Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Dharma-Protectors Request Teachings (諸天護法請轉法輪)
Date: November. 05. 2014
“Take the Dharma to heart and make the Great Vows. Practice the Bodhisattva-path among the people, then heavenly beings will protect the Great Dharma. When minds are oriented toward goodness, the Dharma-wheel will turn.”
As we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must take the Dharma to heart. Not only must we take the Dharma to heart, we must also make the Great Vows. First we must understand the Dharma. It is good to understand the Dharma because it will help us to eliminate afflictions and guide everyone onto the path toward goodness, so they head in the right direction. When we ourselves attain the Dharma, we know which path to take. Then we must aspire and vow to pass the Buddha’s teachings on to others and encourage them to join us in practicing the Right Dharma of the Buddha, eliminating afflictions and turning evil into goodness. We must all form this aspiration to transform sentient beings, eliminate afflictions, learn the Buddha-Dharma and attain Buddhahood. When we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must all make these Great Vows. Making vows to spread the Buddha-Dharma far and wide shows that we have truly taken the Dharma to heart.
We do not engage in spiritual practice only for our own benefit or liberation; we must go among the people. As we interact with people, our cultivation, attainment and behavior serve as examples that can guide others. This is how we transform sentient beings. To transform sentient beings we must go among them. Those who do this must be Bodhisattvas who have made the Great Vows.
On the Bodhisattva-path, we must work with others. If we have this intention, then naturally “heavenly beings will protect the Great Dharma.” Heavenly beings will protect this Dharma. Every spiritual practitioner must, at the very least, abide by the Five Precepts. The lay disciples who study the Buddha’s teachings must uphold the Five Precepts. Those who do not uphold the Five Precepts cannot be considered the Buddha’s disciples. This is the most fundamental teaching that the disciples must uphold and practice. Everyone knows the Five Precepts, no killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying or drinking alcohol. Upholding one precept brings us five Dharma-protectors. Upholding five precepts brings us 25 Dharma-protectors. They help us to guard our minds. If we can guard our minds, naturally we can maintain good behavior.
Precepts guard against wrongdoings and stop evils. When the precepts are on our minds, we can prevent and stop our bodies from committing unwholesome actions. If our actions are wholesome, there will be Dharma-protectors around us. If our minds are not pure and we violate one of the precepts, five Dharma-protectors will withdraw. If we violate two precepts, ten Dharma-protectors will leave. If our resolve weakens and we lose our spiritual aspirations, the 25 Dharma-protectors will automatically leave and no longer protect us. By making Bodhisattva-aspirations, walking the Bodhisattva-path and going among the people, we will speak the Right Dharma, have the right mindset and be on the right path. Then naturally, “heavenly beings will protect the Great Dharma.”
Our minds must be oriented toward goodness for the Dharma-wheel to turn. The Buddha comes to this world for the sole purpose of turning the wheel in our minds. We all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, but our minds have been covered by afflictions and ignorance. The Buddha comes to the world for one great cause, for the sole purpose of turning our unenlightened minds back toward our pure intrinsic nature.
Doing this requires the Dharma.When the Buddha first reached enlightenment, He attained the Dharma and was filled with Dharma-joy.The truths of all things in the universe were completely open to Him.He understood such great, profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma and was eager to share it with everyone.
However, [He knew] that for people to accept, understand and realize it would not be easy.So, a thought arose in the Buddha’s mind that perhaps it would better to just enter Parinirvana.Since the Dharma was teachings for this world, if humans could not accept the Dharma, what was the point of staying in this world?Perhaps He should enter Parinirvana early.
As soon as this thought arose in His mind, all Brahma Kings and Sovereign Sakras, as well as “the four heavenly kings who guard the world and the king of Great Freedom Heaven,” all these begins, suddenly appeared.
“The other multitudes of heavenly beings,with retinues numbering in the billions, reverently put their palms together and requested that I turn the Dharma-wheel.”
With great reverence they invented.Sakyamuni Buddha to remain in his world and turn the Dharma-wheel.This is was the scene.In the sutra passage we are discussing, it includes the phrase, “At that time”.“At that time” refers to a memento after the Buddha attained enlightenment, when He was wondering how to teach the Dharma in this world.
For an instant, He considered entering Parinirvana.The sutras describe that moment as “at that time”.
