June 21, 2003

For the sentient beings on the path of learning the Buddha Dharma, the road is very long.  We often observe that the motivation of great Bodhisattvas and Buddhas is immeasurably and limitlessly large such as the omnipresent Bodhi mind described in the doctrine of Eight Precepts.  The so-called true Bodhi mind never backs up, no matter how difficult the situations may be.  Many sutras mentioned that we should develop the pure mind, the diligent mind, the patient mind, the meditating mind, but never the tired mind.

The sentient beings are different from the Bodhisattvas.  First, we are ordinary beings and do not have enough merits.  Because of it, we sometimes experience sickness and pain in our physical body.  As a result, we are tired quickly when we practice Buddha Dharma.  The soreness in the waist and the ache in the back during the daily services make us powerless.  When we do not have great strength, it causes us to back up easily.  Second, we do not have enough wisdom.  If we had sufficient wisdom, we could have accomplished twice as much with half of the effort.  With insufficient wisdom and without method, the results are naturally unsatisfactory.  We realize that our merit and wisdom cannot compare with those of the Bodhisattvas and therefore we are more likely to get discouraged.  But as long as we keep a pure mind, even through we take great vows but cannot accomplish them at the present moment, it will be fine if we can commit ourselves to delivering the sentient beings and we are willing to tolerate any sufferings for the sake of the sentient beings.

We do not have sufficient Bodhi mind but instead have a lot of indolent mind.  Sometimes the practitioners forgive themselves too easily.  It is also because we have too much scattered mind, we are unable to develop them fully.  In ancient China, there was a famous chess player, named Yi-Qiu.  He had two students.  One student was very concentrated and always paid undivided attention to whatever the teacher was teaching.  Thus, he learned very good skills in playing chess.  The other student had a scattered mind.  Although he was sitting at the same chess lessons, he was not paying much attention.  He kept thinking about a bird that was about to fly down from the sky.  On and on, his wandering mind was all over the places and flying away with the bird.  Therefore, he did not develop as good skills in playing the chess.  Same teacher was teaching, while two different students were trying to learn.  Of course, the results came out differently.

Similarly, Dharma was taught by Buddha in the same way to every one.  Everybody can read the same Buddhist books, do the same daily services, and practice with the same methods, yet each one will attain different merits and results.  For example, some people are able to maintain still during the recitation of the sutra, reciting the sutra with one-pointed mind and immediately understand the doctrine of the Buddha and how to put it in practice.  As a result, they progress faster in the path of practice.  I always believe that there is no shortcut or so-called better or worse instinct in practice.  It all depends on how you practice and take good care of your duties, and how you use the every daily lesson and apply Buddha Dharma in daily life.  In this way, you take the path of practice very relaxingly.  If we practice like Yi-Qiu's first student, without any scattered minds and with focus on what we are learning, whatever you do will turn out excellent.  In this way, "even with a hot iron wheel turning on the top of our head, we will not loses your Bodhi mind because of the suffering."  When we do not feel tired in the path of practice, then we can maintain the course and reach far.

In our lifetime, it is not so easy to be able to sit down to recite Buddha's name or meditate for one hour.  We should hold on to this opportunity of keeping the Eight Precepts for one day and one night.  Utilize this short period of one day and one night to practice diligently.  With a pointed mind, there is nothing that we should do and to practice the Dharma that we should practice.

The biggest problem in practice is to have some impurities such as our Karma and habits.  The seriousness of our habits cannot be described.  We reveal our habits unconsciously.  It affects us and is a huge barrier to our practice.  The habits, accumulated over time, will destroy our steadfast Bodhi mind and merits.  The damage is something that we are not able to notice.  The personality of an individual is the individual's habit.  Then, how can we eliminate those habits?  We should practice diligently of course.  Reciting Buddha's name is one of the methods.  This is the reason why the Vairocana Monastery holds this One-Day Pure Land Retreat that requires the attendees to maintain silence during this short period of time.  Keeping silence means not to talk in order to calm our mind for a good practice.  By reciting Buddha's name and reading the Buddhist books at spare time, you won't have time to create bad Karma and to spread your habit.  In this way we can regulate our body, speech and mind.

Then how large is the power of reciting Buddha's name?  I recall a story: Once upon a time, there was a woman who was very sincere in learning the Buddha Dharma and her practice was excellent.  Although she was very busy with many house chores, she never forgot to recite Buddha's name everyday.  She not only recited Buddha's name herself, but also transformed her neighbors, relatives and good friends to recite Buddha's name together with her.  Everybody was reciting Buddha's name very well and the whole community was in very good harmony.  Although this woman practiced very well and had transformed many people, there was one person that she was not able to transform - her husband.  Her husband did not do many good things but created lots of bad deeds.  Because of this, her husband was very difficult to be transformed.  This woman was thinking what to do.  My husband had created lots of bad Karmas in this life.  If he did not learn the Buddha Dharma and recite Buddha's name well, he would definitely face serious dangers after he died.  She wished that the Bodhisattvas could help her open up her wisdom so that she would know how to transform her husband.

One day, this woman saw a neighbor's kid ringing a bell.  When she heard the bell, it dawned upon her a way to transform her husband.  In that evening when her husband came back from work, she told him, "The security in the community is very bad nowadays.  Thieves steal everywhere.  Every day when you come home, first ring the bell as a signal and recite Na Mo Amitabha.  Then, I know you are ready to enter and I will open the door for you.  It is safer this way."  The husband thought this is a very good idea and how clever her wife was.  From then on, her husband rang the bell and recited Na Mo Amitabha loudly every time he came home.  Her husband did this everyday and after a while got used to it and recited the Amitabha spontaneously.  This woman's husband started to recite Buddha's name because of this reason.

