Universal Worthy's Conduct and Vows

Chapter Forty

 

 

The Eighth Vow: To Always Study With the Buddhas

Sutra:

“Moreover, Good Man, to always study with the Buddhas is explained like this: I will be like Vairochana Thus Come One of this Saha World who, from the time he first resolved his mind, never retreated from vigor. He gave up ineffably ineffable numbers of bodies and lives. He peeled off his skin for paper, split his bones to fashion brushes, drew blood for ink, and wrote out sutras stacked as high as Mount Sumeru. Because he valued the Dharma, he did not cherish his own body or life.

Commentary:  

"Moreover, Good Man, Universal Worthy again called out to the Youth Good Wealth. What is the meaning of to always study with the Buddhas? It is explained like this. I will now explain it for you. It means to be like Vairochana, the Thus Come One of this Saha World. "To be like" means to follow the example and try to be the same as Vairochana Buddha.

Saha is Sanskrit; its meaning is "bearable." This world is very difficult for all creatures to bear, yet they are still able to bear it. How is it that this world is so difficult for all living beings? In this world everything is suffering, and even the happiness in this world is not real happiness, but is the cause of suffering. All the dharmas in this world are defiled and without purity; the world is all bitter suffering.

How is happiness the cause of suffering? For example, most people like to wear new clothes, and putting on a new outfit is considered a happy event. But when you are not careful and spill soup on it, or get it dirty some other way, you get afflicted, and this is suffering.

People especially like wealth. Although you acquire much during your life, when you die you cannot take it with you; nevertheless, while you are alive, you keep track of every cent. When you are without money, you devise ways to get it, and after you have it, you are afraid you will lose it. If you do not have any wealth, you greedily long for it and this is suffering. After you get it and are afraid of losing it, this is also suffering. You are not aware of these mental and emotional states as suffering however, because you are so busy worrying about obtaining and losing it. During your life you have fears about not having wealth and fears about losing it, but when you die, you cannot take along one penny. You tell me, is this suffering or happiness?

Everyone in the world is fond of these two things, new clothes and wealth, and so these makes good examples, but all the other kinds of happiness are causes for suffering too. Because you have not yet awakened to this fact, you are able to bear this world, and so it is called the "Saha World."

Vairochana Buddha is the Thus Come One of this Saha World who, from the time he first resolved his mind, never retreated from vigor. Vairochana is Sanskrit and means "pervading everywhere;" it refers to the Dharma Body of the Buddha. Nishyanada Buddha's Dharma Body is called Vairochana Buddha. When Shakyamuni Buddha first resolved to attain Bodhi, he met the ancient Shakya and made offerings to him, vowing to be just like him. He was a potter then, and made bricks, tiles, tea cups, and so forth. When he saw the Shakya of old, he vowed never to retreat, but to be vigorous in body and mind, day in and day out and at all time, never to be lax or lazy in his cultivation.

He gave up ineffably ineffable numbers of bodies and lives. For an ineffably ineffable number of lives, he renounced his body and life and gave them away. For example, before Shakyamuni became a Buddha, he met Burning Lamp Buddha and made an offering to him with his body. Burning Lamp Buddha walking along the road, had come upon a large puddle of water; Shakyamuni, seeing an old Bhikshu coming, lay down in the water so that the old Bhikshu could walk across his body. This is giving one's body, using one's body to help others.

Most of us would think that Shakyamuni's actions were stupid. Could he not have used sticks and boards rather than his body to provide a way for the old Bhikshu to cross the water? That is pretty smart, but Shakyamuni Buddha did not think of such an ingenious method. If he had, then it is not certain that Burning Lamp Buddha would have given him a prediction of Buddhahood, because he would still have had a concern for himself. He still would have had an attachment to his body. Lying in the water showed that he was without a notion of a self but only wished to help land benefit other beings. He practiced the Bodhisattva path, and paying no attention to himself, he lay down in the water to help an old Bhikshu walk across a ditch.

