Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Practice and Abide in a Place of Firmness (立行安住堅固地)
Date: February.17. 2015
“Deeply cultivate truths and unconditioned Dharma to enter True Suchness with tranquility and clarity. Forever and extensively uphold and Great Vows to practice and abide in a place of firmness.”
We often say that the Root of Faith must be deeply planted, then we can understand the principles. The principles of absolute truth are what we call unconditioned Dharma. Unconditioned Dharma is found in our daily living. Though we cannot see of feel it, it is always present in all of our actions, in all the karma we create, and so on. All of the material things that we use also exist within this unconditioned Dharma. You may be holding a pen and a notebook in your hands. The notebook is made of paper. Where did this paper come from? We know it comes from paper pulp. What is paper pulp made of? It is made of trees. Where are the trees? In the mountain forests. Where did the trees in the forest come from? They came from tree seeds. How do tree seeds turn into trees? From causes and conditions. Starting with the land, that piece of land and the air surrounding it, the conditions can gradually come to maturity. The seed becomes a sapling, and then a large tree. Over time, in this land, under natural conditions, the tree gradually takes shape.
So, I often talk about time and space. Time and space bring all things to fruition. For something to come into being and have a name, its underlying principles require many causes and conditions to converge. This is how what was originally a tree eventually came to be the notebook that you are holding in your hands. And what about your pen? Whether it is made of plastic, or tin, copper, wood or any other material, it nevertheless must have a cartridge. Where does this cartridge come from? It also comes from the land.
All things arise from causes and conditions. There are many natural resources in the land. We remove them and refine them, and they become the raw material for plastic, which can be formed into the shape of a pen. These raw materials only produce plastic; there is still no way to write with it. We still need a cartridge for the pen, and where does the ink come from? Therefore, everything in the world and everything we use in our daily living follows its underlying principles. All these things must pass through many different stages in their manufacturing process. So, they arise through causes and conditions. And when their original causes and conditions are exhausted, they can meet with other causes and conditions to produce something different, so they have a new name and function. These are the workings of unconditioned Dharma.
Originally these things did not exist; there were only all these different kinds of things that we then destroy, breaking down their original substance, then bringing all these things together and using all kinds of machinery to form them into something. This is just like what our recycling Bodhisattvas do. They protect the earth by collecting things that no longer work or things that were once used by other people. Originally, other people acquired these things. They were manufactured, then after people use them, they no longer want them, so they throw them away. Our volunteers gather up these things. After they collect these discarded things, they carefully sort them. After sorting them, they put them through machines that break them down into their raw materials.Then these raw materials are transformed into a variety of products that we are using today.
This is the same principle; everything goes through a cycle.It comes into being, then it is destroyed.After it is destroyed, it goes through another cycle and becomes something else.Its form is endlessly changing, but its original substance and underlying principles [remain the same,] even if we cannot see that within this substance the principles still exist.This truly is amazing and wonderful!
“Everything is empty in nature.”Nothing will exist permanently.
All things in this world go through “formation, existence, decay and disappearance”.After they “disappear” cause and conditions can converge again to give rise to a new “formation” and a new cycle of “formation, existence, decay and disappearance”.
Similarly, we humans go through a cycle of birth, again, illness and death.The same principle applies here.
Once we leave this body, this “self” ceases to exist in the world.
But the “self” then goes on to a different place, when sufficient causes and conditions converge.A previous sutra passage mentioned direct retributions and circumstantial retributions.
Where will we be born?We bring nothing with us at all.We simply follow the causes we have planted in our karmic consciousness to a place we have a karmic affinity with.
Upon arriving in that place, our life begins with “birth”.Then the environment of that household and the environment and culture of that country shape our development.
I am speaking Taiwanese now.But where will my circumstantial retributions take me in my next lifetime?What language will I speak?It will depend on the country where I will be born, on the language and the culture there, as well as my family background.
This is called circumstantial retribution.
But what about direct retribution?In the future, what ill my direct retribution be like?I cannot know that right now.In summary, we go through “birth, aging, illness and death,” death and rebirth in an endless cycle.As for the mind, our thoughts go through “arising, abiding, changing and ceasing,” so it is difficult to calm down our minds.
Very easily, once [discursive] thoughts arise, the objects of desire in our external conditions entice us, and our minds follow.So, when we see something, our minds begin to focus on it, and we constantly think about how we can acquire it, how we can satisfy our greed and how we can take it for our own.Thus we begin to create karma.
