Chapter 4 Basic Beliefs of a Buddhist Practitioner-4

As mentioned earlier, you become monks and learn Buddhism to attain Bodhi, enlightenment, and Buddhahood, not to eat a living, or to be a vegetarian or to recite scriptures.This is to be cruel, to break through the deep-rooted bad habits of greed, hatred, and ignorance, to open up the inherent wisdom and light, and to benefit the world and life.Therefore, when a practitioner learns Buddhism, enlightens the Tao, and achieves success, things are even more busy. The Buddha bears all the troubles and sufferings for all living beings. After becoming a Buddha, it is the beginning of benefiting all living beings.Buddha is a busy person in the world, a busy person who is busy with nothing, a busy person who likes to meddle in other things.To be honest, what does the suffering of sentient beings have to do with Buddha?It's just because of the great compassion of the Buddha that he wants to save them. This is the spirit of the Buddha.Practitioners who want to do this are truly studying Buddhism.

But is this how you study Buddhism?If you think that it is enough to live in a hut in the mountains, this is learning selfishness, laziness, and creating karma. It is inevitable that you will be greedy for offerings. A grain of rice and a drop of water are offered to you by others. You get something for nothing. That is learning Buddhism. What about the spirit?The spirit of studying Buddhism is here, pay attention!To learn Buddhism, one needs to cultivate merit and wisdom, and to help sentient beings, and will be even busier.Harder, not escaping reality.See how many people are quietly running away now, saying that they are looking for a thatched hut to clean up. Of course, in the process of learning Buddhism, it is necessary at a certain time and under certain circumstances. What about other secrets?As for what the real Qingxiu is and how a person does it, it is still a question.To practice Buddhism is still to make offerings to all sentient beings, so what is the opposite of the daily offerings of the audience?Do you have this merit to be offered by others?Without virtue and incompetence, it is not enough to be a field of blessings for all living beings, unless there is a "Buddha"

This kind of spirit of benefiting people and heaven can accept offerings. What is the purpose of us asking the Buddha to live in the world and preach the Dharma? "All living beings in the ten directions, may they be free from suffering and always be happy." Not only human beings have pain, the existence of a life can be said to be pain.If we make a philosophical definition from the perspective of the "truth of suffering" in Buddhism: what is the existence of life?The continuation of pain and the endless entanglement of troubles are called life.All beings in the worlds of the ten directions are suffering, suffering, and worrying, but all living beings cannot see the reality clearly, and they do not know and are unwilling to leave suffering and suffering—leaving suffering and gaining happiness.I also often say: Philosophy in the world has a common purpose, which is to let people live in peace and happiness from suffering.In this world, peace and happiness cannot be found. Only by attaining Bodhi can we be freed from these afflictions.The true happiness of life is to "obtain the profound benefit of the Dharma", the Dharma is the Dharma, and the Dharma includes all dharmas.Don't just think of the Buddha in the Buddha statue on the main hall when you talk about Buddhism, thinking that there is nothing else.All dharmas in the world are Buddhist dharmas. If one attains prajna and realizes Bodhi, then all dharmas are neither evil nor right.Could it be that if you say yours is right, mine is crooked?This is the truth of profound prajna, which is difficult for ordinary sentient beings to understand.

It is necessary to obtain the profound benefits of the Dharma in order to "eliminate all afflictions without residue" and realize Nirvana without residue.There are two kinds of Nirvana: one is the state of Nirvana with remaining reliance - Arhat realm, and the other is Nirvana without reliance - Mahayana Buddhism.Wuyuyi Nirvana contains three meanings in terms of consciousness-only dharma: emptiness and inaction, non-choice of non-action and non-choice of non-action (non-functional use) .The so-called inaction means nothing, and inaction is just another usage of Fa Xiangzong's translation of an ancient Chinese term.To learn Buddhism, one must truly achieve Nirvana in order to truly eliminate afflictions.Before realizing Bodhi and Nirvana, the entanglement of afflictions is unavoidable. Even bodhisattvas also have afflictions, unless they achieve Buddhahood completely.

