His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – August 29, 2021

His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, and expounded on “Scroll 18, ‘Amitayus Tathagata Assembly’ (Chapter 5, Section 2)” of the Ratnakuta Sutra.

“Sutra: ‘The bright light illuminates universally the boundless merits and burns off affliction, like burning of firewood.’

How can affliction be burned off? Only if there are countless and boundless merits, can affliction be burned off.

Sutra: ‘Then with the fire being on, the vows will not be shaken by the good and the negative.’

There should be a word missing before the phrase, ‘then with the fire being on’. Monastics, do some research to see if this is the case.

‘The vows will not be shaken by the good and the negative.’ The minds will not be shaken by good or negative deeds done by any sentient beings; this means treating them with indiscriminating minds. In the eyes of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, there are no differences of being good or bad in sentient beings. The causes and effects of the good and the negative are done and borne by sentient beings. Planting good causes yields good effects; planting negative causes produces negative effects. A person will not be liberated first because he or she had done good deeds and was a good person, or not be liberated at all because this person had done negative acts and was a scoundrel. What Bodhisattvas have seen are sentient beings’ causal conditions. If such conditions exist, there will be liberations; if there are no affinities, the liberations will not take place. If Bodhisattvas have people in sight, whether they are persons of great virtue or are very bad people, in the eyes of Bodhisattvas, these people are all sentient beings, and they all have their own causes, effects and karma. These have been planted by sentient beings themselves, and will not make Bodhisattvas have a discriminating mind to help them. Bodhisattvas will help sentient beings, who have differences in karma, with various Dharma methods of expediencies and skillfulness. The final conclusion is that Bodhisattvas still want to help sentient beings leave the reincarnation’s sea of suffering.

Starting 1997, I have helped sentient beings with what I have learned. To this day that the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center is constructing a monastery, I have never set up a designation called ‘major donors’ or a fund-raising group in the Center to solicit donations from entrepreneurs for the construction project. Everything adapts to rising conditions and is by karma. If I have sufficient good fortune and enough of good karma, there will naturally be money coming in from sentient beings to help me. If I do not have enough of good fortune and my karma is negative, even if sentient beings’ donations flow in, and if there are improper donors, there will be many troubles for me to encounter. Although I worry about the money issues of the monastery every day, I know that everything regarding it is related to my own karma and good fortune; I will endeavor to do my best.

Only when one’s mind is not shaken can one see the true facts about sentient beings or about where their original problems have arisen from. Many years ago, the younger sister, who was in the United States, of a disciple of mine had brain tumor. The doctor said that it could not be operated and could not be treated either. I told the disciple, ‘She is in America; how can I help her then?’ The disciple’s sister and the sister’s husband had lived in America and both had worked on good jobs with good salary. Then, for saving her life, they decided to move back to Taiwan. After the couple have taken refuge in me for 20 years, her brain tumor appears to have gone and they have lived a so-called normal family life. It was 10 years ago that the husband brought in NT$20 million in cash to make an offering to me. I did not accept it; he took the money back. Then he did the same thing – offering me cash in same amount – for five times. I never accepted it. Only when he made the offering the 5th time did I tell him why I did not accept it.

Although the money was from the sale of his own house, at that time, I already saw that his father had opposed his making an offering to me with this money. The father wished that the son would use it to buy a piece of land. If I had accepted the offering then, I would have let the disciple’s father make verbal karma, creating a cause for him to fall into the Hell Realm. Afterward, this disciple’s father also took refuge in me. He confirmed that at that time, he did indeed say something opposing his son to make an offering to me with that money.

If I have not followed what those two sentences say in that sutra, and instead, have shaken my vows when encountering the good or the negative, I would have been finished because I would have harmed a sentient being falling into the Hell Realm. For a sum of NT$20 million, 10 years ago, it could buy a grand place but I still did not want to accept it. A few days ago, this father passed away. These few disciples and other family members came to implore me to get the father liberated. Originally, to liberate the deceased will not be done until a Chod puja is performed (on a Sunday). However, because this deceased’s children came to implore for their father’s liberation with a very sincere attitude, and because all family members have complete faith in the Dharma, I performed the Chod yesterday to liberate the disciple’s (the son’s) father.

