20140528靜思晨語-靜思妙蓮華應聞應知佛心意（第314集）
⊙為佛弟子應信受佛教，信己真如本具菩提心，唯行菩薩道歸如來地。
⊙「舍利弗！若我弟子，自謂阿羅漢、辟支弗者，不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事。」《法華經 方便品第二》
⊙羅漢：具智斷之能，明白真理名智德，斷盡煩惱名斷德，亦即菩提真實道。若實得阿羅漢者，今聞此經即便信受，進求菩提。若不聞不知，自謂羅漢、辟支弗豈非增上慢人。
⊙辟支佛：有覺悟之智，聞即能解，求自然慧，樂獨善寂，深知諸法因緣，是名辟支佛乘。
⊙經云：「不聞不知，但教化菩薩事，唯一佛乘。」不聞不知：此謂不解佛之心意，聞而不信受，成增上慢。
【證嚴上人開示】
我們的生命，每天在行蘊裡，隨著行蘊而減少了，「如少水魚，斯有何樂」？不過，我們要想，身為佛弟子，我們更要信教奉行。佛陀所說的教法，無不都是大智慧，我們若有用心，「舉一隅以三隅反」。意思就是說，告訴你們做一張桌子的訣竅，桌角要怎麼切、怎麼轉，能四角方正，不必教你四個角，只教你一個角，你就應該能夠知道，其他三個角要怎麼轉。這是世間的師傅教徒弟。
但是，佛陀很辛苦，無論是四個角，他就要用八個角、十二個角，這種的方法，耐心一教再教。不只是方，或者是圓等等，不厭其煩，隨機逗教，這是佛陀對眾生的耐心。世間的師傅，只是教我們一時，無法教我們一世。佛陀教我們的，是生生世世。我們要時時感佛恩，要自愛，要自愛我們自己。我們若懂得自愛，才會認真疼惜時間，把握時間，來成就我們一輩子的慧命，所以我們要自己自愛。
所以常常說，自愛就是報恩；報佛恩，父母恩，眾生恩。這是學佛者，在家、出家都一樣，要懂得疼惜慧命，要懂得自愛報恩的心。所以，我們人人為佛子，「為佛弟子應信受佛教」。
為佛弟子
應信受佛教
信己真如
本具菩提心
唯行菩薩道
歸如來地
佛陀對我們的教育，教育我們，我們更要相信我們自己，「信己真如本具菩提心」。我們要相信我們自己，我們自己本來就具足真如本性。真如本性我們要回歸，一定要從凡夫的路，一直要往覺悟的道路走，那就是菩提道。菩提道，道在我們的心中，只要你願意，要回歸我們的真如本性，佛陀教育我們，將這條路好好走。
人間道路，千千萬萬條，不要走錯路。一偏差，毫釐之差，偏差的道就成為邪道。邪道、邪知、邪見，就是製造無量數的煩惱、業力、造罪等等，所以，我們應該要，顧好這條菩提道。
菩提道在我們的心，與我們的真如是同源，所以我們必定，要找到這條菩提道，才能走回我們的，真如本性的位置。所以這條菩提道，必定是行菩薩道，所以，唯有行菩薩道，才能歸如來地。這大家要清楚。
時間，在行蘊中不斷過，不要浪費時間。我們要知道，修行稍微閃失，我們可能會懈怠。
佛陀的時代，就是在僧團中，有一天在祇園精舍，有四位比丘，他們在精舍外面的樹下，在那裡聊天，各人說出各人他最想要追求的，是什麼。其中有一位，他就這樣說：這輩子最感興趣的，最想要追求的，那就是春天的綠葉紅花，種種的花，百花怒放時，大地草木很美。最歡喜的是這樣的境界，能夠遊山玩水，這是他這一輩子最歡喜，也是最愛的境界。
另外一位，第二位就這樣說：卻是我最歡喜的，那就是有一些親朋好友，和我很親的朋友，或者是我最親的人、最愛的人，能夠整天都在一起，這就是我最歡喜的。大家在一起很快樂，看要唱歌、跳舞，這就是我最歡喜，想要過的日子。
第三位，他就說：但是我所羨慕的，就是人生的榮華富貴，能夠有很多錢，很多寶物，想要享樂的時候，能夠受用、能夠享樂，這種享樂的人生是我最嚮往的。
另外，第四位他就說：我倒是還一直在回憶過去，若能夠時時嬌妻美妾，陪伴在身邊，歡喜作樂，這是我在人生最享受的。說了很多他的享受，每一位都陶醉在，他心想要的境界裡。
這期間，佛陀從裡面往外看，看到這四位，把他們叫進來，佛陀非常慨嘆：過去的人生，在迷茫中追求、沉醉，出家之後，心還停滯、留戀在過去，或者是追求未來。天下人間無常，時間不斷地交替，這種人間生命苦短，還有，榮華富貴是短暫，而且追求榮華富貴是多造業；嬌妻、美妾，人人都是大自然的法則，身體不乾淨。可惜你們出家之後，是虛度時光，不受佛教，不想要找出你們的真如本性，前面的道路都是分歧邪道，甚至你們沒有發心，所以，如來清淨本性的心地，全無啊！
佛陀向他們做了一番的教誨，當然，旁邊的人聽到了受益無窮。除了教誨這四位之外，旁邊的人聽了，覺悟的人也很多。
是啊！人生是這麼短暫，為何還要沉迷在過去呢？為何還要追求於未來，顛倒人生？所以說起來，顛倒的人生，到底我們是不是有呢？佛陀已經說過了，「劫濁亂時，眾生垢重」。由上面這段小故事，我們就能知道佛陀的時代，人心已經有濁氣了，在佛陀的僧團中，都還有這樣，何況那時候社會的俗家人呢？
所以，濁，劫濁，眾生垢重。在這劫濁很亂，亂了人心，所以眾生不斷產生這種，垢穢的心態，慳貪，嫉妒，像這樣的很多，所以，所成就的是不善根。
佛陀為了眾生諸不善根，所以，不得不開三乘的教法，從一乘中開出了三乘；豈止是三乘，八萬四千方法，隨著眾生八萬四千的濁心煩惱，對治，一定要有這麼多法，何況三乘。其實，三乘只是對這些修行者。所謂修行者，僧團中有聲聞、緣覺(根性)。聲聞，四諦法；緣覺，十二因緣觀；菩薩，六波羅密。開出這三乘法，其實，總歸回來就是菩薩法，唯有菩薩法，才能回歸菩提道，菩提道才能回歸如來的本心地。這就是佛陀辛苦的教育。
現在經文又這樣說，佛陀說：「舍利弗！若我弟子，自謂阿羅漢、辟支弗者，不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事。」
舍利弗
若我弟子
自謂阿羅漢
辟支弗者
不聞不知
諸佛如來
但教化菩薩事
《法華經 方便品第二》
這已經開始很明顯了，佛陀又再提醒舍利弗，就是要提醒大家，仔細聽——若是我的弟子，自己以為，我已經得到阿羅漢了，我已經對這四諦法，苦、集、滅、道，種種的道理，我都很透徹瞭解，我已經證到羅漢果，以為自己是這樣；或者是以為，我不只是能瞭解苦、集、滅、道，同時十二因緣法，我也瞭如指掌，我很清楚了，來去因緣，分段生死、變易生死，我都很暸解了，以為自己也已經證辟支佛果了。
這些人自以為(是)的這些人，若是「不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事」。這些人若不知道諸佛，不只是釋迦佛本身，還有其他的佛，佛佛道同，每一尊佛來到人間，在此五濁惡世裡，開始為眾生所說之法，只是為了一項，就是要教菩薩事，教化菩薩的事情。教化菩薩事，就是一大事因緣，就是要來化度人人行菩薩道，就是要回歸真如本性的道路，自度、度他，能夠度行圓滿。
假如人人只自以為，我已經得羅漢果，我已經得辟支佛果，不聞不知，不知道諸佛來人間，是為了什麼事，若沒有好好聽，若不知道，那就沒辦法了。
所以，我們要知道何謂羅漢。羅漢，就是「具智斷之能」，他的智慧能夠斷盡煩惱，這叫做斷德。若真的得到羅漢果，就是要證到那種，得到真理之後，斷盡煩惱，能證得此德，在人群中，不受人群、事物所污染，這才是叫做智德，這樣才叫做羅漢。也能說菩提真實道，能夠斷盡煩惱，能體會到菩提真實的道路，這樣走，這才是真阿羅漢。
羅漢：
具智斷之能
明白真理名智德
斷盡煩惱名斷德
亦即菩提真實道
若實得阿羅漢者
今聞此經即便信受
進求菩提
若不聞不知
自謂羅漢 辟支弗
豈非增上慢人
若能實得阿羅漢的人，現在聽到這部經，現在佛陀已經開權顯實，過去所說的，佛陀已經很明顯說，過去都是權巧方便法，現在要開始講真實道。應該若是證阿羅漢果的人，他現在聽到這部經，應該是要信受，一定能很信受，能聽，認真聽。若是停滯在「我都知道了」，就不肯認真聽，若不聞不知，自謂阿羅漢，我已經證得阿羅漢了，我已經證得辟支佛了，若像這樣子，不就是增上慢人嗎？像這樣的，不知道佛陀來人間，一大事的目標，不想去瞭解，這難道叫做阿羅漢嗎？
什麼是辟支佛？辟支佛就是「有覺悟之智」。
辟支佛：
有覺悟之智
聞即能解
求自然慧
樂獨善寂
深知諸法因緣
是名辟支佛乘
辟支佛，又有另外一個名稱，叫做「獨覺」。就是無佛在世時，他在人間，憑他原來清淨的本性，他還是能體會到，人間無常的道理。但是，道理的源頭在哪裡？與慧命要如何銜接起來？還不是很清楚。所以還停滯在，獨覺、辟支佛(乘)之地。
佛已經出世了，有的人接受了佛陀的教法，瞭解無常人間，證實這無常的人間，要如何與慧命契合。因為慧命，體會到無常之後，如何來淨化，成長我們的慧命。像這樣，在佛世時更加清楚，所以「聞即能解」，佛陀說的法，聽了，他應該能夠很瞭解。
佛陀說法，無非就是要解釋得，讓人人瞭解人間無常，我們要及時，回歸清淨的本性。所以產生了很多的方法，來教育我們。這是佛陀的慈悲。辟支佛能瞭解，所以懂得「求自然慧」，這就是辟支佛。
「自然慧」，其實得大智慧，自然智、無師智、一切種智等等，這都叫做自然。但是，真實的辟支佛在精進，「求自然慧，樂獨善寂」，還是在只希望獨善其身，獨覺的境界。只知道很多很多的因緣，所以不敢再去造因，或者是造緣，所以他就只求自己能清淨了脫。
「不聞不知但教化菩薩(事)」。不瞭解佛陀是唯一佛乘，不是只要教得成羅漢，或者是成為辟支佛，不只是這個道理，人人應該要向前進步走。所以，若是光停滯，不肯進步，這樣的人他就是「不聞不知」，這叫做不解佛的心意。
不聞不知
但教化菩薩事
唯一佛乘
此謂不解佛之心意
聞而不信受
成增上慢
各位菩薩，增上慢人，在佛的時代，佛陀辛辛苦苦這樣帶過來，說那麼多的法，這樣親自調教，到了法華會上，還有退席的人；就是在座在聽的，還有聞而不信，不懂得起歡喜、信樂的心。你們想，多麼悲哀啊！
所以各位，我們要學佛，佛陀是慈悲要啟發我們，開啟我們的心門，要讓我們人人能回歸菩提道，入如來地。我們怎能不自愛，我們怎能不好好，顧守我們的道心？所以，人人時時要自愛、自覺，要時時多用心。
Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: By Listening, We Learn the Buddha’s Intent (應聞應知佛心意)
Date: May. 28. 2014
Every day, our lives grow shorter as we undergo continuous infinitesimal changes. So, “Like a fish in a dwindling pond, what joy have we?” However, we must consider that, as the Buddha’s disciples, we must faithfully practice the teachings. The teachings of the Buddha are nothing but great wisdom. If we are mindful, [then we can] “See one corner and know the other three.” This means that when I tell you how to make a table, how to cut and shape the corners to be square, I do not need to teach you four methods, I only need to teach you one. From shaping one corner you will know how to shape the other three corners. This is how teachers in this world instruct pupils. But the Buddha works very hard. Even if there are only four corners, He uses eight or twelve different methods to patiently and repeatedly teach us. Regardless of people’s capabilities, He tirelessly finds suitable teachings. This is the patience He has for sentient beings. The teachers of this world can only teach us for a period of time, not for lifetimes. The Buddha teaches us, lifetime after lifetime. We must always be grateful for His grace and therefore love and respect ourselves. Only when we respect ourselves will we earnestly cherish and seize each day to develop our wisdom-life.
So, we must have self-respect. I always say, “Having self-respect is a way to repay grace.” We need to repay the grace of the Buddha, our parents and all sentient beings. All Buddhist practitioners, whether lay or monastic, must cherish their wisdom-life, have self-respect and repay grace. We are all Buddha-children and “as the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings.”
