Why do we
want to learn Buddhism,
to understand Buddhism?
No matter what race you are or
what country you come from,
we must understand why.
I believe
every one of us has a sense of hope,
especially the young people.
The time for young people to practice is now.
They all hope that they can be successful
in their career ,
not just the professional side
but also their personal life, to be happy,
without pain, without worries.
That's
what we call living a happy life.
A lot of people
want to seek this kind of treasure,
called a perfect, beautiful life.
However, this treasure already exists in us
and also this treasure is found in Buddhism,
or pointed out by Buddhism.
However,
we are not aware of it.
This treasure is very clearly stated in Buddhism.
As long as you learn seriously, you will get it,
you will get the treasure.
We must understand that,
we must understand this point.
Everyone has this treasure,
but you need to
work hard to find it.
In the past, back in the nationalist China era
in the early 1900s, Buddhism was required
not just a choice,
but was a necessity for the people living
in this time, the 20th century and
the 21st century is no exception,
because as humans, we have a lot of
issues that need to be resolved
and seek help to be solved.
So this is
the use of Buddhism to us.
So we have
talked about the terminology
and we have talked about enlightenment.
So we have learned about the first level
of Right Awakening, so we're moving on
to the second level called 正覺,
Equally Perfect Enlightenment
(Samyak Sambodhi).
Why do we need to learn an enlightenment
that is equally perfect to Buddha?
Why do we need to achieve this level?
It is because a person who has
Equally Perfect Enlightenment
has selflessness.
If using a very shallow way
to describe “me”, like, who am I, the self,
the easiest way to understand it,
the shallowest way to see it
is selfishness and
self interest.
Today, why do we practice Buddhism
for a long amount of time, but there is
no effect or the effect is minimal,
very small
is because of our selfishness.
Some people even have more afflictions,
after learning Buddhism, the more they learn,
the more burden they feel,
the more unhappy they are,
because deep inside their heart,
there is still an “I”, this false self is still there.
Deep inside, it’s still me, me, me, and
because of “I”, because if there is still “I”,
an illusion of self, we have all the afflictions,
because I’m happy, because I'm sad,
because I don't get, I need, I don't need,
I love, I don't love, I love, I hate,
there's a lot
coming from this “I”.
That's why Buddha told us that the first step
to gain enlightenment, which is true freedom,
is to break through this illusion of “I”.
When you are sick,
you go to the doctor, right?
So the same thing, if your view is wrong,
or if you are lost spiritually in all respects,
you need a doctor like Buddha to solve it,
to help you by pointing out the solution.
We need to know
that every one of us has a disease,
not just our body, our heart as well.
Not just mental, like our heart, because of
the false view of self, illusion of self,
because there is self,
then if self cannot be satisfied,
if self cannot reach anything,
then it's not happy.
Therefore, the afflictions begin.
Only a person who is selfless
can see things clearly.
They will be able to discern the truth
from the falsehood, good from evil,
right from wrong and benefit from harm.
It's a bit deep now, because we're talking
about Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
We need to savor it, to pay attention to it.
What is real and false? We use happiness
as a standard. You must see the actual reality
behind our speech, thoughts and actions.
What kind of thing should I avoid,
to avoid falling into the cycle of suffering?
What are the things I need to face?
What is the right thing I need to do,
no matter how hard it is,
in order to face my issues?
Also, we need to see things clearly,
in order to see what is actually evil,
what is actually good,
or what is actually twisted,
or what is actually pure.
Is the path that I'm walking on right?
This is just a metaphor.
The mindset that I have, the attitude,
everything we speak is that on the right path?
In the Five Precepts,
one of them is No Sexual Misconduct.
If we can learn about Buddhism in depth,
especially the Sexual Misconduct Precept,
if we break it, we not only break our marriage,
we cause harm to the people around us
not just husband and wife, your children,
your own parents and
your society in general.
So, this is one of the cases where we need to
have a very clear mind in order to resolve it,
in order to avoid it.
Another case, about right and wrong.
Say today, my actions, my speech,
my decisions, are they right or wrong?
Are they benefiting people
or harming other people?
People who have that level of selflessness
are able to see through the pros and cons,
the benefits and the harms,
the rights and wrongs of everything,
because in a lot of cases,
we do something without knowing
we're harming them or hurting them,
intentionally or unintentionally.
Sometimes our actions,
our speech might harm people
without us knowing it.
Shakyamuni Buddha has told us as soon as
your heart is empty, void of selfishness,
that means you let go of selfishness,
this false sense of self,
only then will your life start to change,
everything you do, the way you eat,
the way you think, the way you see things,
view things will be different, 180 degrees
opposite from the worldly people.
As long as there's this “I”, self still there, you
(your speech, actions and thoughts) will cause
diseases at both the physical and mental levels.
It needs to be solved,
otherwise your suffering will continue.
Therefore, today Buddha taught us that if we
have not broken through the false sense of self,
we have not let go of the false sense of self,
there is no way we are able to see things
unbiased and clearly. Not just Buddhism,
in society, whatever career you're doing,
whatever position you're in,
as long as you have a heavy ego
or self in there, a lot of self in there,
then you can't get happiness.
A lot of people thought
they did good deeds in society.
They thought: I have done so many
good things, I donated money and
much more like picking up the rubbish.
Am I accumulating merits?
Is that actually accumulating merits?
Not necessarily.
There are cases where people are
doing meritorious deeds, look like
they are doing meritorious deeds,
however, they ended up
in the Three Lower Realms.
Why? Why did that happen?
It is because they don't know what is actually
meritorious. They thought what they are
doing is meritorious, but it's not.
It's not harmful now, but it gets worse as it
accumulates and you keep doing the false
things that you bring with you into the next life,
because all of the elements of selfishness
are still there, mixed in there.
It’s like poison inside a beautiful dew.
Some people are very good at speaking
very nicely, looking very nice, and
acting like a very nice person,
and so they look like they are doing good things.
But we must understand
the heart behind it, is it pure?
In the past,
have you seen this Chinese drama?
I always watched it when I was young.