Only children can help their parents to quickly accumulate good fortune to obtain the deliverance from the Dharma. This father’s good fortune had been planted by his children. In my visualization while liberating him, I saw that when he died, he was closing one of his hands. I asked the children if this was so, and they said yes. This meant the deceased did not want to die, and couldn’t breathe for the last breath at the moment of death; he then got nervous so he closed his hand tightly. Although the deceased had taken refuge when alive but he was still reluctant to make offerings and give alms. Then, originally, he was supposed to fall into the Three Evil Realms. Some people might say that at the time when the NT$20 million was to be made as an offering, I should have accepted it so as to let the deceased accumulate good fortune. However, my mind is very careful and subtle. I did not just look at what was happening at those moments (when the offering was made); rather, I looked at things that would happen when the disciple’s father’s life ended. I knew the thoughts of the father. If, on one of those days I had accepted the offering, the father would have started scolding the son, and would have planted the verbal karma of slandering the Buddha – a karma of falling into the Hell Realm. If I had accepted this money of NT$20 million, I, too, would have needed to take on the responsibility of my act.

Ordinary people cannot understand me thoroughly. They might wonder, ‘Why did Rinpoche do it this way?’ No reasons. I know cause and effect. If I do not have little capabilities, I am not qualified to sit on a Dharma throne. In the teachings of last week, the phrase ‘when a “heavenly eye” appears’ was mentioned. Why is it mentioned in the sutra? Shakyamuni Buddha was very special; He had said that the naked eye is an ‘occurrence’. It means when sentient beings are born, they do not definitely have the naked eye to see things. Some of them are born blind, and there are also some animals with an innate feature that they cannot see. Thus, the naked eye ‘occurs’ – having the eyes – only when sentient beings’ karma matures.

The teaching of ‘when a “heavenly eye” appears’ does not mean you will have it just by thinking of it. A ‘heavenly eye’ comes from cultivation and is obtained from the cultivation of past lifetimes and this current one. When such an eye appears, one can see lands of Buddhas. This is not saying that because one has a ‘heavenly eye’, one can verify true-or-false situations on lands of Buddhas. What you have seen with the naked eye are all from your thoughts, experiences, feelings and perceptions and are illusory. However, with a ‘heavenly eye’, what you have seen are from your mind, not from your optic nerve. Even if, say, today, you close your eyes, you still can ‘see’ many phenomena. This is because when your eyes are open, you will see many things, and their images will be ‘memorized’ in your Alaya Consciousness and Mana Consciousness; that is the reason that you have such memories. Nevertheless, this does not mean what you have ‘seen’ from these memories are by a ‘heavenly eye’. A ‘heavenly eye’ is also categorized in three different levels of high, middle and low. If it is a ‘heavenly eye’ of the Buddha, in the trichiliocosm of the entire universe, there are no corners He cannot see; He can even see something as small as a tiny insect. It will be very difficult to liberate sentient beings without a ‘heavenly eye’.

How does a ‘heavenly eye’ come from? At first, your consciousness is becoming pure gradually; the things that are impure from the past and in the present have been gradually cleaned off. Then the light of mind appears; when that happens, you can see things (with a ‘heavenly eye’). Everyone has seen a form of Bodhisattvas, and there is an eye on the forehead; in Vajrayana, there are also such situations. A real ‘heavenly eye’ sees things from the middle of two eyebrows. It is not like what you imagine that by opening the eye, it can see things very clearly. It is like when you turn on a TV screen, an image will gradually appear on it, but if you want to look at that image again deliberately, it will disappear. This is because your mind has moved, the image is no longer there. That had been my experience. This means seeing things with a ‘heavenly eye’ must be in a state of meditation. If things are not seen in such a manner, 99.9% of them are your illusions or your past experiences, feelings and perceptions. Of course, some people’s optic nerve on their naked eye is more developed that such an eye has the ability a little closer to a ‘heavenly eye’; however, this naked eye is not a ‘heavenly eye’. In this type of people, such ability on their eyes has possibly been brought forth from their prior lifetimes. It is also possible that these people have attained such eye-ability from mastering their practices in this lifetime.

From the stories of consciousness-transfer, you can see very clearly that a guru’s arrangement of a sentient being (to be liberated at his or her end of life) is not a matter of one year, two years or three years; the matter is for this person’s whole life. If there are casual conditions, the guru will do his or her best to get such a person breaking away from affliction or accumulate this person’s good affinities. When there is enough of such accumulation, the guru will then have the opportunity to help this sentient being not fall into the Three Evil Realms.

Sutra: ‘The minds are quiet and constantly abide in such a state, like the earth being unmoved.’

How can minds be quiet? In general, people would say that minds can be quiet with less affliction. Actually, it is not so; rather, your mind will not be disturbed by affliction, and quietly, you will be unmoved by it. Your mind abides in that state, just like the earth. Except for earthquakes, you know that the earth does not move.

Sutra: ‘Cleansing affliction and doubts to make them like pure water. Minds are not to adhere to places, like fire being not remaining in same place.’

