Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Eliminate Doubts with Compassion and Wisdom (秉慈運慧斷諸疑網)
Date: January.15. 2015
“We must exercise loving-kindness and wisdom to give teachings. We must awaken wisdom and compassion to relieve the suffering of sentient beings. With analogies and verbal teachings, many kinds of Dharma are taught. With peace and understanding in our hearts, we can be very accommodating.”
Having true loving-kindness means treating all sentient beings equally. The Buddha cherished all beings the same way He did Rahula, [His only son]. With that sense of impartiality, He saw every person from a parent’s perspective. This is also unconditional loving-kindness. When we hope that someone will live a peaceful and blessed life, don’t we have the heart of a parent?
At the Tzu Chi Teacher’s Association, we share a song with the teachers about treating one’s own children with wisdom and treating all sentient beings with loving-kindness. If they can treat students like their own children and treat their children like any other person, they will have a balanced perspective. Those who treat their students like their children, hoping these children will be blessed and hoping these children will be successful, are the best teachers. Those who hope all their students will be successful, peaceful, happy and blessed as though they are their own children are the good, kind teachers. We must also apply wisdom. To have loving-kindness, to have an open mind and accommodating heart, we must have wisdom.
Only with impartial wisdom can we treat sentient beings equally. But, how do we help sentient beings relieve their suffering? This also requires wisdom, discerning wisdom. Where does this person’s suffering actually come from? He has money, he has fame, he has power, he has wealth. So, why does he experience so much suffering? There was a very successful businessperson who owned a chain enterprise with subsidiaries in several countries. This was a big business. Sometimes, he would visit me several times a year. Whenever he came, people would tell me, “Master, give him a little guidance. Recently he has been feeling trapped, unhappy.”
They knew he was unhappy. [I would ask,] “Why is he unhappy?” “I don’t know.” So, I asked him, “Sir, why do you look so concerned? Do you have many afflictions?” “Ah,” He sighed heavily. Then he said, “I don’t have any worries. It’s just that my son is almost 30 years old. Why isn’t he married yet?” After some time, when he visited again, he said, “Master, what am I to do? My son’s girlfriend is nice, and he likes her, but I’m a little worried.” [I said,] “Since you already like your son’s current girlfriend, and think she’s nice, and he’s happy with her, what are you still worried about?”
He said, “She follows a different religion. When it comes to religion, she is free to choose her own religious beliefs. As long as she follows our family traditions.” “Is the girl well-behaved?” “She is very nice.” [I said,] “That’s good enough.” His wife then said, “As long as our son in happy, it’s fine. Whatever religion they choose is their business.” He said, “No, she has to follow our family traditions. If she is part of our family and her religion is different, who will make offerings to us when we die?” I said, “Ah, this is the most important time in people’s lives. All religious are basically the same, so long as they teach people to be loving, kind and caring. Ultimately that is what we call having compassion and great love. If she is compassionate and has great love, won’t she be filial to you?”
“You want her to make offerings to you after you die, but you do not know where you will end up. You might have already come back to this world.”Then, I joked, “After she marries your son, maybe one day, when you pass away, you may return to this world as her child.”
He said, “Is that possible?”I said, “Do you love your family or not?”“I love my family very much. Since you love this family, don’t you wish to be a part of it forever?”[He said,] “That’s impossible.”
“Indeed, you cannot get what you want, so why do you still want her to make offerings to you?”He agreed with this, so he approved [the marriage].
Then I heard about their engagement and so on, and eventually they got married.After a period of time, he became worried again.
“What are you worried about now?”He said, “Many months have passed…”He worried his daughter-in-law was barren.“How can you have so many afflictions?”He always had afflictions like these.
Often, over those few years, whenever I saw him, he had afflictions.He never had to worry about his business because things were going very well.He only worried about his son and grandson. Before his grandson was born, he was worried.After his grandson was born, by the time he was almost two years old, they realized that something was wrong.
A child who was almost two should be able to stand up and walk.
He looked healthy and chubby, why wasn’t he able to stand up?
Again, he was worried.He was a successful entrepreneur, but with so many afflictions.He worried about this and that; one affliction arose after another.When he wanted to resolve this mental conflict, he would come visit me.
But, in the past few years, I have not seen him much.
So, when I think of him, I feel the sorrows and suffering in life.
Just what is sorrow?What is suffering?He had food, necessities, and his business spanned the globe.In his chain, who knows how many associated businesses he had all over the world?But he worried so much that [his life was full of] sorrow and suffering.
