Past, present, future, ... Buddha is one with perfect clarity, perfect understanding of everything that happens in the past, present and future and they understand it accurately, and well-rounded and there is no leak in the knowledge. It's correct. It's not twisted. It's not biased. Hence we call it perfect clarity. The phenomena of the infinitudes of the universe, how did it come into being? Where did it come from? Where does it go? As you see in the slide, how did the universe come into being? What's the origin or lack thereof, the process that took place? How was the universe formed and what's the fate of the universe? How did it come into being and ( how will it) end? None of them he doesn't know. He knows everything about this. 3000 years ago, Buddha already predicted(envisioned), talked about the universe, how many layers of it and how many multitudes of it, long before the scientific advancement in cosmological studies. Back then, you already had that system… milky-way, solar system in the milky-way, and then it goes to the infinite, ... The fact that he can say that 3000 years ago without any (scientific) tools like telescopes, Buddha already mentioned(knew) everything (down to the) very detail of all living beings in there. If we bring it down to our earth, he also knew how the earth is going, what is the process the earth has to go through. How does the earth go through formation, existence, which is now, deterioration and void(成住壞空). Only people with supreme wisdom are able to do that. Normal people cannot do this. Just like some of us read the Infinite Life Sutra, 2500 years ago, Buddha already said in the sutra, in this era, food are no longer safe, full of chemicals basically, they call it "food" which is filled with poisons that are harmful to their health and all the soil are infertile, so, it is hard to get healthy food. He talked about this obviously extending to polluted air, polluted land and polluted sound. All this has been mentioned in the sutra that was recorded 3000 years ago. From this hard evidence we can see that without supreme wisdom, a person without full wisdom, a full picture of the whole thing could not even fathom this kind of thing, let alone say it out in a very consistent, structured manner. The point of saying this is to complete our life. The first thing is: It goes beyond that, it goes beyond just having a happy life. It's also a full understanding of the whole Cause and Effect, the whole cycles, particles, elements that cause this to happen. What's the result of it? So this is the greatness of Buddha. This is where the Buddha’s greatness lies. He does not have any bias, error or delusions, only a person who has attained this level of understanding and knowing is called a Buddha. There are many (wise people), but if you put the wisdom to the highest standards, to the strictest standards of no bias, no error, no delusions, then (one) is called a Buddha. This is something like what other religions call their deities or deity, God(s), as all-knowing, omnipresent, but this is actually inherent in all of us, not just deities. Everyone has this ability. All of us have that ability. That means we have the right and potential to reach that level of being all-knowing, omnipresent. This is just a brief overview on Buddha and his wisdom. We will go into depth on why we can't reach that level. Before we go on, I would like to clarify one thing. Now we’re talking about the truth of the universe, we are talking about the truth. Before I came here, I was giving Dharma Talks at universities. I always had a lot of students from different religions or traditions say to me: Our religion tells us: The creations of the world, no matter if it's sentient or non-sentient, are all created by God. They asked me: What does the Buddha create? What can Buddha create? If one day you have friends, colleagues or people asking you this kind of question: What can Buddha create because our God can create everything? Could you answer that kind of question? Because, in this world, there are people who might try to find solace(comfort) in showing off, maybe because of the lack of exposure to other traditions that they're thinking in a very narrow way, it happens and it will happen. But back to the point, talking about the word “truth”, Buddha, 3000 years ago, already talked about it. Buddha can not create the truth, only discover it. Just like scientists, they don't create gravity, they can only discover gravity. These things are already there. If you call it “truth”, it should have already been there. It is just that we are not aware (of it). It's a common conception in Christian or Abrahamic religions, Catholics etc. They are at this level of understanding. When they talk about truth, they always refer to creation by God, every human, every animal, every rock. They call it the genesis: Everything you wear, everything you eat, is all created by God. But talking about Buddhist teachings, we do not say "creation", because the truth is already there. You don't need to create the truth. If it's created, then it is no longer the truth. The problem is the person who observes it, it's not the truth itself, it is the person who observed the truth is not fully aware of it(its presence). The universe has always been like that, has always been working in this way. We are not aware (of it), we are living in it for many generations, many lives. But we are not aware of