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| Contents Door 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 previous next * Preface | ||
Prologue:
Those quakings of the earth and so forth for the most part occur after the speaking. Then they are simply rejoicings at the hearing. Yet when, as in the ten grounds, although they are rejoicings at what was before, they connect in meaning with what arises afterwards, so they are then conditions for the teaching.
Commentary:
Those quakings of the earth, sending out of lights just described, and so forth – those causes and conditions – for the most part occur after the speaking. It’s usually after the Sutra has been spoken that lights are emitted and the earth quakes; yet sometimes this happens before the Sutra is spoken. When they occur after the speakings of the Sutra, Then they are simply rejoicings at the hearing. They are expressions of one’s good fortune in having heard the Buddhadharma.
Yet when, as in the ten grounds, although they are rejoicings at what was before, at one’s good fortune in having heard the Buddhadharma that came before; nevertheless, they connect in meaning with what arises afterwards. They are linked with the passage of Sutra text that is spoken after, so they are then causes and conditions for the arisal of the teaching. This, too, is one among the Ten Conditions of the causes and conditions. National Master Ch’ing Liang, in writing this section, wanted to make clear to people that the lights emitted and quakings of the earth at the beginning of the Sutra stand for the fact that Dharma is about to be spoken. The further sending out of light and quakings of the earth at the end of the Sutra represent that those who heard:
…joyously welcomed, faithfully accepted, bowed, and withdrew.
In a case like the one cited here, however, even though it’s at the end of the Sutra that lights are emitted and the earth quakes, still those events also bring forth what comes after that.
Prologue:
The Sixth, depending on the person speaking. The Dharma has no abolishment or flourishing. Its propagation is due to people. Later in the text it says: “If no person speaks the Buddhadharma , although there is wisdom, no one can understand it.”
Commentary:
The Sixth now discusses the Dharma Speaking Host, and so it says depending on the person speaking. That is, if Dharma is to be spoken, there has to be a Dharma Speaking Host. Without one, the Dharma cannot flourish, which is why it goes on to say, The Dharma has no abolishment or flourishing. The Buddhadharma has no production and no extinction, no decline and no prospering. Why not? It’s because the Dharma nature is eternally still and quiet. It is always still and unmoving, yet it accords by way of response. For that according response to occur, some person needs to speak the Dharma, and so its propagation is due to people. The propagation of the Buddhadharma depends on persons. In the Analects of Confucius it says:
It is people, who propagate the Way,
Not the Way that propagates people.Here it is people who propagate the Dharma, not the Dharma that propagates people. People spread the Sagely Way, not vice-versa, and the same holds true for the Buddhadharma. The Buddhadharma does not say, “Such and such a person is terrifically great. The crown of his head is in the heavens, while his feet touch the earth. When he stretches out his arm, it reaches to the sun, and he can block out the light o the moon.” It’s not that way. People are needed to propagate the Buddhadharma. The Buddhadharma doesn’t propagate people.
On the other hand, you could say that all things do control people, but the people in that case are deadbeats, not fully alive and active. They are controlled by environment and circumstances, and turn into dead objects instead of living creatures. All of you think it over: if you are unable to direct your environment, you are a dead person though alive. If you are able to change the circumstances in which you find yourself, you are a living dead person. On the surface, dead living people and living dead people seem the same, but if you really look into this, they are quite different. So people have to propagate the Dharma.
All of you studying the Buddhadharma should propagate the Buddhadharma . Don’t study the Buddhadharma by just eating it. After studying it, you have to bring it up again. You shouldn’t simply eat your fill of Buddhadharma to the point that your stomach is totally stuffed and bursts open. That’s useless. All you can do then is die. You have to study the Buddhadharma , eating it and then bringing it back up from your belly. That disgorging is propagating the Buddhadharma . Now you all understand, don’t you? You aren’t supposed to keep gulping down the Buddhadharma until it’s time to die, without even having propagated the least bit of it. What use is that? Don’t be a mute monk.