Shakyamuni was a practicing ascetic at that time, but even though ascetics do not cut their hair or their beards, still they are not hippies, so do not think that Shakyamuni was a hippie. I saw an article written by a Chinese person who said that Confucius was a hippie. this is total rubbish, and only amounts to confusing the false with the true and spreading false stories.

When Burning Lamp Buddha saw that this Bhikshu was so sincere that he lay down on the road to serve as a bridge across the mud, he made a prediction for Shakyamuni and said, "In the future you will become a Buddha. You cultivate the Bodhisattva path in this manner, and I do too. Thus it is, thus it is. In the future you will be a Buddha named Shakyamuni."

This is how Shakyamuni Buddha practiced on the causal ground, offering up his body and life as gifts. He did this in each life for immeasurable aeons past, continuing until the present, perfecting the Bodhisattva path.

Vairochana Buddha is the pure, all-pervasive Dharma Body Buddha. Vairochana means "to pervade everywhere." The Buddhas' Dharma Body is both non-existent and not non-existent, because there is nowhere that it exists and nowhere that it does not exist.

What does it mean to say that there is nowhere that the Dharma Body Buddha exists? If we say that there is nowhere that it does not exist, then it is everywhere, but why do we not see it? Since we do not see it, does this not prove that it does not exist?

Whether we see it or not, it still exists. Because it pervades all places, it is said that there is not place where it does exist, and there is no place where it does not exist. It fills up the entire universe to the ends of the Dharma Realm.

Someone may ask, "You say that it extends everywhere; does this include filthy places like toilets?" Not only does it exist in toilets, but it exists in places which are even more filthy. The Buddhas Dharma Body exhausts empty space to the limits of the Dharma Realm. The Buddhas Dharma Body is neither defiled nor pure, neither produced nor destroyed, and neither increasing nor decreasing. Shakyamuni Buddha gave his body and life in cultivating the Bodhisattva path to seek the unsurpassed path of the Buddha Dharma Body.

He peeled off his skin for paper. He stripped skin from his body to use as paper. He split his bones to fashion brushes, and drew blood for ink. Shakyamuni Buddha used his bones for pen, his blood for ink, and his skin for paper and wrote out Sutras stacked as high as Mount Sumeru. He used his skin for paper, his bones for brushes, and his blood for ink to write out Sutras.

Why didn't Shakyamuni go buy some paper, brushes, and ink to write out Sutras? The principle here is the same as the one which applied when Shakyamuni Buddha used his body to make a bridge in the mud. You could explain this by saying that there was no paper in India at that time when the Sutras were compiled, so Shakyamuni Buddha could not obtain any paper. What did they use in its place? They wrote out the Sutras on palm leaves. If one was to lay out the leaves upon which the Dharma Flower Sutra was written, they would stretch for about two and a half miles.

When Shakyamuni Buddha was practicing the Bodhisattva path and seeking the Buddhadharma, science had not progressed much and there was no such thing as paper as we know it, and certainly no such thing as a paper company. So paper could not be purchased anywhere. Unlike today, when paper is easily obtainable and books can be printed easily, things were not so convenient then. There was nowhere to buy paper, brushes, or ink. So he used his skin for paper, his bones for brushes, and his blood for ink to write out the Sutras.

In China, bamboo was used to write on before paper was invented. Bamboo was split and tied together to make writing tablets. In the past, the Book of History, the Book of Poetry and the Book of Changes, and all the other ancient classics, were written out on bamboo. So do not think that paper, brushes, and ink have always existed.

Besides the lack of a place to buy these things, there was another reason for him to use his skin, bones and blood to write out Sutras. He had forgotten himself for the sake of the Dharma and did not fear suffering. For the sake of the Dharma he feared nothing and renounced his blood, bones, and skin to write out Sutras. Because he had such dedication, you can say he gave up his body in search of the Buddhadharma. He used his skin, bones, and blood to write out a stack of Sutras as high as Mount Sumeru.