So, “arising, abiding, changing and ceasing,” come from our worries about gaining and losing things.This leads to much suffering and gives rise to so many afflictions and causes and conditions [for creating] karma.Thus we are unable to understand principles.Only the Buddha can explain so many principles such that we “grasp one truth and understand all truths”.Then we realize that, “All conditioned phenomena are like a dream, and illusion, a bubble, a shadow”.We can understand all of this, however, the Buddha also told us that we all have an everlasting and enduring nature of True Suchness.
So, we are practicing in order to rediscover our nature of True Suchness.To enter True Suchness, the method He taught us is to have tranquility and clarity.So, now that we know the Dharma, we should forever uphold our great aspirations.We have aspired to engage in spiritual practice, and the Lotus Sutra teaches us how to set aside the Small [Vehicle] for the Great.Thus we learn that suffering comes from all the karma we ourselves create.Suffering is the result of our negative karmic causes and conditions.We face suffering today because we created negative causes and negative conditions in the past, which bring with them the suffering in life.
Understanding this, we must promptly “vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood”.But to complete the path to Buddhahood, we must eliminate afflictions, learn the boundless Dharma, ect.So, after we make this aspiration, we should forever and extensively uphold it.We must always form great aspirations and make great vows.We should seize them and sustain them forever.We must do this forever; this is how we persist with the power of our vows.
These great vows are inseparable from the [Four] Great Vows.
Every Buddha “vows to deliver countless sentient beings”.
In the process of transforming sentient beings.They “vows to eliminate endless afflictions”.If we want to transform sentient beings, we must eliminate our afflictions.Otherwise, “When trying to transform sentient beings, we are instead transformed by them.”
So, we must be very careful and eliminate our afflictions.We interact with people because there is infinite Dharma among them; the workings of the world are all there for us to understand.
After seeing the impurities in the world, we will truly cherish the pure Dharma.
If we are truly able to eliminate all afflictions and clearly understand the Buddha-Dharma,then naturally when we are among people, we will certainly remain unaffected by interpersonal conflicts and afflictive emotions; they will not influence us. Then we will naturally “practice and abide in a place of firmness”. The previous sutra passage states,
“Flower Light Tathagata after 12 small kalpas pass, will bestow upon Firm and Complete Bodhisattva the prediction of attaining. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi”.
Do you know who Flower Light Tathagata is? He is Sariputra. After Sariputra went through a very difficult and long period, he rediscovered his aspiration to carry out the Four Great Vows. Sariputra finally attained realizations when he heard the Lotus teachings. Thus he vows again to transform sentient beings. At that moment, the Buddha bestowed a prediction upon Sariputra that he will attain Buddhahood and be called Flower Light Tathagata, and the land where he will do so will be particularly magnificent and prosperous. Most people there will be like heavenly beings, and all will be Bodhisattvas. It will be a very pure, very harmonious world. It will be a very unified world. People will also have long lives.
How long will Flower Light Tathagata live? 12 small kalpas. Yes, Flower Light Tathagata’s lifespan is 12 small kalpas, but even such a long lifespan will come to an end. So, at that time, Flower Light Tathagata will also need to transmit the Dharma. So, at that time, from among all the Bodhisattvas, Flower Light Buddha will bestow a prediction upon Firm and Complete Bodhisattva, that he will attain Buddhahood, which is Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. So, the Buddha again said to everyone.
“He will announce to the bhiksus, Firm and Complete Bodhisattva will be the next to become a Buddha and will be named Complete Lotus and Peaceful Conduct”.
Flower Light Tathagata will bestow a prediction on Firm and Complete Bodhisattva that he will attain Buddhahood and his name will be Complete Lotus and Peaceful Conduct. Here, Sakyamuni Buddha was speaking of the future, that after Flower Light Tathagata become a Buddha, He will bestow predictions on a future Buddha. This is called transmitting the Dharma-essence, or continuing the Dharma-lineage. The lineage must be continually passed down. Therefore, at the beginning of this sutra passage, He spoke of how [this future Buddha] will attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, which is supreme, universal, perfect enlightenment.
“[His epithets will be] Tathagata, Arhat, Samyak-sambuddha. His Buddha-land will be like that of Flower Light Buddha.”
The land [of this future Buddha] will be like that of Flower Light Tathagata. It will also be very pure and will also be full of Bodhisattvas. Let us have a look at the word “Tathagata”.