As the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must believe in our [nature of] True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind. Only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata.
The Buddha teaches us to have more faith in ourselves. “We must believe in our nature of True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind.” We must believe that we are intrinsically endowed with a nature of True Suchness. To return to our true nature, we must walk from the path of ordinary people toward the path of enlightenment, which is the Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is a path in our minds. As long as we are willing to return to our nature of True Suchness, the Buddha teaches us to earnestly walk this path.
In this world there are tens of thousands of paths. We must not take the wrong one. If we deviate from it even slightly, we will end up on an evil path. On an evil path, with evil knowledge and views, we will give rise to countless afflictions, karma and wrongdoings, and so on. So, we must take good care of this Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path in our minds comes from the same source as our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, we definitely must find the Bodhi-path in order to return to our nature of True Suchness. To follow the Bodhi-path, we must practice the Bodhisattva-path. So, only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata. We must clearly understand this. Time continues to pass in infinitesimal increments. We must not waste time. We should know that if we have a lapse in spiritual practice, we may become indolent.
In the Buddha’s time, one day while He was with the Sangha at Jetavana,four bhiksus
sat outside of the abode and chatted under a tree.Each person named the thing they wanted to pursue most.One of them said,“What I am most interested in and wanted to pursue is the colorful state of spring.When all the flowers and trees bloom wildly,
nature looks beautiful.I really enjoy traveling through this kind of environment.”In his life, that was the state that he loved most that made him the most happy.
The second bhiksu said, “What I enjoy most is being with my very close friends or spending all day with loved ones. This is what makes me happiest.Having a good time together, either singing or dancing, is the way I want to spend my days.”
The third bhiksu said “What I envy most are fame and fortune.I want to have a lot of money and many treasures so that I can enjoy pleasures whenever I want.A pleasurable life is what I desire most.”
The fourth bhiksu said, “I keep thinking of the past.Having my beautiful wife and concubines by my side at all times would be the most enjoyable thing in life.”
Having spoken so much about pleasures, they were all entranced by those states.
At that moment, the Buddha looked outside and saw these four bhiksus.He said, “Ask them to come inside.”The Buddha sighed, “In your pasts, you pursued and were mesmerized by things because of your delusion.After you became monastics, your minds dwelled and lingered on the past or went in pursuit of the future.This world is impermanent and time continuously passes.In this world, life is painfully short.
Furthermore, fame and fortune are temporary and pursing them will create a lot of karma.As for beautiful wives and concubines, we will all [eventually age, grow ill and die] and our bodies are unclean.Sadly, even after becoming monastics, you are idling away your time, not learning teachings and not trying to find your nature of True Suchness.
The paths ahead of you are all evil branches.You have not even formed aspirations, so you can no longer see pure intrinsic nature.”
As the Buddha rebuked them, those nearby benefitted immensely.As He taught these four bhiksus, of the bystanders who heard what He said, many were also awakened.
Indeed, life is very short.Why we are still fixated on the past?Why are we still in pursuit of a future?This is a deluded life.So, are we living in this state of confusion?The Buddha already said, “In the era of chaos and the turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.”
From this short story, we know that even during the Buddha’s time, people’s minds were already turbid.This was true even within the Buddha’s Sangha, let alone for the lay people at that time.So, in turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.In the turbidity of kapla, all is in chaos and people’s minds are confused.So, sentient beans continue to give rise to a defiled state of mind, one of greed, jealousy and so on.So, they develop roots of unwholesomeness.
Because sentient beings lack roots of goodness, the Buddha has to give Three Vehicles teachings.Based on the One Vehicle, He taught the Three Vehicles. Not only that, He gave 84,000 teachings to address sentient beings’ 84,000 turbidities. To treat them, He had to come up with all of these teachings, not to mention the Three Vehicles. But actually, the Three Vehicles are only for certain spiritual practitioners. Those spiritual practitioners include the Hearers and Solitary Realizers in the Sangha. Hearers were taught the Four Noble Truths, Solitary Realizers were taught the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, and Bodhisattvas received the Six Paramitas. The Three Vehicles teachings actually all lead to the Bodhisattva Way, which is the only way to return to the Bodhi-path, which enables us to return to our Tathagatas-minds. This is what the Buddha worked hard to teach us.
