8.11 The Thought Is the Mirror of the Spirit
“Why does the thought represent the spirit? All human beings and the Four Species are not living without thoughts. Even in the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds and all over the universe, there will not be life without thoughts. However, the thought contains in itself the facts of joy and sadness, happiness and misery, gain and loss. It is impossible to leave the thought in the human life.”–TV
The living beings, the Four Species, are ceaselessly living with thought. The one who is practicing dharma can only see its lively mobility by full attention. Nobody can master it and everyone is guided by the thought in the birth and death.
Because of the pollution of human beings, the thought becomes noble or mean, generous or stingy, good or evil. Therefore, it represents different levels of practices such as ordinary man, taught men, and fairies or deities. The thought gives rise to joy and sadness, happiness and misery in all the three thousand great thousand worlds. The Buddhist disciple can see clearly the mobility of thought in ten directions and through countless strata in order to be enlightened. It also easily makes the disciple erroneously fall into attachment, believing he himself is someone. As a consequence, in many cases, because of erroneous proclamation, he cannot meet the true one who knows how to instruct. So he keeps on living with the false thought and becomes clinging at the end of his practice.
“With regard to the stream of thoughts, thought is usually thought, and spirit is spirit. It is impossible to consider the thought to be the spirit. When the stream of thoughts develops systematically and clearly, it is called wisdom; when obscure and vague, it is termed idiocy. For that reason, there are different levels and classes, each using its kind of thought. People, either moral or immoral, are all using their thought, complying with their thought in the perception. It is difficult to take the thought of one class to use in another, except that everyone by his will and instinct have formed and trained himself for some time to make the thought healthy and appropriate for use. Otherwise, any effort to help in whichever condition will gain less success.
Why? Because each thought has its separate nature, only the persons with their fixed thought can resolve it by themselves.”–TV
The thought produces the karma consciousness; being a living creature, nobody can escape from it. It is the source of stupidity, which makes human beings, and the four species attached and clung. If the disciple practices by virtue, he is attached. If he practices by wisdom to suppress the attachment, he is still attached. These two ways of practice cannot escape from the karma consciousness. Practicing the sitting meditation to emerge from it and to be in meditation, that can’t help escape from the karma consciousness either. Some disciples erroneously fall in the clinging and do not know how to abolish the ignorance. In reality, Long Hoa Chief Monk has given the teaching. All the venerables, arahants, fairies, and deities present in Long Hoa congregation can see and realize that the practice of the dharma requires the relief of the karma. But while practicing, everyone finds it very difficult to escape from the thought’s transformation.
There are thus high and low degrees of practicing for enlightenment; the attestation and non-attestation for the disciples around him. On account of such importance and utility of the thought, Long Hoa Chief Monk, Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha has recommended the parallelism of virtue and wisdom. The thought with the minds consciousness generates virtue. This is the concenteated dharma. The thought at the rank of spiritual consciousness produces wisdom, which is dharma body. Thanks to his clear explanation, most of the disciples can understand while passing from the Mahayna to the unique career vehicle, but they are unable to carry it out. Because the thought contains a group forming the character, they can at most correct their character in the Mahayana, but most of them cannot comprehend the thought to observe in detail the dragon circuit of the dharma body belonging to the unique career vehicle. So he has to stop for their sake. A whole Buddha life with one more Buddha life in this century, that is too long. Most of the holy disciples can understand the Mahayana, but they are far away from the Buddhayana, so how can people understand thoroughly just through judgment by reason? Therefore, it is difficult to impute the clinging thought of one class to another.
Hence, in the presence of the Buddhas, it is impossible to force anyone without the will, even the high-class holy disciples, despite the Buddhas’ great compassion, great will and great courage.
“Buddhism does not accept the spirit. It only accepts the thoughts, even the wrong, foolish and chaotic thoughts called delusion. Because of the completely erroneous, chaotic and uncontrollable thoughts, people are continually plunging into delusion, serving the delusion, hoping it to be true, never reaching the truth and they are coming to the falseness. Since the thought is false the things must be changed according to the affirmation of the thoughts, becoming the temporary life of the Four Species in general and of the human beings in particular. Every realm of life is changing after the transmigration of birth and death. For that reason, the Buddha said that all dharma are deluding and fictitious. Life is a dream. You have to practice for liberation from the dream and hope for the attestation in the true supreme.”–TV
The clairvoyant Buddhas clearly see all living creatures’ false thoughts. Because living creatures are following the false hope, their mind lives with the false hope. How wonderful it is, the supreme Amitabha has promulgated the thoughts of going to be born in the pure land, helping living creatures to go from the obscure and false thoughts to the clear thoughts of the pure land. It is not easy either to follow precisely the Buddha way to the pure land. You should not wrongly believe that the practice of the pure land is the easiest way. Because of that false conception; you will neglect your thought and not fully understand the birth and death belt of the thought.