Mr. Bao, you know the Bao Qingtian包青天,
Judge Bao lived during the Song Dynasty
was a very fair judge,
who had a very dark complexion
and was very righteous.
Everyone trusted him,
because he was very unbiased;
there were a lot of case studies
in the stories.
The reason he was called unbiased was
because he dared to challenge the
authorities that were abusing their roles
because in the eyes of the law
everyone is equal.
He was then able to oversee the power
and able to capture these
corrupted people into the law.
So why did Mr. Bao capture all of these
seemingly good people? A lot of them
looked like good people,
everyone praised them, but Mr. Bao exposed
their actual intentions and their deeds behind
the scenes, they were not actually good people.
There were a lot of elements of greed
and hatred inside as well as revenge,
like, trying to get back at someone.
So, we need wisdom to see through this,
something that is hidden very deep and
the point is so that we are able to do good,
actual good things.
In Buddhism,
there is a standard for being good,
you want to be a good person right?
There are standards for being a good person.
To be a true good person, a person
deserving to be called good, what is it?
How do we define it,
how does Buddha define it? Buddha taught
us in the Three Pure Meritorious Deeds.
If you fulfill these three big categories of
meritorious deeds, then you're considered
qualified as being a good person.
What is the first meritorious deed?
The first one is to be filial to your parents,
which is to love and respect your parents,
only then
will you be considered
as an entry level good person.
Then you also need to be
respectful to your teachers.
So love your parents
and respect your teachers.
Buddha is our teacher.
So, when he teaches
you something that you understand,
you should follow it.
When you move up to that level,
uphold the precepts of No Killing, No Harming
sentient beings, verbally or physically.
Other than that, every kind deed you do,
if you divert away from the standards,
then it's not considered as good.
It's true.
Other than these standards,
if you divert from them,
then all the good deeds are not considered
as good without this foundation,
without this guide.
A lot of people ask me: Master,
I want to be a good person.
I want to do good things.
So what are the good things for me to do?
I say: They are right in front of you,
every time, everywhere,
wherever you are,
you can do good (deeds).
So therefore, a lot of people say: Master,
in the Buddhist Dharma Center, for example,
our Dharma Center, should we do charity?
Is it good?
It's good, right?
People say it's good.
If we come here, to the temple, and
I want to start by doing charity,
charitable deeds, I would say not necessarily.
Making offerings to the Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha is a big thing
and is a good merit.
Yes, it is. But what kind of heart do you have?
What kind of attitude do you bring
with you when you offer it?
It's very important,
actually the most important, because
a lot of people bring a lot of elements of self,
which is my fame,
my position, my faith,
my wealth.
They are using that kind of intention to offer.
If people would bring this kind of attitude
and still keep it in their heart,
then we didn't really learn Buddhism,
we didn't really use the Buddha's
Dharma to wash it away.
We are not considered as true Buddhists.
Therefore, when you see things, people
doing charitable (work), it's good, right?
People recognize you, the country will
even give you a plaque saying that
this group of people are very good,
and will put you on a pedestal and
praise you on national television, because
you have contributed a lot to society.
Is it a good thing?
It looks good.
But it's not right. Why?
Where do you go wrong?
Didn't Shakyamuni Buddha (teach us)
to be a good person, to do good deeds,
speak good words?
Yeah, we should come to the Buddha
temple and protect the Dharma
by helping out the temple.
Also give offerings to the Venerables
so that you can accumulate merits.
Yes, it's good.
However, we must know
the core value, the core foundation,
the core purpose of a Dharma Center,
what's the point of a Dharma Center?
What's the 本分? What's the first
responsibility of a Dharma Center?
It's not to seek recognition.
It's not to seek fame
or praise.
We are not here to accumulate wealth or
to want a big temple, with all the beautiful
buildings and architecture
so that I can
control a lot of people in this place.
Is that an actual Dharma Center?
During Shakyamuni Buddha's time,
through his whole life,
he only had three clothes.
And he lived under a tree,
slept under a tree, he didn't
have a place actually, owned by him.
No, he didn't have it. He sat under
trees most of the day. If he wanted
to have a Dharma place, a good one,
or a really luxurious one,
he just needed to say:
I want a Dharma place.
The 16 countries would flock to him and
build one in every single place
he walked by.
It was easy, because all of his Dharma
protectors are Kings, but he did not
accept it. He did not ask for it.
So the point of Buddhism and the point
of building a Dharma place that
we see now is to educate.
If the fundamental responsibility is not clear,
then what's the point of coming here
and learning Buddhism?
There's no benefit from Buddhism,
if we do not understand why we
are learning Buddhism
and then Buddhism's most important role,
for the Dharma Center is to educate
us how to be a human.
This is the first step
and the most fundamental step.
How to be a good human,
how to be a decent human being.
If we can’t even be
a decent human being
and we say
we want to be born in the Pure Land,
do you have guarantees to do it?
It’s the guarantee I'm talking about.
Can you be happy in this life,
if you can't be a decent human?
Can you be healthy,
can you live carefreely,
if you are not a decent person?
Today, to learn Buddhism, we must
understand and be able to break through,
see through what is actually harmful
and what is actually beneficial,
what is right and what is wrong.
So at that point of understanding this,
only then do we know
that attaining enlightenment
is the permanent way.
It's a long term way to actually bring us
to that state of happiness or to liberate
ourselves from suffering, to avoid sufferings.
So every type of Dharma Center must
have a goal when they are established.
So we're talking about a grand plan
like a shared objective,
but every Dharma Center must
have a goal.
Remember, if we are
coming to a Dharma Center,
we must ask the first question:
Today, I come here to learn Buddhism,
what's my goal? Today, I chant Amituofo.
I came to this Dharma place to chant Amituofo.
Have I started
to understand and am I
truly confident in Buddhist teachings?
Because in this era, there are many
denominations and offshoots or schools
and branches of Buddhism that exist.
Every single denomination and every single
offshoot from the denomination have their
own specific cultivation goal, like our family,
each family has different objectives.
Everyone is different, they have different
ambitions and goals and so do Dharma Centers.