Presently, the sutra also states that the Buddha said, “Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddhas, but does not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…”.
This makes things very clear. The Buddha once again reminded Sariputra, which was reminding everyone, to listen attentively. Some of His disciples might believe, “I am already an Arhat. I thoroughly understand the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, its causation, its cessation and the Path”. Because they attained the fruits of Arhatship, they though [highly of themselves]. Or they might think, “Not only do I understand the Four Noble Truths, but the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence are as familiar to me as the palm of my hand. I also clearly understand the karmic conditions for coming to and leaving this world. Fragmentary and transformational samsara are also very familiar to me”. They believed they were Pratyekabuddhas.
Those who thought they had understood were “those who do not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…” These people did not know that all Buddhas, not just Sakyamuni Buddha, but other Buddhas as well, shared the same path. They come to this evil world of the Five Turbidities, and begin to teach the Dharma to sentient beings all for one purpose, to teach the Bodhisattva-path. Teaching the Bodhisattva-path is their one great cause. They teach everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path, the road back to our nature of True Suchness.
After we transform ourselves and others, we can achieve perfect transformative practice. If we all think that we have attained the fruit of Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, but do not want to hear or know why all Buddhas come to this world, if we do not listen attentively and learn this, then we will be at a loss. So, we must know the qualities of an Arhat. An Arhat has “the power of wisdom and ending”. He has the wisdom to end all afflictions. This is the virtue of ending. If we have truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, we must first achieve the state where we eliminate all afflictions after learning the truth. Then we achieve this virtue. We go among others but are not defiled by people and matters. Only then do we have virtue of wisdom. Only then are we Arhats. The true Bodhi-path also allows us to eliminate all afflictions. Only by experiencing the true Bodhi-path and by walking it can we truly be Arhats.
Arhats: They have the power of wisdom and ending. Understanding the ultimate truth is the virtue of wisdom. Eliminating all afflictions is the virtue of ending. This is the true Bodhi-path. Those who truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, upon hearing the teachings today, can immediately and faithfully accept it and seek the Bodhi [-path]. Those who do not want to hear and know this but claim to be Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas are nothing more than overbearingly arrogant people.
If we have truly attained Arhatship, as we listen to this teaching, we realize that the Buddha is opening the provisional to reveal the true. The Buddha clearly said that in the past He only gave provisional teachings, and now He was going to teach the True Path. Those who have attained the fruit of Arhatship, the moment they hear this teaching, should faithfully accept it. They will certainly be able to earnestly listen an faithfully accept it. If we think, “I know everything,” then we will not listen carefully if we do not learn this, but claim to be Arhats, thinking we have already attained Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, then don’t we have overbearing arrogance? Those people do not know the Buddha’s goal in coming to this world. Can a person who does not want to learn be called and Arhat?What are the qualities of a Pratyekabuddha? A Pratyekabuddha has “the wisdom to awaken”.
Pratyekabuddha: They have the wisdom to awaken. Once they listen, they immediately understand. They seek the wisdom of nature and joyfully awaken themselves to attain Nirvana. They deeply understand the causes and conditions of all things. This is the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle.
Pratyekabuddhas also go by another name. They are called Solitary Realizers. In times when there are no Buddhas present, they can, through their pure intrinsic nature, still realize the principle of impermanence. But what is the origin of these principles? And how do they connect to their wisdom-life? They still did not understand, so they remained in the state of Solitary Realizers and Pratyekabuddhas. When the Buddha manifested in this world, some accepted His teachings and understood that the world is impermanent. How does realizing impermanence resonate with their wisdom-life? After comprehending impermanence, how do they purify themselves and develop their wisdom-life? The answer was even clearer in the Buddha’s era.
“Once they listen, they immediately understand” After listening to the Buddha’s teachings, they should understand. The Buddha gave teachings so that people could realize the world is impermanent and that we should promptly return to our pure intrinsic nature. So, He created many means to teach us. This is the Buddha’s compassion. Pratyekabuddhas can understand, so they “seek the wisdom of nature”.
Thus Pratyekabuddhas can naturally attain great wisdom from nature. Natural wisdom, teacherless wisdom, all-encompassing wisdom, etc are all natural to us. But true Pratyekabuddhas were progressing, they sought “the wisdom of nature and” “joyfully awakened themselves to attain Nirvana”. But they still only wanted to awaken themselves and were in the state of Solitary Realizers. They knew about the many causes and conditions, so they did not dare to create more causes or form more conditions. Thus they only sought to purify and liberate themselves. “did not want to hear or know” [that Buddhas] “only teach the Bodhisattva-path”. They did not realize the Buddha only wanted to teach the One Buddha Vehicle. He did not just teach them to become Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas. These are not the only teachings, so everyone must keep progressing forward. Those who remain in the same state, unwilling to make progress, are those who “do not want to hear or know”. They do not understand the Buddha’s intent.
They do not want to hear or know that [the Buddha] teaches the Bodhisattva-path, the One Buddha Vehicle. Thus they do not understand the Buddha’s intent, and hear it without faithfully accepting it. So, they give rise to overbearing arrogance.
Dear Bodhisattvas, there were over bearingly arrogant people in the Buddha’s time. The Buddha put a lot of work into guiding them and gave so many teachings. He personally taught them at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, and yet there were still people who left. Among those who remained and listened, there were those who heard but did not believe and who did not feel the joy of faith. Think about this, it is so sad！
So everyone, we must learn the Buddha’s Way. The Buddha compassionately inspired us and opened our minds to help us all return to the Bodhi-path and enter the state of the Tathagata. How can we not have self-respect? How can we not earnestly safeguard our spiritual aspirations? Thus, we must always love and awaken ourselves. We must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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發表主題: 回復： 20140528靜思晨語-靜思妙蓮華應聞應知佛心意（第314集） 周日 6月 08, 2014 11:23 am
Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: By Listening, We Learn the Buddha’s Intent (應聞應知佛心意)
Date: May. 28. 2014
Every day, our lives grow shorter as we undergo continuous infinitesimal changes. So, “Like a fish in a dwindling pond, what joy have we?” However, we must consider that, as the Buddha’s disciples, we must faithfully practice the teachings. The teachings of the Buddha are nothing but great wisdom. If we are mindful, [then we can] “See one corner and know the other three.” This means that when I tell you how to make a table, how to cut and shape the corners to be square, I do not need to teach you four methods, I only need to teach you one. From shaping one corner you will know how to shape the other three corners. This is how teachers in this world instruct pupils. But the Buddha works very hard. Even if there are only four corners, He uses eight or twelve different methods to patiently and repeatedly teach us. Regardless of people’s capabilities, He tirelessly finds suitable teachings. This is the patience He has for sentient beings. The teachers of this world can only teach us for a period of time, not for lifetimes. The Buddha teaches us, lifetime after lifetime. We must always be grateful for His grace and therefore love and respect ourselves. Only when we respect ourselves will we earnestly cherish and seize each day to develop our wisdom-life.
So, we must have self-respect. I always say, “Having self-respect is a way to repay grace.” We need to repay the grace of the Buddha, our parents and all sentient beings. All Buddhist practitioners, whether lay or monastic, must cherish their wisdom-life, have self-respect and repay grace. We are all Buddha-children and “as the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings.”
As the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must believe in our [nature of] True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind. Only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata.
The Buddha teaches us to have more faith in ourselves. “We must believe in our nature of True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind.” We must believe that we are intrinsically endowed with a nature of True Suchness. To return to our true nature, we must walk from the path of ordinary people toward the path of enlightenment, which is the Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is a path in our minds. As long as we are willing to return to our nature of True Suchness, the Buddha teaches us to earnestly walk this path.
In this world there are tens of thousands of paths. We must not take the wrong one. If we deviate from it even slightly, we will end up on an evil path. On an evil path, with evil knowledge and views, we will give rise to countless afflictions, karma and wrongdoings, and so on. So, we must take good care of this Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path in our minds comes from the same source as our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, we definitely must find the Bodhi-path in order to return to our nature of True Suchness. To follow the Bodhi-path, we must practice the Bodhisattva-path. So, only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata. We must clearly understand this. Time continues to pass in infinitesimal increments. We must not waste time. We should know that if we have a lapse in spiritual practice, we may become indolent.
In the Buddha’s time, one day while He was with the Sangha at Jetavana,four bhiksus
sat outside of the abode and chatted under a tree.Each person named the thing they wanted to pursue most.One of them said,“What I am most interested in and wanted to pursue is the colorful state of spring.When all the flowers and trees bloom wildly,
nature looks beautiful.I really enjoy traveling through this kind of environment.”In his life, that was the state that he loved most that made him the most happy.