Mahayana and Mahayana Buddhism all talk about suffering, collection, extinction, and Tao. To eliminate all afflictions, unless you get the Tao.Accumulation is the cause of suffering, suffering is the result of accumulation, Tao is the cause of cessation, and cessation is the result of Tao.As long as you get the Tao, your afflictions will naturally disappear.Then why does the Buddha who has become the Tao work so hard to preach the Dharma?Like my teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha, after he attained Nirvana, he traveled from place to place for forty-nine years, came and went, and worked tirelessly in order to liberate sentient beings from suffering and attain happiness.

We should learn from this unreserved altruistic spirit.Therefore, learning Buddhism is not about escaping from reality, nor about being alone.Like you usually only want to meditate and be quiet, but you argue with others over trivial matters, wink at others, and gossip about others. Is this the true nature of Buddhists?Anyone who arouses troubles for all beings and traps all beings in suffering and pain is creating evil karma, even creating karma that is hell seed.Therefore, those who understand Samantabhadra should always make all sentient beings happy and free from suffering to obtain happiness. This is the spirit of studying Buddhism, and it is also in line with the principle of always following Buddhism.

You seem to understand all these words, but due to the lack of eagerness to learn and think deeply, so you understand it, and you still can't understand the profound meaning in the scriptures delicately and deeply.If a scholar wants to go deep into the scriptures, he must earnestly search for evidence and carefully study them, and return the scriptures he has read to his own heart.All scriptures are ultimately superior to other people's annotations.One must read the original scriptures directly, and fully devote oneself to others with a sincere and simple heart, so that one can taste the flavor of the Dharma and benefit endlessly. Now I will sing the next verse:

(Students chant in the same way) As the crown prince, the Buddha became a monk as the crown prince, leaving aside the enviable wealth of the court, which is the most extraordinary and rare.He is a great saint who can really let go of greed and other troubles. "When I practice for Bodhi", for example, whether you become a monk or practice at home, what you do is to seek Bodhi.However, it is still unknown whether Bodhi can be attained in this life.I hope you can achieve success in this life.And attaining Bodhi in this life is still not considered to be a Buddha. Even if you are fully enlightened, even if you have achieved the three bodies, you will not be considered a complete Buddha. To truly become a Buddha, just like Sakyamuni Buddha and the future Maitreya Buddha, will not be considered a complete Buddha. In order to ascend the throne of the leader.In fact, there is no such thing as a throne or not a throne. It means that in one period of Dharma luck, one will be born to educate all beings in the three thousand great worlds, propagate the righteous Dharma for a long time, become a generation of masters, and complete immeasurable merits and virtues.Only in this way is the completion of the ultimate fruit of practice.

Therefore, we are still only in the process of this path of practice, working hard to realize the supreme Bodhi, vowing to be the same as when Shakyamuni Buddha was practicing, and to seek transformation from life to life in the cycle of six paths. Into fate".If you don’t dare to be a cow or a horse when you come and go in the six realms of reincarnation, are you still an upright Mahayana practitioner?What's more, maybe you will become a pig or a dog in the next life!Be sure to learn from Buddhism and make a vow in this way, "in all destinies", in all destinies of the six realms and five destinies, including gods, humans, and asuras, there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have reincarnated and manifested their teachings.The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are not only helping us humans, so we must quickly make a vow to practice the bodhisattva deeds and turn to "accomplish destiny in all destinies", so that we can finally achieve Buddhahood.

When it comes to fate, the roots and seeds of fate will never be lost, just like when you first learn Buddhism, no matter whether it is true or not, you will always become a monk and practice diligently after many lifetimes.This is because in Alaya's hidden consciousness, there is the fateful seed of learning Buddhism. Without the good roots of fate, if you ask him to believe in Buddha, he will not do it even if he dies. It is impossible to embark on this road to becoming a Buddha.Then why do you need to rotate among the six destinies when learning Buddhism?Because of the rotation and diligence in the six realms, one can face all kinds of sufferings, temper the Bodhisattva's attitude of perseverance, develop the wisdom of getting rid of afflictions, or accumulate the extraordinary merits of helping the world and benefiting life, the deeper you turn, the deeper you fall, The greater the achievement of Ford wisdom.But this kind of depravity is the depravity of a bodhisattva, which comes from the compassionate vows of Samantabhadra, and cannot be compared with the depravity of ordinary people who are greedy for the five desires and commit crimes by doing their jobs.Therefore, the so-called "accomplishing fate in all destinies" refers to our arousing the supreme bodhicitta and cultivating the Way in the endless destinies.To learn Buddhism, one must practice until one of the six realms knows how to become a monk and practice pure precepts.To become a monk is not necessarily a monk, monks only speak to the humane monks, and in all interests there are sentient beings who are determined to become monks.There are also dogs who become monks in the dog path. For example, in a classmate’s home, a dog was seriously ill. He prayed for the Great Compassion Mantra Water to cure it. After recovering from the illness, he stopped eating meat. To become a monk is the initial motivation to escape from the suffering of animals.This is "to become a destiny in all destinies, and often leave home to practice the precepts".