In his way of practice for liberation, the disciple has to realize that thoughts are extremely numerous with ceaseless manifestation. It is as numerous as the sand of the Ganga River, each grain of sand is an initial of thought, and each thought is a different seed. If the disciple clings to a conception he must receive a grain of sand to enjoy it. For the great bodhisattva, and bodhisattva who knows how to make use of every seed as the basic dharma sphere in their practice, it becomes the very useful seed of the Tathagata. To recognize it belongs to the great ego seeing the Tathagata to get rid of the wrong and guide to the supreme enlightenment. Therefore, the great bodhisattvas are very prudent in vowing to serve the boundless Tathagata, vowing to learn the boundless Buddha dharma. For the disciple who makes the vow as a matter of form, that is another thing, because this sentence is so ordinary!
Being erroneous in their thoughts and producing delusion and false hope, living creatures have to live temporarily in the deluding dharma and transform life to a dream. Therefore, the Buddhas have developed the way of liberation from the birth and death. Why did the disciples not wish for liberation? In whichever religion, living creatures have to be liberated from birth and death; though coming to the heaven world, they would return after their death to the secular world and to be never in satisfaction and peace.
“The false ego itself is the spiritual representative of living creatures who have blindly followed the false imagination, leaving the true enlightenment and not yet returning to the eight elements. The eight elements spirit is thus constant and permanent. The recognition would make living creatures achieve perfectly their Buddha way. Therefore, the Buddha has encouraged the bodhsattvas to deeply penetrate into the dharma world and practice for the prajna in order to be able to receive completely the prajna mind and enjoy paradise in peace. They should eliminate all false thoughts in order to master their own body and life, all dharma, and thoroughly understanding the enlightenment.”–TV
The supreme enlightened like him has thoroughly guided the bodhisattvas. Therefore, the latter have employed suitable language to preach to disciples, guiding living creatures according to each individual circumstance. The bodhisattva has relied on the thoughts to understand thoroughly numberless falsely imaginary thoughts of living creatures lost in the birth and death cycle. This is in order to attain the prajna mind, to get out of the false thoughts belt, to be master of their own body and all dharma, in order to attain the true enlightenment. He can then continue to conduct the vow and realize the vow for deep penetration until attaining the constant and permanent spirit of eight elements before becoming Buddha.
How difficult it is, but many of those in the Buddha sphere have been wrongly attached and believed themselves to be Buddhas, just as He has countlessly witnessed in this Dharma Ending Age.
“It is insufficient for the bodhisattva to use only conduct in his way of practice for liberation. The conduct must be accompanied by the will and vow. Then he is called the bodhisattva with complete conduct-vow. Otherwise, conduct alone, when conservative and stabilized, will only become a wood statue and dried bud and the bodhisattva is living in empty and distant self-feelings’ thought. The bodhisattva with will and vow is the one who already has an ascendant conduct. Without the will and vow the bodhisattva would be only posing as bodhisattva with his consolidated thoughts, never exploiting the thoughts in himself to illuminate all over and be aware of himself.”–TV
The Bodhisattva having a consolidated conduct is usually loved by all. Therefore, in the presence of an impure or difficult dharma with embarrassment, he is often discouraged. For that reason, he has to make a great will and vow in order to advance farther in his way of complete liberation. It is by this way that he could fully conduct the vow and understand numberless living creatures, getting perfectly clear the purity and impurity and vowing to offer it to the Tathagata. The bodhisattva is then free of pollution; he is fearlessly satisfied, getting the great compassion and complete liberation through wisdom. The satisfied great bodhisattva is no longer polluted at all in his work of penetrating into the dharma world, only wishesing to acquire the knowledge of all, even without the attainment of the second vehicle. The bodhisattva still practices, and recognizes pact, in order to gets the dharani and together with the Tathagata enters the samadhi right concentration, waiting for the occasion to be ordained by the Buddhas to become Buddha.
When entering the dharma sphere, the bodhisattva keeps up high mindedness in spite of curses because it is the indispensable Buddha Nature he ought to obtain.
“On account of the universal contradictory mind, the ego undertakes every aspect of thought as clinging as living creatures’ limit. The representation must be lively tolerant, ranging from the purity to the impurity, which manifest themselves without omission. Hence, the thought is the master of three thousand worlds and the Buddhas’ Three Dharma Elements.
