What is forbearance? (Part 2/2)

 

Excerpts from the Sutra of the Collection of the Six Perfections (六度集經, Liùdù Jí Jīng)     What is forbearance? It is acceptance. When one can accept, one can be forbearing and enduring. Why does the Chinese language use the character 辱 (rǔ─disgrace) in 忍辱 (rěn rǔ – forbearing disgrace) for forbearance? It is because disgrace is the most difficult thing for worldly beings to forbear. The so-called pāramitā of forbearance is to reach the other shore of liberation through forbearance. This is the third of the six perfections practiced by bodhisattvas.     In the Upāsaka-śīla Sūtra, Fascicle 7, the Buddha further taught: “If I cannot forbear minor matters, how can I guide sentient beings? Forbearance is the correct cause for attaining the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment—the fruit of this cultivation. If I do not plant the seeds of forbearance, how can I obtain such a true fruit?” If one cannot forbear trivial things pertaining to mundane matters, how can one be a bodhisattva, attain the true fruit of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in the future, guide and subdue sentient beings, and lead them toward the Buddha Dharma? Furthermore, as recorded in the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3, the great master Bodhidharma said, “The unsurpassed, wondrous path of all Buddhas requires assiduous practice over vast kalpas, performing what is difficult to perform and forbearing what is difficult to forbear. How could one with minor merits and wisdom, as well as a frivolous and arrogant mind, hope to attain the true vehicle? Such an effort is merely futile toil.” This means that the unsurpassed wondrous Dharma-path of the Buddhas―performing what is difficult to perform and forbearing what is generally impossible for ordinary people to forbear―must be practiced with diligent effort over immeasurably long periods. How could one with minor merits and wisdom, as well as a frivolous and arrogant mind, hope to attain the truly great Dharma? This was the teaching that the great master Bodhidharma had given to the Second Patriarch, Huike, and it speaks to the steadfast determination one must possess in order to attain the truly great Dharma. #Buddha #paramita #bodhisattva #Buddhiststory #karma #compassion #forberance #dharma #Buddhistteaching  (Part 2/2)

Forbearance–Ingratitude (Part 1/2)

 

Excerpts from the Sutra of the Collection of the Six Perfections (六度集經, Liùdù Jí Jīng) Once upon a time, a bodhisattva manifested as a macaque. Not only was it exceptionally strong―stronger than all other macaques―but its intelligence and wisdom also exceeded that of humans. Moreover, it possessed loving-kindness and compassion, constantly wishing to universally save and assist sentient beings. The macaque lived deep in the mountains. One day, while climbing a tree to gather wild fruits, it saw a man who had fallen to the bottom of a valley. The man was crying out in sorrow: “Help me!” Hearing the man’s cries, the macaque shed tears of sadness, thinking, “Have I not made a vow to achieve the Path to Buddhahood precisely to save suffering sentient beings? If I do not rescue this man today, he will surely exhaust his strength and die. I must find a way to get down to the valley floor and carry him up.” The macaque descended into the valley, carried the man on its back, and then, grasping the weeds on the cliff face, slowly climbed upward. When it reached the top, it placed the man on flat ground, pointed out the exit path, and told him, “Return to your dwelling place, and do not commit evil deeds.” Having exerted all its strength to save the man from distress, the macaque was utterly exhausted and lay on the ground to rest. The man thought to himself, “When I was trapped in the valley, I almost starved to death. Now, if I don’t eat anything, I will starve to death. What is the difference between this and being trapped at the bottom of the valley?” Thus, an evil thought arose in his mind: “I should kill and eat this macaque to save my life. There’s nothing wrong with that!” So he picked up a stone and violently struck the macaque’s head. It was immediately bruised and bled profusely, staining the ground red with fresh blood. Startled by the sudden attack, the macaque stood up, but feeling dizzy and unable to stand steadily, it fell back against a large tree. Not a trace of anger arose in its heart; instead, it felt compassion for the man for harboring evil thoughts. The macaque thought, “This man is not one whom I can guide to liberation. I hope that in his future lives, he will frequently encounter various Buddhas, believe, accept, and adhere to their teachings, and thus be liberated, never again harboring evil thoughts throughout his countless lives as he has done in this present life.”