Many heavenly beings simultaneously appeared.These heavenly beings, Brahma Kings and the others, exist in a realm where they have attained a state of purity in body and mind.
Heavenly kings of the form realm have transcended their desires; their minds are free of desires.In the universe, there are these pure and undefiled Brahma Kings.Sovereign Sakras come from the desire realm.From the desire realm, Sakra Devanam-Indra and the four heavenly kings who guard the world are also supervising those of us who are in this world, in the desire realm.
As for “the king of Great Freedom Heaven,” that is the sixth heaven in the desire realm.
These heavens are immense.They are countless, innumerable.So, this passage in the sutra goes on to talk about “the other multitude of heavenly beings”.The heavenly kings did not come alone; they also brought their heavenly retinues with them when they appeared at the Buddha’s inner place of enlightenment.All these heavenly beings appeared with “retinues numbering in the billions”.All the kings and the billions in their retinues pressed their palms together in reverence and respectfully made this request of the Buddha.
The Buddha said, “They requested that I turn the Dharma-wheel.”This was a very beautiful scene.All of this occurred after the Buddha’s awakening, when all kinds of things [were encompassed by] His expansive mind.
So, the desire, form and formless realms all converged and appeared in the Buddha’s enlightened state of mind.The heavens of the Four Heavenly Kings, Sovereigns Sakra’s heaven the Brahma heaven, the Heaven of Great Freedom, these are all part of the heaven realm, not of the human realm.Beiges at the stage above humans are heavenly beings.They also fall into different categories.These heavens are divided into three types, those in the desire, form and formless realms.Those in the defile realm still have a retinue.Those in the form realm do not have any, and the formless realm is a spiritual state.Beyond the formless realm is a very pure state, replete with the principles.
This describes the spiritual state of the Buddha.This state is filled with subtle and detailed principles and boundless and inexhaustible principles.This is the spiritual state of the Buddha.
In the heaven realm, which is one the Six Realms, there are still desires.Humans are a stage below that.The human realm is our world.We can be good or evil.There are good people who create blessings and there are evil people who commit evils.This is because good and evil pull at us in a tug of war. When we are pulled toward evil, we will begin to unceasingly create [evil] karma.
If we cannot maintain purity in our minds, our minds will easily be covered by the afflictions and ignorance of maras. If we are blessed, we can come together with wholesome friends and encourage each other to be of benefit to the world. By slowly accumulating blessings, we will be reborn in heaven. In the human realm, it is possible to attain Buddhahood and practice so that we will be reborn in heaven. But we can also commit evils in the human realm. Tomented by all kinds of suffering, we may do even more evil deeds and multiply our ignorance. Then out of this ignorance, we create more evil. This is how we fall into the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. This also happens in the human realm.
Thus, “karma is good, evil or indeterminate”. We can do good deeds, or if an evil thought arises, we may commit evils. So, the world is a good place for spiritual practice because only by seeing suffering in the world will we recognize our own blessings and thus create more blessings by benefiting others. Only by seeing evil in the world will we be awakened and realize we must earnestly engage in spiritual practice. If we are more blessed, we will encounter the Buddha-Dharma, which is very mysterious and profound. This allows us to find the Dharma in our daily living. When the Dharma is in our lives and Bodhisattvas are walking among us, we are indeed very blessed.
In the human realm, we can engage in spiritual practice and gradually draw closer to the Buddha-Dharma so that we can transcend the desire realm to reach the form realm. When we transcend the form and formless realms, we can return to a pure and undefiled state, which is the state of enlightenment.
“Along with all Brahma Kings, all Sovereign Sakras and so on, all kinds of heavenly beings that are part of the multitudes of their retinue invited [the Buddha] to turn the Dharma-wheel. The heavenly retinue numbered in the billions and Brahma heavens numbered in the trillions.”
“One of the Brahma Kings was named Sikhin. He had deep faith in Right Dharma. Every time a Buddha came to the world, he had to be the first to invite the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel.”
One of the Brahma Kings in the form realm was a leader by the name of Sikhin. Great Brahma Sikhin was a leader who had deep faith in Right Dharma. This heavenly king had deep faith in Right Dharma and had already purified his body and mind. He no longer had sexual desires and no longer desired material things. Thus, thoughts of greed, anger and ignorance had been completely eliminated from his mind; his body and mind were pure because he had such deep faith in the Dharma. Every time a Buddha appeared in the world, he invited that Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. Whenever a Buddha first awakened, Great Brahma Sikhin, this Brahma King, always led the heavenly beings to appear in the mental state of this Buddha after He first attained enlightenment to respectfully invite the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel in this world.