Then, since what is important to become a monk is the heart, why do we have to become a monk in the form of a body?This is to avoid the burden of love and desire in a certain process of cultivation, and to concentrate on learning; at the same time, for the sake of the Buddha's Dharma, someone needs to show a formal role as the abbot to pass on.The practice of pure precepts as a monk includes monks, nuns, bodhisattvas, samayas and other secret precepts, and its ultimate core is the "bodhicitta precepts".What we are talking about now is the "Psalmant Worship Vows" can be used as its concrete representation. If you practice the Samantabhadra, you will be able to achieve the state of "no dirt, no breaks, no penetration" without a single dirty thought in your heart. And all mental actions are "no breaks, no leaks".For example, when afflictions arise, it means that there are leaks and regrets.Zi Xia, a disciple of Confucius, said: "Great virtues do not go beyond leisure, but small virtues can come and go?" This is Zixia's convenient way of talking about people and things, and there are still leaks. "Great virtues do not exceed leisure", fundamental ethics and morals should not be deviated beyond the scope, as for some innocuous minor problems, it does not matter to forgive a little, and the standard of ordinary humanity can only be so.In fact, it is not easy to achieve "the great virtue does not exceed leisure".And the state of "no dirt, no breaks, no penetration" is at the level of life cultivation, it is at the level of no gaps, extremely strict and solemn, and a little precepts are naturally in line with it. In this part, there is no mistake that is not in conformity with the law.In terms of this standard, one can only be regarded as truly abiding by the precepts and truly become a monk only if one has cultivated without omissions. If we can stay in the pure moral precepts of the Buddhist system at any time, we can truly experience the kind of mind that is as pure as the bright moon in Hanshan's poem "My heart is like the autumn moon, the blue pool is clear and clean, and nothing is comparable to London. Teach me how to say it" , No breakage, no wear and tear, day and night are always pure and flawless.For example, if you practice Zhunti method now, and observe the word Om on the moon wheel with your mind, you will not lose any moment in two or six hours. In the dense observation, every thought will be dissolved as soon as it comes, and any miscellaneous thoughts will have no room to take advantage of.If the visualization of the word Om on the moon wheel is absent for a while, it is a leak. If it has been missing for a long time, it is only thought of to mention the visualization again, and it has already leaked!Ask yourselves, like practicing the Fa now, how many omissions do you miss in a day?It seems to be leaking alchemy at any time, right?well!Work hard!To be truly "no dirt, no damage, no wear and tear" is the way to become a monk who always follows Buddhism.Then recite this verse wholeheartedly, and then sing the next verse: (Students chant in the same way) The above verse talked about the practice of becoming a monk, but now it talks about the practice of entering the world. "Tianlong Yasha Jiupantu", the heavens are the heavens above the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. It is a powerful ghost that can soar into the air with brave and angry eyes, but it is not a ghost. In addition, Jiupantu is a ghost that eats human energy. The above four plus Gandharva, Asura, Garuda, Kinnara and Mahoraga are collectively known as the Eight Divisions of Heaven and Dragons. You should know these common senses of Buddhism, so I won’t repeat them here.Then when it comes to entering the world, in the three realms and six realms, all kinds of beings must be proficient in the language.This is the very beginning, and what about us? In the human world, the languages ​​of all countries are not well learned, so how can we talk about other languages, let alone "telling the Dharma with all the sounds" in order to promote Buddhism. This is a difficult task, but it is not impossible. As long as everyone can learn and practice the Dharani well, they will be able to understand the language of all sentient beings.For example, in "The History of the Buddha" or "The Biography of the Eminent Monks", several eminent monks from India came to China. They did not understand Chinese characters. In order to translate the scriptures, they just meditated, made a wish, or chanted a mantra. , Immediately able to write Chinese characters, although it is unbelievable, if the practice can reach a considerable amount of realization, it is not difficult to understand the mystery.If you can't do it, it means that you don't have enough practice in faith, mindfulness, concentration, and wishing. "Dharma teaching with all kinds of sounds", of course, also includes teaching in the way of magic, and sometimes in the middle of meditation. The