Today if we wish to be successful
in cultivating Buddhism in these lessons,
we must not mix them up,
mix all the denominations and offshoots up.
It is because if we mix up different
methods of learning Buddhism,
in the end, you'll learn nothing, master of none,
because we're a jack of all trades.
You can’t get into any depth in anything.
For example, one of the current branches
is Pure Land Buddhism.
If I want to chant Amituofo,
I would go to a Pure Land Dharma Center.
If I like to meditate,
I can go to a Zen Dharma Center.
If you want to learn tantric or
mantra based learning, then you
can go to a Tibetan Buddhism Center,
or if you like to do good deeds, really like
to help vulnerable people and connect
with people then go to (Tzu Chi Foundation).
You can’t mix them up together.
Suddenly, on Monday I wanted to go to
Pure Land (Dharma Center).
On Tuesday, I go to a Zen Temple.
On Thursday, I will go to a Tibetan (Buddhist Temple).
On Friday, I go to Tzu Chi (Foundation.)
It’s mixed up,
it’s too much.
You will get confused because everyone
has a different goal, they say different things
and you hear them all the time,
all of them are right, so
nothing is right in a way
and get nowhere in your practice.
Just like when we learn painting,
if you want to focus on one path,
you need to understand the painting itself,
the techniques and all that.
You need time to get into it.
You can't just on Monday learn painting,
on Tuesday, learn piano, on Thursday,
learn dancing, mix them up.
You need to set aside time for you
to focus on getting in depth into
what you want to learn.
So be specific
and focus on one goal
and one path at a time.
For a beginner of Buddhism, we must
have a goal. We don't do that because
we don't like other branches or temples, no.
It's not because
we're excluding people
who are narrow minded.
The whole point is
to get something in the end,
to learn something in the end,
because especially this denomination is
actually meant for the beginners, helping
the beginners so that when they come in,
they only have one path,
one clear path,
everyone's following that one path.
You have a very clear guideline
and you have peers,
you have a teacher,
they're all following one path, you will easily
achieve success because you will move
forward quickly.
Especially in this era, it is not easy for
a Dharma Center to be certified
as authentic,
because an authentic Dharma Center
will be protected, literally protected
by Buddhas and heavenly beings,
like they will be a bodyguard
of this Dharma Center.
For a Dharma Center to reach this authenticity,
first they must have Saddharma正法
which is the Dharma of the Buddha,
who does the teaching. Secondly, the
people who follow it must be genuine,
actually practice it, not just talk about it
but actually practice it. Thirdly, it truly
benefits all beings. Every one of these
merits are reliant on our own cultivation,
it's all earned from our practice.
If you want to be happy, want to achieve
happiness, achieve that perfect goal
we can’t just ask others to give it to us.
For example, a husband and wife
that argue everyday,
why do they argue?
My wife always demands a lot from me,
she says: I have a lot of
expectations for you,
but in the end,
all I get is disappointment.
In the end, what's left is pain.
The more you expect,
the more you suffer.
So for the ladies here, think about your
husband, do you have expectations
of your husband? Some form of expectations?
Everyone has
expectations of something,
not just of someone, something,
but we must understand that
if you want to truly have merits that are
worthy of protection by the heavenly beings,
we have to start from ourselves,
change from ourselves, be good ourselves,
rely on ourselves and improve our own quality.
To attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment,
we must break through one grade,
there are many grades of ignorance
you must break through at least first grade of
ignorance, only then can you earn enlightenment
to one grade of Dharmakaya法身
which is the "body" of truth or true self
and that kind of attainment is
what Buddha has attained.
So you're actually on the same platform
as Buddha, a long way to go
but you are there.
So hence, it’s called正等正覺
Equally Perfect Enlightenment, when
we attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment,
one’s perception of the universe and life
is very close to that of a Buddha
but we are not Buddha yet.
So this level is called Bodhisattva.
It's called Equally Perfect Enlightenment
and there's no selfishness at all.
We will discuss with everyone,
who can be considered an actual Buddha,
like at the same level of Buddha.
And when you keep going down
this path of breaking ignorance,
and keep bringing back your true self,
your Buddha nature or the Dharmakaya,
then you'll reach a certain level
where everything is clear
and eventually you will achieve Unsurpassed
Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
It's complete. It's perfect.
You no longer have flaws and deficiencies.
It's what we call perfection in the literal sense.
In Buddhism, this person is called a Buddha.
If you attain
Equally Perfect Enlightenment
you'll be called a Bodhisattva.
So this is level two, the first level is Arhat
or Right Awakening and then this one is
Equally Perfect Enlightenment, Bodhisattva,
and then, Buddha, which is the highest level.
So all these names in Buddhism
have a purpose.
If you attain Right Awakening,
(this is) the first step, Right Awakening,
you are called an Arhat.
As you can see in the first sentence
of the slide, Arhat, Bodhisattva
and Buddha are common titles
and there are procedures
in gaining these titles.
They are all humans,
their attainments were accomplished
in the state of the human realm.
They are
not like spirit beings or
something, they're humans.
So,
where do Buddhas, Bodhisattvas
and Arhats currently reside?
It's a way to describe someone who has
reached the other shore, has crossed
this shore of sufferings, of pains,
of complications, all of the pain, then
that person is called an Arhat, Bodhisattva
or Buddha, depending on how far they reach.
Only when you achieve one of
these three levels, can your life be
considered as a successful (one).
These three terms we must be familiar with,
no matter what traditions or anything
as long as it's Buddhism,
we must be very aware of these three terms.
It's not meant to be one person,
it is not an individual.
You say:
Oh this Bodhisattva helped me!
Which Bodhisattva? Which Buddha?
So it's like a Professor, Master, or Bachelor
in university. There are common titles,
conferred to someone who earned it.
For example, our historical Buddha,
Shakyamuni Buddha, is that title only
reserved to him, this Prince Siddhartha?
No, there are many Shakyamuni Buddhas.
If you recall the name, what’s the meaning
of Shakyamuni? Compassion and purity.