So in America, propagating the Buddhadharma , I’m teaching each one of you to speak the Buddhadharma , so each of you can eat Dharma up again. That has infinite transformations and variations. If you stuff yourself on Dharma and get diarrhea, that’s useless. You have to be able to disgorge it, the way the Patriarch Chih Kung used to eat pigeons. After downing them, he could spit them out again whole. We are preparing for the Liberation Life Ceremony, so there are lots of pigeons here today. Anyone who wants to can eat them, but only if you can spit them out again alive afterwards. If you can’t do that, don’t eat them in the first place.
I’ll speak a little mysterious and wonderful talk that people won’t believe for you: today these are your parents for seven generations past and your ancestors from limitless kalpas past who have turned into pigeons. Today they are really happy that you are practicing liberating life, and you are practicing the way of filial piety. You should all be very repentant and cause them to attain rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. You have all come together because you have affinities with each other.
You say, “I don’t believe a word of this.” You’ll believe it when you yourself turn into a pigeon. Then you’ll say, “Now my grandchildren are studying the Buddhadharma to rescue me. Oh! I’m really happy!”
Later in the text it says – in both the Prologue and the text of the Sutra—“If no person speaks the Buddhadharma , although there is wisdom, no one can understand it.” Someone has to speak the Buddhadharma . Regardless of whether they speak it well or not, if they speak, all is well. If you can speak well but don’t speak, then all is not well. If you don’t speak well but speak anyway, it’s well. You see: the wonderful is right at that point. You don’t speak well? If you do speak, it’s well. If you do speak well but don’t speak, it’s not well. So it says, if no person speaks the Buddhadharma , even if you have great wisdom, you won’t understand it. Why not? There can be wonders without end within it, multilayered and infinite – particularly the Flower Adornment Sutra, which has level upon level of principles without exhaustion. But if nobody speaks it, it is certain you will not understand it.
There are two lines before the part of the verse quoted above which go:
It is like a jewel in the dark:
Without a lamp, it cannot be seen.There may be a precious treasure located in a dark room, but if you don’t have some kind of lamp, you won’t be able to see it.
If no person speaks the Buddhadharma,
Although there is wisdom, no one can understand it.Anyone who speaks the Buddhadharma is a lamp. If you speak the Buddhadharma , you are a Dharma lamp. If someone else speaks the Buddhadharma , that person is a Dharma lamp. The Dharma lamps light up the dark room, so you can find your treasure. Your mind is like the room, the darkness is ignorance, and the priceless treasure is wisdom. If you lamplight breaks up the ignorance, you attain your inherent wisdom. So put together, the verse goes:
It is like a jewel in the dark:
Without a lamp, it can’t be seen.
If no person speaks the Buddhadharma,
Although there is wisdom, no one can understand it.Even though you have wisdom, you won’t understand. All of you now are studying the Buddhadharma, and having understood what I just said, you should all go out and be lamps.
Prologue:
Now these speakers penetrate the Three World Realms. Opened up, they make five. That is, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Sound Hearers, Living Beings, and Things. Further opened up, they mak ten. That is, add the three periods of time, dust motes and hair pores – things and sentient beings – for each has a divided and a complete aspect, and so hair pores and dust motes are divided speakings, and all of the speakings mentioned penetrate the three periods of time. Therefore, in the Chapter of the Conduct of Universal Worthy it says: “Buddhas speak and so do living beings, and the countries also speak as well. There are such speakings through the three periods of time,” and so forth.
Commentary:
Now these speakers penetrate the Three World Realms. The “speakers” are those who speak the Flower Adornment Sutra. The person who speaks the Flower Adornment Sutra is Shakyamuni Buddha, but the method or speaking differs from that of other Sutras, because it penetrates the three worlds.
The Three Worlds
The World of Wisdom and Proper Enlightenment.
The World of Sentient Beings.
