life came to be. Although we still do not know how it came about, at least, we know that all things arise from causes and conditions”, so we are born because of our karmic connection to our parents. Now that we know about this, about our affinities with the parents who gave us this body, how should we use our body to benefit the world? We know [how to end] fragmentary samsara but how can we end transformational samsara? Transformational samsara is the arising and ceasing of our minds’ afflictions, the instability of our thoughts. Doesn’t this happen to all of us?
So, there is a kind of wondrously profound principle behind this. Therefore, we must keep on searching, and promptly look for the Buddha within us. So, we “search for the Buddha in our minds”. There is a Buddha in our minds. How do we find Him? The only way to find the Buddha is to brush aside our afflictions so we can clearly see the Buddha within us. However, we are unenlightened beings. Eliminating afflictions is not easy. The Buddha came to the world for one great cause. He continued to use various means to guide sentient beings so that they would all head in the same direction, which is to walk the Bodhisattva-path.
But in the Lotus Sutra, this passage started by talking about how to spread the Buddha-Dharma in this world after the Buddha has entered Parinirvana. The answer is to built pagodas, temples or to sculpt statues. This is because the Buddha knew that when future sentient beings want to [learn] the Buddha-Dharma, they must be looking for something. So, there needs to be an image or a place that can guide them to take joy in creating merits and guide them to give to others. These thing will at least let people know that “The Buddha was once in this would”. There are Sangha “transmitting the Dharma in the world and so on”. This is how the Buddha-Dharma is spread.
From these “conditioned phenomena”, they can be led to “unconditioned Dharma”. Through appearances, people can be guide to understand the principles. So as we have already said before,
“[There were] those who, in the barren waste, piled up earth into a Buddha-shrine. Or even children who, at play, have piled up sand to make a stupa. People such as these, have all realized the path to Buddhahood”.
That is what we discussed yesterday. Today, we are looking at the next passage. “[There were] those who, for the Buddhas, have created images, carving these myriad of marks. They have all realized the path to Buddhahood. Perhaps they used the seven jewels, or bronze, or copper, red an white”.
This section of the sutra states, “[There were] those who, for the Buddhas, have created images”. This is telling us that there were people who had the aspiration to help the Buddha-Dharma spread throughout the world, so it could always abide in his world and forever benefit sentient beings. Therefore, they established all kinds of images to guide sentient beings and inspire them to have reverence and faith.
There were those who wanted the Buddha-Dharma to spread throughout the world, to always abide in this world and forever benefit sentient beings. Therefore they established all kinds of images to inspire respect and faith in sentient beings.
When we see Buddha statues, we know to bow and we feel respect upon entering temples. This shows the Buddha’s thoughtfulness. So, in the status, it is said that those who wanted the Buddha-Dharma to spread throughout the world established all kinds of images to inspire faith and respect in everyone. A Buddha statue can be carved out of various materials.
So, “carving all kinds of statues, they have all realized the path to Buddhahood.”
Carving all kinds of statues, they have all realized the path to Buddhahood: If those who carve statues and sculpt all kinds of images do so with utmost sincerity and respect and can maintain that mindset forever, they can sll realize the path to Buddhahood.
A Buddha status must be carved by people, whether out of clay, wood, bronze or other kinds of different materials. So, people “carving statues” and sculpt all kinds of Buddha-images. Carving is done with wood and sculpting is done with clay. I often talk about how we sculpt with clay, then make a moldout of it to cast it in bronze.This takes various materials and methods. But regardless of the material we use, we always have to feel utmost respect and reverence as we sculpt.
Nowadays, people who sculpt [Buddha statues] may not necessarily have a lot of faith. They only do it because they want merits. If this is the case, this is not needed.So, we must always a sense of reverence and respect. This cannot just be a temporary mindset. We must sustain this reverence without regressing. Our attitude cannot be, “I have sculpted sculpted and delivered the statue to the temple,so I have created merits and then lose that mindset, not at all. We must sustain that reverence. Only then can we lead everyone to have faith in the Buddha. Of course, this also brings merits.
“Perhaps they used the seven jewels, or bronze, or copper, red and white.” This means that aside from carving wood or sculpting with clay, people may use the seven jewels, or metallic materials. These metals can be white or red; all are formed by different kinds of metals.
As long as [we work with] utmost reverence, it does not matter what kind of materials we use. As long as we have that reverence and express our sense of respect, we can also use the most precious seven jewels. We can make, carve or sculpt out of various materials, whether they are red,or any other kinds of metal.These can all help us achieve our merits,as long as we can mindfully bring things together.
Without respect, we cannot understand where the Buddha-Dharma comes from. Now, we are in [the era of] Dharma-decay. The era of Dharma-semblance has already passed, so we are in the era of Dharma-decay. In the evil world of Five Turbidities, how we go from the tangible into the intangible. And how we go from appearances into principles is very important.
Of course, this takes utmost reverence. We must be like that child, who, at such a young age, was already studying we come to and leave this life.In conclusion, the Dharma of arising conditions is truly very profound. So, everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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