Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Adorning Our Inner Spiritual Training Ground (嚴飾心靈道場)
Date: September. 15. 2014
“Fundamentally, things do not have a difference in value; that only comes from the views of ordinary people. Things that are useful are the most valuable. Reverence is the greatest offering.”
I am sharing this so everyone will consider, of the things we need in daily living, which are of the greatest value and which are of the least value? The value of something depends on whether or not we need to use it. If we need it and cannot do without it, it is a most precious and valuable thing. If it is something displayed for people to admire, whether we have it or not does not matter. The wealthy can display things as ornaments to demonstrate they have more than they need. Many ornamental material things are merely used as decoration; these are things we can easily do without. So, the most important things in life are the things we need or cannot do without.
But based on our [limited] understanding as unenlightened beings, often when we show something to other people, we are trying to prove we have something better or we are trying to appear trendy and to be the first to have something. This is the view of unenlightened beings. With views and understandings that are shaped by desire, the Earth’s resources are continuously being depleted. As industries seek to develop their business, they are constantly tapping into more resources. This is very harmful to the Earth, but that is how things are right now. We spiritual practitioners must understand the principles. “Conditioned phenomena” are most practical for us.
In our daily living, we need to be content with the material things we have, as long as they meet our basic needs. There is no need to seek what is new or different. The most useful things are the most precious. This is the contentment of a spiritual practitioner; being content and happy is a blessing. Reverence is the greatest offering we can make. When we are hungry, the bowl of rice we eat at that moment will be the tastiest. If we attend many business lunches and dinners and spend a lot of money at fancy restaurants, no matter how beautifully made the dishes are, they are actually more than we need. This excess food is then dumped into the compost, so it becomes nothing more than waste.
Therefore, giving something simple with great reverence is the best offering we can make. Before, we were speaking about the Buddha. After He entered Parinirvana, how could the Dharma be spread throughout the world?Through images. Some people, in order to transmit the Dharma in the world, used tangible things as manifestations of the Buddha-Dharma. They erected stupas to display the Buddha’s virtue. After the Buddha came into this world, then entered Parinirvana, His remains were cremated. The sariras of His bones were spread in the world and stupas were built to display His virtue. So, stupas were built out of such sentiments.
A stupas, as I said before, is a “manifestation of virtue” through its height. Aside from stupas [built] to display virtues, there are also “temples”. But in the sutras, in ancient times, [temples] were still called “shrines”. as I have said before, are where people show respect to and remember [the dead].
To memorialize their ancestors, the ancients built family shrines.They paid tribute in those places to their most revered ancestors.
The Lotus Sutra was taught during ancient times, over 2000 years ago.
So, during that time, those places were called “shrines”.At the time of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Matang and Dharmaratna used white horses to carry sutras into China.They were first received at Hong Lu Temple.We have discussed this before.Having them stay there was a way to respect them as honored foreign dignitaries.
But Emperor Ming very much admired the Buddha-Dharma and hoped these two spiritual practitioners would remain in China, so he built a temple outside Luoyang for them called White Horse Temple.That is why White Horse Temple was constructed and why we began to call [a religious place] a “temple”.
However, I have always wondered, “At that time, why was the place used to receive foreign guests called a ‘temple’?”I examined the Chinese character for “temple”.The Chinese constructed characters so cleverly; the upper half of the character is “scholar”, the lower half is “propriety”.[These characters] combined create “temple”.“Scholar” refers to people free of corruption, who have the knowledge and virtue of learning.So, they have a high status in society.People like this are called “scholars”.
As government officials, they govern society.People living in society need rules.A country’s administrative rules must be instituted by officials and ministers.So, there need to be laws.Making and creating a system of laws leads to a “legal order”.When a country’s ministers make and create a system of laws it is a “legal order”.
Emperor Ming bestowed the label “temple” on the place he made as an offering to these two foreign spiritual practitioners to provide a place for them to peacefully reside.The transmission and translation of the sutras then took place at White Horse Temple.This was a sign of the emperor’s reverence, his exceptional sincerity.He had such respect and reverence for these foreign spiritual practitioners.He gave them this place to translate sutras so that the Buddha’s teachings could be spread in China.Indeed, he was very devoted
Making this offering of reverence really was an act of infinite merits and virtues.Once a temple exists, people can learn about the Buddha-Dharma.
Within [a temple], there must be images because people cling to [images].
People’s minds need images to give rise to a sense of reverence.
When eminent monks of the past reached the peak of their spiritual cultivation, they did not need to prostrate to images.There is a story about Sheng Gong.This practitioner, also named Daosheng, was very reverently engaged in spiritual practice.He took every word of the Dharma to heart.
Having undertaken the Buddha-Dharma, he wanted to bring his mind to a state of tranquility, so he went to the mountains, built a grass hut, collected rocks, lined them up and taught the Dharma to these rocks.So, “even stubborn rocks nod in agreement” [is a saying] that came from this story.
I recall a time, as the Taichung Tzu Chi hospital was being built, I visited the site after the first phase of construction was complete.The hospital was not yet in use and the landscaping us still being installed.At that time, Professor Chen, a professional landscape designer accompanied me as I walked around the site.He said, “Master, I’d like to bring you to see your disciples”. I thought, “My disciples? Where?” He brought me to see the driveway into an underground garage. Then he said, “Master, look, your disciples are lined up here”. “I don’t see anyone here!” He said, “Look, I lined them up very neatly.” He pointed here and there “Those are rocks!” He said, “Indeed, they are rocks. I carefully made use of local resources to construct this entrance to this driveway. I did my best to make use of local resources so it would like natural. Before using them, I showed them great respect. “I told the rocks that we are all Master’s disciples. We all need to be orderly and form lines.”