The World of Things.The World of Wisdom and Proper Enlightenment means the Buddhas. The World of Sentient Beings means living beings. The World of Things is the world of our dependent retribution.
Open up, the make five. Opening them up means dividing them up, so that the World of Wisdom and Proper Enlightenment is divided up into Three Vehicles, and there turn out to be five worlds. That is, those five are Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Sound Hearers, Living Beings, and Things. Listed, they are:
1. Buddhas The World of Wisdom and
2. Bodhisattva Proper Enlightenment
3. Sound Hearers divided into three.
4. Living Beings The World of Sentients.
5. Things The World of Things.
Only the first World is opened up. The other two remain as they were. That’s how three open up to make five.
Further open up, they make ten. Divided those five up even further, and they become ten. What are they, that is, add the three of time, dust motes and hair pores – things and sentient beings – for each has a divided and a complete aspect. Each of those two Worlds (that of Sentient Beings and that of Things) has a divided aspect and a complete aspect. Dust motes are the divided aspect of the World of Things, while things are the undivided aspect of the World of Motes.
Hair pores are the divided aspect of the World of Sentient (living) Beings, while the living sentient beings are the undivided aspect. So each has a divided and a complete aspect, and so hair pores and dust motes are divided speakings. The speaking is divided up when it is hair pores and dust motes; and all of the speakings mentioned in the list just given penetrate the three periods of time. They penetrate through to the past, the speakings of the Buddhas of the past. They penetrate through to the speakings by the Buddhas of the present and the future as well.
Therefore, in the Chapter of the Conduct of Universal Worthy, in the Sutra text it says: “Buddhas speak, and so do living beings.” The Buddhas speak the Dharma, and living beings speak the Dharma, too; and the countries also speak as well.” Countries also speak Dharma. “There are such speakings through the three periods of time,” and so forth. The Buddhas of the past speak that way, the Buddhas of the present speak that way, and the Buddhas of the future speak that way, too. All the Buddhas of the three periods of time speak that way.
Prologue:
If expanded, they are limitless, and so within the Dharma Realm Chapter there is not just one kind.
Commentary:
Before, it talked about three worlds with opened to make five worlds, which further opened up to make ten. If expanded, if divided up even more, they are limitless, infinite speakers of Dharma, and so within the Dharma Realm Chapter it says there is not just one kind. There is not just one kind. How many are there? There are fine.
The Five Kinds of Dharma Realms
The Dharma Realm of Dharmas.
The Dharma Realm of People.
The Dharma Realm of Both People and Dharmas.
The Dharma Realm of Neither People Nor Dharmas.
The Dharma Realm of Non-Obstruction.The Dharma Realm of Dharma opens up into Ten Doors.
The Ten Doors of the Dharma Realm of DharmasThe Door of the Dharma Realm of Specifics.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Principles.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of States.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Conducts.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Substance.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Function.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Compliance.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Opposition.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Teaching.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Meaning.The Second kind of Dharma Realm, the Dharma Realm of People, also has ten doors.
The Ten Doors of the Dharma Realm of PeopleThe Door of the Dharma Realm of Humans.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Gods.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Men.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Women.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Those At Home.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Those Who Have Left Home.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Those of Outside Ways.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Spirits.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Bodhisattvas.
The Door of the Dharma Realm of Buddhas.Furthermore, there is not just one kind of specific, but many; not just one heaven, but many kinds, and lots of different types of spirits, too. So in the Flower Adornment Sutra there are said to be a hundred and one towns, or locations, three thousand Good Knowing Advisors, and so forth. There is not just one kind. Divided up, there are infinitely many.
People should care about the property of the permanently dwelling, and be careful not to waste such things as electricity. For example, if you leave the light on in your room, then turn on lights in the office and some more in the Buddhahall, the library, and so forth, it gets out of hand, and you run up a huge electric bill.