The three dharma elements of the Buddhas unanimously rely upon the basic vows of saving living creatures entirely in order to attain enlightenment. The Buddhas, therefore, make their apparition so those living creatures could see them. This apparition likened to an abode where the Buddhas embodied themselves whereas the bodhisattvas, returning to the world are relying on their bodies and undertaking the special regulation of manifestations. The manifested Buddhas have the privilege to attest the universe. The manifested bodhisattvas save human beings, and attest the degree of acquisition for living creatures. The Buddhas, therefore, have attained the full truth, the sound good and perfect enlightenment.”–TV
The thought is the representation of the spirit; it is, therefore, omnipotent, from the purity to the impurity, ruling the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, even the Three Dharma-Solution of the Buddha. The Buddhas are always great in benevolence and compassion. They have constantly the basic vow to save all living creatures to enlightenment as they have done. As a result, they would rely primarily on the living creatures to open up the dharma and see and know the root of every dharma so as to help the living creatures become the Buddha.
As for the bodhisattvas, when returning to this secular world, they rely on the Tathagata Buddha’s constitution. They are assuming the responsibility of the living creatures’ salvation, following the Buddha’s principle guidelines. They are neither strictly following the sutra nor getting rid of it. The Buddhas control all their thoughts, so they have all powers and the Buddha’s authorities, which are countless and boundless, overcoming all difficulties, satisfactorily seeking for ways of offering living creatures bliss and peace. As the Chief Monk of Long Hoa, Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha provides a well arranged international world where the two oppositions can share their co-existence in peace, helping them avoid a nuclear war menacing mankind, which helps them live in peace for good. He has arranged and set up the world in a wonderful order, a new order of the world.
It takes thousands of thoughts in conjunction with words to describe the current condition between Vietnam today and the People’s Republic of China, which has been well set up and reformed. It is a crossroad of the East and the West. You should not think it is yourself who produce and create it, because when leading the living creatures, the Buddhas have used the Samadhi concentration to attain unthinkable clairvoyance. There are thousands of truths in these confidential words. For those who have known the samadhi, only a slight action can reveal the real truth.
Seeing the world, He has promulgated the Proclamation of Attestation of the Universe. As for the dharma, he has restored the order in the practice, following the Main Ideas of the Three Dharma-Solutions of the Buddhas. The bodhisattvas, arahants ordained by the signed and sealed mandate of the Buddhas, have saved living creatures according to the Buddhas’ constitution. The bodhisattvas can do nothing outside the nation of the Buddhas. Due to their conduct-vow, they can progress gradually to the enlightened Buddha. There must be a parallelism of the dharma and the life in order to become fully an enlightened Buddha. Know yourself before you proclaim yourselves to be the Buddha.
“The thought is not fallible and neither is the store consciousness? Not being mistaken, one can obviously perceive the Tathagata, meet the Tathagata and they become the one. So, their practicing is not sufficient to complete and to appear under the form of the Nirvana of Eight Elements. Why? Because the eight elements have to experience the Maha Pari Nirvana as the eight elements are completely enlightened. What are the Eight Elements? The first six are:
1- Earth 2- Water
3- Wind 4- Fire
5- Emptiness 6- Consciousness- Store
Among these 6 elements the universe consists of four elements: earth, water, wind, and fire. Besides the earth, water, wind and fire, there are two additional elements in the four species: emptiness and conscious store, therefore when returning to life, the four species are the masters of the universe. The inheritance of the four species confines itself in the direct retribution of their previous existence and the receiving results of their deeds in harmony with their thoughts. Therefore, men and devas have made use of the thought for their progress, and those of the second vehicle have to employ their fixed thought to create the heaven to succeed in their principal foundations. Besides that, there are only three spheres such as the desire sphere, the form sphere, the formless sphere and the spheres of devas and fairies, which apply to the empty consciousness- store and are called the three thousand great thousand worlds. Its quality and material are formed according to the class and series.
The two remaining elements are transcendent and called the Tathagata element and enlightened form element. Therefore, as long as you are not mistaken, you can only meet the Tathagata or perceive the Tathagata, but not yet attain the Tathagata. You have to understand the infinite emptiness and know well the great enlightened form of the Buddha.”–TV
If the thought is not fallible the bodhisattva can enter the constitution’s Tathagata, which is the seen Tathagata, and thoroughly understand that the Tathagata is perfect and generous. The bodhisattvas in the presence of the Tathagata can recognize the seen Tathagata everywhere in the four stages. The mahasattva has to enter deeply the eight elements of the Tathagata before being fully enlightened.
Only the Blessed One, Long Hoa Chief Monk Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha can achieve the eight elements to enter the infinite emptiness and fully understand the enlightened form of the Buddha.
