Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Endowed with the Ten Epithets (華光如來十號具足)
Date: February.03. 2015
“We cultivate our own field of blessings and create blessed karmic affinities. By purifying our own minds, we grow in wisdom. Blessings and wisdom bring complete awakening and perfection in wisdom and action.”
We spiritual practitioners must maintain the field of our minds to keep it clear. If this field is free of weeds and rocks of any size, then it will be easy to cultivate. As long as we sow seeds, we will reap a harvest. To do so requires us to be mindful and to make an effort to create good karmic connections with sentient beings. All sentient beings are equal, not only humans. We must not discriminate between rich and poor among people, nor between different life forms, humans and others. The birds we hear singing every day are also sentient beings. Birds alone can have different forms and still be considered birds.
There are also different types of people. There are kind-hearted people. There are very unkind people. There are people who are both good and bad. Some are affluent, so they are carefree. Some spend their entire lives working hard, but feel no sense of security. They are all humans. Some are born in more developed nations, some in underdeveloped and impoverished nations. Once they are born, they live out their lives in that kind of place. Their lives are hard! Constantly, there are natural disasters; constantly, there are manmade calamities. We all live in the same world, but why are there such great differences? We cannot blame our external conditions. We must consider our own karma. Do we have good karma or bad karma?
We cannot bring anything with us into this life nor can we take anything with us, except for the seeds of good or bad karma; we bring our circumstantial and direct retributions with us. The differences in life are created by retributions; they are not for us to decide. All this goes back to our previous lifetimes. How well did we cultivate the field on our minds? Was it covered with flourishing weeds? It may have been covered by a jumble of rocks. If the seeds cannot reach the ground, naturally there will be no harvest. Without benefactors, we have no blessings and may end up in an environment with endless manmade calamities and natural disasters. This is due to the karma we each created in our past lifetimes.
So, now that we understand this, we need to cultivate our own field of blessings. How do we cultivate this field of blessings? This field is within our minds, so we need to engage in inner cultivation. How do we cultivate ourselves? With the Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha’s teachings give us seeds of the Dharma, seeds of goodness that we can sow in our minds. How do we sow seeds and what seeds should we sow? The best is for us to create good affinities, to give to others and treat them with love. We can exercise this pure and selfless great love as we interact with people. If people have an abundance of strength or wealth, we can create good karmic affinities with them and work together with one heart and one purpose. Then we can go among people who suffer from poverty, afflictions and hardship.
To create good karmic affinities with them, we can give to then tangibly, or love them intangibly, which they will feel. Tangible things are those that they can touch, that will temporarily alleviate their hardships. The intangible care we offer them will remain in their hearts in the long term.
This also plants a seed we saw these seeds in the minds of other people. Though they live in poverty, amidst afflictions and headships, they can still receive the seeds of Dharma and find a way to liberate themselves. They can gradually accumulate good affinities by giving to others. So, “We cultivate our own field of blessings and create blessed karmic affinities.”We must create good affinities with people. “By purifying our own minds, we grow in wisdom.” If we give without expectations and go among people with a pure mindset, interpersonal conflicts and other afflictions will not disturb our minds. Then naturally we will grow in wisdom and cultrate both blessings and wisdom. This leads to a “complete awakening and perfection in wisdom and action.”
Blessings and wisdom are like the two feet of the Two-Footed Honored One. Thus He can go anywhere in the world and transform Himself and all sentient beings.
Previously we said the Buddha was beginning to bestow a prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra, proving that Sariputra’s mind had already turned from the Small to the Great.
“You shall become a Buddha by the name of Flower Light Tathagata, One Worthy of offerings, One Who Is Completely Awakened, One Who Is Perfect in Wisdom and Action, the Well-Gone One, Knower of the World Unsurpassed Guide, the Tamer, Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans, Buddha, the World-Honored One.”
He will be endowed with the ten epithets and attain perfect enlightenment. Thus, in the future Sariputra will become a Buddha.
Yesterday we discussed “One Worthy of Offerings” as applied to the Blessed-field Sangha. We will now learn what it means to be One Who Is Completely Awakened.
Completely awakened means, “by being impartial toward all things, He has attained supreme enlightenment. Thus His epithet is One with Complete and Perfect Awakening.”