it. In the Mahayana Sutras, Buddha already told us a lot of times. Because Buddha has supreme wisdom, hence he understands. Understanding this level of knowing， what we call ontology, hence the truth cannot be monopolized by any masters or any teachers or any gurus. It cannot be monopolized by authorities, whether it be religious authorities or secular authorities, nor is it like science, they always like to debate and refute. It is not debatable or refutable if it is the truth. It's a question of the egg or the chicken. Does the egg come first, or does the chicken come first? There is a question of whether Buddha comes first before Dharma or Sangha, because Buddha talked about Dharma and then formed the Sangha. But without Dharma how can there be Buddha, without Sangha how can there be Buddha? All these are correct! There is no fixed one way. They are around, they are not one way. Buddha has talked to us about life, it consists of birth, age, sickness and death, right? Everyone knows, Buddha has talked to us about that. No one can change the fact, even nowadays. This is the truth. This is an example of the truth. Everyone will be born, age, (get) ill, and die. These things still happen today, right? Buddha has taught us that life in this (world) consists mostly of sufferings, very few pleasures, very little happiness. If we talk about the ratio, look at us in 365 days, which portion is more, suffering or happiness? This thing is ongoing forever, as long as we are here. There's no need to think about who created this or us being created from where. The point is this thing is already ongoing, we need to be aware of it and how do we get out of it. A lot of people say God created the world. It's very common people might say, if God can create the world, why can't He create something that (makes us) all equal. Everyone has the same resources. Everyone has the same access to resources. Why are there bad people, why are there murders, why are there bad guys? It just does not work like that. It's pointless to argue like this. What Buddha taught was how to look at the truth that you are facing right now and how to solve the problem at hand. That's more important than the egg or the chicken debate, the half full or half empty. The point is, more importantly, can you find the meaning of your life in this lifetime? Can you find your purpose, your mission in this lifetime? That's more important than anything. The point of practicing, learning from Buddha, being a student of Buddha is to become awakened, to become wise. That means to open up, to return back to your full perfect clarity, to recover your wisdom. So let’s continue. Buddha told us that all beings, including ourselves, you and I and everyone else, we have such a level of discerning ability, such a level of wisdom. We all (have the capability of) knowing the past, present and future, knowing the Cause and Effect and knowing the formation of the universe. We have this capability as well. Let's look at Amitabha Buddha. He has been the Buddha for ten Kalpas, a very long time. Buddha can create such a world called (the) Pure Land with such a capability of lifting ordinary people into the level of Bodhisattva of No Return, level, very high. You too have the (same) ability as Amitabha Buddha to do that. If we talk about potential, even now, right here in Australia, (as you sit here,) in this seat, you can (become) a Buddha as well at this (very) instant! Why Buddha mentions this is to remind us that we all already have this ability. We don't need to seek or gain anything. We just need to recover it. In the sutra, Buddha said “All beings are equal to the Buddha in every aspect, without any difference at all”. He didn't say that I am Buddha, you must be lower than me. No! He said all beings are equal to the Buddha in every (way). You and Shakyamuni Buddha are the same. You and Amitabha Buddha are the same. You are Amitabha Buddha. A lot of times, while practicing the Thrice Yearning Ceremony, there is a phrase: Amitabha’s heart is my heart, my heart is Amitabha's heart. However, so what's the however, what's the but? However, when we look at the reality, our current reality, why is it so different? Didn’t Buddha say we are all equal? We used to have well-rounded wisdom, well-rounded fortunes, good fortunes. Why are we so far behind Buddha? Let's take the example closest to us. In this society, we have smart people, we have ignorant people, foolish people. Do you want to be ignorant or do you want to be smart? We all have a preference in our heart. No one wants to be ignorant. Everyone wants to be smart and intelligent, right? Also (there are) people with strong capability and also some people who are incapable. Also, some people are born into a wealthy family, (while) some people (are born) impoverished. These are (some of) the very real inequalities that happen in our face. Some people, once they are born, can immediately enjoy the luxuries of life akin to an emperor. Some people are born into this impoverished neighborhood, they are sick and their life is hard. For example, some people who are born directly in Australia have everything prepared for them, everything is good. Some people are born into a war torn country. Some people if they want something, they just need to utter it and they get it. Some people, no matter how hard they work, can't reach that level. Some people are born tall with good looking features while