The Four Species guided by their thoughts with the clairvoyance; they will get the blessed rewards of devas and men; with the obscure thought they will receive the result of their deeds to become asura, hunger devil, animals and hells. If they know how to use their thought to master their body and mind, master the three thousand, they can receive the direct retribution of their previous existence. The bodhisattvas have fully known how to use their thought. For the inferiors, whatever practices might be, they will still be controlled by their thoughts. For that reason, the Buddhas have recommended the disciples to pray for the Buddha to have bright thoughts, and be free from receiving the results of their evil deeds, but living creatures without a determined mind are still lost in the birth and death cycle.
The bodhisattvas meeting the Tathagata should take the Tathagata Element as a refuge to practice until the perfect enlightened form element and wait to be ordained by the Buddhas to become Buddha.
From the second vehicle to those who practice for blessed rewards of men and devas, all are using their thought as a fixed thought. In the fixed thought, there are all kinds of subjects, which receive their case as a result of their deeds. For example, the fairies and deities are dwelling in a pure plane, which becomes a formed nirvana and consider the emptiness as fullness. For those who do not practice for the direct retribution of their previous existence, they will fall into the Nirupadhisesa - Nirvana, presently without seeing the Buddha, or getting the enlightened form element.
Only the Buddhas with adequate eight elements could perfectly instruct the bodhisattvas, maha bodhisattvas to recognize the eight elements. For the arahants, only when they are no longer dwelling in the Buddha sphere they could see the Tathagata and deeply penetrate into the enlightened form element. It is extremely difficult, from the Triple Canon to the wonderful application in the Buddhas' words and acts. All the teachings make the four orders of disciples enter illumination, but their seed nature and seed karma of all kinds produce a hinder ignorance making the cognition very difficult impeding the four orders.
Because the living creatures are indifferent, not firmly determined and having the same inclination as the boddhisattva, they are thus not yet maturing the fruit of their practice. They have to raise themselves in order to resolve their body, their thoughts, taking the ascendance as a bright thought, perspicaciously discovering the consciousness- store and returning to the suchness. By such a manner of practice and realization there cannot be hindrance and impediment from the karma.
You can realize that: The Tagathata itself does not preach the dharma nor do living creatures themselves hear it. The Blessed One has said: You are right, you yourself do not hear the dharma nor do i myself preach it. How wonderful and how miraculous it is! That is truly the Supreme Blessed One. Otherwise, if the Tathagata has preached the dharma and the Venerable Subhiti has listened to it, all would be false dharma. Receiving imaginary thoughts, how can you get the enlightened form to penetrate into the emptiness and get over it to come to enlightenment?
8.12 The Supreme Middle Way
“I am the most stupid who have falsely hoped to carry the Buddha path to an erroneous way and affirmed it to be the practice for liberation. By curiosity, i have chosen only one between the noble and the rough, the good and the evil. I have believed that the noble is the Buddha path, and the good would create enlightenment, preferably practicing only in one aspect and giving up the other. Fortunately, if i have concentrated only on the good faculty, i could have wrongly practiced for the blessed reward. By admitting elegant gesture, perhaps, at the final outcome, i could have fallen into the fairy path.”–TV
He has examined himself to remind of the erroneous habits of the disciples, practicing for liberation through wisdom, who have the conception that the noble is the goodness and everybody admires His sweet, gracious deeds. Those who have chosen the noble have to give up the rough that is the unwanted, the bad one. There are also some who have the conception to choose the good and hate the evil, believing the noble and the good to be the Buddha path. All of these above conceptions do not represent perfectly the supreme middle way because of focusing on only one aspect according to a fixed intention. They, therefore, could not lead to the door of liberation and fell into the fairy path.
“Wonderfully, today, i have just realized the supreme middle way, which is precisely the unique way that accepts both the good and the evil, the fullness and the emptiness, to get the absolute liberation from the duality, to regularize without errors. Actually, the mind and will in the Buddha Path are perfect and clear, it is relative in the suffering and absolute in the liberation vigorously, neither separation nor discrimination.”–TV
The supreme middle way is very necessary for the faithful disciple to solve all dharma the most judicious, rational and adequate way in the present life, and to understand the unification of the dharma and the life. It is the absolute way leading to the perfect attainment of the fruit of the achievement.
Dissolving all dharma in one way would be caught in the relativity, and not yet cleared.
The following story shows clearly a memorable middle way for dissolution of all dharma.