So there's a lot of Buddhas
that are compassionate and pure,
across the Dharma Realms.
isn't Shakyamuni Buddha only meant
to the one, the Prince Siddhartha,
it is, in case,
but in its most deepest sense of meaning,
it's not just one person, it goes
beyond one person.
In the Tang Dynasty, Precept Master
Dao Xuan道宣律師 was the first patriarch
of the School of Precepts in China.
Just for information,
the School of Precepts is shared
by both Theravada and Mahayana.
Do you have any impressions of this Master?
I think a lot of us know of him , but there
are many young people who don't know.
Venerable Master Dao Xuan道宣律師
was the patriarch of the
School of Precepts in China.
He was very famous when he cultivated
on the mountain, you know
who gives the offering to Him?
He actually cultivated in the mountains,
the heavenly beings were the ones
who cooked for him,
and offered it to
Venerable Master Dao Xuan道宣律師.
He didn't even need
to ask for alms among the folks.
He didn't need to worry about food,
cooking, washing, heavenly beings
just offered this to him.
You know why Heavenly being thought
he was deserving of receiving alms
because he actually held precepts,
he actually followed precepts,
his behavior was right.
A lot of people say: Shakyamuni Buddha
was the one from India, right?
The sage from India.
No, it’s not just (referring to) him.
He is everywhere,
Shakyamuni Buddha is everywhere,
not just on this earth,
in many, many universes.
Another famous example,
Guan Yin Bodhisattva,
Avolakiteshvara is Guan Yin.
Is this one person?
No. It is also a title.
There are many Guan Yin Bodhisattvas.
Like, is there only one professor in the world?
No, right? There are many Professors,
Professor Lee, Professor Alex,
Professor Malcomb, there are an infinite
number of them, which one are you referring
to if you call their name?
Even with medical doctors, there are many
doctors in hospitals, which doctor
do you want to refer to?
If we think
they are one person
then we are wrong.
Bodhisattva Guan Yin,
what does Bodhisattva Guan Yin mean?
Compassion,
a person who is really
compassionate is Guan Yin Bodhisattva.
There are alot of Bodhisattvas or the
practitioners who have attained Equally
Perfect Enlightenment Bodhisattva level
that are very compassionate, that have
boundless compassion. That means
there are a lot of Guan Yin Bodhisattvas.
Then there is also another Bodhisattva
Di Zang, Di Zang means earth treasure.
Maitreya means happiness,
there are endless Maitreya Buddhas.
They're all compassionate.
So which one are you referring to?
For example, Guan Yin Bodhisattva,
if you are actually as compassionate
as Guan Yin then you are Guan Yin.
If you have a strong vow of saving all the
beings and being respectful and filial
to your parents and all beings,
then you are
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.
Buddhists get this mixed up, confused with the
names of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats.
They get confused with it.
If you ask people around, your parents,
your friends, your peers what's a Bodhisattva
or in Chinese Pusa, they can’t explain it,
it’s hard.
They don't understand,
they have no concept of it.
In our Youth Group, if you ask
what a Bodhisattva is, are we clear
what a Bodhisattva is?
Before we learned this,
we were confused.
We did not learn it in depth, so we
didn't know. We always thought
this name was an individual,
we didn't know
that there is infinite meaning
inside this name.
Have you all read
the Infinite Life Sutra?
Yes, we have. It's actually very good.
It’s just that we need to find an English
version. And what is Amitabha Sutra?
What is Amituofo?
We are also not clear.
What is Shakyamuni Buddha?
We also don't know, we should learn.
If we don't learn how can we cultivate?
If we don't know who is my teacher
and what is the profile of my teacher
then how do I
attain anything under him?
If I say Amituofo and I don't know who
Amituofo is, how can I have a connection
with this teacher and actually learn?
Same goes for Guan Yin Bodhisattva
and DiZang Bodhisattva, we need to learn,
there is only benefit and no harm at all.
Buddha in the Infinite Life Sutra,
so in the sutra,
people in the Pure Land,
every one of them practice Samantabhadra
Bodhisattva’s vows so they all act like
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
People who are born there, they are
all Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas, which
means they all practice the 10 Great Vows.
And the number of Samantabhadra
Bodhisattvas are infinite, there is
no way you can calculate them.
Where is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva?
We should ask,
Which Samantabhadra Bodhisattva?
As a Buddhist we should understand.
In this way of learning Buddhism,
we will not fall into superstition
or get lost
when we are learning it.
So I would like to continue in depth
next time so that we are no longer
treated as a superstitious group
because we know what we are learning,
we have a clear objective
of what we are learning.
For example, I believe in Buddha,
I have taken the precepts,
I have taken refuge and precepts.
Some will ask: what is Buddha?
They cannot provide a satisfactory answer.
What is refuge? You don't know.
What is a Bodhisattva?
I don’t know.
That statue? I am not sure.
There is a lot of this happening inside
the temple among the Buddhist
community.
It's very unfortunate.
I hope that as the Youth Group,
we need to take it seriously,
take the Buddha's teaching and understanding
of Buddhism seriously, only then can we
understand what we have learned
and how to lead ourselves
and others to learn.
In Buddhism, what do we learn?
If I ask you this question, what do we seek
in Buddhism and all of us should be clear
of what we are looking for.
Let’s continue. We are looking for wisdom.
I would like to repeat myself, seeking
wisdom is the first thing we need to seek.
How do we seek wisdom? Let’s think
about it. In Zen Buddhism, it is
to seek enlightenment.
Pure Land Buddhism
talks about one mindedness,
one heartedness, not moving.
In Pure Land Buddhism, if you have achieved
that single mindedness of Amituofo,
translated into Zen,
you have
gained full enlightenment.
In Pure Land Buddhism chanting Amituofo
everyone has qualifications
to attain that level,
going to the Pure Land and once you deepen
your learning, then you have broken
through the doubt,
you no longer have doubt, and then you know
why we need to go into this single
mindedness of chanting Amituofo.
So, going back to the big question,
why are we learning Buddhism?
To seek wisdom!
So we will go in depth on this next week.
So now I would like to just give you a brief
overview of what is Right Awakening,
Equal Perfect Enlightenment and
Unsurpassed Equally Perfect
Enlightenment.
Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment
is Buddha, Bodhisattva and then Arhat,and
knowing these three main titles in Buddhism.
Why do we take refuge?
Why are we learning Buddhism?
These will be explained next week as well.
We have also explained this in the previous
class. Today, we also talked about
denominations and schools of Buddhism,
but we also talked about what the point of,
the goal of Buddhism is and why we choose
this Pure Land School out of all of them,
so we will talk about that next week.
Next week, Wednesday. I would like
to invite you all to learn again.
If today I have said anything not right
or inappropriate, then please give
me some feedback.
Thank you so much. Amituofo,
may you all be healthy.
Amituofo.
Let’s dedicate our merits.
May the Merits and Virtues
accrued from this work
Merits accrued from the Dharma Talks
dedicate to all beings in the universe
and dedicate to our karma creditors
so that they all
may be born in the 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,
Aspire to Invoke the Bodhi heart
And
cultivate the teachings
for the rest of this life,
Then be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
****
Master Xue Wu’s《認識佛教》
Respectful fellow practitioners and Dharma protectors: Good evening! Amituofo.
Today, we will continue to learn how to understand Buddhism and how to live a happy and fulfilling life. Why do we want to learn Buddhism, to understand Buddhism? No matter what race you are or what country you come from, we must understand why.
I believe every one of us has a sense of hope, especially the young people. The time for young people to practice is now. They all hope that they can be successful in their career , not just the professional side but also their personal life, to be happy, without pain, without worries. That's what we call living a happy life.
A lot of people want to seek this kind of treasure, called a perfect, beautiful life. However, this treasure already exists in us and also this treasure is found in Buddhism, or pointed out by Buddhism. However, we are not aware of it.
This treasure is very clearly stated in Buddhism. As long as you learn seriously, you will get it, you will get the treasure. We must understand that, we must understand this point. Everyone has this treasure, but you need to work hard to find it.
In the past, back in the nationalist China era in the early 1900s, Buddhism was required not just a choice, but was a necessity for the people living in this time, the 20th century and the 21st century is no exception, because as humans, we have a lot of issues that need to be resolved and seek help to be solved. So this is the use of Buddhism to us.
So we have talked about the terminology and we have talked about enlightenment. So we have learned about the first level of Right Awakening, so we're moving on to the second level called 正覺, Equally Perfect Enlightenment (Samyak Sambodhi). Why do we need to learn an enlightenment that is equally perfect to Buddha? Why do we need to achieve this level? It is because a person who has Equally Perfect Enlightenment has selflessness.
If using a very shallow way to describe “me”, like, who am I, the self, the easiest way to understand it, the shallowest way to see it is selfishness and self interest. Today, why do we practice Buddhism for a long amount of time, but there is no effect or the effect is minimal, very small is because of our selfishness.
Some people even have more afflictions, after learning Buddhism, the more they learn, the more burden they feel, the more unhappy they are, because deep inside their heart, there is still an “I”, this false self is still there.
Deep inside, it’s still me, me, me, and because of “I”, because if there is still “I”, an illusion of self, we have all the afflictions, because I’m happy, because I'm sad, because I don't get, I need, I don't need, I love, I don't love, I love, I hate, there's a lot coming from this “I”.
That's why Buddha told us that the first step to gain enlightenment, which is true freedom, is to break through this illusion of “I”. When you are sick, you go to the doctor, right? So the same thing, if your view is wrong, or if you are lost spiritually in all respects, you need a doctor like Buddha to solve it, to help you by pointing out the solution.
We need to know that every one of us has a disease, not just our body, our heart as well. Not just mental, like our heart, because of the false view of self, illusion of self, because there is self, then if self cannot be satisfied, if self cannot reach anything, then it's not happy.
Therefore, the afflictions begin. Only a person who is selfless can see things clearly. They will be able to discern the truth from the falsehood, good from evil, right from wrong and benefit from harm. It's a bit deep now, because we're talking about Equally Perfect Enlightenment. We need to savor it, to pay attention to it.
What is real and false? We use happiness as a standard. You must see the actual reality behind our speech, thoughts and actions. What kind of thing should I avoid, to avoid falling into the cycle of suffering? What are the things I need to face? What is the right thing I need to do, no matter how hard it is, in order to face my issues? Also, we need to see things clearly, in order to see what is actually evil, what is actually good, or what is actually twisted, or what is actually pure. Is the path that I'm walking on right? This is just a metaphor. The mindset that I have, the attitude, everything we speak is that on the right path?
In the Five Precepts, one of them is No Sexual Misconduct. If we can learn about Buddhism in depth, especially the Sexual Misconduct Precept, if we break it, we not only break our marriage, we cause harm to the people around us not just husband and wife, your children, your own parents and your society in general. So, this is one of the cases where we need to have a very clear mind in order to resolve it, in order to avoid it.
705Another case, about right and wrong. Say today, my actions, my speech, my decisions, are they right or wrong? Are they benefiting people or harming other people? People who have that level of selflessness are able to see through the pros and cons, the benefits and the harms, the rights and wrongs of everything, because in a lot of cases, we do something without knowing we're harming them or hurting them, intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes our actions, our speech might harm people without us knowing it.
Shakyamuni Buddha has told us as soon as your heart is empty, void of selfishness, that means you let go of selfishness, this false sense of self, only then will your life start to change, everything you do, the way you eat, the way you think, the way you see things, view things will be different, 180 degrees opposite from the worldly people. As long as there's this “I”, self still there, you(your speech, actions and thoughts) will cause diseases at both the physical and mental levels. It needs to be solved, otherwise your suffering will continue.