“Tathagata is a Sanskrit word that means Thus Come One. Arhat means One Worthy of Offerings Samyak-sambuddha is One Who is Completely Awakened. This means that upon attaining Buddhahood, one will achieve Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, perfect enlightenment.”
One who attains perfect enlightenment will also have the perfect enlightened conduct of a Buddha. With enlightened conduct, one is endowed with the ten epithets. Among the ten epithets are. Thus Come One, 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 and so on. Of the ten epithets, the first three are used [in this passage]. This signifies that when Complete Lotus and Peaceful Conduct Tathagata attains the state of perfect enlightenment, He will be endowed with the ten epithets. The Buddha then called on Sariputra again.
“Sariputra, after Flower Light Buddha enters Parinirvana, Right Dharma will abide in the world for 32 small kalpas. Dharma-semblance will also abide in the world for 32 small kalpas.”
No matter how long [a lifespan is], it will come to an end. After Flower Light Buddha enters Parinirvana, the Right Dharma will abide in the world for 32 small kalpas, which is a very long time. In this Saha World, the karma of sentient beings is severe. After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, the Right Dharma only abided in the world for 1000 years. It was followed by the era of Dharma-semblance.
“The era of Dharma-semblance will also abide in the world for 32 small kalpas”. But the era of Dharma-semblance in the Saha World was only about 1000 years. We are now living over 2500 years after the lifetime of Sakyamuni Buddha. This is the era of Dharma-degeneration. But when Sariputra becomes Flower Light Buddha, he will do so in a land with great longevity. Flower Light Buddha will live for 12 small kalpas and the people in that land will live for 8 small kalpas, which is also a long time. But the era of Dharma-semblance following Him will be even longer. It will last 32 small kalpas. The era of Right Dharma before it will also last 32 small kalpas. These eras will last a very long time. When Right Dharma abides in the world, we can encounter the Buddha and understand [the teachings]. We can see the Buddha and hear the Dharma. This is during the era of the Right Dharma.
So, when Right Dharma abided in the world, the teachings ad practices were widely available. Thus people followed the teachings and engaged in spiritual practice accordingly. During that period, may people were able to attain realizations.
By the time of the era of Dharma-semblance, when Dharma-semblance abided in the world, the Right Dharma had gradually deteriorated. Its [presence] had weakened over time. In the era of Dharma-semblance, people sculpted many images of the Buddha.
“If Dharma-semblance abides in the world, Right Dharma has already deteriorated. There is only that which resembles teachings and appears practice, so only a few attain realizations.”
Right now in Myanmar there are Buddha caves and Buddhist temples everywhere. In Thailand there are very opulent temples. There are entire mountains in China, like those at Dunhuang, and even places as far away as Afghanistan, filled with images and status of the Buddha. People have even turned the Buddha’s teachings into a series of images. They take the sutra text, create a storyline from it, then illustrate it in carvings.
So, in these Buddha caves, we find many of these stories. This is like reading an illustrated version of the sutra. These were created during the era of Dharma-semblance. During the era of Dharma-semblance, some sutras were very popular People carved them or printed them and so on; they flourished. On the surface, it seemed as if the Buddha-Dharma was flourishing. But it was very superficial and based on creating images. This was just the appearance of spiritual practice. So, this was called the era of Dharma-semblance.
These only “appeared like practice.”People appeared to engage in spiritual cultivation but by this time, very few people attained realizations. They practiced without attaining realizations, because they were not truly mindful in their practice and did not realize the Buddha’s true principles. So, this only “appeared like practice.” They only seemed to engage in spiritual practice, so no one attained realizations. If any did, they understood just a little bit, only a tiny amount.
This continued until the era of Dharma-degeneration. In this “era of Dharma-degeneration,” although “the teachings remain,” although the Buddha’s teachings still exist, “neither practice nor realizations are present.”Those who genuinely put the Dharma into practice are very few in number.
So, we must mindfully engage in spiritual practice. With the Buddha-Dharma in the world, though we are in the era of Dharma-degeneration, a time when sentient beings are evil and defiled, this is a good time for us. We must continuously accumulate good deeds, benefit others and form good karmic affinities. As I said several days ago, “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” How can you be a Bodhisattva if you do not live I a world with suffering beings?
Take doctors, for example. If there were no patients, why would there be a need for doctors? So in order to train ourselves to return to our pure Tathagata-nature, we must follow the Bodhisattva-path and go among people. By interacting with them, we can see all the working of the world and verity the pure and undefiled Buddha-Dharma. Thus we return to our intrinsic nature Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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