The Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries

Chapter Twenty-Two

 

Sutra:

“Wishing to cause living beings to know the actual nature of dharmas, they speak expansively. What do they speak about? They say that all dharmas cannot be destroyed. What dharmas cannot be destroyed? Form cannot be destroyed; feeling, thinking, activity, and consciousness cannot be destroyed. Ignorance cannot be destroyed. The dharmas of Sound Hearers cannot be destroyed. The dharmas of Solitarily Enlightened Ones cannot be destroyed. And the dharmas of Bodhisattvas cannot be destroyed.

Commentary:

Wishing to cause living beings to know the actual nature of dharmas—These Bodhisattvas know that everything whatsoever is empty and false, with no true actuality, that all is impermanent and not solid. Although they have this understanding, they still wish to cause all living beings to know the true and actual nature of dharmas. What is the true and actual nature of dharmas? This is the basic substance of dharmas which is tranquil, extinct, and profoundly quiet. Actually there is no real substance. Rather, it is like empty space.

They speak expansively. Because they understand that all is non-existent they have no attachments, and having no attachments they obtain liberation.

What do they speak about? They say that all dharmas cannot be destroyed. How is it that they can’t be destroyed? It’s because they are empty. If they had form or appearance they could be destroyed. When they have no form or appearance, what is there that can be destroyed?

What dharmas cannot be destroyed? Some dharmas can’t be destroyed. Form cannot be destroyed. Form, one of the five skandhas, cannot be destroyed. Why is it that form can’t be destroyed? It’s because it is basically empty to begin with. Feeling, thinking, activity, and consciousness cannot be destroyed. These are also basically empty to begin with. Ignorance cannot be destroyed. Ignorance is also empty. Up to and including the dharmas of Sound Hearers cannot be destroyed, that is, Suffering, Accumulation, Extinction, and the Way cannot be destroyed. The dharmas of Solitarily Enlightened Ones cannot be destroyed. That is, the Twelve Links of Conditioned Co-Production cannot be destroyed. And the dharmas of Bodhisattvas cannot be destroyed. That is, the Six Paramitas and the Ten Thousand Practices cannot be destroyed.

If you are not attached to any of these dharmas, then all are indestructible.

Sutra:

“Why is this? It is because all dharmas are not created. They have no creator. They cannot be expressed. They have no location. They are not produced. They do not arise. They do not give. They do not take. They do not move or turn. And they have no function. Bodhisattvas accomplish such a treasury of limitless wisdom.

Commentary:

Previously we discussed how the Five Skandhas of form, feeling, thinking, activity, and consciousness are dharmas that cannot be destroyed. The dharmas of Sound Hearers, of Those Enlightened to Conditions, and of Bodhisattvas are also indestructible.

Why is this? What are the causes and conditions behind all these dharmas not being able to be destroyed? It is because all dharmas are not created. They have no creator. Since there is no one that creates the dharmas, and nothing that is created, what can be destroyed?

They cannot be expressed. Since there is no one who creates them and nothing that is created, then there is nothing that can be verbally expressed.

The path of words is cut off.
The place of the mind’s activity is extinguished.

They have no location. Dharmas do not have a fixed location. They are not produced. They do not arise. It shouldn’t be said that there isn’t any place where a particular dharma is produced or destroyed, or any place where a particular dharma arises or become extinct.

They do not give. They do not take. The basic substance of dharmas is that it isn’t able to give people anything, and it also does not seek anything from anyone.

They do not move or turn. They do not evolve or change. They are still and extinct.

All dharmas from their origin
Are characterized by eternal, still, quiescence.
They cannot be expressed in words.

And they have no function. The basic substance of all dharmas can’t be said to have a function.

Bodhisattvas accomplish such a treasury of limitless wisdom as this. The Bodhisattvas who cultivate these Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries understand these various principles of emptiness and know that,

All conditioned dharmas
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows;
Like dewdrops and a lightening flash;
Contemplate them thus.

They aren’t attached to anything, and because they aren’t attached, they bring forth limitless Treasuries of wisdom.

Question: If someone leaves a flesh body by either sitting in full lotus or by being buried in the ground and not decaying, what level of accomplishment has this person reached?