One day, Long Hoa Chief Monk wanted to have a picture of “Lord Supreme Maitreya is Emptying His Haversack”. He ordered me to take care of it. Returning to Saigon, I met an artist and explained about the intention and significance of the picture. The artist drew it with a great labor and finished his work after one month. I brought the picture back to Nha Trang, feeling happy for completing the task and having offered a merit that might please Him, which was mainly to express my enthusiasm for the dharma. When the picture was hung, everybody paid nice compliments. About 30 minutes later, the disciple Phap Dung also presented another picture of “Lord Supreme Maitreya is Emptying His Haversack”. I thus knew that He had already ordered me to take care of the picture and at the same time, He also ordered Phap Dung to do the same.
When the second picture was hung, He said that the picture from Phap Dung was better, and now what were we going to do with yours, Phap Kha?
I then examined myself to see whether I still felt sadness, anger or grief in me. Fortunately, these species natures did not present in me at all, and I said: “Phap Dung's picture is the better one, we should keep it, and mine should be burnt." He kept silent. About 15 minutes later, He asked me again. I naturally replied: We should burn mine because having two pictures of the same character at the Central would produce discordance in the future. One hour later, returning from His private room, He asked me once again.
I continued to answer with a clear conscience without any anger. He then ordered to burn the picture. I was sincerely delighted because there remained now the only picture for a model.
The picture was burnt. He then said: “I attest you to enter the supreme middle way.”
“According to the scripture of the supreme middle way sealed-indicated by the blessed one in the lucky kalpa, the dogma of guide for the believers must be carried out with two sides, relative in the concordance, but absolute in the acquirement to be enlightened. It is measurelessly far from the millions of previous centuries and very close to this twentieth century, but I myself have mistaken. How could the disciples avoid what I have confusedly done.”–TV
This example implies that we have to examine impartially to be in concordance with the two sides, that is the relativity. Afterwards, choosing the better and giving up the other, that is the absolute. That is the most rational and judicious way. That manner of management is called the supreme middle way, the way to the liberation through wisdom.
Not dissolving it adequately and correctly, we are still mistaken. Before attaining enlightenment, nobody could be free from mistake, but for those who have shown the good will to practice for the dharma, they are joyfully detached, not acting for the sake of their own individuality and personality, and by that way they could be free from mistake. There are rarely those who are sincerely practicing for enlightenment, so they could not avoid mistakes in the middle way path for many lives, many lifetimes.
“Wonderfully! Nobly! The Supreme Blessed One, He has taught the supreme middle way path, one should not give up or take all the relative mistakes, thus involve with the conflict, fall into the deficiency or sufficiency together with many sufferings. They are only in discordance because of their differentiation. They are greedy because of their fullness and emptiness, they are doubtful because of their jealousy, that is the black and the white, the white and the black, the two ways of birth and death.”–TV
The Sakyamuni Buddha has always taught us the supreme middle way. The relativity is the wrong dharma. We have to be in concordance with the relativity to attain the absolute. That is the way of enlightenment. Leaving or taking, fullness or emptiness have and have not and deficiency or sufficiency all is the relativity, which give rise to discordance, greed, and doubt. That is the way of birth and death.
In the daily life, the concentration on realization of the supreme middle way would bring about perfect results.
“We have to patiently practice step by step, from one stage to another, being joyful and detached in presence of Impurity. Until one day, we could understand by ourselves the words of the Blessed One: kindness, compassion, and joyful detachment are our goal, my heart is generating itself the philanthropy to be assimilated with human beings.”–TV
Fulfilling it, that is the supreme middle way. The disciples have to recognize and dissolve judiciously dharma by dharma. If he preferred the purity, and rejected the impurity, not being joyful and detached, would create the obstruction, how he could have kindness and compassion. To have the kindness and compassion to help living creatures, one first must give up bad characters and habits. Compassion means to be rounded, capable of rolling everywhere. When a man was completely clean and free from living creatures’ nature, he could then help living creatures effectively. That is the kindness and compassion. Those who have kindness and compassion would have the sense of joyful detachment. The philanthropy would spontaneously originate from it.
Still living with attachment and obstruction, we could not have the kindness, compassion and joyful detachment. if we have not yet realized perfectly and clearly towards the purity and impurity, we still do not understand thoroughly kindness, compassion, and joyful detachment either.
“It is by well knowing your own nature that you could receive the emptiness universe of Tathagata eye store, being in accord with everything in everywhere to attain full enlightenment.”–TV
There are plenty of good and evil in the life, and the forms as well as formless are everywhere, we have to be in accord with them to understand in full detail the perfect truth in both sides of favor or unfavor and control the stupidity. Not attached to the dharma, but understanding it thoroughly, that is the penetration into the emptiness, into the Tathagata store to see and know all that is the Tathagata eye store, that belongs formless but we could still see it.