With what is affliction cleansed? With the Dharma and Dharma water, all kinds of affliction are to be cleansed. Why isn’t ‘breaking away from affliction’ or ‘eliminating affliction’ used in the quote but ‘cleansing affliction’ instead? This is because that from the perspective of Mahayana, affliction can be transformed into bodhicitta. When affliction has been cleansed through the Dharma, it is like pure water. This is because that as the essence of affliction is included in this principle, ‘all phenomena arise from conditions and are in Emptiness in nature’, and as things are ‘Emptiness in nature’, affliction is originally pure, just like pure water.

A mind will not dwell in a certain matter. Here, it is described with what is shown in fire; flames will not remain in one place and are always ‘flowing’. This does not mean minds’ movements continuously ‘flow’ here and there; rather, such flows in minds are like fire that is burning and will not stop, unless we use a utensil to contain the flame and make it remain in a certain space. You can observe that on a lighted butter lamp at home, the flame does not seem moving; however, if you look at it closely you will see that on the tip of the flame, there are always subtle movements. This is not saying that minds are constantly moving; rather, minds will not be attached to a thought and will let it go. If your mind is continuously attached to a certain thought and will not let go of it, the mind will then give rise to affliction. When affliction appears, you will not accept the purity of the Dharma. When that happens, you will create new karma – negative or good – very easily, and will even live your life by following your karma. If your mind is not attached to a certain point (matter), you will then be able to see things clearly.

It is just like what is mentioned in the Diamond Sutra that ‘the mind should give rise to an attitude which does not abide or attach to anything.’ This means the mind being moved is not because it is attached to something. Movements of the mind are passive, like a mirror. When a person looks at a mirror, there is an image of the person; when he or she leaves, away from the mirror, the mirror has not moved, nor has the image. (The image is no longer seen but it was still a reflection in the mirror.) The mind is like this too. It only reflects all images that have occurred around but it has not moved, nor will it be ‘fixed’ on a certain thing or material. When you think that your mind has been bound by something or someone, that is a situation resulted from your thoughts, stubbornness and your being unable to change yourself. On the quote of ‘the mind should give rise to an attitude which does not abide or attach to anything’, many people do not understand its meanings. If the mind is not given rise to our learning, how can we think of, or recite the name of, the Buddha? If the mind is not concentrated on our practices, how can we enter into a state of meditation? Contrarily, we are required in the Dharma rules that we should not be like this – not to move our minds. Why not? When your mind moves, it is just a passive act; it is not that your mind is in motion originally.

When the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng, left the hunter’s house and was on the way to Guangzhou to listen to sutras expounded, he saw that two monastics were debating. One said that the banner moved along with the wind, and the other said that the wind blew to move the banner. Hearing these, the Sixth Patriarch said that it was the minds of monastics that moved. Then, the monastics invited the Sixth Patriarch to ascend a Dharma throne to speak of the Dharma. Don’t imitate the way the Sixth Patriarch acted, because he said it naturally. If you were the one saying it, you would be driven away.

Your mind moves because you move. You have followed all circumstances, objects and persons appearing around you, and they make you in motion, therefore, your mind will not be pure in that you cannot see things clearly.

Sutra: ‘Not being attached to the world phenomena, like wind blowing away things.’

We will not be attached to various things in this world; they will be gone like being blown away by wind. Is there wind? Yes. This means while we live in the Saha World, we have certainly been blown around by the Eight Winds, and once these Winds have blown, things are gone. If you are not attached to them, they will disappear. However, if you are continuously attached to the Winds, hoping they will blow at you again, then the Eight Winds will move your mind. Some examples of the Eight Winds are that you like people praising you, saying you are nice, you do not like criticisms from others or when people say a little about what you do not like to hear, your mind gives rise immediately to hatred. These actions have been referred to ‘been blown by the Eight Winds’.

What this quote means is our minds will not be led to move by various things we love or we do not love in this mundane world. When Dharmas are performed, we will recite ‘getting far away from desires, hatred and attachments, abandoning them equally’. Whether you are a practitioner or not, you need to keep yourself far away from what are included in this phrase. Getting far away from desires and hatred does not mean there are no such sentiments. They will certainly appear in the eight types of suffering in our life. For practitioners, however, they know that they need to keep a distance from such suffering. For example, a fierce fire outbreak occurs over there and you cannot put it out, but you can stand away from it so that you will not be burned or you will not feel very hot from the fire heat. Hence, we should get far away from desires and hatred, and our minds need to abide in equality – abandoning them equally. Usually, people would not want to abandon things they love, and would like to let go of hatred; it might be opposite that love is abandoned and hatred is kept. These acts are all wrong. Desires and hatred should be abandoned equally.

Sutra: ‘Nurturing sentient beings like cultivating lands.’