Answer: There are various differences to this. Why is it that some people can leave a vajra indestructible body when they die? It is because they have no sexual desire. They have cut it off. If one is able to cut off desire, meaning not only in one’s actions but also being devoid of thoughts of desire in one’s mind, then one’s body won’t decay. This is because the precepts, samadhi, and wisdom that one cultivates are pure and one has no greed, hatred, or stupidity.

A person like this however, does not just die haphazardly. He is clear about his birth and understands his death. If he wants to live, he can live for several hundreds or thousands or ten thousands of years. If he wants to go off to rebirth, he can go whenever he pleases. This is being “independent of birth and death”. This is true independence. One who is that way can be certified as having reached the Fourth Fruit of Arhatship. The essential point is that from birth one has cut off desire and has no defilement of emotional love. Whichever of you is able to cut off emotional love can achieve this kind of state. The reason someone’s body doesn’t decay after death is because that person has cut off desire.

The Sino American Buddhist Association and Gold Mountain Monastery are establishing an elementary school which will be conducted at the International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts. (1976) We should all do whatever we can do to help the elementary school get started. It shouldn’t be that you don’t want to help and they don’t want to do anything. We should aid the elementary school so it gets a good grounding and then we can go on to establish a high school and university. We shouldn’t be selfish. Instead we should help society and all people. Now, in establishing an elementary school, we can benefit young children by helping them learn how to be good people and good citizens. We can establish merit and virtue in this way.

But if you don’t want to do this, and other people don’t want to do this, then who will do it? We should each fulfill our own responsibilities. In teaching children one must have patience. Don’t back out at the first sign of difficulty. By now, there are quite a few among us who can teach the children. Previously in Chinatown, on Sacramento Street, I conducted a summer session which was attended by several students and I was the only person teaching them. We started at eight o’clock in the morning and went until four o’clock in the afternoon. I taught one course after another all day long and no one was helping me. So, with as many people as we have now, we should certainly be able to do a good job running the elementary school.

When we do things we should do them truly and actually. We shouldn’t just act in a perfunctory manner. We should be determined to teach the children well. Every single person should consider this as his or her own personal responsibility, and then it’s bound to be a successful venture.

Although it’s the case that we left-home people don’t have any children of our own, nonetheless, in teaching the children of others, we should see them as if they were our own elder sisters, younger sisters, elder brothers, younger brothers, or sons or daughters. We shouldn’t be selfish and procrastinate. However, if everyone else feels that this is an impossible undertaking, then I will happily take on the entire job myself. You just stand in for me and lecture the Sutras and I’ll stand in for you teaching the children.

But if you are unable to stand in for me and lecture the Sutras, and yet you still want me to stand in for you in teaching the children, that’s too unfair. People should do things which are of benefit to their country, society, and all of humanity. Don’t just think of yourself. You are not the only one in the world. Having been born into this world we should realize: if there is something that can benefit others, we should exhaust our efforts to make that thing succeed. We shouldn’t always check it out to see how it will benefit us. We as individual people are very insignificant. We should expand the measure of our minds and work for the sake of all humankind.

Sutra:

“From a few expedient means they understand all dharmas. They naturally comprehend without others enlightening them.

“There are ten reasons why this treasury of inexhaustible wisdom is known as inexhaustible.

Commentary:

From a few expedient means they understand all dharmas. The Bodhisattvas already possess great wisdom, therefore they are very skilled with the use of many expedient devices. But with regard to all these dharmas, they need not use a lot of expedient methods, they just need to use a few. They contemplate and can understand all dharmas. They might use an analogy, or one set of causes and conditions to contemplate all dharmas. They illumine and understand all dharmas as the actual appearance of True Suchness. Once they intuitively reflect on them, they are reflected as if by a mirror and they very naturally understand them. The images appear just like images in a mirror.

They naturally comprehend without others enlightening them. At this time, they don’t need an expedient method; in fact, their minds are opened very spontaneously. They don’t need to rely on expedient devices. They just very naturally open their own minds and become enlightened.

There are ten reasons why this treasury of inexhaustible wisdom is known as inexhaustible. This is the Inexhaustible Treasury of Wisdom. This wisdom treasury is inexhaustible and can’t be spoken to the end. In general, there are ten ways in which it is inexhaustible. The dharmas can be divided into ten varieties. These are reasons why it is called an Inexhaustible Treasury and why one can never reach the end of it.