The second bhiksu said, “What I enjoy most is being with my very close friends or spending all day with loved ones. This is what makes me happiest.Having a good time together, either singing or dancing, is the way I want to spend my days.”
The third bhiksu said “What I envy most are fame and fortune.I want to have a lot of money and many treasures so that I can enjoy pleasures whenever I want.A pleasurable life is what I desire most.”
The fourth bhiksu said, “I keep thinking of the past.Having my beautiful wife and concubines by my side at all times would be the most enjoyable thing in life.”
Having spoken so much about pleasures, they were all entranced by those states.
At that moment, the Buddha looked outside and saw these four bhiksus.He said, “Ask them to come inside.”The Buddha sighed, “In your pasts, you pursued and were mesmerized by things because of your delusion.After you became monastics, your minds dwelled and lingered on the past or went in pursuit of the future.This world is impermanent and time continuously passes.In this world, life is painfully short.
Furthermore, fame and fortune are temporary and pursing them will create a lot of karma.As for beautiful wives and concubines, we will all [eventually age, grow ill and die] and our bodies are unclean.Sadly, even after becoming monastics, you are idling away your time, not learning teachings and not trying to find your nature of True Suchness.
The paths ahead of you are all evil branches.You have not even formed aspirations, so you can no longer see pure intrinsic nature.”
As the Buddha rebuked them, those nearby benefitted immensely.As He taught these four bhiksus, of the bystanders who heard what He said, many were also awakened.
Indeed, life is very short.Why we are still fixated on the past?Why are we still in pursuit of a future?This is a deluded life.So, are we living in this state of confusion?The Buddha already said, “In the era of chaos and the turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.”
From this short story, we know that even during the Buddha’s time, people’s minds were already turbid.This was true even within the Buddha’s Sangha, let alone for the lay people at that time.So, in turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.In the turbidity of kapla, all is in chaos and people’s minds are confused.So, sentient beans continue to give rise to a defiled state of mind, one of greed, jealousy and so on.So, they develop roots of unwholesomeness.
Because sentient beings lack roots of goodness, the Buddha has to give Three Vehicles teachings.Based on the One Vehicle, He taught the Three Vehicles. Not only that, He gave 84,000 teachings to address sentient beings’ 84,000 turbidities. To treat them, He had to come up with all of these teachings, not to mention the Three Vehicles. But actually, the Three Vehicles are only for certain spiritual practitioners. Those spiritual practitioners include the Hearers and Solitary Realizers in the Sangha. Hearers were taught the Four Noble Truths, Solitary Realizers were taught the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, and Bodhisattvas received the Six Paramitas. The Three Vehicles teachings actually all lead to the Bodhisattva Way, which is the only way to return to the Bodhi-path, which enables us to return to our Tathagatas-minds. This is what the Buddha worked hard to teach us.
Presently, the sutra also states that the Buddha said, “Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddhas, but does not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…”.
This makes things very clear. The Buddha once again reminded Sariputra, which was reminding everyone, to listen attentively. Some of His disciples might believe, “I am already an Arhat. I thoroughly understand the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, its causation, its cessation and the Path”. Because they attained the fruits of Arhatship, they though [highly of themselves]. Or they might think, “Not only do I understand the Four Noble Truths, but the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence are as familiar to me as the palm of my hand. I also clearly understand the karmic conditions for coming to and leaving this world. Fragmentary and transformational samsara are also very familiar to me”. They believed they were Pratyekabuddhas.
Those who thought they had understood were “those who do not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…” These people did not know that all Buddhas, not just Sakyamuni Buddha, but other Buddhas as well, shared the same path. They come to this evil world of the Five Turbidities, and begin to teach the Dharma to sentient beings all for one purpose, to teach the Bodhisattva-path. Teaching the Bodhisattva-path is their one great cause. They teach everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path, the road back to our nature of True Suchness.
After we transform ourselves and others, we can achieve perfect transformative practice. If we all think that we have attained the fruit of Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, but do not want to hear or know why all Buddhas come to this world, if we do not listen attentively and learn this, then we will be at a loss. So, we must know the qualities of an Arhat. An Arhat has “the power of wisdom and ending”. He has the wisdom to end all afflictions. This is the virtue of ending. If we have truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, we must first achieve the state where we eliminate all afflictions after learning the truth. Then we achieve this virtue. We go among others but are not defiled by people and matters. Only then do we have virtue of wisdom. Only then are we Arhats. The true Bodhi-path also allows us to eliminate all afflictions. Only by experiencing the true Bodhi-path and by walking it can we truly be Arhats.
Arhats: They have the power of wisdom and ending. Understanding the ultimate truth is the virtue of wisdom. Eliminating all afflictions is the virtue of ending. This is the true Bodhi-path. Those who truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, upon hearing the teachings today, can immediately and faithfully accept it and seek the Bodhi [-path]. Those who do not want to hear and know this but claim to be Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas are nothing more than overbearingly arrogant people.
If we have truly attained Arhatship, as we listen to this teaching, we realize that the Buddha is opening the provisional to reveal the true. The Buddha clearly said that in the past He only gave provisional teachings, and now He was going to teach the True Path. Those who have attained the fruit of Arhatship, the moment they hear this teaching, should faithfully accept it. They will certainly be able to earnestly listen an faithfully accept it. If we think, “I know everything,” then we will not listen carefully if we do not learn this, but claim to be Arhats, thinking we have already attained Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, then don’t we have overbearing arrogance? Those people do not know the Buddha’s goal in coming to this world. Can a person who does not want to learn be called and Arhat?What are the qualities of a Pratyekabuddha? A Pratyekabuddha has “the wisdom to awaken”.
Pratyekabuddha: They have the wisdom to awaken. Once they listen, they immediately understand. They seek the wisdom of nature and joyfully awaken themselves to attain Nirvana. They deeply understand the causes and conditions of all things. This is the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle.
Pratyekabuddhas also go by another name. They are called Solitary Realizers. In times when there are no Buddhas present, they can, through their pure intrinsic nature, still realize the principle of impermanence. But what is the origin of these principles? And how do they connect to their wisdom-life? They still did not understand, so they remained in the state of Solitary Realizers and Pratyekabuddhas. When the Buddha manifested in this world, some accepted His teachings and understood that the world is impermanent. How does realizing impermanence resonate with their wisdom-life? After comprehending impermanence, how do they purify themselves and develop their wisdom-life? The answer was even clearer in the Buddha’s era.
“Once they listen, they immediately understand” After listening to the Buddha’s teachings, they should understand. The Buddha gave teachings so that people could realize the world is impermanent and that we should promptly return to our pure intrinsic nature. So, He created many means to teach us. This is the Buddha’s compassion. Pratyekabuddhas can understand, so they “seek the wisdom of nature”.
Thus Pratyekabuddhas can naturally attain great wisdom from nature. Natural wisdom, teacherless wisdom, all-encompassing wisdom, etc are all natural to us. But true Pratyekabuddhas were progressing, they sought “the wisdom of nature and” “joyfully awakened themselves to attain Nirvana”. But they still only wanted to awaken themselves and were in the state of Solitary Realizers. They knew about the many causes and conditions, so they did not dare to create more causes or form more conditions. Thus they only sought to purify and liberate themselves. “did not want to hear or know” [that Buddhas] “only teach the Bodhisattva-path”. They did not realize the Buddha only wanted to teach the One Buddha Vehicle. He did not just teach them to become Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas. These are not the only teachings, so everyone must keep progressing forward. Those who remain in the same state, unwilling to make progress, are those who “do not want to hear or know”. They do not understand the Buddha’s intent.
They do not want to hear or know that [the Buddha] teaches the Bodhisattva-path, the One Buddha Vehicle. Thus they do not understand the Buddha’s intent, and hear it without faithfully accepting it. So, they give rise to overbearing arrogance.