It does not mean you are to rear pets or bring up sentient beings in the Six Realms. When we possess a physical body, we definitely have ‘seven emotional states and six desires.’ The meaning of ‘nurturing’ here is not to deliberately nourish this body and let it grow continuously. The word, ‘nurturing’, means we know the existence of the body, and because of that, we certainly need to sleep, to eat, to drink water, or to listen to something that will make us delighted. All these are activities of sentient beings. The concept of ‘beings with sensations and consciousness’ is the foundation of all reincarnation. If we can use these beings’ activities very well, our efforts, in unexpected ways, will help us to be liberated from the foundation of reincarnation. For example, if we are attached to the thought of ‘going’ to the Land of Amitabha, then this is a good example of ‘nurturing sentient beings.’ If we are attached to the idea that everything needs to be explained clearly, otherwise ‘I will hate you very much’, then this is a case of ‘nurturing sentient beings’ that will lead to falling into the Hell Realm.

What this quote means is that we nurture these sentient beings like we cultivate lands. Lands need fertile soil; only if there are good seeds, are there good crops produced. If this land is not fertile, how do we make it so? With compassion. ‘Nurturing sentient beings’ refers to the transformation of ‘seven emotional states and six desires’ into compassion, even into bodhicitta. If nurturing such a sentient being is to enjoy oneself or to satisfy one’s own desires, it is not what the quote says of ‘nurturing sentient beings.’ To transform them is just like that we nurture a piece of land. If such a land needs cultivation for crops but has not been nurtured, it cannot be cultivated. What do we use to nurture it? We use the concept of ‘beings with sensations and consciousness’; it is compassion.

Sutra: ‘Visualizing worlds as the void.’

In your mind, you should visualize worlds being like the void. Worlds include other areas, not just the earth. There are worlds in the whole universe or in the Six Realms, and every kind of worlds is like the void. If you have opportunities going to space, you will realize that there are no movements of planets or satellites, and shooting stars do not fly over in front of you. What you look all over is that the void does not move, and it is a vast space in a blackly dark-blue color. You will not see boundaries or limits of the void; there is nothing there.

This quote means not to think that worlds are real. Every world is like the void, which is motionless; what have been moving are planets or worlds. Will planets be in the void eternally? No, they will not be and will be changing forever. In astronomy, there are many stories that are often mentioned. One of them is that the earth has existed since a few billion years ago, however, at a later time, it will not be in existence either. This means the world is like the void.

Sutra: ‘Carrying heavy sentient beings, like good carriages holding things.’

Practitioners who cultivate Mahayana need to lead, carry or hold sentient beings, just like good carriages. If there is no Mahayana, there are no opportunities for sentient beings to get liberated from birth and death or leaving the Three Evil Realms. It was like the situation of the disciple who had been liberated by my performing a Dharma for him yesterday. If I were not a person practicing the Bodhisattva Path, had he been able to leave the Three Evil Realms? Absolutely not. The reason would have been that he had been greedy and would certainly have fallen into the Hungry Ghost Realm. Cultivating Mahayana is like being a good carriage, bearing all pressures from sentient beings. Thus, being a Rinpoche is very toilful. This carriage has been carrying so many sentient beings, but it is still with a physical body of an ordinary person. Someday the wheels of the carriage will become crooked. If the carriage is a Bodhisattva, the wheels will not be damaged then.

For this year’s Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness, it will not be held at the Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei. This Puja will be held at our Center here in September. Disciples are to attend. Believers who have supported (by donation) the monastery construction project can sign up to put names of the deceased on the to-be-liberated list. However, these believers can only do so if they can eat vegetarian for the rest of their life. If they cannot promise this, they are not allowed to write the deceased’s names on that name-list. Only if believers make a promise to eat vegetarian, can they have causal conditions and good fortune to let their parents of accumulated past lifetimes be liberated. If no such a promise is made but the deceased’s names are put on the list, when I read these names, I still cannot help them get liberated. Then, these sentient beings will feel resentments and hatred. This will not be good either. On the to-be-liberated list, only the names of believers’ parents of accumulated past lifetimes can be on it. For other deceased sentient beings, like karmic creditors, the spirits of the conceived but unborn (spirits from abortion), birds raised by neighbors or cockroaches struck off accidently, their names are not to be written on the list. I am old now. If I am to liberate sentient beings who have no direct affinities with me, I will need to work very hard, which will make bodily damages to me very quickly. This does not mean I cherish myself; I have disregarded my life in order to save or liberate sentient beings. Nevertheless, because there are still many matters in our Order needing me to develop and promote, there is nothing can be done, so I can only decrease the range of sentient beings to be liberated. Everyone will write many names on that name-list very diligently to test my capabilities. I do not have them; I have relied on the help of Amitabha. Amitabha cannot bring sentient beings in the Animal Realm to the Land of Amitabha immediately. They must pass through the Human Realm. After having done their practices in the Human Realm, these sentient beings can be reborn in the Land of Amitabha.