Sutra:

“What are the ten? They are: It is inexhaustible because they are learned and skillful. It is inexhaustible because they draw near good and wise advisors. It is inexhaustible because they are well able to discern the meanings of phrases. It is inexhaustible because they have entered the depths of the Dharma Realm. It is inexhaustible because they use the wisdom of a single flavor to adorn themselves. It is inexhaustible because they accumulate blessings and virtue without becoming weary at heart. It is inexhaustible because they enter all Dharani doors. It is inexhaustible because they can well discriminate all living beings’ languages, words, voices, and sounds.

Commentary:

This Treasury of Inexhaustible Wisdom is measureless and boundless. In general we can extract ten kinds of inexhaustible dharmas which can represent its multilayered and inexhaustible principles.

“What are the ten? What are the ten ways in which wisdom is represented as inexhaustible? They are: It is inexhaustible because they are learned and skillful. “Learned” means the Bodhisattvas have heard a lot of Buddhadharma. Among all the Buddha’s disciples, the Venerable Ananda was Foremost in Learning. He remembered all of the Dharma the Buddha spoke. He never forgot any of it. He is said to have “broad learning and a very strong memory.” He had heard a lot of Dharma the Buddha spoke. The Venerable Ananda was the Buddha’s attendant. Whatever Dharma the Buddha had spoken before Ananda joined the Assembly, was explained to him by others who had directly heard the teachings. As soon as the sounds passed by his ears, he never, ever forgot them. That’s why the Venerable Ananda was Foremost in Learning. Those who are well read and very learned are able to have skillful and clever ingenuity. Because their learning is inexhaustible, their skillfulness is also inexhaustible.

It is inexhaustible because they draw near good and wise advisors. “Good and wise advisors” give good Dharma to living beings. That’s why they are said to be “good and wise”. These Bodhisattvas draw near to good and wise advisors and stay far away from bad advisors. Good and wise advisors are replete with proper and orthodox knowledge and views. But evil advisors are long on perverted views and deviant knowledge. Those who cultivate should draw near good and wise advisors and stay far away from evil ones. To draw near good and wise advisors doesn’t mean to be close to them for a year or two years and then leave. It means that you forever draw close to them. At the same time you separate far from the proximity of all evil advisors and those of deviant views.

It is inexhaustible because they are well able to discern the meanings of phrases. Bodhisattvas are good at delineating the meanings of the Sutra texts. Every word, phrase, sentence, and passage is clear to them. Their skill at discerning the doctrines is inexhaustible. This never reaches an end either.

It is inexhaustible because they have entered the depths of the Dharma Realm. To “enter the depths” means to “deeply enter” the Dharma Realm. What deeply enters? Their nature deeply enters into the Dharma Realm and unites with it to become one.

It is inexhaustible because they use the wisdom of a single flavor to adorn themselves. What is wisdom of a single flavor? This is the actual appearance of true suchness. It is this real mark of true suchness which they take as adornments. It adorns the Dharma Body, the Bodhimanda, their self-nature, and the Buddhalands. All are adorned with this wisdom of a single flavor. This state is also inconceivable.

It is inexhaustible because they accumulate blessings and virtue without becoming weary at heart. The Bodhisattvas accumulate blessings and virtue. Amassing virtue is done by cultivating all kinds of virtue. This means not considering any good deed too small to do. You don’t want to ignore the small deeds. An accumulation of small deeds is just what goes into making a lot of good deeds. The many come from the few and the big comes from the small. To go high you start low. Blessings and virtue accumulate gradually, a little at a time, bit by bit.

Helping other people is accumulating blessings and virtue. Being willing to educate other people’s children so they can come to understand principles and learn how to be good people is also to amass blessings and virtue. When you are creating blessings and merit your mind should not know weariness or fatigue. What does it mean to have a fatigued mind? It means you have an unhappy or angry attitude when you do things. If one’s mind has no fatigue, then one will always be happy. When you do good deeds, don’t act like an Asura. In accumulating blessings and merit don’t use the fire of ignorance, don’t have any anger about you and don’t have any hostility or afflictions. If you don’t have any afflictions yourself, you won’t cause anyone else to have afflictions. If you don’t have any anger within you, then no one around you will be angry. That way you won’t obstruct others.

At all times and in all places you want to use the light of true wisdom to illuminate your body and mind. That is said to be the accumulation of blessings and virtue. It’s said:

Living beings are endless, I vow to save them all.
Afflictions are numberless, I vow to cut them off.
Dharma Doors are measureless, I vow to study them.
The Buddha Way is unsurpassed, I vow to attain it.