Dear Bodhisattvas, there were over bearingly arrogant people in the Buddha’s time. The Buddha put a lot of work into guiding them and gave so many teachings. He personally taught them at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, and yet there were still people who left. Among those who remained and listened, there were those who heard but did not believe and who did not feel the joy of faith. Think about this, it is so sad！
So everyone, we must learn the Buddha’s Way. The Buddha compassionately inspired us and opened our minds to help us all return to the Bodhi-path and enter the state of the Tathagata. How can we not have self-respect? How can we not earnestly safeguard our spiritual aspirations? Thus, we must always love and awaken ourselves. We must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
⊙為佛弟子應信受佛教，信己真如本具菩提心，唯行菩薩道歸如來地。
⊙「舍利弗！若我弟子，自謂阿羅漢、辟支弗者，不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事。」《法華經 方便品第二》
⊙羅漢：具智斷之能，明白真理名智德，斷盡煩惱名斷德，亦即菩提真實道。若實得阿羅漢者，今聞此經即便信受，進求菩提。若不聞不知，自謂羅漢、辟支弗豈非增上慢人。
⊙辟支佛：有覺悟之智，聞即能解，求自然慧，樂獨善寂，深知諸法因緣，是名辟支佛乘。
⊙經云：「不聞不知，但教化菩薩事，唯一佛乘。」不聞不知：此謂不解佛之心意，聞而不信受，成增上慢。
【證嚴上人開示】
我們的生命，每天在行蘊裡，隨著行蘊而減少了，「如少水魚，斯有何樂」？不過，我們要想，身為佛弟子，我們更要信教奉行。佛陀所說的教法，無不都是大智慧，我們若有用心，「舉一隅以三隅反」。意思就是說，告訴你們做一張桌子的訣竅，桌角要怎麼切、怎麼轉，能四角方正，不必教你四個角，只教你一個角，你就應該能夠知道，其他三個角要怎麼轉。這是世間的師傅教徒弟。
但是，佛陀很辛苦，無論是四個角，他就要用八個角、十二個角，這種的方法，耐心一教再教。不只是方，或者是圓等等，不厭其煩，隨機逗教，這是佛陀對眾生的耐心。世間的師傅，只是教我們一時，無法教我們一世。佛陀教我們的，是生生世世。我們要時時感佛恩，要自愛，要自愛我們自己。我們若懂得自愛，才會認真疼惜時間，把握時間，來成就我們一輩子的慧命，所以我們要自己自愛。
所以常常說，自愛就是報恩；報佛恩，父母恩，眾生恩。這是學佛者，在家、出家都一樣，要懂得疼惜慧命，要懂得自愛報恩的心。所以，我們人人為佛子，「為佛弟子應信受佛教」。
為佛弟子
應信受佛教
信己真如
本具菩提心
唯行菩薩道
歸如來地
佛陀對我們的教育，教育我們，我們更要相信我們自己，「信己真如本具菩提心」。我們要相信我們自己，我們自己本來就具足真如本性。真如本性我們要回歸，一定要從凡夫的路，一直要往覺悟的道路走，那就是菩提道。菩提道，道在我們的心中，只要你願意，要回歸我們的真如本性，佛陀教育我們，將這條路好好走。
人間道路，千千萬萬條，不要走錯路。一偏差，毫釐之差，偏差的道就成為邪道。邪道、邪知、邪見，就是製造無量數的煩惱、業力、造罪等等，所以，我們應該要，顧好這條菩提道。
菩提道在我們的心，與我們的真如是同源，所以我們必定，要找到這條菩提道，才能走回我們的，真如本性的位置。所以這條菩提道，必定是行菩薩道，所以，唯有行菩薩道，才能歸如來地。這大家要清楚。
時間，在行蘊中不斷過，不要浪費時間。我們要知道，修行稍微閃失，我們可能會懈怠。
佛陀的時代，就是在僧團中，有一天在祇園精舍，有四位比丘，他們在精舍外面的樹下，在那裡聊天，各人說出各人他最想要追求的，是什麼。其中有一位，他就這樣說：這輩子最感興趣的，最想要追求的，那就是春天的綠葉紅花，種種的花，百花怒放時，大地草木很美。最歡喜的是這樣的境界，能夠遊山玩水，這是他這一輩子最歡喜，也是最愛的境界。
另外一位，第二位就這樣說：卻是我最歡喜的，那就是有一些親朋好友，和我很親的朋友，或者是我最親的人、最愛的人，能夠整天都在一起，這就是我最歡喜的。大家在一起很快樂，看要唱歌、跳舞，這就是我最歡喜，想要過的日子。
第三位，他就說：但是我所羨慕的，就是人生的榮華富貴，能夠有很多錢，很多寶物，想要享樂的時候，能夠受用、能夠享樂，這種享樂的人生是我最嚮往的。
另外，第四位他就說：我倒是還一直在回憶過去，若能夠時時嬌妻美妾，陪伴在身邊，歡喜作樂，這是我在人生最享受的。說了很多他的享受，每一位都陶醉在，他心想要的境界裡。
這期間，佛陀從裡面往外看，看到這四位，把他們叫進來，佛陀非常慨嘆：過去的人生，在迷茫中追求、沉醉，出家之後，心還停滯、留戀在過去，或者是追求未來。天下人間無常，時間不斷地交替，這種人間生命苦短，還有，榮華富貴是短暫，而且追求榮華富貴是多造業；嬌妻、美妾，人人都是大自然的法則，身體不乾淨。可惜你們出家之後，是虛度時光，不受佛教，不想要找出你們的真如本性，前面的道路都是分歧邪道，甚至你們沒有發心，所以，如來清淨本性的心地，全無啊！
佛陀向他們做了一番的教誨，當然，旁邊的人聽到了受益無窮。除了教誨這四位之外，旁邊的人聽了，覺悟的人也很多。
是啊！人生是這麼短暫，為何還要沉迷在過去呢？為何還要追求於未來，顛倒人生？所以說起來，顛倒的人生，到底我們是不是有呢？佛陀已經說過了，「劫濁亂時，眾生垢重」。由上面這段小故事，我們就能知道佛陀的時代，人心已經有濁氣了，在佛陀的僧團中，都還有這樣，何況那時候社會的俗家人呢？
所以，濁，劫濁，眾生垢重。在這劫濁很亂，亂了人心，所以眾生不斷產生這種，垢穢的心態，慳貪，嫉妒，像這樣的很多，所以，所成就的是不善根。
佛陀為了眾生諸不善根，所以，不得不開三乘的教法，從一乘中開出了三乘；豈止是三乘，八萬四千方法，隨著眾生八萬四千的濁心煩惱，對治，一定要有這麼多法，何況三乘。其實，三乘只是對這些修行者。所謂修行者，僧團中有聲聞、緣覺(根性)。聲聞，四諦法；緣覺，十二因緣觀；菩薩，六波羅密。開出這三乘法，其實，總歸回來就是菩薩法，唯有菩薩法，才能回歸菩提道，菩提道才能回歸如來的本心地。這就是佛陀辛苦的教育。
現在經文又這樣說，佛陀說：「舍利弗！若我弟子，自謂阿羅漢、辟支弗者，不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事。」
舍利弗
若我弟子
自謂阿羅漢
辟支弗者
不聞不知
諸佛如來
但教化菩薩事
《法華經 方便品第二》
這已經開始很明顯了，佛陀又再提醒舍利弗，就是要提醒大家，仔細聽——若是我的弟子，自己以為，我已經得到阿羅漢了，我已經對這四諦法，苦、集、滅、道，種種的道理，我都很透徹瞭解，我已經證到羅漢果，以為自己是這樣；或者是以為，我不只是能瞭解苦、集、滅、道，同時十二因緣法，我也瞭如指掌，我很清楚了，來去因緣，分段生死、變易生死，我都很暸解了，以為自己也已經證辟支佛果了。
這些人自以為(是)的這些人，若是「不聞不知諸佛如來，但教化菩薩事」。這些人若不知道諸佛，不只是釋迦佛本身，還有其他的佛，佛佛道同，每一尊佛來到人間，在此五濁惡世裡，開始為眾生所說之法，只是為了一項，就是要教菩薩事，教化菩薩的事情。教化菩薩事，就是一大事因緣，就是要來化度人人行菩薩道，就是要回歸真如本性的道路，自度、度他，能夠度行圓滿。
假如人人只自以為，我已經得羅漢果，我已經得辟支佛果，不聞不知，不知道諸佛來人間，是為了什麼事，若沒有好好聽，若不知道，那就沒辦法了。
所以，我們要知道何謂羅漢。羅漢，就是「具智斷之能」，他的智慧能夠斷盡煩惱，這叫做斷德。若真的得到羅漢果，就是要證到那種，得到真理之後，斷盡煩惱，能證得此德，在人群中，不受人群、事物所污染，這才是叫做智德，這樣才叫做羅漢。也能說菩提真實道，能夠斷盡煩惱，能體會到菩提真實的道路，這樣走，這才是真阿羅漢。
羅漢：
具智斷之能
明白真理名智德
斷盡煩惱名斷德
亦即菩提真實道
若實得阿羅漢者
今聞此經即便信受
進求菩提
若不聞不知
自謂羅漢 辟支弗
豈非增上慢人
若能實得阿羅漢的人，現在聽到這部經，現在佛陀已經開權顯實，過去所說的，佛陀已經很明顯說，過去都是權巧方便法，現在要開始講真實道。應該若是證阿羅漢果的人，他現在聽到這部經，應該是要信受，一定能很信受，能聽，認真聽。若是停滯在「我都知道了」，就不肯認真聽，若不聞不知，自謂阿羅漢，我已經證得阿羅漢了，我已經證得辟支佛了，若像這樣子，不就是增上慢人嗎？像這樣的，不知道佛陀來人間，一大事的目標，不想去瞭解，這難道叫做阿羅漢嗎？
什麼是辟支佛？辟支佛就是「有覺悟之智」。
辟支佛：
有覺悟之智
聞即能解
求自然慧
樂獨善寂
深知諸法因緣
是名辟支佛乘
辟支佛，又有另外一個名稱，叫做「獨覺」。就是無佛在世時，他在人間，憑他原來清淨的本性，他還是能體會到，人間無常的道理。但是，道理的源頭在哪裡？與慧命要如何銜接起來？還不是很清楚。所以還停滯在，獨覺、辟支佛(乘)之地。
佛已經出世了，有的人接受了佛陀的教法，瞭解無常人間，證實這無常的人間，要如何與慧命契合。因為慧命，體會到無常之後，如何來淨化，成長我們的慧命。像這樣，在佛世時更加清楚，所以「聞即能解」，佛陀說的法，聽了，他應該能夠很瞭解。
佛陀說法，無非就是要解釋得，讓人人瞭解人間無常，我們要及時，回歸清淨的本性。所以產生了很多的方法，來教育我們。這是佛陀的慈悲。辟支佛能瞭解，所以懂得「求自然慧」，這就是辟支佛。
「自然慧」，其實得大智慧，自然智、無師智、一切種智等等，這都叫做自然。但是，真實的辟支佛在精進，「求自然慧，樂獨善寂」，還是在只希望獨善其身，獨覺的境界。只知道很多很多的因緣，所以不敢再去造因，或者是造緣，所以他就只求自己能清淨了脫。
「不聞不知但教化菩薩(事)」。不瞭解佛陀是唯一佛乘，不是只要教得成羅漢，或者是成為辟支佛，不只是這個道理，人人應該要向前進步走。所以，若是光停滯，不肯進步，這樣的人他就是「不聞不知」，這叫做不解佛的心意。
不聞不知
但教化菩薩事
唯一佛乘
此謂不解佛之心意
聞而不信受
成增上慢
各位菩薩，增上慢人，在佛的時代，佛陀辛辛苦苦這樣帶過來，說那麼多的法，這樣親自調教，到了法華會上，還有退席的人；就是在座在聽的，還有聞而不信，不懂得起歡喜、信樂的心。你們想，多麼悲哀啊！
所以各位，我們要學佛，佛陀是慈悲要啟發我們，開啟我們的心門，要讓我們人人能回歸菩提道，入如來地。我們怎能不自愛，我們怎能不好好，顧守我們的道心？所以，人人時時要自愛、自覺，要時時多用心。
Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: By Listening, We Learn the Buddha’s Intent (應聞應知佛心意)
Date: May. 28. 2014
Every day, our lives grow shorter as we undergo continuous infinitesimal changes. So, “Like a fish in a dwindling pond, what joy have we?” However, we must consider that, as the Buddha’s disciples, we must faithfully practice the teachings. The teachings of the Buddha are nothing but great wisdom. If we are mindful, [then we can] “See one corner and know the other three.” This means that when I tell you how to make a table, how to cut and shape the corners to be square, I do not need to teach you four methods, I only need to teach you one. From shaping one corner you will know how to shape the other three corners. This is how teachers in this world instruct pupils. But the Buddha works very hard. Even if there are only four corners, He uses eight or twelve different methods to patiently and repeatedly teach us. Regardless of people’s capabilities, He tirelessly finds suitable teachings. This is the patience He has for sentient beings. The teachers of this world can only teach us for a period of time, not for lifetimes. The Buddha teaches us, lifetime after lifetime. We must always be grateful for His grace and therefore love and respect ourselves. Only when we respect ourselves will we earnestly cherish and seize each day to develop our wisdom-life.