We always say that thousands of years is such a long time! “Difficult to encounter even in millions of kalpas” describes how rare it is to meet a Buddha knowing this, we can tell how long Brahma Kings in the form realm can live in this pure world. One day in the heavens is 50 years in the human realm. One day in Trayastrimsa Heaven is 100 years in the human realm and so on. This number grows larger in the higher heavens. This is particularly true in the formless realm. That pure and undefiled state is everlasting, so this king was aware that tens of thousands of years must pass for a Buddha to appear. So, to be able to hear the Buddha-Dharma, we must be truly grateful to these heavenly Dharma-protectors for helping the Buddha to be willing to go among the people. Actually the Buddha engaged in spiritual practice and attained Buddhahood for our sake. He manifested these appearances for us. Thus, inevitably, His state of mind was very broad and expansive. In His mind, He came up with this kind of plan. So, all this was a description of His state of mind upon attaining enlightenment. “[They] reverently put their palms together, and requested that I turn the Dharma-wheel”. All these heavenly beings, including Brahma Kings, were very reverent when they came to this place and pressed their left and right hands together. They placed their fingers against each other to demonstrate that their minds were unified. This was also a way to pay respect. Pressing our ten fingers together symbolizes how we gather our discursive thoughts together so our minds can be focused.Paying respect in this way is a way to express our utmost reverence. So, Chinese people cup one hand in the other before their chest to show respect
Confucius said that making this gesture is a way to pay respect. But in India, they press their palms together in respect. So, we put our palms together in accordance with Buddhist traditions. In India, putting palms together is respectful and demonstrates wholehearted reverence.
[They] reverently put their palms together, and requested that I turn the Dharma-wheel: They pressed their left and right palms and fingers together to demonstrate their wholehearted respect.
Chinese people cup one hand in the other before their chest to show respect. Indian people put their palms together in respect. Turning the Dharma-wheel is an analogy for giving teachings. Using one thing to refer to another is using the simple to teach something profound. Turning the wheel of Dharma in His mind can transform the minds of others, just like turning the wheel of a cart.
They invited the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel through analogies and many kinds of methods.The Buddhas of the past did the same. For ordinary people to completely understand the spiritual state of the Buddha is impossible. So, the Brahma King invited the Buddha to turn the Dharma-wheel. Past Buddhas taught the Dharma with analogies and other verbal teachings. An analogy can describe to us what is round. What does roundness look like? Something round is like this; this is round. What are the different degrees of roundness?Look at the moon; that is something that is round. This means that we are using an object to illustrate a principle. This is what we consider an analogy. Simple things that we understand are used as analogies for profound Dharma, so we that can take the Dharma to heart, so that we can understand. By turning the wheel of Dharma in His mind He can transform the minds of others. The enlightened mind of the Buddha is what He, over time and bit by bit, mindfully tried to deliver to ordinary people. This is “transforming the minds of others.”
He turned the Dharma-wheel in His mind to deliver the Dharma into ours. To do this, He used analogies to turn the Dharma-wheel, so this is an analogy to a cart’s wheel. What do we mean by “turn”? Think about wheels. As the wheels turn, the cart will move forward. The underlying principle is the same. If the wheels in our minds are not turning, we cannot diligently advance. If [the wheels of]. Right Dharma are not turned, we will never be able to eliminate our ignorance.
So, we must practice according to His teachings. Look at the heavens. When this Buddha appears in the world, all being, from the Brahman Heaven in the form realm to the heavens n the desire realm, more heavenly beings than can be counted, all appeared to Sakyamuni to comfort him. They reassured Him that past Buddhas used the same methods in transforming the minds of sentient beings.
So, since we can heart His teachings today, we must be grateful to the Buddha for coming to this world for one great cause and attaining Buddhahood in His inner place of enlightenment. We must be even more grateful for what the Buddha described as heavenly beings manifesting in His mind so that He decided to stay in the world to turn the Dharma-wheel. We must always be grateful.
We can never fully express our gratitude, so we must turn the Dharma-wheel with firm resolve. Then heavenly Dharma-protectors will be with us. We must constantly be vigilant of ourselves, remain disciplined and reverent, and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