Therefore, today Buddha taught us that if we have not broken through the false sense of self, we have not let go of the false sense of self, there is no way we are able to see things unbiased and clearly. Not just Buddhism, in society, whatever career you're doing, whatever position you're in, as long as you have a heavy ego or self in there, a lot of self in there, then you can't get happiness. A lot of people thought they did good deeds in society. They thought: I have done so many good things, I donated money and much more like picking up the rubbish. Am I accumulating merits? Is that actually accumulating merits? Not necessarily. 929
There are cases where people are doing meritorious deeds, look like they are doing meritorious deeds, however, they ended up in the Three Lower Realms. Why? Why did that happen? It is because they don't know what is actually meritorious. They thought what they are doing is meritorious, but it's not. It's not harmful now, but it gets worse as it accumulates and you keep doing the false things that you bring with you into the next life, because all of the elements of selfishness are still there, mixed in there. It’s like poison inside a beautiful dew. Some people are very good at speaking very nicely, looking very nice, and acting like a very nice person, and so they look like they are doing good things.
1425 But we must understand the heart behind it, is it pure? In the past, have you seen this Chinese drama? I always watched it when I was young.
Mr. Bao, you know the Bao Qingtian包青天, Judge Bao lived during the Song Dynasty was a very fair judge, who had a very dark complexion and was very righteous. Everyone trusted him, because he was very unbiased; there were a lot of case studies in the stories.
The reason he was called unbiased was because he dared to challenge the authorities that were abusing their roles because in the eyes of the law everyone is equal, right? He was then able to oversee the power and able to capture these corrupted people into the law. 1124
So why did Mr. Bao capture all of these seemingly good people? A lot of them looked like good people, everyone praised them, but Mr. Bao exposed their actual intentions and their deeds behind the scenes, they were not actually good people.
There were a lot of elements of greed and hatred inside as well as revenge, like, trying to get back at someone. So, we need wisdom to see through this, something that is hidden very deep and the point is so that we are able to do good, actual good things.
In Buddhism, there is a standard for being good, you want to be a good person right? There are standards for being a good person. To be a true good person, a person deserving to be called good, what is it? How do we define it, how does Buddha define it? Buddha taught us in the Three Pure Meritorious Deeds. If you fulfill these three big categories of meritorious deeds, then you're considered qualified as being a good person.
What is the first meritorious deed? The first one is to be filial to your parents, which is to love and respect your parents, only then will you be considered as an entry level good person. Then you also need to be respectful to your teachers. So love your parents and respect your teachers. Buddha is our teacher. So, when he teaches you something that you understand, you should follow it.
When you move up to that level, uphold the precepts of No Killing, No Harming sentient beings, verbally or physically.
Other than that, every kind deed you do, if you divert away from the standards, then it's not considered as good. It's true. Other than these standards, if you divert from them, then all the good deeds are not considered as good without this foundation, without this guide. A lot of people ask me: Master, I want to be a good person. I want to do good things. So what are the good things for me to do? I say “they are right in front of you, every time, everywhere, wherever you are, you can do good (deeds). ”
So therefore, a lot of people say: Master, in the Buddhist Dharma Center, for example, our Dharma Center, should we do charity? Is it good? It's good, right? People say it's good. If we come here, to the temple, and I want to start by doing charity, charitable deeds, I would say not necessarily. Making offerings to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is a big thing and is a good merit. Yes, it is. But what kind of heart do you have? What kind of attitude do you bring with you when you offer it? It's very important, actually the most important, because a lot of people bring a lot of elements of self, which is my fame, my position, my faith, my wealth.
They are using that kind of intention to offer. If people would bring this kind of attitude and still keep it in their heart, then we didn't really learn Buddhism, we didn't really use the Buddha's Dharma to wash it away. We are not considered as true Buddhists.
Therefore, when you see things, people doing charitable (work), it's good, right? People recognize you, the country will even give you a plaque saying that this group of people are very good, and will put you on a pedestal and praise you on national television, because you have contributed a lot to the society, is it a good thing?
It looks good. But it's not right. Why? Where do you go wrong? Didn't Shakyamuni Buddha (teach us) to be a good person, to do good deeds, speak good words? Yeah, we should come to the Buddha temple and protect the Dharma by helping out the temple. Also give offerings to the Venerables so that you can accumulate merits. Yes, it's good. However, we must know the core value, the core foundation, the core purpose of a Dharma Center, what's the point of a Dharma Center? What's the 本分? What's the first responsibility of a Dharma Center? It's not to seek recognition. It's not to seek fame or praise.
We are not here to accumulate wealth or to want a big temple, with all the beautiful buildings and architecture so that I can control a lot of people in this place. Is that an actual Dharma Center?
During Shakyamuni Buddha's time, through his whole life, he only had three clothes. And he lived under a tree, slept under a tree, he didn't have a place actually, owned by him. No, he didn't have it. He sat under trees most of the day. If he wanted to have a Dharma place, a good one, or a really luxurious one, he just needed to say: I want a Dharma place. The 16 countries would flock to him and build one in every single place he walked by. It was easy, because all of his Dharma protectors are Kings, but he did not accept it. He did not ask for it.
So the point of Buddhism and the point of building a Dharma place that we see now is to educate. If the fundamental responsibility is not clear, then what's the point of coming here and learning Buddhism? There's no benefit from Buddhism, if we do not understand why we are learning Buddhism and then Buddhism's most important role, for the Dharma Center is to educate us how to be a human. This is the first step and the most fundamental step. How to be a good human, how to be a decent human being. If we can’t even be a decent human being and we say we want to be born in the Pure Land, do you have guarantees to do it? It’s the guarantee I'm talking about. Can you be happy in this life, if you can't be a decent human? Can you be healthy, can you live carefreely, if you are not a decent person?
Today, to learn Buddhism, we must understand and be able to break through, see through what is actually harmful and what is actually beneficial, what is right and what is wrong. So at that point of understanding this, only then do we know that attaining enlightenment is the permanent way. It's a long term way to actually bring us to that state of happiness or to liberate ourselves from suffering, to avoid sufferings. So every type of Dharma Center must have a goal when they are established. So we're talking about a grand plan like a shared objective, but every Dharma Center must have a goal.
Remember, if we are coming to a Dharma Center, we must ask the first question: Today, I come here to learn Buddhism, what's my goal? Today, I chant Amituofo. I came to this Dharma place to chant Amituofo. Have I started to understand and am I truly confident in Buddhist teachings? Because in this era, there are many denominations and offshoots or schools and branches of Buddhism that exist. Every single denomination and every single offshoot from the denomination have their own specific cultivation goal, like our family, each family has different objectives. Everyone is different, they have different ambitions and goals and so do Dharma Centers.