So, we must have self-respect. I always say, “Having self-respect is a way to repay grace.” We need to repay the grace of the Buddha, our parents and all sentient beings. All Buddhist practitioners, whether lay or monastic, must cherish their wisdom-life, have self-respect and repay grace. We are all Buddha-children and “as the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings.”
As the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must believe in our [nature of] True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind. Only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata.
The Buddha teaches us to have more faith in ourselves. “We must believe in our nature of True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind.” We must believe that we are intrinsically endowed with a nature of True Suchness. To return to our true nature, we must walk from the path of ordinary people toward the path of enlightenment, which is the Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is a path in our minds. As long as we are willing to return to our nature of True Suchness, the Buddha teaches us to earnestly walk this path.
In this world there are tens of thousands of paths. We must not take the wrong one. If we deviate from it even slightly, we will end up on an evil path. On an evil path, with evil knowledge and views, we will give rise to countless afflictions, karma and wrongdoings, and so on. So, we must take good care of this Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path in our minds comes from the same source as our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, we definitely must find the Bodhi-path in order to return to our nature of True Suchness. To follow the Bodhi-path, we must practice the Bodhisattva-path. So, only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata. We must clearly understand this. Time continues to pass in infinitesimal increments. We must not waste time. We should know that if we have a lapse in spiritual practice, we may become indolent.
In the Buddha’s time, one day while He was with the Sangha at Jetavana,four bhiksus
sat outside of the abode and chatted under a tree.Each person named the thing they wanted to pursue most.One of them said,“What I am most interested in and wanted to pursue is the colorful state of spring.When all the flowers and trees bloom wildly,
nature looks beautiful.I really enjoy traveling through this kind of environment.”In his life, that was the state that he loved most that made him the most happy.
The second bhiksu said, “What I enjoy most is being with my very close friends or spending all day with loved ones. This is what makes me happiest.Having a good time together, either singing or dancing, is the way I want to spend my days.”
The third bhiksu said “What I envy most are fame and fortune.I want to have a lot of money and many treasures so that I can enjoy pleasures whenever I want.A pleasurable life is what I desire most.”
The fourth bhiksu said, “I keep thinking of the past.Having my beautiful wife and concubines by my side at all times would be the most enjoyable thing in life.”
Having spoken so much about pleasures, they were all entranced by those states.
At that moment, the Buddha looked outside and saw these four bhiksus.He said, “Ask them to come inside.”The Buddha sighed, “In your pasts, you pursued and were mesmerized by things because of your delusion.After you became monastics, your minds dwelled and lingered on the past or went in pursuit of the future.This world is impermanent and time continuously passes.In this world, life is painfully short.
Furthermore, fame and fortune are temporary and pursing them will create a lot of karma.As for beautiful wives and concubines, we will all [eventually age, grow ill and die] and our bodies are unclean.Sadly, even after becoming monastics, you are idling away your time, not learning teachings and not trying to find your nature of True Suchness.
The paths ahead of you are all evil branches.You have not even formed aspirations, so you can no longer see pure intrinsic nature.”
As the Buddha rebuked them, those nearby benefitted immensely.As He taught these four bhiksus, of the bystanders who heard what He said, many were also awakened.
Indeed, life is very short.Why we are still fixated on the past?Why are we still in pursuit of a future?This is a deluded life.So, are we living in this state of confusion?The Buddha already said, “In the era of chaos and the turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.”
From this short story, we know that even during the Buddha’s time, people’s minds were already turbid.This was true even within the Buddha’s Sangha, let alone for the lay people at that time.So, in turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.In the turbidity of kapla, all is in chaos and people’s minds are confused.So, sentient beans continue to give rise to a defiled state of mind, one of greed, jealousy and so on.So, they develop roots of unwholesomeness.
Because sentient beings lack roots of goodness, the Buddha has to give Three Vehicles teachings.Based on the One Vehicle, He taught the Three Vehicles. Not only that, He gave 84,000 teachings to address sentient beings’ 84,000 turbidities. To treat them, He had to come up with all of these teachings, not to mention the Three Vehicles. But actually, the Three Vehicles are only for certain spiritual practitioners. Those spiritual practitioners include the Hearers and Solitary Realizers in the Sangha. Hearers were taught the Four Noble Truths, Solitary Realizers were taught the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, and Bodhisattvas received the Six Paramitas. The Three Vehicles teachings actually all lead to the Bodhisattva Way, which is the only way to return to the Bodhi-path, which enables us to return to our Tathagatas-minds. This is what the Buddha worked hard to teach us.
Presently, the sutra also states that the Buddha said, “Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddhas, but does not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…”.