Do not forget these Four Great Vows of a Bodhisattva. Our business is to save living beings, not to be saved by them. We should be cutting off afflictions. We don’t want afflictions to cut us off instead. We are studying the Buddhadharma, not having the Buddhadharma study us. We want to attain the Buddha’s Way, and not have the Buddha’s Way come to accomplish us.

So in the text it says, “They accumulate blessings and virtue without becoming weary at heart.” There are no afflictions. This is because this wisdom is inexhaustible.

It is inexhaustible because they enter all Dharani doors. They deeply enter into all Dharani gates or methods. Dharani is a Sanskrit word which means to “unite and uphold”. It unites all dharmas and upholds all meanings. To unite all dharmas, means to gather in the body, mouth, and mind so that no evil karma is committed; the three karmas are purified. This is the method of Dharani Doors. If you create karma with body, mouth, and mind, and these three karmic modes are not pure, then you are not upholding the method of Dharani. To “unite all dharmas” means you are careful in your words and cautious in your actions. You talk less. “To uphold all meanings,” means you do all sorts of meritorious and virtuous deeds to adorn yourself. That’s another reason this treasury is said to be inexhaustible.

It is inexhaustible because they can well discriminate all living beings’ languages, words, voices, and sounds. The Bodhisattvas don’t have to go to a single language class and yet can understand the tongues of all living beings. They need not go to a phonetics class but understand all the sounds that living beings make. Even if one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand languages were spoken all at the same time, they could discriminate them equally well. Millions of languages spoken all at once can all be discriminated and understood by the Bodhisattvas because of their skillful ingenuity. Their understanding of all the languages is also inexhaustible and unimpeded.

Sutra:

“It is inexhaustible because they can sever all of living beings’ doubts and delusions. It is inexhaustible because they manifest all Buddhas’ spiritual powers for the sake of all living beings, in order to teach and transform, tame and subdue them, and cause them to cultivate without interruption. These are the ten.

“This is the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Seventh Treasury, that of Wisdom. Those who abide in this treasury obtain inexhaustible wisdom and are universally able to enlighten all living beings.

Commentary:

“It is inexhaustible because they can sever all of living beings’ doubts and delusions. Living beings do not obtain a response with the Way because they have a lot of doubts. Their minds vacillate between faith and doubt. You can say they believe and yet they have a bit of doubt. You can say they disbelieve and yet they have a bit of faith. They fluctuate between faith and doubt. For this reason they don’t succeed in their cultivation. The Bodhisattvas who have a Treasury of Wisdom are able to discriminate between right and wrong. They are able to cut off all living beings’ doubts and delusions. No matter what doubt it is, they can resolve it. That is why this kind of expedient Dharma door of wisdom is inexhaustible.

It is inexhaustible because they manifest all Buddhas’ spiritual powers for the sake of all living beings, in order to teach and transform, tame and subdue them, and cause them to cultivate without interruption. For all living beings in the nine Dharma Realms, the Bodhisattva is able to manifest all of the Buddhas’ spiritual powers. The nine Dharma Realms are the Dharma Realms of;

• Bodhisattvas
• Pratyekabuddhas
• Sound Hearers
• Gods
• Humans
• Asuras
• Animals
• Hungry Ghosts
• Hell Beings

Although these Bodhisattvas haven’t become Buddhas, they are still able to display all of the powers of the Buddhas’ spiritual penetrations. They can teach and transform, tame and regulate all living beings and cause them to constantly cultivate. Their intent to cultivate never stops and they do not take any rest. This kind of wisdom is also inexhaustible.

These are the ten. These are the ten aspects of the Wisdom Treasury.

This is the Bodhisattva Mahasattvas’ Seventh Treasury, that of Wisdom. We have been discussing the Great Bodhisattvas’ Seventh Treasury, that of Wisdom.

Those who abide in this treasury obtain inexhaustible wisdom and are universally able to enlighten all living beings. ‘Abiding’ refers to cultivating. It means when the Bodhisattvas cultivate this Wisdom Treasury, they are able to obtain inexhaustible wisdom—unfathomable Prajna. In all places they can cause all living beings to obtain enlightenment—to reach the fruition of Buddhahood.

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