“The Buddhist Master has pondered at this point. He has then re-adjusted his robe, faced towards the eastbound and solemnly bowed down seven times. He has silently spoke with respect: Blessed Sir, the Supreme, you are precisely the Perfect Supreme Reverend for all, equal to thousands and millions of conducts, with countless and boundless merits of Buddha transferred to the right enlightenment. Therefore, under the vision of the Buddha, all are equal to Tathagata, without nature of discrimination, without impregnation of species, without attachment of right enlightenment, without base of clinging manner. I am now examining, on behalf of your honest order, preaching the dharma to save this generation and future generations to the posterity who would lean on the supreme middle way to practice and attain the entire truth of enlightenment.”–TV
After attaining the Buddhahood, Long Hoa Chief Monk incarnating Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha has transferred the merits to the Buddhas. He has understood thoroughly that measureless abilities and merits are necessary to attain full enlightenment. Under the vision of the Buddhas, all are supreme Tathagata. There are no more an atom of distinction and objection, no more pollution from any species, no more attachment to enlightenment and leaving right concentration, no more attachment to the base, and yet the supreme middle way is appearing everywhere.
“For the Buddhist disciple, there is an extreme difficulty from the acquisition to the complete attainment of the truth. He has to practice the prajna in order to get the prajna mind. The prajna mind is originally the constitution of Tathagata universally solemn and unique that does not mistake the Buddha form. Otherwise, acquiring the truth and being self-conceited, admitting the truth as a base of attachment, he would fall into the mistake of Buddha Form. The Buddha does not have a form. the true enlightenment is the Buddha form itself.”–TV
Supreme Sutra of Special Principle
The Buddha path has the great responsibility of guiding mankind and the Four Species, teaching mankind and the Four Species to realize the chain of birth and death, and gradually practicing in order to escape out of the universe and master all dharma. Therefore, the “Heart Sutra of the Transcendental Wisdom” is said to be the sutra that helps the disciples to practice as follow:
8.13 Scripture of the Heart Sutra of the Transcendental Wisdom Sealed and Indicated
“Seeing the self-satisfied bodhisattva is of the dharma sphere of the self-satisfied bodhisattva, yet to be the bodhisattva. If you consider yourself to be bodhisattva, you have to penetrate deeply in the perfect prajna for some time. Seeing clear that the five aggregates was empty, only recognizing all dharma and the dharma sphere of sufferings, you have to dissolve all sufferings.
Sariputra! From the Form, you should not reject the emptiness and from the emptiness, you should not reject the form. Because the form is recognized; therefore, it is empty, clearly recognize all are the form. All the feeling, thought, action and consciousness are recognition.
Sariputra! The recognized dharma is formless, but of enlightenment form. In the enlightenment form, there is no produce, no extermination, no defilement, no purity, no increase, and no decrease. Therefore, it is like in the air. Entering the form, feeling, thought, action and consciousness to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, entering the form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma: entering the eye, which is the limit, impatiently, entering the consciousness, that is also its limit. Enter the ignorance to demolish it, aiming to clear the ignorance, patiently, entering old age or death, nevertheless not yet knowing old age or death, but still understanding them. Enter the four noble truths, the suffering, the cause of the suffering, the extinction of the suffering, the path. Enter the knowledge aimed to comprehend it. Enter the attainment should not be clung to it. Entirely all must not be fixed and attached. The bodhisattvas have to comply with the prajna paramita, then their mind should not be hindered and nothing is terrorized (the mind should not hinder; if it has hindrance, then it could have the consolidation and is terrorized by all dharma). They do not attach the concept of Nirvana and kinds of the delusive Nirvana until completely accurate, seen and attested enlightenment, because dharma dhatu only is Nirvana. All Buddhas of the past, present and future have obtained complete wisdom and perfect enlightenment by relying on prajna paramita.
The intimate followers who are practicing the perfect prajna, when seen and attested the incantations of the great mantra, reaching the great brightness of mantra, entering the supreme mantra recognized them as equal, they are incantations, aiming to abolish all kinds of sufferings. these are sincere words, not deceiving.
Graciously! Graciously! Prajna paramita sutra is fortunately the old known handbook, guiding clearly and exactly all diligent disciples to attain enlightenment.
Until now I have openly shown what is clearly seen as clearly and exactly equal and called supreme rank. All disciples have to base on the perfect prajna paramita to be perfect.”–TV
Seeing a dharma limit, the disciple of high level of knowledge soon recognized the origin of that dharma limit. He has to speak, utilizing in such a fearless manner in order to understand it thoroughly and clearly that is to see the self-satisfaction. But the self-satisfaction is dharma of self-satisfaction, and the dharma of self-satisfaction is not yet bodhisattva.
