In tonight's class (via telephone from Seattle) I explained the "Sutra Opening Verse":
Then Subhuti addressed the Buddha, saying: "World Honored One, if good men and good women resolve to attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment, how should they abide their mind, and how should they subdue their thoughts?" The Buddha said to Subhuti: "Good men and good women who resolve to attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment should think like this: 'I will liberate all sentient beings by bringing them to nirvana.' Yet when all sentient beings have attained nirvana, in fact, not a single sentient being has been liberated."
The Dharma, infinitely profound and subtle,
Is rarely encountered even in a million kalpas.
Now we are able to hear, study, and follow it,
May we fully realize the Tathagata's true meaning.
"Tathagata" is one of the ten titles of the Buddha (What are the others? Q1). It means, among other meanings, "the way it is." This is the attitude we should have in studying the Dharma, to know the Buddha's true meaning. It's what scientists try to do with physical reality--know it as it is.
And then we started on Ch.17, the beginning of the second half of the Diamond Sutra. It's very interesting that here Subhuti asked the exact same question that he did at the beginning of the sutra. Why? Did he not learn anything? He who is the foremost in understanding emptiness among Buddha's disciples? (Q2)
The Buddhist practice is about fully realizing the power of your mind. To do that we need to go through the five stages of the bodhi mind.
1. Give rise to the bodhi mind.
2. Tame the mind.
3. Awaken to the bodhi mind.
4. Gradual attainment of the bodhi mind.
5. Ultimate bodhi mind.
What are these five stages? (Q3)
Which passages/chapters in the Diamond Sutra correspond to each of these five stages? (Q4)
We also learned that to give rise to the bodhi mind, to make a vow to help all sentient beings to enlightenment, is the single most important decision we can ever make. Once made, how do you practice it everyday? Most of us are not enlightened, can we help others get enlightened?
It means a fundamental change in our attitude toward every person and every being. It means when we see each person, we think: "how can I enlighten you?" Or, at least, "how can I make you happy?" That is how you can begin the practice of "liberating all sentient beings."
Have you made the bodhi resolve? If so, how has that changed you? If not, what is making you hesitate? (Q5)
Answer any or all of these questions as a review and reflection of tonight's class.
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1. The ten honorable titles of the Buddha are:
ReplyDeletea. Tathagata(如來): Thus Come One (one who comes from the Truth); Thus Gone One; One who Neither Comes nor Goes
b. Arhat(應供): One who is (1) worthy of offering, (2) killer of thieves – Arhat has killed the thieves of afflictions and defilements, and (3) free of future rebirths
c. Samyak-sambuddha(正遍知): Rightly and Complete Enlightened, one who knows the whole truth
d. Vidya-carana-sampanna(明行足): Perfect in Wisdom and Action
e. Sugata(善逝): Well-Gone (a good death)
f. Lokavid(世間解): Knower of the World
g. Anuttara(無上士): The Unsurpassed One
h. Purusadamya-saratha(調御大夫): The Tamer
i. Sasta devamanusyanam(天人師): Teacher of Heavenly and Human Beings
j. Bhagavan(世尊or薄伽梵): World Honored One
2. Even though Subhuti asked the exact same question that he did at the beginning of the sutra, there is subtle difference. The first time Subhuti asked the question was to seek the method from the Buddha on how one who resolves to attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment should abide his mind, and how he should subsude his thought. The question is coarser because one still has the thought to attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment. After the Buddha explained how to do so, in chapter 17, Subhuti’s question is more refined and the Buddha said that ‘there is actually no resolve for the attainment of unsurpassed complete enlightenment.’ This is for the benefit of bodhisattva who comprehends and follows this teaching. In addition, Subhuti re-asked the question on behalf of those who still not understood the teaching.
3. Shifu’s already given the answer. The five stages of the bodhi mind are:
a. Give rise to the bodhi mind.
b. Tame the mind.
c. Awaken to the bodhi mind.
d. Gradual attainment of the bodhi mind.
e. Ultimate bodhi mind.
4. The passages/chapters in the Diamond Sutra correspond to each of these five stages:
a. Give rise to the bodhi mind. Ch 2 – “when good men and good women resolve to attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment.”
b. Tame the mind. Ch 3 – “I will liberate them [all the different types of sentient beings] by leading them to nirvana with residue…..” Ch 4 – “in the practice of charity, bodhisattvas should abide in nothing whatsoever….”
c. Awaken to the bodhi mind. Ch 5 – “All appearances are illusory. To see that appearances are not appearances is to see the Tathagata.”
d. Gradual attainment of the bodhi mind. Ch 10 – “The mind should act without any attachments.”
e. Ultimate bodhi mind. Ch 1 – “When it was mealtime, the World Honored One put on his robe…….washed his feet, arranged his seat, and sat down.”
5. I am not sure whether I have made the bodhi resolve since I do not carry the thought to enlighten others. Shifu always says that we should make great vow, I know that I should, but I do not feel I am ready for it. Maybe it is because I have a very good family and life so far; therefore, I do not feel the imminency of not doing so.
Amituofo Ven. Jian Hu Shifu,
ReplyDeleteIn everyday life, most people who we encounter see Buddhism as an eclectic teaching that does not yet apply to them. So if we practice from what the "Essence of Mahayana Practice" teaches us, "practicing for the sake of removing impurities, one liberates others without being attached to form," then do we create a Karma connection to Buddhism for everyone we encounter, even though we do not explicitly teach someone Buddhism's basic concepts?
Also, Shifu explained to us from the "Diamond Sutra" how the Buddha Dharma is not the Buddha Dharma, therefore it is the Buddha Dharma. If our conceptions and volitional force is just an idea, a concept, very limiting, does this in turn mean that the karmic connection we create with others by practicing the Six Paramitas ourself holds the same weight as if we were teaching them the Diamond Sutra itself?
Amituofo,
Chuan Zheng