Bodhisattvas Asks for Clarification

Chapter Ten

 

 

To summarize the verses that have already been explained, they encompass the Three Natures. Sentient beings have false thoughts and attachments, so that where there was no trouble to begin with, they create it; and, when nothing needs to be done, they create something to do. Turning their backs on enlightenment, they unite with defilement. Turning one’s back on enlightenment is simply being without any wisdom. And uniting with defilement is just being foolish. Out of foolishness, one grasps at the empty and illusory states of conditioned dharmas.

What are the Three Natures? The first is the Nature that Pervasively Calculates and Becomes Attached. The second is the Nature that Arises Dependent on Something Other than Itself. The third is the Perfectly Accomplished Real Nature. To explain the Nature that Pervasively Calculates and Becomes Attached, we can use the example of walking along a dark road at night. One sees a dark shadow and mistakes it for a ghost. Using the Nature that Pervasively Calculates and Becomes Attached, you think, “Oh! What is that dark shape?! It must be a ghost!!” 

But upon careful scrutiny of the supposed ghost, the Nature Dependent on Something Other than Itself takes a clearer look at the object and you find it originally was only the branch, or perhaps the root, of a tree. Then you realize that you made such a big deal over nothing more than a dark shadow. There is a similar analogy to explain this. Again, someone is walking along a road at night, and what he sees before him is actually a piece of rope. But when he sees it he thinks, “Oh no!! There’s a snake!!!” Basically it is only a piece of rope, but because he is apprehensive. The Nature that Pervasively Calculates and Becomes Attached rose up and grasped and he thinks, “Oh? What is that? It must be a snake!”

But then, taking a closer look for himself, using the Nature Dependent on Something Other than Itself, he sees that originally it was just a piece of rope. Because he had not clearly recognized it, he mistook it for a snake. The same thing happens if we see a root of a tree and mistake it for a tiger and become extremely frightened. He got scared because of the Nature that Pervasively Calculates and Becomes Attached. Then the Nature Dependent on Something Other than Itself looks more closely, he examines the rope, takes it apart, and it becomes hemp. The hemp is fundamentally empty, and that is realized by means of the Perfectly Accomplished Real Nature.

All people have vain and unreal attachments that they are unable to break through. So they mistake the false for the true; they take suffering as bliss. Born into this world deluded, they cannot see anything clearly. Not seeing things clearly, they sink ever deeper into confusion. Turning their backs on enlightenment, they unite with defilement. If you can turn your back on defilement and unite with enlightenment, if you can let go of defiled thoughts concerning worldly dharmas, you return to the purity of your own nature. 

But if you cannot do that, then your original, true and proper wisdom will not come forth.

You comment, “Oh, that person has such a good memory and is so bright.” Those qualities come from having less false thinking. But even though one may presently be enjoying the reward of keen intelligence from having had very little false thinking in a past life, if he strikes up a lot of false thinking in this present life, that intelligence will erode so that come next life, he will be foolish.

People who are unable to make use of their own wisdom produce deluded false thoughts. If you know how to use your own wisdom, you will not have any false thoughts. False thoughts are just discriminations; wisdom is not engaging in those mental discriminations. It is being free of any attachments. A person with wisdom will know what to do in any situation he encounters, without even having had to think about it. If in confronting situations you awaken to them, you can transcend the world; If in confronting situations you are confused by them, you fall beneath the wheel.

If you do not understand the situations you encounter, you will be like the person yesterday who asked, “We are not supposed to have any discriminating thoughts or attachments. But then how can we get things done?”

With wisdom, you will be able to handle every situation, no matter what comes up. Without it, you will be at a loss in every situation, and will find it impossible to complete your tasks. People with wisdom are able to manage affairs; people without wisdom are controlled by them. Those with wisdom are able to influence states; people lacking wisdom are influence by states.

And so in listening to the sutra lectures and hearing the Dharma, you cannot “put a head on top of a head.” Basically, it is easy to understand, but you chase after a tangent, so that you change something that makes perfect sense into something incomprehensible. The further you run, the more confused you become; the harder you search, the further off you get, until you separate from your inherent nature to the point you completely forget it. What does this mean? It means that your Dharma-selecting eye is a little bit off the mark. With the Dharma-selecting eye, it will be easy for you to deal with all the dharmas you encounter—as easy as splitting bamboo with a sharp blade. You will quickly and decisively be able to cut right through any problem.

Every day we study the Buddhadharma; we want to deeply enter the Sutra Treasury and have wisdom like the sea. We should not waste our efforts on the superficial aspects of things, like an ant gnawing at the outside of a watermelon: no matter how much he gnaws at it, he will not know the melon’s sweetness. Only by boring his way inside can he obtain its full flavor. So do not linger on the surface and expend your efforts there.

III. The Profoundness of Sentient Beings’ Karmic Retributions

SUTRA:

At that time, Manjushri Bodhisattva asked Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva, “Disciple of the Buddha, all sentient beings alike are composed of the four elements. They are devoid of a self or anything pertaining to a self. Why then do some undergo suffering and some enjoy bliss; why are some respectable and others unseemly; why are some good within and others good without; why do some receive little while others receive much, sometimes receiving a direct retribution, sometimes receiving a delayed retribution, while within the Dharma Realm, there actually is no beauty or ugliness?” 

Then Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva answered in verse. 

COMMENTARY:

At that time, after all the previous verses had been spoken, Manjushri Bodhisattva, the Dharma Prince, one of the Great Bodhisattvas, asked Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva, “Disciple of the Buddha, all sentient beings alike are composed of the four elements.” He said that all sentient beings’ bodies are equal in that they all contain the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. These four elements exist to the reaches of empty space and they pervade the Dharma Realm, therefore every sentient being is composed of them.