All of you should think, “The temple doesn’t have any money, what can I do to save?” That’s the way it should be. Lights should be out after 10p.m. except in the Buddhahall, where you can go to read, and no one should be shouting at the top of their lungs, carrying on conversations in a booming voice that carries all over the temple and can even be heard in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. You also shouldn’t think, “It’s not important if I only turn on one light, just the kitchen light.” You say it’s not important, but it’s just those “not important’s” that add up to a lot of money. If you use more here and more there, there won’t be any way to manage. So you have to be careful and pay attention. Now the Buddhahall alone has grown to about three times the size of all of Waverly Place. It’s grown, but so have we people. Don’t be like little kids, unaware of anything that’s going on and not paying attention to anything, a case of:
The Mahasattva doesn’t pay any attention to others,
And Amitabha Buddha only watches out for himself.Don’t let it be that you don’t even watch out for yourself, and if someone says you’ve done something wrong you go, “Oh?” and still don’t realize you have. People will be upset with you if you don’t follow the rules.
I’ll tell you something else that’s important. The Way Place is the hells. The hells are just the Way Place. It’s right at that point. In cultivating the Way, one step and you reach the halls of heaven, one further step and you fall into the hells. So you should be careful. If you aren’t careful, right within the Way Place you plant the seeds of hell. Did you know that? So you can’t bellow out your words inside the Way Place so they boom louder than a hydrogen bomb, with greater force than an intercontinental ballistic missile. You can’t do that.
In anything you do, you’ve got to put your brains to it, and then you will understand it. If you don’t use your brains, you won’t understand. And if any of you go to someone’s house and find them not at home and decide to wait in the back yard for their return, you have to put a note on the front door saying your are back there, or else when they come back they won’t know and may think you’re back there stealing things and for that reason didn’t let tem know you were there. This is very important, and none of you should forget it. There are so many troublesome matters in the world. Sometimes you think something is good, and it turns out to be bad. Other things you figure are bad turn out to be good. If you understand, the bad can turn to good, while if you don’t understand, the good can become bad. It works like that.
Today I’ve transmitted the Mind Dharma to you, the Dharma in my mind, and obtaining the Mind Dharma, you can pass it on to others, in unending transmissions, so that all obtain the Mind Dharma.
When you cultivate the Way, even if you have a good excuse, it’s still better not to be lazy at all but be most vigorous. It’s just from being a bit lazy today, that you’ll be three years late in accomplishing the Way.
One day lazy and you’re three years late.
You do the calculating: for each day you’re lazy, you’ll be three years later accomplishing the Way and becoming a Buddha. The best method is when the men get lazy, the women aren’t; and when the women are lazy, the men aren’t. Don’t have the men be lazy and the women, too, laziness transmitting laziness in unending succession, the men getting lazier and lazier and the women, too, to the point no one knows what they’re doing. When we do morning and evening recitation, it’s very important. It’s like going to see the Buddha and bowing to the Buddha. It’s very important. If you miss one day, didn’t I tell you:
If you are off by a hair in the beginning,
You’ll miss by a thousand miles.If you’re the slightest bit off at the start, you will be way, way off later on. If you can both go out to work and do the ceremonies, too, that’s the very best, and you are certain to obtain the aid of the Bodhisattvas, getting rid of your thirst. How come? The Bodhisattvas will say, “Give’em some more sweet dew. Keep pouring on the sweet dew to give ‘em more energy.”
Cultivating the Way isn’t easy. Did you see in the Dharma Flower Sutra how Maitreya Bodhisattva was supposed to have become a Buddha before Shakyamuni Buddha, but he sought fame and profit? That is, he was lazy and didn’t cultivate and so Shakyamuni Buddha beat him to Buddhahood by several great kalpas, several tens of thousands of years – just because of a little laziness. So, I hope no one will be lazy after this. This is Mind Dharma that I have transmitted to you tonight. It’s not the penetration of others’ minds, don’t get it wrong.
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Door 1 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16