Today if we wish to be successful in cultivating Buddhism in these lessons, we must not mix them up, mix all the denominations and offshoots up. It is because if we mix up different methods of learning Buddhism, in the end, you'll learn nothing, master of none, because we're a jack of all trades. You can’t get into any depth in anything.
For example, one of the current branches is Pure Land Buddhism. If I want to chant Amituofo, I would go to a Pure Land Dharma Center. If I like to meditate, I can go to a Zen Dharma Center. If you want to learn tantric or mantra based learning, then you can go to a Tibetan Buddhism Center, or if you like to do good deeds, really like to help vulnerable people and connect with people then go to (Tzu Chi Foundation). You can’t mix them up together. Suddenly, on Monday I wanted to go to Pure Land (Dharma Center). On Tuesday, I go to a Zen Temple. On Thursday, I will go to a Tibetan (Buddhist place). And on Friday, I go to Tzu Chi (Foundation.) It’s mixed up, it’s too much.
You will get confused because everyone has a different goal, they say different things and you hear them all the time, all of them are right, so nothing is right in a way and get nowhere in your practice.
Just like when we learn painting, if you want to focus on one path, you need to understand the painting itself, the techniques and all that. You need time to get into it. You can't just on Monday learn painting, on Tuesday, learn piano, on Thursday, learn dancing, mix them up. You need to set aside time for you to focus on getting in depth into what you want to learn. So be specific and focus on one goal and one path at a time. For a beginner of Buddhism, we must have a goal, we don't do that because we don't like other branches or temples, no. It's not because we're excluding people who are narrow minded.
The whole point is to get something in the end, to learn something in the end, because especially this denomination is actually meant for the beginners, helping the beginners so that when they come in, they only have one path, one clear path, everyone's following that one path. You have a very clear guideline and you have peers, you have a teacher, they're all following one path, you will easily achieve success because you will move forward quickly.
Especially in this era, it is not easy for a Dharma Center to be certified as authentic, because an authentic Dharma Center will be protected, literally protected by Buddhas and heavenly beings, like they will be a bodyguard of this Dharma Center.
For a Dharma Center to reach this authenticity, first they must have Saddharma正法 which is the Dharma of the Buddha, who does the teaching. Secondly, the people who follow it must be genuine, actually practice it, not just talk about it but actually practice it. Thirdly, it truly benefits all beings. Every one of these merits are reliant on our own cultivation, it's all earned from our practice. If you want to be happy, want to achieve happiness, achieve that perfect goal we can’t just ask others to give it to us.
For example, a husband and wife that argue everyday, why do they argue? My wife always demands a lot from me, she says: “I have a lot of expectations for you, but in the end, all I get is disappointment.” In the end, what's left is pain. The more you expect, the more you suffer.
So for the ladies here, think about your husband, do you have expectations of your husband? Some form of expectations? Everyone has expectations of something, not just of someone, something, but we must understand that if you want to truly have merits that are worthy of protection by the heavenly beings, we have to start from ourselves, change from ourselves, be good ourselves, rely on ourselves and improve our own quality.
To attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment, we must break through one grade, there are many grades of ignorance you must break through at least first grade of ignorance, only then can you earn enlightenment to one grade of Dharmakaya法身 which is the ‘body’ of truth or true self and that kind of attainment is what Buddha has attained. So you're actually on the same platform as Buddha, a long way to go but you are there.
So hence, it’s called正等正覺 Equally Perfect Enlightenment, when we attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment, one’s perception of the universe and life is very close to that of a Buddha but we are not a Buddha yet. So this level is called Bodhisattva. It's called Equally Perfect Enlightenment and there's no selfishness at all. We will discuss with everyone, who can be considered an actual Buddha, like at the same level of Buddha.
3452 And when you keep going down this path of breaking ignorance, and keep bringing back your true self, your Buddha nature or the Dharmakaya, then you'll reach a certain level where everything is clear and eventually you will achieve Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment. It's complete. It's perfect. You no longer have flaws and deficiencies. It's what we call perfection in the literal sense. In Buddhism, this person is called a Buddha.
If you attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment you'll be called a Bodhisattva. So this is level two, the first level is Arhat or Right Awakening and then this one is Equally Perfect Enlightenment, Bodhisattva, and then, Buddha, which is the highest level. So all these names in Buddhism have a purpose. If you attain Right Awakening, (this is) the first step, Right Awakening, you are called an Arhat. As you can see in the first sentence of the slide, Arhat, Bodhisattva and Buddha are common titles and there are procedures in gaining these titles.
They are all humans, their attainments were accomplished in the state of the human realm. They are not like spirit beings or something, they're humans. So, where do Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats currently reside? It's a way to describe someone who has reached the other shore, has crossed this shore of sufferings, of pains, of complications, all of the pain, then that person is called an Arhat, Bodhisattva or Buddha, depending on how far they reach.
Only when you achieve one of these three levels, can your life be considered as a successful (one). These three terms we must be familiar with, no matter what traditions or anything as long as it's Buddhism, we must be very aware of these three terms. It's not meant to be one person, it is not an individual. You say: Oh this Bodhisattva helped me! Which Bodhisattva? Which Buddha? So it's like a Professor, Master, or Bachelor in university. There are common titles, conferred to someone who earned it. For example, our historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, is that title only reserved to him, this Prince Siddhartha? No, there are many Shakyamuni Buddhas. If you recall the name, what’s the meaning of Shakyamuni? Compassion and purity. So there's a lot of Buddhas that are compassionate and pure, across the Dharma Realms. isn't Shakyamuni Buddha only meant to the one, the Prince Siddhartha, it is, in case, but in its most deepest sense of meaning, it's not just one person, it goes beyond one person.
In the Tang Dynasty, Precept Master Dao Xuan道宣律師 was the first patriarch of the School of Precepts in China. Just for information, the School of Precepts is shared by both Theravada and Mahayana.
