Dhamma Talk

Today my talk will revolve around four natural phenomena: the sun, space, the ocean, and the mountain peaks. If we are inspired by these four great phenomena of the natural world, we can make the great resolve to acquire the right view that functions effectively within the world and the penetrating vision that transcends the world.

“With high spirits, welcome the glorious morning sun. With the light shining through the dark shadows, our eyes open wide and see clearly.” When we get up early in the morning, we feel a pure energy running through us, invigorating us and filling us with vitality. Most of us have dark shadows or blind spots either within us or around us. Therefore, if we can see the sunlight of the Dharma, we will be able to rise up from the dark places in our life and obtain a clear, open vision of everything.

“The Buddha, Offspring of the Sun, awakened and transcended the world.” The Buddha Shakyamuni, like all the other Buddhas, was called the “Offspring of the Sun.” If we can learn from the “Offspring of the Sun,” we will be able to transcend mundane, worldly affairs. Like the sun, the Buddha was so bright that he could shine through everything. His enlightenment goes beyond the mundane world and can enlighten everyone. However, though the Buddha was the Offspring of the Sun, born into the so-called Solar Race, he was not the least bit arrogant or conceited. He always had the most humble attitude.

In the Mahayana scriptures, the Buddha is described as the foremost in brilliance. This means that he is the foremost in conduct. His conduct is most majestic and sublime. There are no inconsistencies between the Buddha’s mental conduct and his bodily and verbal conduct. His mental conduct is most pure. His appearance is most pure. His physical appearance, all his bodily features, manifest his pure state of mind. So he is able to devote his entire life to all sentient beings, and he has the greatest aspiration, the greatest resolve to work for the benefit of everybody. His virtue is the greatest, for it does not center around the self. Because he was able to abandon the self, the ego, he was able to devote himself to delivering all sentient beings from suffering.

“Learn transcendence; with backbones straight, we offer ourselves to the world and obliterate the danger of defilements.” Whether we are monastics or lay persons, we should learn from the Buddha. With this kind of spirit to deliver yourself, when you follow the spirit of the Buddha, you will be able to return to the world and devote yourself purely to the benefit of all sentient beings. All your actions, speech, and mental activities will be consistent with this spirit, and you will be able to totally remove all the terrors of the world.

“Space is a grand opening that is endlessly vast.” The space that we are familiar with is only a small portion of space in its entirety. The greatest space of the world is boundless, vast beyond description.

“With steady footsteps, he marches straightforward into the state of the foremost in meaning.” What is “the state of the foremost in meaning”? It is all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. They are permanent and not subject to change. Because they are permanent and not subject to change, for them there is no birth, aging, illness, and death. What does this mean? If people maintain the five precepts well, they will be reborn in heaven. However, that kind of rebirth in heaven is tainted. One day, they will lose such merit and will fall down from heaven. However, the attainments of the Buddhas and great bodhisattvas is taintless. They have true brightness, true liberation, and true excellence, and they realize truth without ever falling away from their realization. Because such attainment and realization is not subject to change, this realization transcends the mundane, transcends all phenomena tied up with birth, aging, illness, and death. The great parinirvana attained by the Buddha and the bodhisattvas is not subject to birth, not subject to aging, not subject to illness and death. Therefore, it is called the “taintless attainment.” It will never again be touched by affliction and suffering. The Buddha Shakyamuni realized such truth and the truth he realized is so universally true in the world today that we say it is without birth, aging, illness, or death.

“Only when the ground has frozen over and the air is chilling cold can the seed germinate in the barren field.” Venerable Master Yin Shun once said that we must have the spirit of a person who is willing to spread the seed in the most barren climate, in chilling cold and on frozen ground. We need to have such spirit and to spread the seed of the Dharma wherever we are. Why is that? If we vow to practice the bodhisattva way among people of good predispositions and under favorable conditions, then when we meet such conditions we will feel satisfied and not want to move forward. When the situation is bad, we will feel frustrated and want to give up the practice. So the seed of the Buddha’s Dharma needs to be spread no matter what kind of climate we are in, no matter what our conditions might be. Whether the climate is extremely cold or extremely hot, we must unrelentingly spread the Buddha’s Dharma.

“With resilience, we take up our responsibility with humility, humbled by our own inadequacies.” We Buddhist followers need to accept responsibility for spreading the Buddha’s Dharma both by our own practice and by benefiting others. We need to arouse a great sense of shame and moral dread so that we will not waste our lives. I am warning you here, everyone: if you waste your time, you will never be able to see the Buddha. As I have said again and again, we need to make the great resolve to wholeheartedly devote ourselves to the practice of the six paramitas in order to deliver the sentient beings of the six realms from suffering. Please pay careful attention to this.

“The vast ocean seen from the shore — how spectacular the view!” If we come to a seashore or a great body of water, we can appreciate the spectacular view and all the varieties presented by the view of the ocean.

“Without selection or bias, the ocean provides food and transport for all.” It provides all human beings with all kinds of nutrition and sustenance. Great products, including fish, come from the ocean. The ocean also provides the connection between civilizations. When civilizations first needed to communicate with each other, the ocean provided the best channel of traffic, which facilitated communication between civilizations. Human beings were able to create culture and civilization, but the ocean is able to provide the means of communication. Therefore, we should learn from the ocean to become the great medium of different civilizations and different cultures.

The ocean is extremely vast. It does not discriminate against people. Whether you are Caucasian, African American, or of a different race, the ocean is not concerned. For the great ocean, everybody is equal.

“The great Dharma, so wonderful and extensive, is also an ocean. It liberates universally, without distinction or bias.” So we often refer to the “Ocean of Dharma.” Why is the Dharma referred to as an ocean? It is because the Dharma is spectacular and most pure. It is just like a lotus flower, whose every part — from its roots to its leaves — is useful and beneficial to others. Because the lotus flower is without any clinging, it can completely devote itself to benefit others.

The Buddha’s Dharma teaches us to be level-headed — not impeding our own practice or that of others. Hence it is vast and deep, like the great void. It is this virtue that brings deliverance to everyone rather than to a select few.

All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas deliver sentient beings from suffering without discrimination. They do not pick just a select few and deliver them but not others. Such a sense of equality is as if we had a square shape and every side of the square is equal. Like a square shape, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will deliver sentient beings without any boundaries, without any end.

“High and solemn beneath the sky, the mountain towers above a store of wealth. Likewise, the virtues and merits abound in a Bodhisattva’s mind.” An ancient Chinese saying teaches us that if we learn to be like an ocean and a mountain, we will be able to store all wealth. Just as a mountain has the greatest wealth stored inside, so the mind of a Bodhisattva is a store of excellent qualities. A Bodhisattva’s mind is as vast as a mountain and also stores all the wealth under the great blue sky.

“As firm as Mount Diamond, as equally indestructible, it benefits beings with wholesome deeds throughout endless eons.” When there are earthquakes, some mountains break down and can even be brought to ground-level. However, a mountain of diamond cannot be broken. The excellent qualities of the Bodhisattva are similar. No matter what kind of affliction people try to inflict upon the Bodhisattva, nothing can diminish his excellent qualities. Not even Mara can distract him from his mission.

It is the landmark. Through an extremely long period of time, throughout extremely vast space, a Bodhisattva is able to establish the landmark, the symbol of true virtue, to guide and benefit all sentient beings.

In closing, I encourage you to have the qualities of the sun, the sky, an ocean, and a mountain.

© Buddha Dharma Education Association 1992-2004