The story just mentioned has shown very clearly a situation. The children of the deceased were very respectful to the guru and were willing to make an offering. Although I did not accept the offering of NT$20 million, because that disciple (the deceased’s son) had such a mindset, he had helped his father plant the seeds of good fortune to take refuge in me and the good fortune to get liberated by me.

Sutra: ‘Being not defiled by the mundane affairs, like lotus blossoms.’

Even if Bodhisattvas are in this world and they have acted the same ways as ordinary people, the minds of Bodhisattvas will not be defiled. For example, I run businesses, but my mind is not defiled by greed. I handle my businesses honestly, abiding by laws. If I make money, I make money; if I don’t, then I don’t. I will not rack my brain to find loopholes in the laws in running my businesses. This is ‘being not defiled.’ Lotus blossoms come out of muddy ponds and are not defiled. Lotuses are grown in the mud. When they blossom, there are no dirt at all on the flowers. This is a metaphor. We are now in the evil time of the Five Turbidities; our ‘seeds’ in our minds have been defiled. Through practices of the Dharma, when our self-nature blossoms and bears fruits, it is not defiled because it has been cleansed by the Dharma.

Sutra: ‘The Dharma voice, far away and unhindered, sounding like thunder shocks. Raining all Dharmas in torrential rain.’

Only if there are supernatural powers can such a phenomenon appear. When mantras are chanted or the Dharma is expounded, sentient beings – no matter how far away they are – will hear the voice. The Dharma voice sounds like thunder shocks, which are not the sounds of thunder; rather, Dharma voice is like thunder from the sky, shaking your mind. It is like when I chant the Great Six-Syllable Mantra, and when I reach the syllable of ‘hung’, you will feel your mind is in a shake, meaning there being a thunder. ‘Hung’ is then the sound of a thunder. A good Dharma voice in chanting mantras – Dharma voice here includes the voice of expounding the Dharma – is just like thunder shocks. Why are they needed? They are for your mind so as to get the negative thoughts in it to stop slightly, even to disappear. Then your mind will become purer so the mantras can be gotten into it. Some people will feel frightened when they hear ‘hung’; this is because their karmic hindrances have been heavy. If such hindrances are not that heavy, when the sound of ‘hung’ is heard, people’s minds will feel a beat, or a shock. Then the mantra-chanting is useful. If chanting mantras are to let people’s mind be unmoved, the chanting itself is just singing. A singing is supposed to be sensational with the singer’s emotions in the song. Then that kind of a mantra-chanting is even inferior to a singing, and is just like something out of a tape recorder. Hence, do not tell me again that the tone you use when you chant mantras is a Brahman sound and you are different from others.

In the Universal Gate Chapter, it is mentioned that ‘the precepts from his compassionate body shake us like thunder.’ (Here, ‘his’ refers to ‘Avalokiteshvara’s’.) This is what we just talked about. As Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is so compassionate, why is there a mention of thunder to make us afraid? It is not to frighten us. If your mind is to be subdued, there must be a tone in the mantra-chanting of a practitioner so as to make you feel a shake slightly. When your mind is thusly shaken a little, in next second you will have a very brief time in the state of meditation with no thoughts. The time of such a state is so short that you will not even perceive it. At the moment of no thoughts existing, the pure mantra and the Dharma will then get into your mind. What we say about nurturing is about developing things gradually. Things cannot be done well with just a few days’ handling. The Dharma is in this kind of concept. Do not think you will be awesome after my blessings; I will shake you gradually. Your mind is very unkempt and is covered with lots of defilements. There is no knowing how many years are needed to shake up your mind. If one’s mind has been too defiled, one should listen to teachings of the Dharma continuously and constantly. Some people say that they don’t understand what they have listened to. Why don’t they understand? Because their minds have been covered with defilements. Perhaps they don’t understand the Dharma in this lifetime; maybe, after many lifetimes, they will say, ‘I am enlightened; I see that this is so….’ All Dharmas are methods of expedience; all Dharmas can echo the essence with one another.