To become bodhisattva according to the right way of the Buddhas, you have to penetrate deeply yourself thousands and thousands of times in the dharma sphere in order to offer to the Tathagata until clearness and exactly be attested self-satisfied. Every act in the dharma sphere is then judicious to know well the dharma body without attachment, clinging and obstruction to the dharma sphere. You would understand well the salvation of yourself and of others. You would then be clean in your thought to see the five aggregates: form, feeling, thought, action, and consciousness, which are all emptiness.
* The AGGREGATE FORM: Meaning all visible materials as the body.
* The AGGREGATE FEELING: Meaning the effect of feeling the things, the generation of sentiment from the scene.
* The AGGREGATE THOUGHT: Meaning the effect of imagining the things, the generation of the mind from the scene.
* The AGGREGATE ACTION: The effect of all such as the honesty and the evil, the good and the bad, the generation of the mind from the scene.
* The AGGREGATE CONSCIOUSNESS: Knowing how to distinguish the things, the generation of sentiments from the scene.
These five aggregates are only the two dharma of body and mind, which are usually permanent, but living creatures have to undergo sufferings, emptiness and impermanence because of their perversion. It is like a bubble of water, which is formed by the wind and then disappeares, insubstantial. It is the same for the joy and the sorrow, the happiness and the sufferings, the gain and the loss and have and have nots of living creatures. All of them are chimerical and immaterial, lying in the deep chasm of the dharma sphere. The generation of sentiments comes from the scenic. Once penetrating deeply in the dharma sphere, understanding thoroughly the five aggregates are empty, you could recognize that the form, the feeling, the thought the action and the consciousness are generated from a combination and became countless dharma and making living creatures undergo suffering. Knowing well the time when they are usually manifesting would help to relieve sufferings from the mind and reach to the end of suffering to dissolve all disasters.
Sariputra! In the emptiness, the form resulted from the simultaneously combined and assimilated. In the form, which has its longevity, the long or short reunion and the return to the emptiness, all dharma have naturally continued their combination from emptiness to fullness and from fullness to emptiness.
Therefore, we should not be attached to the form and reject the emptiness, and from the emptiness, we should not reject the form.
Because being generated from a combination, the form is originally the emptiness and the emptiness is originally the form. We should know how to dissolve correctly and judiciously with regard to sentiment and reason that is the clearness. That is the equality dharma itself, which is recognized the supreme equality and is no longer to attached to emptiness. The supreme equality dharma could naturally transform the universe and mankind, which are combined, from the emptiness to the fullness. It is the same for the feeling - thought - action - consciousness. Dissolving clearly the dharma sphere is precisely the formless, which is the enlightened form. In the enlightened form, all dharma are neither generated nor destroyed, needlessly using the limited eyes to see and yet without form you could still see, there are neither impurity nor purity, neither more nor less. Penetrating into the dharma spheres that are where you get your knowledge, don't be discouraged. Although having the sense of all dharma that is only the dharma sphere of consciousness, and still unable to solve the birth and death.
Penetrating into the ignorance to know clearly the ignorance and you would be free from ignorance. Penetrating deeply into the ignorance, like the formless in the dharma of impurity in order to fully comprehend the ignorance and clean off ignorance. You should have the solid will to know how to live in the golden years and the death; however, not yet getting old or dying, but still knowing well about them. With knowledge, you have to penetrate deeply into all dharma, going from the knowing to the understanding and fully comprehend, not to consider yourself too high. But you have to penetrate more and more deeply in the dharma sphere, and yet not to be attached to your acquisition after attaining the dharma. Don't be attached to all dharma spheres. Don't be fearful, when you have to solve a difficult dharma sphere, you should try many different means to solve it perfectly in order to overcome the obstacle. If you are timid and fearful, you will be caught in the fright and attached solidly to it. You will be terrorized by the even more difficult dharma, and unable to overcome and get out of the dharma sphere.
You should dissolve the dharma sphere completely, don't be clinging, thinking and falsely hoping, becoming perverse and believing your own knowledge to be the finality of nirvana. Comprehending fully the origin of the dharma sphere, the eternity is the Nirvana.
The Buddhas’ Three Dharma Elements of Ten Directions have practiced the perfect prajna paramita by this way without error and they could understand thoroughly the right knowledge, acquiring the supreme true enlightenment. Disciples realizing the perfect prajna in such a way are, at all times, able to communicate with the Buddha power and attain the fruit of the intimate followers with the Buddhas.
