Namo
Founding Teacher
Shakyamuni Buddha
Sutra Opening Verse
The unsurpassed, deep,
profound subtle and wonderful Dharma,
Is difficult to encounter
in hundreds of millions of kalpas.
Now I have the chance to see, to listen,
Receive and uphold the Dharma,
May I contemplate the true meaning
of the Thus Come One.
One who can be called Buddha is one with
perfect clarity, perfect understanding of
everything that happened
or will happen in the past, present and
future and they understand it
accurately.
Being well-rounded, there is no lacking in
their knowledge, it's correct without bias,
hence we call it perfect clarity.
Buddha’s wisdom included perfect clarity
on the infinitudes of the universe,
how it came into being,
the origins or lack thereof, the processes
that took place and the fate of the universe
at the end of the cycle.
None of this he did not know.
He knew everything about this,
3000 years ago, Buddha already 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 he
already knew of the milky-way,
the solar system
in the milky-way and
that it goes to the infinite.
Buddha knew everything
down to the very detail of
all living beings in the universe.
The fact that he could say that 3000
years ago without any scientific tools like
telescopes, (proves his supreme wisdom).
He knew
how the universe evolved
and the processes of the universe’s life cycle
described as formation, existence, deterioration
and void. Only people with supreme wisdom
are able to do that.
Normal people cannot do that.
2500 years ago, Buddha said in
the Infinite Life Sutra, that in our
current era, the food will no longer be safe
He said that the food will be filled with poisons,
be harmful to our health and
all the soil will be infertile,
that is it will be
hard to grow healthy food.
He talked about this obviously extending
to polluted air, polluted land
and polluted sound.
All of this is
mentioned in the sutras
that were 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 loud in a very
consistent, structured manner.
The point of saying this is to complete our life.
The first thing is a happy life but it goes
beyond just having a happy life.
It's also a full
understanding of
the whole Cause and Effect,
the whole cycle,
the elements that cause this
to happen and what the result of it is.
So this is the greatness of the Buddha.
This is where the Buddha’s greatness lies.
He did not have any bias, error or delusions,
only a person who has attained this level of
understanding and knowing can be
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, only then
can one be called a Buddha.
This is something like what other religions
call their deities or deity, God(s),
as all-knowing, omniscient,
but this is actually inherent in
all of us, not just deities.
Everyone has this ability.
That means we all have the right and potential
to reach that level of being
all-knowing, omniscient.
This is just a brief overview of Buddha and
his wisdom. We will now 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 creation of the world, no matter
if it's sentient or non-sentient,
is all created by God.
They then asked me:
What did 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 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.
Creation is a common conception
in Christian or Abrahamic religions.
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 Genesis:
Everything is created by God.
But in Buddhist teachings,
we do not say "creation",
because the truth of the existence of the universe
is already there. You don't 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 that
the person who observed the truth
is not fully aware of its presence.
The universe has always been like that, has
always been working in this way and we are
just not aware of it (due to lack of wisdom).
We have all lived in it for many lives
but we are not aware of it
(the truth).
In the Mahayana Sutras,
Buddha
stated this many times.
Buddha was awakened to these realities
due to his supreme wisdom and told
us exactly what he observed.
Understanding this level of knowing,
is what we call ontology
Hence the truth cannot be monopolized by
any masters or gurus. It cannot be
monopolized by authorities,
whether it be religious authorities or
secular authorities, nor is it
debatable or refutable.
It's like the question of the chicken or the egg.
Does the egg come first or does
the chicken come first?
There is also a question of whether Buddha
came before the Dharma or
the Sangha,
because
Buddha talked about Dharma
and formed the Sangha.
But without the Dharma
how can there be Buddha, without
the Sangha how can there be Buddha?
All of these are correct!
There is no one fixed way.
Buddha has told us about life,
that it consists of birth, aging,
sickness and death.
No one can change that fact, even nowadays,
this is 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 suffering,
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 goes on for as long as we are here.
There's no need to think about who
created the universe or us.
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.
Some very common things
people also ask is:
if God can create the world, why can't He
create something that makes us
all equal,
where everyone has the same access to resources?
Why are there bad people,
why are there murderers,
why are there bad guys?
It just does not work like that.
It's pointless to argue like this.
What Buddha taught us was how to look at
the truth that you are facing right now
and how we solve the problem at hand.
That's more important than the chicken or
the egg debate or if the glass is
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 return back to your full
perfect clarity, to recover
your wisdom.
So let’s continue. Buddha told us that all beings,
including ourselves, have this supreme
wisdom and such enormous capability.
We have the capability of knowing the past,
present and future, knowing the Cause and Effect
and knowing the formation of the universe.
Let's look at Amitabha Buddha.
He has been the Buddha
for ten Maha Kalpas, a very long time.