Because he valued the Dharma, he did not cherish his own body or life. In Hong Kong now, there is a monk named Shou Yeh. Some years ago at Wu T'ai Mountain, he built a small hut, and was the Abbot both there and at Bodhi Temple in Shanghai. Later he went to Vietnam and built a very large temple, but when the Vietnam war started, he returned to Hong Kong. He used his blood, obtained by cutting his tongue and body, to write out the Flower Adornment Sutra in Chinese characters two inches high. You can say that his state is inconceivable. He specialized in reciting the Flower Adornment Sutra, bowing to the Flower Adornment Sutra, and practicing the Flower Adornment Bodhimanda. This is a state of a Bodhisattva. The Buddha did not even cherish his own body and life.

Sutra:  

How much the less did he crave a king’s throne, cities, towns, palaces, gardens, groves, or any material things at all. He exerted himself to the extreme in the different kinds of difficult ascetic practices.  

Commentary:  

In his past lives, Shakyamuni Buddha practiced different kinds of difficult ascetic practices and brought forth a great resolve to attain Bodhi for the sake of bringing benefit to all living beings. Therefore he cherished neither his body nor life, and he did not protect them, how much the less did he crave a king's throne. He did not cherish either his body or his life, and so how much less did he wish to become a king. If Shakyamuni Buddha had not left the home-life, he would have been a Wheel-Turning Sage King.  

There are four kinds of Wheel-Turning Sage Kings: the Gold Wheel King, the Silver Wheel King, the Copper Wheel King, and the Iron Wheel King. The Gold Wheel King rules over all Four Continents, Purvavideha in the East, Jambudvipa in the South, Aparagodaniya in the West, and Uttarakuru in the North. The Silver Wheel King rules over all but the northern continent Uttarakuru. The Copper Wheel King watches over two continents, and the Iron Wheel King takes care of one continent. Shakyamuni Buddha passed up the throne of a king to leave the home-life and cultivate.  

An emperor is a most respected person. Honored as the "Son of Heaven" in China, his wealth and blessings were as vast as four seas. Shakyamuni gave up all of this to leave the home-life and attain the Way. He renounced his country, his cities, his wife and child, all his towns, all his valuable palaces, and all his valuable gardens and groves He did not crave any material things at all and gave up everything he possessed.  

He exerted himself to the extreme in the different kinds of difficult ascetic practices, and was able to bear what is most difficult to bear. He renounced a king's throne for the opportunity to leave the home-life; and the ascetic practices which Shakyamuni Buddha cultivated in this life and in previous lives were very austere. Can most people do this?  

Sutra:  

“He accomplished the Great Enlightenment beneath the tree, manifested different kinds of spiritual powers, gave rise to different kinds of transformations, made appear different kinds of Buddha bodies, and dwelled in different kinds of assemblies. He dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of all great Bodhisattvas, the assemblies of Sound Hearers, the assemblies of Pratyeka-Buddhas.

He dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of Wheel Turning Sage Kings and the retinues of of lesser Kings. He dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of Kshatriyas, Brahmans, elders and lay people, up to and including assemblies of gods, dragons, the remaining eight divisions, humans, and non-humans. As he dwelled in various different assemblies such as these, with a voice that was full and perfect like a great thunder clap, he brought all living beings to maturity according with their likes and wishes up until the time he manifested Nirvana.  

“In all these ways I will learn from the Buddhas, and just as it is with the present World Honored One Vairochana, so it is with all the Thus Come Ones in every dust mote in all Buddhalands in the ten directions and the three periods of time, throughout the Dharma Realm and the realm of empty space. In thought after thought I will learn from them all.  

“So it is that even if the realm of empty space is exhausted, the realms of living beings are exhausted, the karma of living beings is exhausted, and the afflictions of living beings are exhausted, still my study with them is without end. It continues in thought after thought without cease. My body, mouth, and mind never weary of these deeds.  