Eight Divisions of Heaven and Dragon, humans and non-humans, etc. must be friends with them, which includes the four things in the practice of the "four methods" of the bodhisattva path - generosity, loving words, colleagues, and beneficial actions.To save sentient beings, one must communicate with sentient beings first, understand their thoughts and emotions through their words, and make all kinds of donations, care and comfort, and even work together to help each other with various conveniences. degree.And not only to speak the Dharma in the voices of all kinds of sentient beings, like I want you to read more English Bibles, and ask people to give courses on the worldly law, all of which are very helpful to the spread of the Dharma.If you plan to spread the Dharma in Europe and America in the future, you must learn English and other foreign languages, and you must also understand other people's Bible culture.It will not work to talk about Buddhism to people in Europe and the United States, just using our set of Buddhist terms.Teacher Bu is prajna bodhi from the very beginning. If you don’t have a deep understanding of their cultural connotations and ideas and make the best use of them, it’s almost vain. The precious experience of the first introduction of Indian Buddhism to my country is enough for you to carefully review and refer to.As for the teaching of the Fa, it is enough to have someone translate it. However, translation is not just about knowing the foreign language. If the speaker’s Chinese translator doesn’t really understand it, wouldn’t this be like blinding the blind? So you must at least learn the language of "human" well, otherwise the rice money for these years is the support of the ten parties, which is hard-won, how will you pay back this debt in the future? "A grain of rice in Buddhism is as big as Mount Sumeru", it is absolutely true, can we not be cautious? Now everyone continues to chant the following gatha, and when you chant, you should follow the "unity of heart and energy" that I have reminded a few times before. If the method is used, the effect will be great. Sing it! (Regarding the method of "integration of mind and qi", it is contained in the appendix of the article "The Ten Directions of the Heart Hearing Cave, Of course Obtaining Yuantong".) (Students chant in the same way) Just now I asked everyone to study hard, why?Because you have not "diligently cultivated the pure paramitas", you are indeed sitting in a meditation hall reciting mantras on the outside, but there is still a long way to go from being sincere and single-minded in your heart.Your mind is not pure, so the sound is not clear enough, the spirit is not clear enough, the fundamental problem is that the initiation of bodhicitta is not very real.So what is bodhichitta?To put it simply, it is the mind of seeking the Tao, and the mind of universal salvation of all sentient beings.As long as there is such a thought, the spirit will come.Bodhicitta includes many things, as does great compassion, as well as the heart of seeking to verify the origin of life in the universe. This heart must be sincere and sincere, and never forget it. Even if it is temporarily forgotten, a little slack is very serious.If you can really keep in mind the Dao at 26 o'clock day and night, then you will be "diligently cultivating the pure paramita". The pure paramita is the method that covers everything to the other shore, as long as it can make everyone reach the pure state.This kind of great bodhicitta, which is to benefit the world, is recited here, which is the pure paramita. The so-called "the first aspiration is the right enlightenment", and it can be done quickly. I observe you, seven to forty-nine days of special practice, the first two days are really diligent, everyone ask yourself, at that time, after a class of practice, is the sound of bells, drums and mantras still there? (Classmates answer: yes) , is there any more? (Students answer: no) .Why is there no such feeling anymore?This should be ashamed!However, you don't even know that there are other inductions, but they are not understood by your realm. "When you first set your mind, you will become righteous and enlightened." As long as you maintain the state of mind at the beginning to practice, you will never be in vain along the way.There is no surplus, all karma is gone, all sins are eliminated, and there is no longer any obstacle. In this way, "all wonderful deeds are accomplished", how difficult is it? ! For example, if you don’t even have a good grasp of the tricks of chanting the Dharma, there are hundreds of thousands of myriads of wonderful actions, which are innumerable. When will they be accomplished? ! -- Is it the year of the donkey?Now practice Zhunti method, pray here repeatedly, put your heart and soul into it.Everyone recite this gatha again, and sing the next gatha, which is still in the study of Chang Sui Buddhism of the Ten Great Vows. (Students chant in the same way)