This makes things very clear. The Buddha once again reminded Sariputra, which was reminding everyone, to listen attentively. Some of His disciples might believe, “I am already an Arhat. I thoroughly understand the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, its causation, its cessation and the Path”. Because they attained the fruits of Arhatship, they though [highly of themselves]. Or they might think, “Not only do I understand the Four Noble Truths, but the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence are as familiar to me as the palm of my hand. I also clearly understand the karmic conditions for coming to and leaving this world. Fragmentary and transformational samsara are also very familiar to me”. They believed they were Pratyekabuddhas.
Those who thought they had understood were “those who do not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…” These people did not know that all Buddhas, not just Sakyamuni Buddha, but other Buddhas as well, shared the same path. They come to this evil world of the Five Turbidities, and begin to teach the Dharma to sentient beings all for one purpose, to teach the Bodhisattva-path. Teaching the Bodhisattva-path is their one great cause. They teach everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path, the road back to our nature of True Suchness.
After we transform ourselves and others, we can achieve perfect transformative practice. If we all think that we have attained the fruit of Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, but do not want to hear or know why all Buddhas come to this world, if we do not listen attentively and learn this, then we will be at a loss. So, we must know the qualities of an Arhat. An Arhat has “the power of wisdom and ending”. He has the wisdom to end all afflictions. This is the virtue of ending. If we have truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, we must first achieve the state where we eliminate all afflictions after learning the truth. Then we achieve this virtue. We go among others but are not defiled by people and matters. Only then do we have virtue of wisdom. Only then are we Arhats. The true Bodhi-path also allows us to eliminate all afflictions. Only by experiencing the true Bodhi-path and by walking it can we truly be Arhats.
Arhats: They have the power of wisdom and ending. Understanding the ultimate truth is the virtue of wisdom. Eliminating all afflictions is the virtue of ending. This is the true Bodhi-path. Those who truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, upon hearing the teachings today, can immediately and faithfully accept it and seek the Bodhi [-path]. Those who do not want to hear and know this but claim to be Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas are nothing more than overbearingly arrogant people.
If we have truly attained Arhatship, as we listen to this teaching, we realize that the Buddha is opening the provisional to reveal the true. The Buddha clearly said that in the past He only gave provisional teachings, and now He was going to teach the True Path. Those who have attained the fruit of Arhatship, the moment they hear this teaching, should faithfully accept it. They will certainly be able to earnestly listen an faithfully accept it. If we think, “I know everything,” then we will not listen carefully if we do not learn this, but claim to be Arhats, thinking we have already attained Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, then don’t we have overbearing arrogance? Those people do not know the Buddha’s goal in coming to this world. Can a person who does not want to learn be called and Arhat?What are the qualities of a Pratyekabuddha? A Pratyekabuddha has “the wisdom to awaken”.
Pratyekabuddha: They have the wisdom to awaken. Once they listen, they immediately understand. They seek the wisdom of nature and joyfully awaken themselves to attain Nirvana. They deeply understand the causes and conditions of all things. This is the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle.
Pratyekabuddhas also go by another name. They are called Solitary Realizers. In times when there are no Buddhas present, they can, through their pure intrinsic nature, still realize the principle of impermanence. But what is the origin of these principles? And how do they connect to their wisdom-life? They still did not understand, so they remained in the state of Solitary Realizers and Pratyekabuddhas. When the Buddha manifested in this world, some accepted His teachings and understood that the world is impermanent. How does realizing impermanence resonate with their wisdom-life? After comprehending impermanence, how do they purify themselves and develop their wisdom-life? The answer was even clearer in the Buddha’s era.
“Once they listen, they immediately understand” After listening to the Buddha’s teachings, they should understand. The Buddha gave teachings so that people could realize the world is impermanent and that we should promptly return to our pure intrinsic nature. So, He created many means to teach us. This is the Buddha’s compassion. Pratyekabuddhas can understand, so they “seek the wisdom of nature”.
Thus Pratyekabuddhas can naturally attain great wisdom from nature. Natural wisdom, teacherless wisdom, all-encompassing wisdom, etc are all natural to us. But true Pratyekabuddhas were progressing, they sought “the wisdom of nature and” “joyfully awakened themselves to attain Nirvana”. But they still only wanted to awaken themselves and were in the state of Solitary Realizers. They knew about the many causes and conditions, so they did not dare to create more causes or form more conditions. Thus they only sought to purify and liberate themselves. “did not want to hear or know” [that Buddhas] “only teach the Bodhisattva-path”. They did not realize the Buddha only wanted to teach the One Buddha Vehicle. He did not just teach them to become Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas. These are not the only teachings, so everyone must keep progressing forward. Those who remain in the same state, unwilling to make progress, are those who “do not want to hear or know”. They do not understand the Buddha’s intent.
They do not want to hear or know that [the Buddha] teaches the Bodhisattva-path, the One Buddha Vehicle. Thus they do not understand the Buddha’s intent, and hear it without faithfully accepting it. So, they give rise to overbearing arrogance.
Dear Bodhisattvas, there were over bearingly arrogant people in the Buddha’s time. The Buddha put a lot of work into guiding them and gave so many teachings. He personally taught them at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, and yet there were still people who left. Among those who remained and listened, there were those who heard but did not believe and who did not feel the joy of faith. Think about this, it is so sad！
So everyone, we must learn the Buddha’s Way. The Buddha compassionately inspired us and opened our minds to help us all return to the Bodhi-path and enter the state of the Tathagata. How can we not have self-respect? How can we not earnestly safeguard our spiritual aspirations? Thus, we must always love and awaken ourselves. We must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: By Listening, We Learn the Buddha’s Intent (應聞應知佛心意)
Date: May. 28. 2014
Every day, our lives grow shorter as we undergo continuous infinitesimal changes. So, “Like a fish in a dwindling pond, what joy have we?” However, we must consider that, as the Buddha’s disciples, we must faithfully practice the teachings. The teachings of the Buddha are nothing but great wisdom. If we are mindful, [then we can] “See one corner and know the other three.” This means that when I tell you how to make a table, how to cut and shape the corners to be square, I do not need to teach you four methods, I only need to teach you one. From shaping one corner you will know how to shape the other three corners. This is how teachers in this world instruct pupils. But the Buddha works very hard. Even if there are only four corners, He uses eight or twelve different methods to patiently and repeatedly teach us. Regardless of people’s capabilities, He tirelessly finds suitable teachings. This is the patience He has for sentient beings. The teachers of this world can only teach us for a period of time, not for lifetimes. The Buddha teaches us, lifetime after lifetime. We must always be grateful for His grace and therefore love and respect ourselves. Only when we respect ourselves will we earnestly cherish and seize each day to develop our wisdom-life.
So, we must have self-respect. I always say, “Having self-respect is a way to repay grace.” We need to repay the grace of the Buddha, our parents and all sentient beings. All Buddhist practitioners, whether lay or monastic, must cherish their wisdom-life, have self-respect and repay grace. We are all Buddha-children and “as the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings.”
As the Buddha’s disciples, we should faithfully accept the Buddha’s teachings. We must believe in our [nature of] True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind. Only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata.
The Buddha teaches us to have more faith in ourselves. “We must believe in our nature of True Suchness, that we intrinsically have a Bodhi-mind.” We must believe that we are intrinsically endowed with a nature of True Suchness. To return to our true nature, we must walk from the path of ordinary people toward the path of enlightenment, which is the Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is a path in our minds. As long as we are willing to return to our nature of True Suchness, the Buddha teaches us to earnestly walk this path.
In this world there are tens of thousands of paths. We must not take the wrong one. If we deviate from it even slightly, we will end up on an evil path. On an evil path, with evil knowledge and views, we will give rise to countless afflictions, karma and wrongdoings, and so on. So, we must take good care of this Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path in our minds comes from the same source as our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, we definitely must find the Bodhi-path in order to return to our nature of True Suchness. To follow the Bodhi-path, we must practice the Bodhisattva-path. So, only by walking the Bodhisattva-path can we return to the state of the Tathagata. We must clearly understand this. Time continues to pass in infinitesimal increments. We must not waste time. We should know that if we have a lapse in spiritual practice, we may become indolent.
In the Buddha’s time, one day while He was with the Sangha at Jetavana,four bhiksus
sat outside of the abode and chatted under a tree.Each person named the thing they wanted to pursue most.One of them said,“What I am most interested in and wanted to pursue is the colorful state of spring.When all the flowers and trees bloom wildly,
nature looks beautiful.I really enjoy traveling through this kind of environment.”In his life, that was the state that he loved most that made him the most happy.