Because her husband had created too much bad Karma in this life, his Karmic obstructions had ripened.  He got sick and died.  Due to his bad Karma he felt into the endless hell to receive extreme sufferings.  The iron ring on the large iron fork sounded when the guard of the hell used it to stab and drop the sinners into the huge oil wok to suffer.  It sounded just like a bell.  This woman's husband was very nervous because it was next his turn.  But as soon as he heard the sound of the iron ring he recited "Na Mo Amitabha" immediately.  The burning hot hell became cool instantly.  Not only this husband felt the coolness.  All the beings in this boundless hell also felt the coolness at the same time.  Afterwards, he was reborn in the Human Realm because of the power of reciting Na Mo Amitabha.

From this story, we understand that even though this husband recited Buddha's name for other purpose, he still could be reborn from hell to the Human Realm because of the merit of reciting Buddha's name.  And we know that reciting Buddha's name is a way of practice.  We should clearly understand that the merit would be even more inconceivable and limitless if we recite Buddha's name based on the generation of the Bodhi mind, compassionate mind, and the liberating mind.  Therefore, do not overlook the merit of reciting even just once "Na Mo Amitabha".

We attend the One-Day Pure Land and Eight Precepts Retreat today to recite Buddha's name innumerable times.  It is not just for our own practice, we also want to dedicate this merit of reciting Buddha's name to all the sentient beings.  Someone said that we can perceive the hell in this world and do not need to wait to get there until after we die.  In this muddy world in which we reside, we cannot even breathe freely because we have to wear masks to prevent the infection of SARS.  The modern people cannot breathe freely because they get sick due to their grave Karma.  Isn't this like a human hell?

Practicing the Buddha Dharma should be like air, which is neither empty nor existing.  In order to benefit the sentient beings through practicing Bodhisattva's Path, our practice should be formless as air, serving the sentient beings quietly.  It is a great merit and good Karma root to practice Buddha Dharma while we are healthy.  Be thankful to the Bodhisattvas who grant us a healthy body so that we can recite Buddha's name.  We should recite Buddha's name with gratitude and a sense of rare chance.  While practicing in this human world, sometimes you will encounter obstacles that could help your practice progress and increase your merit.  You should practice diligently if you want to benefit the sentient beings within your limited life.

June 22, 2003

In "the Commentary of Rebirth in the Pure-Land", written by the Vasubandhu Bodhisattva, there was a paragraph mentioning the method of reciting Buddha's name.  He promoted the Five Devotional Gates of the Pure-Land sect:

The First Gate is the gate of prostration.  The so-called gate of prostration is to prostrate to Amitabha with the wish to be born in the peaceful Land.  We should vow to be born in Amitabha's Pure-Land while we prostrate.

The Second Gate is the gate of praise.  We should praise Buddha while we recite Amitabha's holy name.

The Third Gate is the gate of resolution.  The so-called gate of resolution is to practice our meditation truthfully.  When we recite Buddha's name with one-pointed and clear mind, it is meditation.  If you combine the practice of meditation with the Pure-Land method at the same time, you will progress like a tiger with wings.

The Fourth Gate is the gate of observation.  The gate of observation is visualization.  We should visualize ourselves as a sentient being of the Five Kasaya (Polluted) Periods of Chaos.  First, we need to learn about the suffering and observe the cause of the suffering.  Second, when we have suffering, we need to know clearly the degree of the suffering and the nature of the suffering.  To be free from suffering, we must achieve the renunciation of the Saha (muddy) world.

The Fifth Gate is the gate of dedication.  No matter which Mahayana method we are practicing with, we must commit ourselves to delivering the sentient beings when we reach Enlightenment and dedicate the merits of all our practices to all the sentient beings in the Dharma Realm.  The meaning of the gate of dedication is to generate the Bodhi mind to deliver all sentient beings and to reach the shore of Nirvana together.

The dissemination of Buddha Dharma is not just the responsibility of monks and nuns.  Much of the responsibility of disseminating Buddha Dharma falls in the shoulders of laypeople.  You can introduce the Buddha Dharma that you understand to others to bring out their good Karma roots.  If you do not know how to preach the Dharma, you should maintain a diligent practice to refine your body, speech and mind.  When other people recognize you as such a good person, full with living-kindness, compassion and wisdom, hey will naturally approach you to become your friends.  Then, you can explain to them how you have practiced to reach this stage.  Step by step, you can gradually help them.

One of the disciples of the Buddha Sakyamuni named Asvajir practiced very well and had a magnificent appearance with dignified gestures.  One day, when Asvajir was almsgiving on the road, Maudgalaputra saw this very dignified ascetic.  Maudgalaputra approached Asvajir and asked him: "Could you tell me your name?  Which method are you practicing with to make you so dignified?"  Asvajir answered: "My name is Asvajir.  I learn it from my teacher."  Maudgalaputra asked again: "Who is your teacher?"  Asvajir replied: "My teacher is the Great Loving, Kind, World-honored One, Sakyamuni Buddha."  Maudgalaputra said: "Your teacher must be very good to be able to turn out such an excellent student.  I would like to meet your teacher."  Immediately Maudgalaputra followed Asvajir to meet Sakyamuni Buddha and in this way started to practice Buddhism.

A Buddhist should have the attitudes and qualities, which are liberated, magnificent, easygoing, happy, compassionate, full of wisdom, and benevolent towards the sentient beings every where.  These attitudes and qualities are the most emphasized by Mahayana Bodhisattvas.  If you want to know how good your practice is, just observe the reactions from the people around you.  They are like mirrors reflecting your body, speech and mind.  Therefore, Vasubandhu's Five Devotional Gates is very important for Pure-Land practitioners.