The macaque in the story above was Buddha Śākyamuni on the causal ground, and the person trapped in the valley was Devadatta. The Buddha taught that the bodhisattva’s perfection (pāramitā) of forbearance is beyond comprehension, and this is how one ought to practice forbearance! (Part 1) Even as betrayal bled into the mountain soil, the Bodhisattva macaque responded to a lethal strike with unwavering compassion. This timeless encounter between Buddha Śākyamuni and Devadatta illuminates the profound practice of forbearance.  #Buddha #paramita #bodhisattva #Buddhiststory #karma #compassion #forberance #dharma #Buddhistteaching

Floating Wood with a Hole

 

Floating Wood with a Hole

This Buddhist story primarily explains how difficult it is for sentient beings to be born as humans, and that being able to rely on the human body to encounter the Buddha-Dharma, which contains genuine liberating teachings, is even more extraordinarily difficult.

The following is an English excerpt of the Saṃyukta Āgama Sūtra, Fascicle 15:

At one time, the World-Honored One addressed the bhikṣus: “Suppose the entire vast land were a vast ocean, and there was a blind turtle whose lifespan lasted for immeasurable eons, yet it could rise to the ocean’s surface only once every hundred years. In this great ocean, there is a piece of floating wood with a single hole in it, drifting throughout the sea carried by the waves and blown by the wind, with no fixed location, moving east and west unpredictably. Could this blind turtle, which surfaces only once every hundred years, possibly encounter this piece of floating wood and poke its head through the hole in it?”

Ānanda respectfully replied to the Buddha, “It would be impossible, World-Honored One! If this blind turtle were to swim to the eastern part of the great ocean, the floating wood might be blown by the wind to the western, southern, or northern parts of the ocean. Thus, their paths may not cross.” The Buddha told Ānanda, “Although the blind turtle and the floating wood are vastly distant from each other and moving in opposite directions, making an encounter extremely difficult or unlikely, there’s a chance they would meet after a very long time. Yet foolish and benighted ordinary beings who transmigrate and drift without ceasing through the five destinies have hundreds of thousands of times less chances of temporarily obtaining a human form compared to the blind turtle’s chances of crossing paths with the floating wood! This is because these foolish and deluded sentient beings’ actions, speech, and minds have never relied upon righteousness and the correct Dharma. They do not practice wholesome dharmas or in accordance with the authentic principles of the worldly and the transcendent.

Therefore, they perpetually kill one another in cycles, or the strong oppress the weak. Because they constantly create boundless evil karma, they quickly fall into the three evil destinies, with little hope of escape, and being reborn as a human in the human realm will be a matter of many long eons hence, if at all.”

The Buddha added, “Therefore, bhikṣus, within the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path—you should all diligently and earnestly use various skillful means to generate a sense of superior intent, continuously studying the Four Noble Truths and other teachings, severing all fetters to ultimately reach the state of the fourth fruit and beyond!” When the Buddha finished teaching this sutra, the bhikṣus who heard what the Buddha taught all joyfully believed, accepted, and practiced it.

In the Buddhist story above, the blind turtle drifts and searches throughout the vast ocean. Isn’t the turtle like many ordinary people today, seeking the true principles and cultivation methods that genuinely lead to liberation and the path to Buddhahood? Aren’t those “wood-like objects” we gaze at from afar like the Buddhist temples and monasteries lining every street, which we assume to be places where we can find rescue and peace of mind, where we can eliminate afflictions and find salvation?  

However, one might unfortunately encounter fraudsters who use Buddhism as a cover for money and sex scams, preying on students who lack the ability to discern genuine teachers from fraudsters.

Or perhaps one frequently attends chanting ceremonies, mistakenly believing that this is true cultivation and can lead one toward achieving Buddhahood.