‘Raining all Dharmas in torrential rain.’ For all Dharmas, they are not just in one line, two sentences, or three passages, as you have imagined. They are like rain falling from the sky, and continuously pour, like torrential rain, from the void. It is just that we do not feel or sense these Dharmas. The ‘torrential rain’ is described here because, in the mundane world, only ‘rain’ can be explained as the ‘shape’ of Dharmas. Actually, this means the powers of the Buddha’s blessings and His energy are like rain, coming down unceasingly. Why is it not pouring a basin full of water over you? It is because if that happens, it will make you feel dizzy, therefore, it needs to be like rain falling constantly. When a Dharma is performed, and if the sun, rain and thunder appear, it means the blessings of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas have come. A few years ago, when I performed a ritual of Fire Offering in Hungary, the sun shone, rain fell, thunder rumbled, and hailstones fell too. (For details, please refer to the puja held in Hungary, on June 5, 2018, in the Latest News.) These phenomena appeared at the same time, and they demonstrated that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas had been moved by the event; the ‘Dharma Rain’ then came down, cleansing these sentient beings. For the participants at that venue, they might have felt it was just a rain. Nevertheless, this cleaning definitely was useful; it might not be for the current lifetime but it could be for a future one. No matter which lifetime, the event will certainly be useful. The Dharma is not what you have imagined that it will change you immediately to become another person. It must take time because everyone’s karma is different.

Sutra: ‘Lights shield saints and sages, who are like that great celestial being.’

The lights of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas are so powerful that these lights can shield those practitioners who have broken away from the birth and death of reincarnation. Before, ‘celestial being’ was a term used for translation in the Han Dynasty in China. Actually, it is the Buddha.

If one’s level of attainment has reached to a point that he or she can make such a light appear that is seemingly powerful so as to bless saints, sages and practitioners who have broken away from reincarnation, this person will make people feel that seeing the person’s light is like seeing the Buddha’s light. In fact, such a person is not a Buddha; it is just that this kind of light will appear from the person.

Sutra: ‘Being very capable to subdue, like great dragon-elephants. Being brave, vigorous and fearless, like a lion king.’

Using the Dharma as a ‘tool’ is a good way to subdue those sentient beings who are very difficult to be tamed. There are many kinds of elephants, and the most auspicious and biggest type is great dragon-elephants.

A practitioner who practices the Bodhisattva Path is ‘brave, vigorous and fearless, like a lion king.’ ‘Being brave and vigorous’ does not mean such a practitioner can fight; ‘being fearless’ does not mean he or she is not afraid of death. Of course, Bodhisattvas are without fears. What the term ‘being brave, vigorous and fearless’ means is that in order to practice the Bodhisattva Path, a practitioner will do deeds the same ways regardless of what pains, grievances or damages this practitioner has encountered. He or she will not retrogress, shrink back or compromise. Since 1997, I have started practicing the Bodhisattva Path. Along the way, I have encountered many, many things, which will make any ordinary people be afraid or shrink back. However, for one who practices the Bodhisattva Path, the person should not have such an attitude; this practitioner should be like a lion king, going forward courageously and strenuously, and will not shrink back.

Sutra: ‘Covering and protecting sentient beings, like Banyan trees, high and wide-spreading.’

The good fortune, merits and awe-inspiring power of Bodhisattvas can cover and protect sentient beings. Nevertheless, if you create negative karma, Bodhisattvas cannot cover and protect you. If you are disciples learning Buddhism, their good fortune and merits definitely can protect and cover you, letting you not have opportunities to obtain so many negative affinities. For the term ‘like Banyan trees’, it needs to be looked up.

Sutra: ‘Being unmoved by others’ discussions, like an iron-enclosed mountain. Practicing compassion as immeasurable as the Ganges.’

When one is criticized or discussed by other people, one’s mind will not be in motion, like an iron-enclosed mountain being motionless. Compassion is practiced to make it immeasurable, like the Ganges.

Sutra: ‘Good Dharma lords can lead the ways, like leaders in Brahman Heaven. Without gathering or accumulating, like flying birds.’

The Dharma lords who cultivate the good are the lead, ‘like leaders in Brahman Heaven’. Those practicing the Bodhisattva Path will not gather or accumulate some of things that are irrelevant to the Dharma and sentient beings. It is like when birds fly into the sky, they all fly apart and will not be together. Although we see wild geese flying in a row, when they fly back to their nests, they will definitely be separate, and will not fly together. This means those who practice the Bodhisattva Path will not think of gathering some kinds of wealth, or accumulating some sorts of merits, for themselves; it is just like the feel of flying birds.

Sutra: ‘Destroying and subduing others’ views, like a king of garudas. Being difficult to encounter and being rare, like udumbara flowers.’

Others’ views do not refer to points of discussions of the Dharma. How to destroy and subdue others’ views? With the Dharma. There are nothings that garudas cannot destroy. Even dragons need to escape when they see garudas around.

A Bodhisattva, like a udumbara flower, is rare and very difficult to encounter.

Sutra: ‘For the most auspicious “real men”, they are upright in their hearts. They do not slack off and are able to practice very well, making skillful decisions among many views.’

The definition of ‘being upright’ is that as long as such a ‘real man’ – Bodhisattva – thinks all his thoughts, words and actions have not been broken away from the Bodhisattva Precepts, he will definitely do things with uprightness. He will not change his mindset, for whatever reasons, to help sentient beings; he handles matters very directly. Slacking off means ‘lazy’.