The second bhiksu said, “What I enjoy most is being with my very close friends or spending all day with loved ones. This is what makes me happiest.Having a good time together, either singing or dancing, is the way I want to spend my days.”
The third bhiksu said “What I envy most are fame and fortune.I want to have a lot of money and many treasures so that I can enjoy pleasures whenever I want.A pleasurable life is what I desire most.”
The fourth bhiksu said, “I keep thinking of the past.Having my beautiful wife and concubines by my side at all times would be the most enjoyable thing in life.”
Having spoken so much about pleasures, they were all entranced by those states.
At that moment, the Buddha looked outside and saw these four bhiksus.He said, “Ask them to come inside.”The Buddha sighed, “In your pasts, you pursued and were mesmerized by things because of your delusion.After you became monastics, your minds dwelled and lingered on the past or went in pursuit of the future.This world is impermanent and time continuously passes.In this world, life is painfully short.
Furthermore, fame and fortune are temporary and pursing them will create a lot of karma.As for beautiful wives and concubines, we will all [eventually age, grow ill and die] and our bodies are unclean.Sadly, even after becoming monastics, you are idling away your time, not learning teachings and not trying to find your nature of True Suchness.
The paths ahead of you are all evil branches.You have not even formed aspirations, so you can no longer see pure intrinsic nature.”
As the Buddha rebuked them, those nearby benefitted immensely.As He taught these four bhiksus, of the bystanders who heard what He said, many were also awakened.
Indeed, life is very short.Why we are still fixated on the past?Why are we still in pursuit of a future?This is a deluded life.So, are we living in this state of confusion?The Buddha already said, “In the era of chaos and the turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.”
From this short story, we know that even during the Buddha’s time, people’s minds were already turbid.This was true even within the Buddha’s Sangha, let alone for the lay people at that time.So, in turbidity of kalpa, sentient beings are heavily defiled.In the turbidity of kapla, all is in chaos and people’s minds are confused.So, sentient beans continue to give rise to a defiled state of mind, one of greed, jealousy and so on.So, they develop roots of unwholesomeness.
Because sentient beings lack roots of goodness, the Buddha has to give Three Vehicles teachings.Based on the One Vehicle, He taught the Three Vehicles. Not only that, He gave 84,000 teachings to address sentient beings’ 84,000 turbidities. To treat them, He had to come up with all of these teachings, not to mention the Three Vehicles. But actually, the Three Vehicles are only for certain spiritual practitioners. Those spiritual practitioners include the Hearers and Solitary Realizers in the Sangha. Hearers were taught the Four Noble Truths, Solitary Realizers were taught the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, and Bodhisattvas received the Six Paramitas. The Three Vehicles teachings actually all lead to the Bodhisattva Way, which is the only way to return to the Bodhi-path, which enables us to return to our Tathagatas-minds. This is what the Buddha worked hard to teach us.
Presently, the sutra also states that the Buddha said, “Sariputra, if a disciple of mine calls himself an Arhat or Pratyekabuddhas, but does not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…”.
This makes things very clear. The Buddha once again reminded Sariputra, which was reminding everyone, to listen attentively. Some of His disciples might believe, “I am already an Arhat. I thoroughly understand the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, its causation, its cessation and the Path”. Because they attained the fruits of Arhatship, they though [highly of themselves]. Or they might think, “Not only do I understand the Four Noble Truths, but the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence are as familiar to me as the palm of my hand. I also clearly understand the karmic conditions for coming to and leaving this world. Fragmentary and transformational samsara are also very familiar to me”. They believed they were Pratyekabuddhas.
Those who thought they had understood were “those who do not want to hear or know of the fact that all Buddhas, the Tathagatas, only teach the Bodhisattva-path…” These people did not know that all Buddhas, not just Sakyamuni Buddha, but other Buddhas as well, shared the same path. They come to this evil world of the Five Turbidities, and begin to teach the Dharma to sentient beings all for one purpose, to teach the Bodhisattva-path. Teaching the Bodhisattva-path is their one great cause. They teach everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path, the road back to our nature of True Suchness.
After we transform ourselves and others, we can achieve perfect transformative practice. If we all think that we have attained the fruit of Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, but do not want to hear or know why all Buddhas come to this world, if we do not listen attentively and learn this, then we will be at a loss. So, we must know the qualities of an Arhat. An Arhat has “the power of wisdom and ending”. He has the wisdom to end all afflictions. This is the virtue of ending. If we have truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, we must first achieve the state where we eliminate all afflictions after learning the truth. Then we achieve this virtue. We go among others but are not defiled by people and matters. Only then do we have virtue of wisdom. Only then are we Arhats. The true Bodhi-path also allows us to eliminate all afflictions. Only by experiencing the true Bodhi-path and by walking it can we truly be Arhats.
Arhats: They have the power of wisdom and ending. Understanding the ultimate truth is the virtue of wisdom. Eliminating all afflictions is the virtue of ending. This is the true Bodhi-path. Those who truly attained the fruit of Arhatship, upon hearing the teachings today, can immediately and faithfully accept it and seek the Bodhi [-path]. Those who do not want to hear and know this but claim to be Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas are nothing more than overbearingly arrogant people.
If we have truly attained Arhatship, as we listen to this teaching, we realize that the Buddha is opening the provisional to reveal the true. The Buddha clearly said that in the past He only gave provisional teachings, and now He was going to teach the True Path. Those who have attained the fruit of Arhatship, the moment they hear this teaching, should faithfully accept it. They will certainly be able to earnestly listen an faithfully accept it. If we think, “I know everything,” then we will not listen carefully if we do not learn this, but claim to be Arhats, thinking we have already attained Arhatship or become Pratyekabuddhas, then don’t we have overbearing arrogance? Those people do not know the Buddha’s goal in coming to this world. Can a person who does not want to learn be called and Arhat?What are the qualities of a Pratyekabuddha? A Pratyekabuddha has “the wisdom to awaken”.
Pratyekabuddha: They have the wisdom to awaken. Once they listen, they immediately understand. They seek the wisdom of nature and joyfully awaken themselves to attain Nirvana. They deeply understand the causes and conditions of all things. This is the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle.
Pratyekabuddhas also go by another name. They are called Solitary Realizers. In times when there are no Buddhas present, they can, through their pure intrinsic nature, still realize the principle of impermanence. But what is the origin of these principles? And how do they connect to their wisdom-life? They still did not understand, so they remained in the state of Solitary Realizers and Pratyekabuddhas. When the Buddha manifested in this world, some accepted His teachings and understood that the world is impermanent. How does realizing impermanence resonate with their wisdom-life? After comprehending impermanence, how do they purify themselves and develop their wisdom-life? The answer was even clearer in the Buddha’s era.
“Once they listen, they immediately understand” After listening to the Buddha’s teachings, they should understand. The Buddha gave teachings so that people could realize the world is impermanent and that we should promptly return to our pure intrinsic nature. So, He created many means to teach us. This is the Buddha’s compassion. Pratyekabuddhas can understand, so they “seek the wisdom of nature”.
Thus Pratyekabuddhas can naturally attain great wisdom from nature. Natural wisdom, teacherless wisdom, all-encompassing wisdom, etc are all natural to us. But true Pratyekabuddhas were progressing, they sought “the wisdom of nature and” “joyfully awakened themselves to attain Nirvana”. But they still only wanted to awaken themselves and were in the state of Solitary Realizers. They knew about the many causes and conditions, so they did not dare to create more causes or form more conditions. Thus they only sought to purify and liberate themselves. “did not want to hear or know” [that Buddhas] “only teach the Bodhisattva-path”. They did not realize the Buddha only wanted to teach the One Buddha Vehicle. He did not just teach them to become Arhats or Pratyekabuddhas. These are not the only teachings, so everyone must keep progressing forward. Those who remain in the same state, unwilling to make progress, are those who “do not want to hear or know”. They do not understand the Buddha’s intent.
They do not want to hear or know that [the Buddha] teaches the Bodhisattva-path, the One Buddha Vehicle. Thus they do not understand the Buddha’s intent, and hear it without faithfully accepting it. So, they give rise to overbearing arrogance.
Dear Bodhisattvas, there were over bearingly arrogant people in the Buddha’s time. The Buddha put a lot of work into guiding them and gave so many teachings. He personally taught them at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, and yet there were still people who left. Among those who remained and listened, there were those who heard but did not believe and who did not feel the joy of faith. Think about this, it is so sad！
So everyone, we must learn the Buddha’s Way. The Buddha compassionately inspired us and opened our minds to help us all return to the Bodhi-path and enter the state of the Tathagata. How can we not have self-respect? How can we not earnestly safeguard our spiritual aspirations? Thus, we must always love and awaken ourselves. We must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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