With great reverence, he paid respect to these rocks; truly all things in the world are useful. “Once the rocks we arranged, he said, “I knew I had to bring you to them, so they can take refuge with you.” This was what Professor Chen did. I think of him as a good disciple overseeing the construction there on my behalf, creating the landscaping there on my behalf and transforming sentient beings there on my behalf. All things on Earth are useful, and useful things are the most valuable.
Some Buddha statues are carved from stone, some from bronze or other metals. Some are made from “wax, lead or tin”. If we want to make a Buddha statue, be it with copper or lead, we must first make a mold.
So,“[The may have used] wax, lead, or tin, iron, wood or clay, or perhaps lacquered cloth in making and adorning images of the Buddha. People such as these have all realized the path to Buddhahood”.
We know that things in the world take many names and forms. They are all different and unique in their own way. Wax is used to make wax statues by carving the wax directly. They can be made in various shapes and colors. There are also different qualities of wax. If a statue is made purely out of wax, it can be very beautiful. If one carves a Buddha statue out of it, it will look very dignified. But this material cannot withstand fire. It will melt hear fire, so the ancients used wax to make a mold. After that, they used another material, either bronze, tin or another metal, to cast the statue. So, each material is different and serves a different purpose.
All the material things in this world are created as the mind dictates. The mind, knowledge and wisdom are intangible. When we exercise knowledge, apply our wisdom, our minds are doing the dictating. Tangible, physical things are created when our intangible thoughts dictate their production. So, unconditioned Dharma and conditioned material objects combined to form all kinds of appearances. This is making things as the mind dictates.
Whether these are things we use in daily living or not, they are things made as our mind dictates. The same applies to sculpting Buddha statues Human minds dictate their creation as adornments for spiritual training grounds.
“Material things in the world have many names and appearances. Material goods are all unique, each serves a purpose. When they are combined, they can form all kinds of appearances. We make things as our minds dictate to adorn the spiritual practice center by creating Buddha-images.”
In a spiritual practice center,besides a temple and Buddha statues, spiritual practitioners are most important. A few days ago I also said that what truly dignifies a practice center are its people. Even if the place they practice in is very simple, as I just said, when Sheng Gong taught the Dharma to rocks, even stubborn rocks were nodding. This is a sign of the reverence of spiritual practitioners. With this kind of utmost sincerity, Buddhas will naturally appear [to us]. In every one of our minds, there is a Buddha. Can this Buddha in us manifest His dignified appearance so we can serve as a model for other people? If we all aspire to engage in spiritual practice to manifest the Buddha within us, this will bring the most dignity to our practice center. This is how we adorn our practice center.
Look at how dignified the Abode has been over these past few days. There were monastics, lay practitioners and Tzu Chi Bodhisattva [-volunteers] here for a spiritual retreat. Hearing everyone harmoniously reciting together, whether they were circumambulating the Buddha or [chanting] the Dharma, they did so neatly, with dignity and an air of spiritual refinement the Jing Si Hall. Volunteers from seven countries were there. They had aspired to understand the essence of Tzu Chi and realize the Dharma of the Jing Si Dharma-lineage. In their respective countries, they are all entrepreneurs, businesspeople, leads of industry and commerce. Nearly 1000 of them came to Taiwan. Honorary board members from the Central Region volunteered to take on the duties of the hospitality team for this retreat. They took care of the dormitories, the snacks, the cooking and the sweeping.
As I watched them do all this, I was very impressed. Even though I did not say anything, I really admired them. They were all honorary board members, wives of important people and so on. In their social circles, they are very well-respected. But in Tzu Chi, everyone shows compassion to all equally and everyone is equal, so they came to serve these overseas businesspeople. This demonstrates their reverence and is a form of adornment. They arranged things in a very dignified way. The spiritual atmosphere of our practice center was thriving. People create Buddha statues out of reverence. But I feel that, rather than making this external object we should instead, without hesitation, work to create a Buddha statue within ourselves.
“We each have a stupa on Vulture Peak.” Isn’t this saying the “stupa” must be established in our minds? So, the “stupa” is in our minds. A “shrine” is what we call a temple; it is our inner spiritual training ground.Our inner spiritual training ground must be solidly constructed. We all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. That is the Buddha statue that is in our minds. So, in each of us there can be a stupa, a spiritual training ground and a Buddha statue. This depends on whether or not we are reverent. With great reverence, our spiritual training ground will be adorned with dignity. It is vast because we can practice everywhere and because the Buddha-Dharma is everywhere. We must understand that the Buddha gave teachings with the expectation that with the passage of time, the tangible would take shape from the unconditioned mind.
Thus we use material things in the world to create many kinds of [objects] to create outward expressions of the Buddha-Dharma within us. When our inner reverence and external dignity are unified in this way, the Buddha-Dharma will forever be as it was during the era of Right Dharma. So, among these five periods of 500 years, we will forever be in that first period.
Dear Bodhisattvas, as we engage in spiritual practice, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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