When we practice the Bodhisattva Path in the Saha World, we will come upon many different knowledge and views. Such knowledge and views might have been brought forth from your accumulated past lifetimes, been learned by yourself or been given to you by other people. Among these knowledge and views, you need to understand to do things from good aspects and with skillful decisions.

Sutra: ‘Being soft-hearted and forbearing without jealousy. Discussing the Dharma indefatigably and imploring for it tirelessly.’

One needs to be soft-hearted and to forbear all things. ‘Forbearing’ does not mean you forbear the situations when others do not treat you well; you are also to be forbearing when they are kind to you. You will not be jealous of any sentient beings, especially of those Dharma brothers who generally practice with you under the same guru.

When we discuss the Dharma with other people, we will not feel tiresome and are unwilling to listen or to talk more about it. When imploring for the Dharmas, one will be tireless. It was like that I just implored for Dharmas from His Holiness a couple of days ago.

Sutra: ‘Often giving speeches diligently to benefit sentient beings. Precepts are like blue and transparent stones, clear and clean inside and outside. Listening very well to Dharmas as auspicious treasure.’

The person often expounds the Dharma, benefiting a great number of sentient beings. The Bodhisattva Precepts he or she has observed are thoroughly clean, like inside and outside of a blue and transparent stone. This person can use the skillfulness of the mind to listen to all Dharmas as auspicious treasure.

Sutra: ‘What the person has said make sentient beings joyful and tamed. With the power of wisdom, building a great Dharma-banner, blowing a great Dharma-conch and beating a great Dharma-drum. Often re-arranging and establishing lists of Dharmas happily and diligently.’

The Dharma that this person has spoken of will make sentient beings joyful and be subdued. This is not done with materials but with wisdom and the person’s power. Through the power of wisdom, a great Dharma-banner is naturally produced; this means the person is famous. Then, such occurrences, ‘blowing a great Dharma-conch and beating a great Dharma-drum’,will happen. Quite naturally, there are people coming to listen to this person expounding the Dharma. Frequently, the person works very joyfully and very hard on ‘re-arranging and establishing lists of Dharmas’.His Holiness, even at his current age, still continues sorting out Dharma texts.

Sutra: ‘From the light of wisdom, there are no confusions in the mind. Keeping far away from many errors is also not causing damages or harms. With a pure mind, getting away from defilements. Often doing good almsgiving and forever abandoning stinginess and greed. With gentleness of self-nature, frequently being mindful of shames and repentances.’

Having the light of wisdom in the mind, there will not be anything that will make you confused. This means when we look at anything or any sentient beings, we will use the pure light of wisdom to see them, and in this way, we will not be confused. About the NT$20 million that was just mentioned, if I do not have a pure mind, but with a greedy one, I would not have seen the matter involving that disciple’s father (who disagreed with the son’s making an offering). I would have given rise to greed unaccountably (and accepted that money). Then I would have harmed this sentient being (the father) for getting him to fall into hell. Practicing the Bodhisattva Path is very toilful. The practitioner needs to carry sentient beings like a good carriage. For those who want to practice the Bodhisattva Path, if they have not given rise to great bodhicitta, they cannot even cross the ‘threshold’ to get in – cannot start working on the basis of the Path. Do not think that you have been practicing the Bodhisattva Path, but instead, you have harmed sentient beings. If at that time I did not have a mind with wisdom, not seeing this matter clearly, I would have a thought arisen to accept the money of NT$20 million, thinking that I would have let that disciple (the son) plant seeds of great good fortune and merits. Then later, I would have harmed sentient beings by creating a discord between the father and the son, getting them to have a family ‘revolution’. These had not been what I wanted to see.

Since 1997, I have started liberating sentient beings. I absolutely have not had a heart to harm them. It has been opposite that they have hurt my heart. If I had not been practicing the Bodhisattva Path or had not been afraid of cause and effect, with my capabilities, honestly speaking, what I have now is not deemed as wealth. However, because my mind is too meticulous, I do not give rise to greed; that is why I was able to see such a matter occurring. This is how I use the Bodhisattva Path and Mahayana to protect sentient beings, and myself, too. If I have not been truly practicing the Bodhisattva Path, sentient beings might have been harmed because of me. Some of them have thoughts of harming me as they have misunderstood me because of my practicing of the Bodhisattva Path. Will I give rise to the sense of hatred towards them? No, I will not. This is my karma and is theirs, too.