some people are not. What is the cause of these differences? How did these differences come about? Why is this gap so big? A lot of times we might even (hold a) grudge, whine to our parents: Look at the neighbor kids, they have better toys, they have nicer looking clothes compared to me! There are a lot of (people like this). It is quite common to compare ourselves with others, (thus) this inequality. Also some people have been in business for 10 or 20 years, they worked so hard but they still can't get financial security. Some people are born into it. What they want to have, immediately, they can just spend millions of millions with no problem. Buddha told us why there are these differences because we lost our capability. We temporarily lost our wisdom. Our good fortune and our wisdom is originally well-rounded; it's perfect. However, we lost it. We lost sight of it. So today's second part of this talk, we will talk about this loss. What does Buddha mean by lost? Lost what? How did we lose it? In Buddhism, this is a very keyword. In Chinese, it's called “Mi(迷)”. Because this word “Mi(迷)” lost, we are living a hard life mentally, as well as physically. (So Buddha talked about) “Lost”, in this context. It's very rare to have the (opportunity) to study with you guys and to revise(review) and understand this together. Loss refers to our delusions in the form of wandering thoughts, discriminations and attachments. Because of these delusions: wandering thoughts, discriminations, attachments, we commit negative karmas every day, repeating the faults, that means things that we should not be doing, we do it, unwholesome actions, unwholesome speech, and unwholesome thoughts. Do we have these kinds of issues? Let's think about it in the most honest way, especially (unwholesome) thoughts, speech and actions. How many of these deeds, that harm other people, (do we do) in one day alone? Mostly, to the people who are closest to us For example, thoughts of hatred, lust or greed lead us to all these (unwholesome) actions that, we can see nowadays, harm the earth and pollute the world. From (this example), something very close that we can see everyday, is why Buddha kept saying that we need to put a stop to our unwholesome deeds, wrong actions. We call it repent, more like reflect and repent. Without reflecting on our faults and changing(correcting) them, we can't improve and we can't return back to the wisdom that we used to have. Another example is the deeds that you do that are not good, not beneficial to others. The effects of these actions will harm you in the back(long run). For instance, you make a sneering remark. A sneering remark might hurt other people, and in the future, some people might do the same back to you in a different form. That's why we all have an infinite level or amount of karma creditor because of these three (delusions). We do it wrong. We say something wrong. We think something wrong. So the current homework is to breakthrough the cause of our sufferings and miseries. If we do not change ourselves, reform ourselves from the base level, from the deepest level in our heart, then we can't improve our life. You can't get good fortune, or well-rounded fortune. I believe everyone feels that in their life. Something is missing, something is lacking, something needs to be done, improved. It's a very honest question. If you think that your life is good, well-rounded, why would you want to come here and listen to this (Dharma Talk), chant Amituofo, or want to go to the Pure Land, a Land of Ultimate Bliss? Because you want to get out of this misery. If there's no misery why would you want to go, seek (rebirth in the) Land of Ultimate Bliss? If you are enjoying your life right now, if everything is 100% (good) for you, you would not want to learn Buddhism. But it's not, right? For example, a few days ago, my Dharma Center has a young person who just started a relationship. He talked to me about the afflictions in his relationship. He said: I thought when I started this relationship, we were looking for happiness in each other. However the result is (the opposite). The deeper we went into the relationship, the more pain we felt. (We are) supposed to be happy, why is it so sad and miserable? When you look at someone who just (got) married or maybe after one week or one month or two months, they divorce. Why? Because if we just rely on the emotion we call "love" alone, it has been polluted with lust, with control over others, owning others, those kinds of thoughts. It’s all based on the ego: me me me. If that other half of you, that partner, does not fulfil that vision, that desire that you have set in your heart, then you feel painful and hence afflictions. However if you look at Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, those sages, their love, we call it "compassion", we don't call it "love". Their compassion, their love is real, because they have no self-interest in it. Even when you say something harmful, hurtful to them, or even inflict harm on them, they will not retaliate. They will not have hatred. This worldly love, if it can't, if it doesn’t satisfy each other's needs in the relationships in any form, (be it) monetary loss, or anything, becomes hate. Love becomes hate. Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and all the sages, their love is like parents towards children, unconditional. Respectful brothers and sisters, this is the very key point we need to be awakened to, be aware of. Why do we learn Buddhism? Because if we practice it, we become wiser and wiser in handling people, in handling our emotions when facing people, when facing all sorts of conditions. No matter if it's a good or favorable or bad miserable encounter, our hearts will not be moved. Our minds will remain still. That's the goal. However the reality right now is that we all get swayed by anything that happens around us and the worst thing is you get deeper and deeper into this love and hate, love and hate, this kind of downward spiral. That's the cost of our downfall. That's a cost of losing our full wisdom, full fortune. What should we do now? How do I go back? Buddha told us: You have an innate wisdom, one that is perfect and well-rounded, but unfortunately you lost it. From the level of Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, from the level of a Buddha, that means a person who lives freely, because they are wise, they don't get entangled, becomes, someone we are now today, an ordinary being with a lot of entanglements. Let me ask you a question: Are you actually an ordinary being in essence? No! No one is always an ordinary being. It's temporary. It's quite a long (time), but it's a temporary condition. It's a temporary disease. You are a Buddha, that is who you are, that's your original identity but you lost sight of it. Because you lost sight of it, you get into that delusion, becoming an ordinary being bound by all things. For example someone who is drunk. When they are drunk, they lose rational thoughts, they act irrationally. But can we dictate that this person in that drunken state is him or her in essence? No! When they wake up, they come back to their original self, the normal self. It is the same for us. (Getting) back to the topic of “lost”. We are lost because of the delusion of wandering thoughts, discriminations and attachments. If we break through these three layers of obstacles back to our home, back to our enlightenment, back to our Buddha self, then we become Buddha, that means we are free. We are truly free. A freedom, right? This is real freedom. The key is to let go, let go of our attachment to everything. Yes, it is a sound path to walk, but it's so hard (to do). I chant Amituofo everyday, or I meditate everyday, or whatever homework I do, I still have a lot of affliction. I chant Amituofo, I pray to Buddha, I read the sutra, I listen to the Dharma, but yet my affliction remains heavy, my delusion remains deep. What can I do? In fact, the benefit is subtle. What is the benefit, when you hear sutras or Master Chin Kung's speeches or this Dharma speech right now? You were reminded, you were washed once again. Someone like Buddha, his word is born out of one with a pure heart, wisdom. It has a level to wake you up. We just need to be immersed more in there. Next Wednesday I will continue this topic with you guys. Today, being together with everyone here, first, we learned the core goal of learning Buddhism is to learn about ourselves, to learn more about ourselves, to know more about ourselves. Also, why am I learning Buddhism? In this environment, what can Buddhism bring to the table, to help me to go through this life? Then we talked about lost, how do we find our way back? What is the method? What's the cause of the loss and how do we find it back? What's the method? What ways can we use to break through the delusions, the wandering thoughts, the discriminations and attachments which caused us to do bad deeds, to have bad speech and bad thoughts. How do we transform it around, turn it around? Next week, we will talk more in depth on this topic, how do we find (our way) back. Now it's quite late. It's 9:30. Usually, we use one hour to give a brief talk about how we recognize Buddhism. What is Buddha? What is the meaning of Buddha? Why do we not translate (the word)"Buddha"? That's what we learned today. What's the meaning of Buddha? How do we get back our Buddha-Nature? Hopefully, next Wednesday from 8:30 to 9:30, we can gather again to continue these topics. If today I've mentioned anything that is not right, wholesome, I hope everyone can give me some feedback. I also hope next Wednesday, we can all participate and learn together. Because of your participation, it encourages me to settle down and learn about myself, learn about Buddhism, which is about myself. Then we will all be able to improve together. That's the biggest benefit of coming together and learning. I hope next week we can learn together, and also encourage our dear Youth Group and also myself, because of you, we will have this condition to be together. I hope next week, you open up your camera. Don't hide behind the screen. Open it up, so we can see each other. Don't hide behind the camera and leave me alone here drifting. Open up your camera next time. It's also a sign of respect to whoever's speaking, towards a monk. If you keep your camera closed, it feels like there's a gap between us, we cannot connect. Back to this topic, it gets more and more interesting in the upcoming speech, it gets better actually. Especially all these great masters, including our teacher Master Chin Kung. He has given very interesting content. I can't (repeat) everything, but I can (go over) the main points with you. Okay that's it for today. I hope everyone has a good, healthy life. All right, see you again next Wednesday. Amituofo!