Do you have any impressions of this Master? I think a lot of us know of him , but there are many young people who don't know. Venerable Master Dao Xuan道宣律師 was the patriarch of the School of Precepts in China. He was very famous when he cultivated on the mountain, you know who gives the offering to Him? He actually cultivated in the mountains, the heavenly beings were the ones who cooked for him, and offered it to Venerable Master Dao Xuan道宣律師. He didn't even need to ask for alms among the folks. He didn't need to worry about food, cooking, washing, heavenly beings just offered this to him. You know why Heavenly being thought he was deserving of receiving alms because he actually held precepts, he actually followed precepts, his behavior was right.
A lot of people say: Shakyamuni Buddha was the one from India, right? The sage from India. No, it’s not just (referring to) him. He is everywhere, Shakyamuni Buddha is everywhere, not just on this earth, in many, many universes.
Another famous example, Guan Yin Bodhisattva, Avolakiteshvara is Guan Yin. Is this one person? No. It is also a title. There are many Guan Yin Bodhisattvas. Like, is there only one professor in the world? No, right. There are many Professors, Professor Lee, Professor Alex, Professor Malcomb, there are an infinite number of them, which one are you referring to if you call their name? Even with medical doctors, there are many doctors in hospitals, which doctor do you want to refer to?
If we think they are one person then we are wrong. Bodhisattva Guan Yin, what does Bodhisattva Guan Yin mean? Compassion, a person who is really compassionate is Bodhisattva Guan Yin. There are alot of Bodhisattvas or the practitioners who have attained Equally Perfect Enlightenment Bodhisattva level that are very compassionate, that have boundless compassion. That means there are a lot of Guan Yin Bodhisattvas.Then there is also another Bodhisattva Di Zang, Di Zang means earth treasure. Maitreya means happiness, there are endless Maitreya Buddhas. They're all compassionate. So which one are you referring to? For example, Guan Yin Bodhisattva, if you are actually as compassionate as Guan Yin then you are Guan Yin.
If you have a strong vow of saving all the beings and being respectful and filial to your parents and all beings, then you are Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. Buddhists get this mixed up, confused with the names of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats. They get confused with it. If you ask people around, your parents, your friends, your peers what's a Bodhisattva or in Chinese Pusa, they can’t explain it, it’s hard. They don't understand, they have no concept of it. In our Youth Group, if you ask what a Bodhisattva is, are we clear what a Bodhisattva is? Before we learned this, we were confused.
We did not learn it in depth, so we didn't know. We always thought this name was an individual, we didn't know that there is infinite meaning inside this name.
Have you all read the Infinite Life Sutra? Yes, we have. It's actually very good. It’s just that we need to find an English version. And what is Amitabha Sutra? What is Amituofo? We are also not clear. What is Shakyamuni Buddha? We also don't know, we should learn. If we don't learn how can we cultivate? If we don't know who is my teacher and what is the profile of my teacher then how do I attain anything under him?
If I say Amituofo and I don't know who Amituofo is, how can I have a connection with this teacher and actually learn? Same goes for Guan Yin Bodhisattva and DiZang Bodhisattva, we need to learn, there is only benefit and no harm at all. Buddha in the Infinite Life Sutra, so in the sutra, people in the Pure Land, every one of them practice Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s vows so they all act like Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. People who are born there, they are all Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas, which means they all practice the 10 Great Vows. And the number of Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas are infinite, there is no way you can calculate them.
Where is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva? We should ask, Which Samantabhadra Bodhisattva? As a Buddhist we should understand. In this way of learning Buddhism, we will not fall into superstition or get lost when we are learning it.
So I would like to continue in depth next time so that we are no longer treated as a superstitious group because we know what we are learning, we have a clear objective of what we are learning. For example, I believe in Buddha, I have taken the precepts, I have taken refuge and precepts. Some will ask: what is Buddha? They cannot provide a satisfactory answer. What is refuge? You don't know. What is a Bodhisattva? I don’t know. That statue? I am not sure. There is a lot of this happening inside the temple among the Buddhist community.
It's very unfortunate. I hope that as the Youth Group, we need to take it seriously, take the Buddha's teaching and understanding of Buddhism seriously, only then can we understand what we have learned and how to lead ourselves and others to learn. In Buddhism, what do we learn? If I ask you this question, what do we seek in Buddhism and all of us should be clear of what we are looking for.
Let’s continue. We are looking for wisdom. I would like to repeat myself, seeking wisdom is the first thing we need to seek. How do we seek wisdom? Let’s think about it. In Zen Buddhism, it is to seek enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism talks about one mindedness, one heartedness, not moving. In Pure Land Buddhism, if you have achieved that single mindedness of Amituofo, translated into Zen (Buddhism), you have gained full enlightenment.
In Pure Land Buddhism chanting Amituofo everyone has qualifications to attain that level, going to the Pure Land and once you deepen your learning, then you have broken through the doubt, you no longer have doubt, and then you know why we need to go into this single mindedness of chanting Amituofo. So, going back to the big question, why are we learning Buddhism? To seek wisdom!
So we will go in depth on this next week. So now I would like to just give you a brief overview of what is Right Awakening, Equal Perfect Enlightenment and Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment. Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment is Buddha, Bodhisattva and then Arhat,
and knowing these three main titles in Buddhism.
Why do we take refuge? Why are we learning Buddhism? These will be explained next week as well. We have also explained this in the previous class. Today, we also talked about denominations and schools of Buddhism, but we also talked about what the point of, the goal of Buddhism is and why we choose this Pure Land School out of all of them, so we will talk about that next week.
Next week, Wednesday. I would like to invite you all to learn again. If today I have said anything not right or inappropriate, then please give me some feedback. Thank you so much. Amituofo, may you all be healthy. Amituofo.
Let’s dedicate our merits.
May the Merits and Virtues
accrued from this work
Merits accrued from the Dharma Talks
dedicate to all beings in the universe
and dedicate to our karma creditors
so that they all may be born in the 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,
Aspire to Invoke the Bodhi heart
And cultivate the teachings
for the rest of this life,
Then be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