For short, it is One Who Is Completely Awakened. It means we are impartial toward all things. Besides being impartial toward all beings, we do not discriminate between the Great and Small [Vehicles]; all are true principles. If we have loving-kindness and compassion, then naturally, when it comes to worldly matters, we only have well-wishes and selfless great love. We give and are happy, thus everything is clear and bright to us. Whether something is big or small, it contains true principles. We thoroughly understand this. So, by being impartial toward all things, He attained supreme enlightenment.
This is the reason He is called One Who Is Completely Awakened; this is supreme, universal, perfect enlightenment. He knows all things.
Next is One Who Is Perfect in Wisdom and Action, which means His “karmic of body, speech and mind are proper, genuine and pure.”
One Who Is Perfect in Wisdom and Action: The karmic of His body, speech and mind are proper, genuine, and pure. With the power of His vows, a Buddha benefits all sentient beings and cultivates all perfect actions. Thus His epithet is One Who Is Perfect in Wisdom and Action.
This means our conduct must be proper, our speech must be proper, and our thoughts must be proper. In terms of our conduct, if we have taken the Dharma to heart, and if the Dharma is in our minds, then we will manifest the Dharma in our actions. What about our speech? Whenever we open our mouths, we speak the Dharma and kind words. Whether we have cultivated ourselves and whether we can form good karmic affinities with everyone can be seen in these three ways we create karma. What kind of karma do we create with our bodies? Whether we are giving to others or helping others, we are acting with our bodies. When everyone can feel very joyful and at ease, it is because we explained things very clearly. Thus their minds can be free of doubts and can be filled with helpful teachings. This is how we cultivate the karma of speech. We teach the Dharma with speech; everything we say is virtuous Dharma.
Of course, whatever we do with our bodies or say with our mouths must first come from our minds. Our minds are what we must constantly nurture. If our minds always abide in virtuous Dharma, then our every action and every word will be virtuous. Therefore, our minds are very important. We must make an effort to organize our minds so that our thoughts are pure and bountiful, rich with many seeds of goodness. Then everything we say will be kind and wholesome.
So, [karma] must be “proper, genuine, and pure”. When our minds are filled with good seeds, with good causes, naturally everything we do will create good karmic conditions. There is also the power of our vows. We must not forget the Four Great Vows. The Four Great Vows are all about benefiting all sentient beings. So, one who cultivates all perfect actions is. One Who Is Perfect in Wisdom and Action. The vows we made must never be forgotten. We must never forget our initial aspiration; the mindset we had at the beginning must not be forgotten. Therefore, we will always be benefiting all sentient beings. To attain Buddhahood, we must achieve this. Our body, speech and mind must be pure, and we must also constantly benefit sentient beings. As we benefit sentient beings, we must also engage in our own spiritual practice. Then, as we move through this world, we can go anywhere in the Three Realms without any faults. Thus our wisdom and conduct are perfect, very harmonious and complete. With the Dharma in our hearts and actions, everything will be perfect. Then we are “perfect in wisdom and action”. Next we speak of the Well-Gone One.
“The Well-Gone One” means, with infinite wisdom, a Buddha puts an end to all delusions and attains the fruit of Buddhahood so He can come and go freely. Thus His epithet is the Well-Gone One”.
Infinite wisdom can put an end to all delusions. “Delusions” cause us to lack clarity about things. We do not know what is important, so everything we do is improper and mistaken. That happens when we are without wisdom. So, we need to [develop] infinite wisdom. Only with infinite wisdom can we eliminate all kinds of ignorance, afflictions and delusions. We must completely eliminate our ignorance. With a pure mind an a proper direction, we can walk the Bodhisattva-path directly towards the state of the Buddha. So, we can “attain the fruit of Buddhahood”. This is what we practice by going among people. So, walking the Bodhisattva-path is very important. By interacting with others, not only can we attain wisdom, we can also create blessed karmic affinities. This is the Bodhisattva-practice, which is the broadest Bodhi-path, we can take to attain the fruit of Buddhahood. If we are on this path, we can come and go [in the world] freely. Whether our karmic affinities come from this life or were created in a previous lifetime, we all gather here at this moment. If we have even greater blessings and stronger good affinities, then we will follow the Buddha and listen to Buddha-Dharma, lifetime after lifetime; the Buddha’s Dharmakaya will always be with us. In this way, our every step will be on the Bodhisattva-path and for life after life we will not deviate from the Dharma nor from the Bodhi-path; we will come and go freely.