Or one might close their eyes, sit in a meditation posture, empty their minds, and imagine that this alone is the path to Buddhahood. However, this doesn’t even brush against the outer frame of the Buddhist gate! These people, who regard themselves as “practitioners” but who actually aren’t, may even commit the great transgression of false speech, which truly isn’t worth it.

It is extremely difficult for people who wish to study Buddhism on the correct path to be able to encounter someone who can teach them the correct views and methods. True Buddhist practice means following the stages of the Bodhi Path in the right sequence; you can’t skip steps or mix them up. In other words, truly encountering the “floating wood with a hole” mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures is indeed an extremely difficult and rare experience. It requires encountering a truly enlightened mentor who thoroughly comprehends the path of the Three-Vehicle Bodhi, understands its true principles, and can explain the content of the Buddha Bodhi Path and the sequential stages of cultivating it. Only then can we correctly hear, practice, and realize this path according to its content. If you have already encountered such a wholesome Dharma, you should treasure this opportunity because it is as rare as a blind turtle encountering a floating wood with a hole in the ocean. That is, you must firmly hold on to a Mahāyāna practice center where there is a truly enlightened mentor―go there regularly and listen to, contemplate, and realize the true principles so as not to waste your current human form, which is so difficult and precious to obtain throughout countless lifetimes, and so as not to lose your excellent karmic condition!  

#Buddha #Dharma #Bodhipath #Mahayana #Threevehiclebodhi #Buddhahood #karma #fournobletruth #enlightenment

A Bodhisattva’s Skillful Means (P4/4)

 

As for the six consciousnesses of sentient beings—the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mental consciousnesses—they actually operate at the corresponding five internal sense faculties within the brain. The six sense objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mental phenomena), which are respectively discriminated by the six consciousnesses, are, in fact, merely the manifestations of the eighth vijñāna, the tathāgatagarbha, according to the differently perceived five external sense objects. The six knowing consciousnesses do not actually make direct contact with external objects.

King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva, through his wisdom of the ultimate truth pertaining to Mahāyāna Buddha Bodhi, had long since fully realized and verified these teachings of the Śrāvaka conventional truth that the World-Honored One had explicitly expounded on in the Lesser Vehicle. He recognized that what held the woman’s hand and sat together with her was merely the great earth element, not the perceptive conscious “self,” and thus, there was no transgression.

Therefore, the World-Honored One finally taught, “Ordinary sentient beings, due to their craving for the five worldly desires, commit various unwholesome karmas and consequently fall into the three evil destinies or even the hells, where they suffer severe karmic retribution. However, when bodhisattvas engage in the five worldly desires together with sentient beings to liberate them, employing various skillful means, their minds remain pure and free from desire. After death, they are instead reborn as pure beings in the form realm heavens. Why is there such a great difference? This is because Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas are able to practice skillful means.”

Having heard this story, everyone should now have a clearer understanding of the true meaning of bodhisattvas’ skillful means. (Part 4)

#Buddha #Dharma #bodhisattva #Buddhahood #Buddhiststory #precepts

A Bodhisattva’s Skillful Means (Part 3/4)

 

After contemplating in this way, King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva cognized his own body as nothing more than the great earth element, and keeping his mind on great earth element, he took the woman’s hand and sat beside her on a single seat. He then told the woman, “You should take refuge in the World-Honored One and generate an aspiration for Buddha Bodhi. The Dharma path of the World-Honored One does not praise the worldly practices of sexual desire and craving pursued by unwise and deluded ordinary beings. On the contrary, only by cultivating dispassion or detachment from desire and eliminating craving can one accomplish the Buddhahood Path and become the Great Venerable, whom all sentient beings in heaven and the human realm revere and study under.” At that moment, having heard the teaching of King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva, the woman’s heart became filled with immeasurable joy. She rose from her seat, and, with the sincerest reverence, prostrated before King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva and said, “I previously harbored thoughts of unwholesome desire and craving toward you. Now, I wish to confess and repent before you in person.” Thereupon, the woman generated the pure and wholesome aspiration for the unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment of all Buddhas and Tathāgatas, vowing to benefit all sentient beings so that they, too, could accomplish the Buddhahood Path. At this point, the World-Honored One emphasized, “A bodhisattva like King of the Honored Multitude, who is able to liberate and guide sentient beings through skillful means, ensures that the followers he liberates and guides—both in the past and present—will henceforth never regress from the Buddha Bodhi or fall into the three evil destinies.” Moreover, due to King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva’s wisdom and skillful means, the woman immediately confessed with utmost sincerity and made great vows, so that after ninety-nine kalpas, she would accomplish the Buddhahood Path.