Commentary:

He accomplished the Great Enlightenment beneath the tree. After the Buddha meditated in the Himalayas for six years, he then went to sit beneath the tree--the Bodhi Tree.

When Shakyamuni Buddha went to the mountains, his parents sent five people after him to bring him home, but rather than fulfilling their mission, they ended up cultivating with him and acted as his Dharma protectors. Three of these five, however, were unable to endure the suffering, and they soon ran off to the Deer Park to cultivate the Way.

The two remaining ascetics stayed with Shakyamuni during the time he ate one sesame seed and one grain of wheat a day, until he became just skin and bones. At that time, a heavenly maiden came to him. Some say she was a heavenly maiden, and some say she was a milk maid, but I do not think that the distinction is important. She appeared and gave the Buddha some rice gruel prepared with milk, and the Buddha accepted her offering and ate it.

As he at it, the two remaining ascetics who were still with the Buddha said, "He's had it now. So far this prince has been able to undergo suffering and cultivate the Way, but now he's taking milk from a milk maid. He can't cultivate the Way if he does things like this."

So they packed up and left, abandoning the Buddha, saying, "You are unable to undergo suffering, so we can't cultivate with you." These two also left him to go to the Deer Park.

Shakyamuni Buddha also wished to leave, and it was then that he went to sit beneath the Bodhi Tree. The Bodhi Tree was very large, covering an area of approximately one square mile. When Shakyamuni Buddha saw it he thought it was a good place, so he decided to sit beneath the Bodhi Tree and cultivate the Way, resolving, "If I don't perfect my karma of the Way, then I won't get up beneath this auspicious tree." At that time the youth named Auspicious gave him some auspicious grass, and Shakyamuni Buddha sat down on it in full lotus and cultivated the Way.

He cultivated for forty-nine days until he saw a bright star in the east and became enlightened. As it is said, "In the night he saw a bright star and enlightened to the Way," and sighing three times he said,

Strange indeed, strange indeed, strange indeed,
All living beings have the Buddha Nature and can become Buddhas
It is only because of their false thinking and attachments that they cannot certify to it.

Why is it that living being do not become Buddhas? Because they have false thinking and attachments.

He manifested different kinds of spiritual powers. He manifested the wonderful function of spiritual powers and changes and brought forth all kinds of inconceivable states. He gave rise to different kinds of transformations, made appear different kinds of Buddha bodies. He brought forth by transformation all kinds of Buddhas' bodies, and also brought forth the pure Dharma Body of Vairochana Buddha, the perfect Reward Body Nishyanda Buddha, and hundreds of thousands of millions of Transformation Body Shakyamuni Buddhas.

He manifested all these many different kinds of Buddhas' bodies, to the extent that he manifested bodies going throughout the ten directions accomplishing Buddhahood, and dwelled in different kinds of assemblies. He spoke Dharma for everyone in all the many Dharma assemblies. Perhaps he dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of all great Bodhisattvas. He spoke Dharma and lectured Sutras for all the great Bodhisattvas who came together.

Or the assemblies of sound hearers, the assemblies of Pratyekabuddhas: he also explained the Sutras and spoke Dharma for the gatherings of those of the Two Vehicles who had set up Bodhimandas, the Sound Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. Or he dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of Wheel Turning Sage Kings and the retinues of lesser kings. Previously I explained that there are four kinds of Wheel-Turning Kings: the Gold-Wheel-Turning King, the Silver-Wheel-Turning King, the Copper-Wheel-Turning King, and Iron-Wheel-Turning King. The Gold Wheel King rules everywhere beneath the Four Heavens, and he possesses Seven Precious Jewels.

These Seven Jewels are not gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, mother-of-pearl, red pearls, and carnelian. What are they? The first is the Wheel Jewel. When the Gold Wheel King rides on his Wheel Jewel, he can go faster than a rocket. In two hours he can travel everywhere beneath the Four Heavens and do all kinds of things. The Wheel Jewel is a flying wheel which can travel on land, on the sea, and in space. It can even travel in fire.