Sometime last year, I met one of his friends, and asked how he was doing.
“I hear that he has depression.”I said, “How can this be? So, this is why I haven’t seen him for so long.”[His friend] said, “Ah, he cannot let things go.”He could not unravel the knots in his mind.
Perhaps only by meeting Sakyamuni Buddha could he untangle those knots.This is all comes down to our thoughts, to what we do with out minds.
There is a Buddhist story about this.An old monk was building a temple, so he asked master carpenters to build it.At the same time, the Sangha in the temple also joined in to help.This old monk saw the nails [for the tiles].Some of the nails were long and some were short.They were originally separated in piles, but he mixed them together and then told his disciples, “These nails, two inches, three inches, one inch, must all be sorted again.”The disciples did not dare show their resentment.They just hesitated.
The old monk saw that no one had moved, so he turned to the and asked, “If you are not sorting them now, are you waiting until your next lifetime, thinking you have a choice in where you end up?”
These disciples had a sudden awakening.“That’s right, we must quickly sort them by size.”“There are two inch, one inch and three inch ones. Let us quickly separate and organize them.”
Finally, the finished just before midnight.They went to their master and said, “We have finished sorting them.”The old monk said, “Whether you sort them or not, that is your business. It has nothing to do with me.”
Everyone felt, “We worked so hard, but he did not have one word of praise for us. Then he said whether we did this or not is our own business.”This old monk then asked them, “Who wanted you to engage in spiritual practice?Why do you engage in spiritual cultivation?”
[They said,] “We do it because we want to. Why do you want to build a temple here?”“To have a safe place to practice.”Then he said, “One this practice center has been built, why will you still be here? ”“Because we want to cultivate Buddha-Dharma.”
The old monk said, “The Buddha and the Dharma are fine; why do you need to cultivate them?”“Indeed! The Buddha and the Dharma are fine, why do we need to cultivate them?”Eventually, one of the disciples said, “I understand now; what we need to cultivate is our minds.”
Everyone, we must cultivate our own minds.Everything we are doing externally just creates an environment for our spiritual cultivation.Whether we do it or not is our own business. Whether we engage in spiritual practice or not is up to us.
So, whether we are good or evil depends on us. But, when we engage in spiritual practice, we must do so according to the path. “We must exercise loving-kindness and wisdom to give teachings”. With loving-kindness, we exercise our impartial great wisdom to teach sentient beings; this is unconditional loving-kindness. “We must awaken wisdom and compassion to relieve the suffering of sentient beings”. Because we have discerning wisdom, we consider the type of suffering sentient beings face and figure out the teachings they need so they can feel comforted. Whether people face tangible suffering or intangible mental afflictions, we need to apply wisdom to deal with them. So, we must awaken wisdom and apply compassion. This is universal compassion.
Sometimes, I think those with “insatiable cravings” are extremely unreasonable. But, we must still have universal compassion. Sentient beings are like this because of ignorance. Therefore, we must be patient. When they come to us, we must carefully discern [their needs] and then comfort them. Who knows how long it will take and whether their issue can be resolved? When conditions are right, we must seize them to help eliminate [their] afflictions. Without the right karmic conditions, their suffering will be endless. This is very regrettable.
Thus, “We must awaken wisdom and compassion to relieve the suffering of sentient beings”. We must do everything in our power to help when the opportunity presents itself. “With analogies and verbal teachings, many kinds of Dharma are taught”. The Buddha taught with various parables, like that of the old monk. The nails were in separate piles, clearly sorted by size. He mixed them up for no reason and then demanded they be sorted again. After the disciples worked hard to sort them again, [he actually said], “Whether you sort them or not is your business”. With these kinds of various methods, the Buddha always helped His disciples to comprehend [principles] through their work.
We cannot wait until our very last breath to choose [to practice]. When we have the opportunity to choose, we must seize the time and choose wisely. This is also a teaching. He used these analogies and expressions, all kinds of various Dharma, to teach us hoping those of us who can accept the Dharma can feel peaceful and be understanding. Practitioners must always have a peaceful mind. We must be understanding of various matters. Only then will our minds be open enough to encompass everything.
I always say the Great Enlightened One of the Universe realized the true principles of the universe. Similarly, we must open up our minds to encompass the macrocosm, the universe. However big the universe is, our minds must be even bigger so we can encompass all things in the universe. This is the goal of our spiritual practice. So, Sariputra was happy and surprised to be able to attain Buddhahood, but he still had the slightest doubts about himself. This was in a previous passage.