Buddha created a world called the Pure Land
with a capability of lifting ordinary people
to the level of a Bodhisattva of No Return.
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
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 sutras, 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.
While practicing
the Thrice Yearning Ceremony,
there is a phrase we say:
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 are supposed to have well-rounded
wisdom and good fortune.
Why are we so far behind Buddha?
Let's look at some examples close to us.
In this society,
there are smart people
and there are ignorant 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 world.
Some people, once they are born,
can immediately enjoy the luxuries of life
akin to an emperor.
Some people are born into poverty,
they are sick
and their life is hard.
For example, some people who are born in Australia
have everything prepared for them,
everything is good
while some people
are born into an impoverished
or 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
children might even begrudge
others and whine to their parents:
Look at the neighbor kids, they have better toys,
they have nicer looking clothes
compared to me!
It is quite common
to compare ourselves to 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 wealth,
what they want to have,
they can have immediately,
they can just spend millions of millions
with no problem.
How did these differences come about?
Why do the conditions
of all sentient beings
vary so greatly from one another?
Buddha told us why there are these differences
is because we are lost,
we temporarily lose 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 of this word “Mi'' 迷 or lost,
we are living a hard life mentally,
as well as physically.
So Buddha talked about “Lost”,
in this context.
Loss refers to our delusions in the form of
wandering thoughts, discriminations
and attachments.
Because of these delusions: wandering thoughts,
discriminations and attachments,
we commit negative karmas every day,
repeating our faults, 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 of the unwholesome
actions that,
as we see nowadays,
harms the earth
and pollutes the world.
From this example,
something very close to us,
that we can see everyday,
is why Buddha kept saying that we need to
put a stop to our unwholesome deeds,
our wrong actions.
We call it repent or more like reflect and repent.
Without reflecting on our faults
and correcting them,
we can't improve
and we can't return back
to the wisdom that we lost.
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 long run.
For instance,
when you make a sneering remark
that might hurt other people,
and in the future,
some people might do
the same back to you in a different form.
The reason why we all have an infinite level
or amount of karma is because of
these three delusions.
We do something 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 observation.
If you think that your life is good and
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, the 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 right now,
you would not want to learn Buddhism.
But it's not, right?
Because of these delusions,
our lives become miserable.
For example, 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 get married
or maybe after one week or one month
or two months, they get divorced. 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,
these 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 pain and hence
afflictions arise.
However if you look at Bodhisattvas, Buddhas,
those sages' 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 relationship
in any form,
be it monetary loss, or anything,
becomes hate.
Love becomes hate.
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and all the sages,
their love is like a parents’ love towards
their children, unconditional.
Respectful Dharma 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 condition
or a bad, miserable encounter,
our hearts will not be moved.
Our minds will remain still.
That is the goal.
However the reality right now is that we all
get swayed by anything that happens
around us
and the worst part is that you get deeper
and deeper into this love and hate,
love and hate, downward spiral.
That's the cost of our downfall.
That's the cost of losing our full wisdom,
our 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 and
they don't get entangled,
not becoming someone we are like 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 may be 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,
is why your capability and wisdom fell from
the level of Buddha’s to today’s level
an ordinary being bound by all things.
For example someone who is drunk. When they
are drunk, they lose their 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, their 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 and get 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.
This is real freedom.
The key is to let go, to 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,
but I still have a lot of afflictions.
I chant Amituofo, I pray to Buddha,
I read the sutra, I listen to the Dharma,
but yet my afflictions remain heavy,
my delusion remains deep.
What can I do?
In fact, the benefit is subtle.
What is the benefit, when you listen to 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, pure wisdom
is at 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.
We also learned
why you should learn Buddhism
in this environment,
what Buddhism
can bring to the table to
help me to go through this life.
Then we talked about being lost and
how we can find our way back, the cause of
the loss and how we can find it back.
Also methods we can 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 we can
transform it and turn it around.
Next week,
we will talk more in depth
on the topic of how we find our way back.
Now it's quite late. It's 9:30.We used this
one hour to give a brief talk about
how we recognize Buddhism,
what the meaning of the word “Buddha”, and
why we do not translate the word
“Buddha”.
Most importantly, how we get
our Buddha-Nature back.
That's what we learned today.
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 or 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.
It's very rare to have the opportunity to
study with you guys and to review
and understand this 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 towards 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 talks,
it gets better actually especially with all of these
great masters, including our teacher Master
Chin Kung giving 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!
Verse of Repentance
All evil actions committed by me
since time immemorial,
stemming from greed, anger, and ignorance,
arising from body, speech, and mind,
I deeply repent having committed.
Dedication
May the merits and virtues
accrued from this work
adorn the Buddha’s Pure Land,
repay the Four Kindnesses above,
and relieve the sufferings of those
in the Three Paths below.
May those who see or hear of this,
bring forth the heart
of understanding and compassion
and at the end of this life,
be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