They are devoid of a self, or anything pertaining to a self. Since they are made up of the four elements, there cannot be any self in them. Nor can any non-self be found there, either. Wishing to be free of a self, we say, “Oh, I have no self.” But there is still a “self” in that “no self” of ours. The being without a self here in the sutra means there is absolutely none at all. Being devoid of a self, how could there further be anything pertaining to a self? Even less would there be.

Since that is the case, why then do some undergo suffering and some enjoy bliss? Since there is no self or anything pertaining to a self, then who undergoes suffering? And who experiences happiness? This is what is being asked of Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva.

Why are some respectable and others unseemly? Since there is no one who receives suffering or pleasure, no self or anything pertaining to a self, then how can there still be some who are born with an upright appearance and some born ugly, with an unseemly appearance? Why are some good within and others good without? Some are especially wholesome within their bodies and minds, and there are also those who are wholesome externally. How can it be this way?

Why do some receive little while others receive much? Some receive a small amount, while other sentient beings receive a lot, at times receiving a direct retribution, at times receiving a delayed retribution. Sometimes sentient beings receive their retribution in the same lifetime they created the corresponding karma; they create evil karma in this lifetime, and undergo the retribution for that evil in this same life. Sometimes one has to wait until a future lifetime before receiving the retribution for the evil karma they create now. How is it that some receive the retribution directly while others receive their retributions in future lives?

The Sutra of Cause and Effect of the Three Periods of Time explains this clearly:

Why are some people officials at present?
Because with gold they gilded the Buddhas
In their past lives, long long ago.
Sometimes people have plentiful goods,
The reason, in fact, again is quite fair.
In the past those people gave food to the poor.
Others do not have food or drink,
Who can guess the reason why?
Before those people were plagued with a fault:
Stingy greed made them squeeze every penny.
Some people’s features are fine and perfect,
Surely the reason for such rewards
Is that fruits and flowers they offered to Buddhas.

In past lives people sponsored the gilding of Buddha images so in this life they enjoy blessings and honor. Why are some people poor in this life? It is because in the past they never gave to the poor or helped those in poverty.

Why do some people have good physiognomy in this life? It is because in the past they made offerings of flowers or lighted lamps to the Buddhas. All these previous causes bring later rewards or retributions.

While within the Dharma Realm, there actually is no beauty or ugliness. Even though it is that way, still, in the Dharma Realm there is no “good” or “bad,” no “handsome” or “homely.”

Then Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva responded in verse, saying: When Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva heard Manjushri Bodhisattva ask him those questions, he also used verses to answer. 

SUTRA:

According to what is done,
Appropriate consequences are borne.
The doer is without any being:
That is what all Buddhas say. 

COMMENTARY:

This is in answer to the question, “Why do sentient beings receive suffering or happiness? Why do some receive little and some much? Those kinds of causes and conditions were brought up, and so Jeweled Leader Bodhisattva says that according to the karma sentient beings create, they must undergo the corresponding retribution. Therefore, the ancient sage Laozi said,

Disasters and blessings are not fixed.
It is only that people call these upon themselves.
The retributions for evil and rewards for goodness
Follow one like a shadow follows its form.

Disasters are not fixed, and neither are blessings. The rewards and retributions we receive all depend on the karma we ourselves create. To know what reward or retribution you will receive in the future, you only need to observe what kind of karma you are creating right now. Good deeds bring about good karma. Evil deeds bring an unpleasant retribution. If you do good, you will receive a good reward. If you do evil you will receive an evil retribution. What is this like? It is just like the shadow that follows your body. It cannot leave you. This is true of all the karma that you create. For example, if you kill now, thus creating the karma of killing, someone will kill you in the future. If you create the karma of stealing, then in the future someone will steal from you. If you create the karma of sexual promiscuity, in the future you will be victimized by others’ sexual promiscuity. If you create karma by taking intoxicants, then in the future you will be constantly as if in a dream. And so, whatever kind of karma you create, you will undergo the corresponding retribution. That is what is meant by “According to what is done.”

Appropriate consequences are borne. Whatever the karma you create, you will undergo the corresponding retribution. That is how it is, and that is how the resulting retributions come about.

The doer is without any being: Within all this, it certainly cannot be claimed that someone is controlling you to create all that karma. That is not the case. It is you, yourself, who create it. You yourself, become deluded, create karma, and undergo the corresponding retribution. There is definitely not some deity or Heavenly Lord who is controlling you and making you create that karma.

And so the line of verse we are now explaining, “The doer is without any existence,” means that there is no doer, there is no controller, there is no one making us do this and making us not do that. It is we ourselves who undergo the retribution according to the karma we ourselves have created.

That is what all Buddhas say. All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas proclaim this principle; and, that is the way it really is.

SUTRA:

As a clear, bright mirror,
According with what confronts it,
Reflects each exact image:
Such is the nature of karma. 

COMMENTARY:

Karma is as a clear, bright mirror, / According with what confronts it, / Reflects each exact image. This clear, bright mirror is analogous to karma. “What confronts it” refers to the attributes of the undergoing of karmic retribution. Whatever karma you create, you will undergo the corresponding retribution, in the same way that a clear, bright mirror reflects the image of whatever person or object comes before it. Each of the objects has a different appearance whose image the mirror reflects. Such is the nature of karma. The nature of karma is like the clear, bright mirror. The retributions that result from the karma sentient beings create are all different.

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Question: I still do not understand why some karma bears fruit reasonably soon, while the result of some karma is delayed.

Answer: In the world at present, when people commit crimes, they are arrested by the police and put in jail to await trial and judgment. Some are detained several years before they are tried and sentenced. Others go to trial and are sentenced right away. The length of time in each case is different.

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