“When I first heard what the Buddha said, my heart was filled with great fear and doubt. Is this Mara disguised as the Buddha, coming to disturb and confused my mind?”
“Is this true? Can I really attain Buddhahood? Is this Mara coming to disturb my mind?’’ So, “the Buddha, by means of various conditions, ’’as this next sutra passage begins, stating,
“the Buddha, by means of various conditions, taught with analogies and skillful verbal teachings and led my mind to be as calm as the sea. As I listened, I severed the web of doubts.”
Because sentient beings’ capabilities varied, He had to teach the Dharma with various causes and conditions, parables and skillful means. So, the Buddha had to apply His wisdom to teach us to exercise loving-kindness and wisdom. This is why we say that in the Buddha’s mind, He saw sentient beings as His only child, Rahula. The Three Realms are like a big house.
The enter who owns it treats everyone in the house like his own children. He looks upon them like a kind father looking upon his children. So, the Buddha exercised loving-kindness with wisdom and treated all sentient beings with compassion.
“With His wisdom, the Buddha taught with various conditions, analogies and skillful verbal teachings. Now [Sariputra] knows that in the past, the Buddha skillfully taught according to capabilities. He taught the provisional for the sake of the true. So, the provisional is the true. Therefore his mind can be at ease and he can eliminate his doubts.”
“In the past, the Buddha skillfully taught according to capabilities”. At this time, Sariputra understood that the Buddha “taught the provisional for the sake of the true”. Actually, the “provisional” is the “true”. Because the true, the True Dharma, the One Vehicle Dharma, cannot be understood by sentient beings, for the sake of the True Dharma, the Buddha had to give provisional teachings and skillful means. He taught the provisional for the sake of the true. So, the provisional is the true.
Actually, skillful means are wondrous provisional teachings that reveal the true. With these various subtle and wondrous, provisional and skillful teachings, He revealed the principles of ultimate reality. So, the provisional is the true, the true is also the provisional. All teachings are wondrous Dharma. So, what the Buddha taught in the past was also True Dharma. Now He was just affirming it as True Dharma that provides a fixed course. Therefore, Sariputra cold eliminate his doubts. He did not need to doubt anymore. He did not need to worry anymore. Thus his mind was a calm as the sea.
“Now that he severed the web of doubts, he attained peace as extensive as the sea. Sarputra himself said, “After savering the web of doubts, my mind began to be at peace, “like a calm sea that is clear and free of waves.”
By listening to the Buddha’s teachings, now all his doubts had been eliminated. This is like a web that has been cut apart by scissors. When the web is cut open, we will be free. Then our minds can attain a state of peace, can “be as calm as the sea” because they are no longer trapped by the web. When the web is cut open, the world is open to us. Our minds become expansive.
At that time, Sarputra’s mind became peaceful, “like a calm sea that is clear and free of waves.” His mind had already become very calm.
Doubts and delusions can be very painful. Take the businessman I mentioned before; he could have stepped back to see the bigger picture. His business was present all over the world; he could have been very satisfied. Yet he was so worried about child. Wasn’t he weaving a net and ensnaring himself?
So, having doubts and delusions, not being content with what one has, living this kind of life, is like being caught in a web.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Chapter on Skillful Means states, “All Arhats, those without Leaks, and those who seek Nirvana have now fallen into a web of doubts.”
At the beginning of the Lotus Sutra, we spent a lot of time discussing how when people practiced the Buddha’s teachings, they were biased and attached so they could not realize the True Dharma and only sought their own awakening. They only sought Nirvana because they thought that ending afflictions, they would not transmigrate in the Six Realms.
This is not so. Though they may have ended afflictions, delusions and doubts still exist. So, for the past few days I have been telling you that we must do two things at once. We must cultivate both blessings and wisdom at the same time. Compassion and wisdom must be cultivated together.
We know that life is impermanent and full of suffering. We also know that interpersonal conflicts lead us to accumulate afflictions. Therefore, when we go among people Buddha’s teachings we must guard against interpersonal conflicts. We must strengthen our resolve and continue to go among the people to relieve their suffering. Then naturally, we will gradually let go of our habitual tendencies and afflictions.
Whatever we deal with, whomever we meet, whatever we deal with, whomever we meet, we will treat them all the same. To any person, we will show universal compassion. To any person, we will show unconditional loving-kindness. This is the true Bodhisattva-practice that will bring us closer to the state Buddhahood.
So, we must open the door to our hearts. By practicing the True Dharma, we are on the Bodhisattva-path. We must be true Living Bodhisattvas who take [the Dharma] to heart. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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