The Buddha has attained this state, so He is endowed with the ten epithets. Sariputra will be the same in the future. The “Knower of the World” understands all teachings, both worldly and world-transcending, of the karmic law of cause and effect.
“Knower of the World: All teachings, worldly and world-transcending, of the karmic law of cause and effect are known to a Buddha. He has the wisdom to transform others and fully understand the world, so He is the Knower of the World.”
Whether we are in a worldly or world-transcending [state], we live in this world. Although it is a dangerous place, it is also a place of blessings. among the multitudes of beings, there are all kinds of species. The Five Destinies can all be found in this world. The heaven, human, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms are the Five Destinies. So, in the human realm, we find all different kinds of mentalities. Manmade calamities also originate from human minds and can create hell on earth.
When we look at recent news reports, we see that in man nations, a minor event can trigger agitation in the minds of many people. There are so many refugees who are scattered among many nations. They do not know what will happen from one day to the next. This suffering is tremendous. This is how people’s unwholesome actions create hell on earth.
In the human realm, some people behave like animals. They do not repay their parents’ kindness, and they are not filial. They do not recognize the grace of their parents. Some people even commit incest. Some people commit crimes against others and disturb other people the way asuras do. So, there are those in the animal realm, as well as people who are more like animals.
As for hungry ghosts, look at all those people who are starving. They do not have any water or food. It is like they are in a hungry ghost realm. We see people like this in our world .therefore, we must understand that there is so much suffering in this world because of the [causes of] suffering that we humans have accumulated. We should know the teachings behind this. How can we transcend this world? We need to engage in spiritual practice and purify our minds. We must understand all the teachings of the law of cause and effect. Then we can transform ourselves and others. With this kind of wisdom, we will be understanding.
One who understands all worldly teachings is called Knower of the World. No matter how we live our lives, we must live a good life. Benefiting humankind is something we must make an effort to do. So, we need to be understanding of worldly and world-transcending matters. Unsurpassed Guide means one who has completely eliminated karma and delusions.
“Unsurpassed Guide:
Having completely eliminated karma and delusions, there is nothing more to eliminate. So, in the Three Realms, among heavenly beings and humans, ordinary people and noble beings, a Buddha is supreme and unparalleled.Thus His epithet is the Unsurpassed Guide.
In terms of karma, we must not create bad karma We must completely eliminate ignorance and afflictions from our minds. So, we need to eliminated them until there is nothing more to eliminate; we must achieve that state of purity. In the Three Realms, among heavenly beings and humans, ordinary people and noble beings, He is supreme and unparalleled. So, He is the Unsurpassed Guide. The supremely, universally, perfectly enlightened Great Enlightened One is the most noble; no one surpasses Him. So, He is the Unsurpassed Guide.
Next, we will talk about the Tamer. A Buddha, with great compassion and wisdom, can train all stubborn sentient beings. With compassion, wisdom and gentle voice, He transforms them and enable them to aspire to cultivate the Path.
This is an analogy for how sentient beings’ stubbornness can be overcome. The Buddha is like an animal trainer who can tame tigers, leopards, lions and elephants. No matter how fierce, He has methods to tame them all. In the human realm, sentient beings are unyielding and difficult to train. He still applies compassion and wisdom, loving-kindness and gentle words, along with other means, to train them and inspire them to engage in spiritual cultivation.
Next is Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans, the guiding teacher of heavenly beings and humans. A “Buddha” is perfect in great enlightened conduct. A world-Honored One is one who is most venerated. No one else is comparable to Him.
The Buddha has already awakened to the truth of all things in the universe. However vast the universe is, the Buddha’s enlightenment is just as vast. This means ordinary people like us must engage in spiritual cultivation with perseverance.With our initial aspirations, that state of mind, we accurately point ourselves along this path. We must pave a smooth road through this world to connect to the great Bodhi-path. Then everything will be complete and perfect; that is when we will attain Buddhahood. Sariputra will attain Buddhahood. He will be perfectly endowed with the ten epithets. Only then has he truly “attained Buddhahood”. When we learn the Buddha’s Way, we are aiming to do the same. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