In this story, King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva contemplated the following Dharma teaching: “The internal great earth element and the external great earth element are one great earth element.” This involves analyzing and deconstructing a sentient being’s physical body to clearly understand that the body is nothing but a composition of the four great elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. The five sense faculties—the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body—that held the woman’s hand and sat together with her on the same seat are, in fact, the great earth element, no different from the great earth element of solid matter in mountains, rivers, and land of the external material world. There was no “self” that held the woman’s hand and sat with her. (Part 3/4)

#Buddha #Dharma #bodhisattva #Buddhahood #Buddhiststory #precepts

A Bodhisattva’s Skillful Means (Part2/4)

 

In part one of the story, King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva first displayed supernatural transformations, enabling the adept Venerable Ānanda to understand that he was a great bodhisattva who purely upheld the precepts, was free from sensual desire, and came to possess supernatural powers and transformative abilities through genuine practice and realization. Upon learning this, Ānanda immediately kneeled on the ground with a grief-stricken expression on his face and earnestly beseeched the World-Honored One to allow him to publicly confess his transgression of ignorantly accusing King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva of violating the precept against sexual misconduct.

The World-Honored One then told Ānanda, “One must not judge the actions of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas as violating the pure precepts based solely on superficial appearances! For after Mahāyāna bodhisattvas take refuge in the mind of all knowledge, when they encounter pleasing forms, sounds, scents, tastes, and tactile sensations or the five desirous states of wealth, sensuality, fame, food, and sleep, which delight the mind, they will partake in and utilize these objects together with sentient beings, and then seize the opportunity to exhort these beings to take refuge in the Three Jewels of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and to generate an unsurpassed aspiration for Buddha Bodhi. Such Mahāyāna bodhisattvas neither violate the precepts nor fail to liberate and guide sentient beings. Therefore, the World-Honored One said, “Only they can perfectly and fully accomplish the meritorious qualities and wisdom required to become Buddhas and Tathāgatas.”

The World-Honored One also explained the past karmic connection between King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva and the woman whom Venerable Ānanda saw him sitting with on the same seat. In the past, this woman had been the wife of King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva for five hundred lifetimes. Due to the habitual tendencies of marital emotional attachment from those past lives, when she saw King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva, craving for and attachment to him immediately arose in her mind. Especially upon seeing that he was a bodhisattva disciple under the World-Honored One who faithfully upheld the precepts and possessed a dignified demeanor and majestic virtue, she felt great joy in her heart and thought to herself, “If I could have the opportunity to sit together with King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva, I would also take refuge in the World-Honored One, generate an aspiration for the Bodhi mind of attaining unsurpassed perfect enlightenment, and become a Mahāyāna bodhisattva.”

King of the Honored Multitude Bodhisattva had already attained supernatural powers and transformations, so he naturally knew of his past-life karmic connection with the woman he was sitting with and understood her thoughts. He decided to liberate and guide her. The next morning, he took his alms bowl and entered the city, going from house to house to beg for food. When he arrived at this woman’s house, he entered. In his mind, he immediately contemplated a dharma principle: “Whether the internal great earth element within or the external great earth element, it is still the great earth element” (Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra, fascicle 106). That is, the solid parts of our body and the solid things in the external material world are actually composed of the same solid great element—the “great earth element.”  (Part 2/4)

#Buddha #Dharma #bodhisattva #Buddhahood #Buddhiststory #precepts