人間菩提--體現經藏大直道
Gaining Insights into Truth through Walking the Bodhisattva Path
Besides not working hard, my husband also had an affair.
So I was truly very depressed.
I thought to myself:
“I’ve been so dedicated to the business”
“and to looking after the family,”
“Why do misfortunes keep befalling me?”
When our factory went bankrupt,
(I lost all my houses)
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about it.
The central reason why the Buddha came to the world was to leading living beings to attain the same enlightened understanding as a Buddha and have them rediscover their Buddha-nature which is the same as the Buddha’s.
The truth is very simple. The Buddha told us that the mind, the Buddha, and all living beings are in essence of the same quality.
(Living beings’ capacity for insight)
(is in fact the same as the Buddha’s)
and we all have the capability to see the Truth very clearly understand true principles and walk on the right path in life.
(But,) because living beings gave rise to one deluded thought, even though the right path in life is very straight and wide, we instead chose to take the twisted path so we end up losing our direction.
So, the Buddha had to come into the world to awaken people’s “inner eye” to the Truth.
We can no longer see clearly anymore.
So, when the Buddha came to this world, the first thing he set out to do was to open the eyes of living beings so that we can see the truth, and recognize the suffering, empty nature, and impermanence of life and realize that life inherently involves suffering.
So, I often remind everyone that suffering is a truth in life.
If we don’t see the suffering, it’d be the same as not awakening to the truth.
Our world is full of suffering.
If we could awaken to the truths of suffering, emptiness and impermanence,
What would we be attached to and fight over?
We’d realize there’s no need, and our heart will naturally become broad.
Our attachments are the reason that we give rise to greed and desire which cause us to do many wrong things and create a lot of negative karma.
When we open the door to our true mind, then we can truly penetrate the truth.
It is then that we will know what method to use to return to our Buddha-nature.
(and that is to ) understand suffering.
We need to truly see the suffering in the world.
(Only when our eyes are opened like this) can the Buddha begin to elucidate the truth to us so that we can understand clearly that we have become deluded, mundane beings because of the unwholesome habits we’ve acquired.
In a moment of delusion, we gave rise to desire which leads to many deluded, unwholesome habits.
In truth, all of us inherently have within us the pure enlightened nature of a Buddha.
But, delusions have tainted our mind, so that our original enlightened nature is buried under layers of delusions.
Therefore, we will have even more delusions and wrong thinking, leading us to become full of greed, craving, and desire.
Greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt all start to build up.
Having accumulated a lot of delusions, we will do a lot of wrong things thus creating a lot of negative karma.
So, from the Buddha, we come to understand that our original nature is in fact the same as that of the Buddha.
Comprehending this, we can see through our delusions and awaken to the truth that
all beings have the same nature as the Buddha and hence are all equal.
Only when we realize this can we truly rise above all disputes and differences and
eliminate all deluded states of mind, like greed.
When we can do that, we will naturally draw closer to our true nature, the Buddha-nature.
We always have this true enlightened nature.
It is never gone, but is always within us.
It has only been bound up by the ropes of delusion and ignorance.
So, our enlightened nature cannot get free.
Now that we realize this, we will be able to draw closer to our enlightened nature and draw closer to (the inner state of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas)
Only then can we let go of our various delusions and wrong thinking, such as greed.
So only by realizing truths can we eliminate our wrong thinking. Only after doing that
can we enter into the Buddha’s knowledge and have the same knowledge and understanding.
The Buddha understands that living beings’ suffering came from having accrued a lot of delusions, (leading to wrong actions)
(and negative karma). So, he can truly se the suffering there is in the world.
I often say that though we live in Taiwan, our scope of vision should encompass the world.
We should see the suffering there is in the world:
disaster, hunger, poverty……
There is so much suffering (It should wake us up)
(Our eyes should be opened)
Seeing the world with our eyes opened and knowing the suffering there is,
we should deeply realize life’s truths and develop more of the Buddha’s understanding and way of mind. (So, to do that,)
We need to go amongst living beings and walk on the Bodhisattva Path, a path that is very wide and straight.
In truth, it’s not difficult to (enter into the Buddha’s frame of mind)
and walk on the Bodhisattva Path. It’s not hard.
It’s actually very simple because this Bodhisattva Path is very straight and is a very broad and smooth path.
It is really a very safe path to take.
Such is the Bodhisattva Path.
Indeed, the Bodhisattva Path is easy to walk on, but many people cannot do it, and that’s because they haven’t taken the first step.
If we can start walking on the path, what difficulty is there? None whatsoever
If we can see things as they are, we can let go and dedicate ourselves to working for the good of humanity.
It’s just that simple.
So the truths the Buddha wanted to enlighten us to and comprehend for ourselves are as simple as that.
However, because living beings’ minds have become complicated due to our many predilections & habits.
So, the Buddha has to devote a lot of time to guide and educate us gradually.
That was truly very hard work.
(So, we should understand the Buddha’s heart)
When we chant the Buddha’s name, we should bring forth our Buddha-nature, and furthermore, we should go among the people. (to aid those in suffering)
So we should walk the Bodhisattva Path, and do as Bodhisattvas do so that we can truly go amongst people because only by doing so can we truly realize for ourselves.
(the truths that the Buddha tried to show us)
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