The Wheel-Turning King's second jewel is the Elephant Jewel, the white Elephant Jewel. When the Wheel-Turning King rides on his elephant, he can move about very quickly.

His third jewel is the Purple Horse Jewel. This horse is a dragon horse, which can also travel on the earth, on water, and can gallop rapidly through space.

The Wheel-Turning King also has the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, which is also called the Wish Fulfilling Pearl. This spiritual pearl manifests all kinds of spiritual powers so that whatever the King thinks about actually appears.

The King's fifth jewel is called Jade Woman. Whenever he wishes, a beautiful woman will come to him.

He also has the Jewel of Capable Ministers of the Treasury. Because he possesses this jewel, the earth open up wherever he goes and gives him whatever he wants. If he wants gold, it open up and gives him gold. By means of this jewel, he can obtain whatever valuables he wishes for.

The Wheel-Turning King's seventh jewel is called the General Jewel. When he must deploy the military forces, he does not need to use ordinary soldiers, but by using this General Jewel, he can call up as large an army as he wishes.

The Wheel-Turning King also has one thousand sons, each one a brave and courageous warrior who is especially heroic.

"Lesser kings" are kings of lesser stature than Wheel-Turning Kings. The Buddha dwelled in the Bodhimandas of the assemblies of all these kings. He dwelled amidst the assemblies in the Bodhimandas of Kshatriyas, Brahmans, elders, and lay people. "Kshatriyas" are a high ranking social class in India, the ruling class of India. "Brahmans" are those whose conduct is pure, who cultivate pure practices.

"Elders" are old people with great blessings, and "lay people" are the laity. The Buddha dwells in all of those assemblies, up to and including assemblies of gods, dragons, and the remaining eight divisions, and humans and non-humans. When he became a Buddha he also dwelled in the Bodhimandas of the assemblies of gods, dragons, and the remainder of the Eight divisions, as well s humans and non-humans.

As he dwelled in various different assemblies such as these, with a voice which was full and perfect--the perfect sound of the Buddha is like a great thunder clap, just like a great clap of thunder resounding in the air--he brought all living beings to maturity according with their likes and wishes. He followed along with the wishes of living beings and brought them all to maturity, causing those living beings who had not yet planted good roots to plant good roots; those who had already planted good roots to increase them; and those who had increased their good roots to bring them to maturity. He also caused those whose good roots had matured to obtain liberation.

Up until the time he manifested Nirvana--at the end of this life he entered Nirvana and obtained its Four Virtues: permanence, bliss, true self, and purity. In all these ways I will learn from the Buddhas. Just as he practices all the many ascetic practices and explains the Dharma in all Bodhimandas, so too, I will do the same. I will accordingly study these many methods of practice.

And just as it is with the present World Honored One Vairochana, the pure Dharma Body Buddha, who pervades everywhere, and who cultivated all methods of practice amidst assemblies in the myriads of Bodhimandas, so it is with all the Thus Come Ones in every dust mote in all Buddhalands in the tend directions and the three periods of time throughout the Dharma Realm and the realm of empty space. In thought after thought, in each and every thought, I will learn from them all. I will always study and cultivate the methods of practice of all Buddhas.

So it is that even if the realm of empty space is exhausted, I will continue with my study and practice in this way. Even when the realm of empty space no longer exists, when the realms of living beings are exhausted, the karma of living beings is exhausted, and the afflictions of living beings are exhausted, still my study with them is without end. Even when the realms of living beings are empty, the karma of living beings is empty, and the afflictions of living beings are empty, nevertheless my vow to study with the Buddhas will never end. It continues in thought after thought without cease. I will learn from the Buddhas in thought after thought and my study will never end. My body, mouth, and mind never weary of these deeds. My body, mouth, and mind will continue these deeds without every tiring. There will never be a time when I become tired, lazy, or when I grow weary of the Buddhadharma.

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