Do not wish that you can be a guru; it is very toilful to be one. Just behave well and follow rules, making a vow to be reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land. It is very difficult for one to even exhort people to learn Buddhism, let alone teaching or expounding the Dharma. It is not that ordinary people have the courage to do these. When I help someone, it is obviously for that person’s own good, but during the processes of such a help, if there are some matters appearing unsatisfactory to the person, he or she will turn against me. There have been many of this kind of instances happening. Everyone should realize that practicing the Bodhisattva Path does not mean the practitioner needs to help you on all things, treat you nicely on everything, or give you anything you ask for. If there had been these acts, the situation would have been like what the Elephant Jambhala had done (in his prior form). He gave sentient beings whatever they had implored for, regardless of the purposes or the reasons. In this way, he had indirectly harmed many sentient beings. Mahakala had seen the consequences so he cut off the head (of the prior form of Elephant Jambhala), letting him become Elephant Jambhala. The Elephant Jambhala had great good fortune; however, to help sentient beings, wisdom is also needed. It is very difficult to practice the Bodhisattva Path without wisdom. Without the blessings and protection of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it is also very hard to live an easy and carefree life, especially in the Age of Dharma Decline.

Why are there many disciples who cannot come here to attend pujas? It is not that I have refused to let them come; rather, it is because of the whole collective karma. Why is the second wave of pandemic prevalent now? When last year the coronavirus occurred for the first time in Taiwan, we practiced the mantra of Parnashavari and the pandemic had been quickly suppressed. Now the second wave of it has also been repressed by the mantra of Parnashavari. However, will the pandemic be ‘cleaned’ out in such a way? No, it will not be; it is still there. It is also because you disciples have not done well on what you should have done. There are more than a thousand disciples in the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center. If everyone diligently listens to the teachings of the Dharma and abides by them, I believe there will not be a second wave of pandemic. You don’t listen; you just want to live a good life. You think I am amazing and you want to rely on me on everything; you don’t do things. If you just sit idle and enjoy the fruits of others’ work, do you think that you can be reborn in the Land of Amitabha? In what have been mentioned in the Infinite Life Sutra, none of you has done anything about them. If you have not, how can you ‘go’ to Amitabha’s Pure Land? Shakyamuni Buddha continuously said, teaching us, that how we should behave in our mindsets and thoughts when we practice the Bodhisattva Path. He constantly reminded us. Do not think about yourself anymore. If you do that, you will have nothing to do with practicing the Bodhisattva Path. Laity cannot practice to be arhats; monastics cannot cultivate that either. Then, what are you going to do?

Once the collective karma has appeared, who can block it? Looking at the situations of current coups in foreign countries, they are quite pitiful. You were born in a relatively safe and stable place. Yet, you still do not hurry up to work hard on your practices diligently; rather, you are living a good life. It is not that I am ignoring you. Even if there is a mention earlier that Bodhisattvas (practitioners) can cover and protect sentient beings, sentient beings should have the conditions to be protected. If they do not listen, how are they to be protected? Here is an example. I had told someone that he would be all right within a certain range of situations; he, on the contrary, ‘walked’ out of this range. What can be done then? Thus, you should make up your mind on your learning or practices. Do not think that you can wait until your time of death and then, only then, you will come to me to repent.

There were people saying this to my disciples, ‘Your Rinpoche is old now. Who will get you liberated in the future?’ What they said was correct. I am already in my 70s and there are about a dozen or 20 years of remaining life for me. Who can help you get liberated after I am gone? I have attained the fruition level of a Rinpoche. I have disciples, Buddhist centers and a monastery which is in the process of construction. Nevertheless, I still do my practices at least more than an hour a day. What about you? You should spend even more time for your practices, at least half an hour or one hour every day. You need to be prudent; once you get a ‘step’ wrong, you will get every step wrong. If you want to remedy these wrong steps so as to get them back to the right ones, you need to spend much time and efforts for the ‘rescue’. It is definitely not like repentance as you have imagined. Repentances are useful, but the results of the remedies are not immediately shown. There are some processes that must be gone through.

Today, I have expounded this section of the sutra to let you understand that practicing the Bodhisattva Path is not just a talk, nor does it mean that one is a Bodhisattva because one has taken the Bodhisattva Precepts. You must do what you are taught about this Path. To do that, of course you need to listen. Clearly, it was Amitabha that had been spoken of. Why had Shakyamuni Buddha still talked so much about what Bodhisattvas should behave? This is because Shakyamuni Buddha hoped that humans on earth will practice the Bodhisattva Path in this life. If there are opportunities for humans attaining the fruition level of a Bodhisattva, they will definitely ‘go’ to the Land of Amitabha in this life. The appearance of a Bodhisattva can save many sentient beings. I have expounded so many subjects today; I hope everyone has listened to them and gotten them through your head. Do not think what you have listened to are just stories. Then after this puja is over you will go home, and you will still remain as the same person as before.”

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Updated on May 30, 2022