There are countless difficulties, 100 disciples who have acquired the truth, but there is only one who acquiring the unique truth could realize successfully the perfect truth, called the wonderful Buddhahood. Usually, all of these 100 disciples are in a hurry to proclaim that they are the Buddha, called the false claim of the Buddha form, easily to be mistaken.
After acquiring the truth, if you have continued to practice in order to produce abundant abilities and merits, every one of your thoughts, speech, breaths and small gestures are generating wonderful dharma called the great mantra. That is the level of Mahayana, able to dissolve ignorance, when reaching the great brightness of mantra that is the level of the unique career vehicle you would fully comprehend the Ignorance, and when reaching the Supreme Mantra that is the Supreme Vehicle, unceasingly aiming to eliminate all sufferings. This wonderful voice is ultimately excellent in the salvation of living creatures; it is unthinkable and very sincere.
Excellently! The Maha Prajna Paramita Sutra is a great opportunity, acting as a judicious magnetic needle, absolutely necessary for all disciples to attain full enlightenment. The enlightened one has to lean on all dharma to solve perfectly countless dharma in order to attain fully the Buddha hood.
HIGH VIRTUOUS: Here is what I heard Long Hoa Chief Monk teaching at the Central Highness Assembly at number 6, Huynh Thuc Khang street, Nha Trang: The monk with sufficient abilities could see directly all dharma in four stages. By his joyful and detached great merit, in the presence of difficult situations, with the ascendant will that he could dissolve the attachment, based on his own nature to save himself and others. With his generous character called high virtuous.
THE MOST VENERABLE: That is the disciple who could harmonize from the reason to the mind, never separated from his true nature, neither self consciousness nor self possessed. He knows how to lean on the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas to guide all faithful believers to the enlightenment. If there is a disciple who practices for the complete enlightenment, the most venerable should know to make use of the form and formless skillfully and perfectly, aiming to guide the faithful believer to the complete truth. The most venerable must be the one who would be able to help the high virtuous to get more and more abilities and merits.
The degrees of attainment in the Mahayana are awareness, great awareness and ultimate awareness, which is the highest. Those who acquired this truth are usually the founders with the capability of seeing directly the manifesting karma of living creatures, guiding living creatures to help them in an eternity of sincere sentiment, and making them understand thoroughly the truth and be enlightened.
8.14 The Four Forms of Liberation: Opening- Realizing - Enlightening - Entering
“At that time, I have entered the right concentration to observe the disciples who received unequally the precious dharma. Therefore, their acquisitions are divided into different levels, often in regression.
I am now promulgating the opening teaching on the entering of the enlightenment for the four orders' deficiency, so that the four orders, according to their abilities and conduct vow, may try to practice for the liberation through wisdom.
What is the opening- realizing on entering enlightenment through the four forms of liberation?
- the ordinary men receiving the precious dharma without carrying out their conduct vow, enter the illumination of liberation as ordinary men, not being liberated as fairies-deities.
- the fairies-deities receiving the precious dharma without carrying out their conduct-vow of resolution, even though entering the illumination, are liberated as fairies-deities not as arahants.
- The arahants receiving the precious dharma and entering the illumination are attested to be liberated as arahants, not bodhisattvas.
- The bodhisattvas, receiving the precious dharma to enter the illumination are then attested to be bodhisattvas, but not yet completely liberated, so they cannot be in the rank of the Buddhas.”–TV
One day at Long Hoa Congregation, I have heard Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha teaching as follows: The ordinary men, the fairies-deities and the arahants who have heard the teaching of the enlightened. Even though having entered the illumination are presently reaching the purification, but not deeply entering the purified ocean of bodhisattvas. Each grade of purification never has the same degree with each other; it depends on the superficial and profound penetration into the dharma.
What is the Great Purified Ocean of Bodhisattvas?
The bodhisattvas are illuminated through the reception of the dharma sphere of living creatures. The mahasattvas understand thoroughly all the dharma spheres of living creatures, they get in and out of the dharma sphere for deep penetration, live together with every kind of men from the favorable and unfavorable, form and formless, to the purity and impurity to acquiring the great purification. Therefore, they are named ‘Bodhisattvas of The Purified Ocean’.
He has continued: The bodhisattvas on hearing the teaching of illumination get the insight of liberation of every dharma in every degree. The bodhisattvas have also to penetrate deeply into the dharma sphere in order to understand gradually the dharma sphere. At some stage, the bodhisattvas have to lean on the tathagata dharma to practice diligently the prajna in order to primarily communicated, understand, and symphatize with the tathagata, offering to the tathagata to achieve the mahasattva in entering the tagathata ocean. Maha bodhisattvas have also to practice for the dissolution and manipulation of the dharma sphere saving living beings in an adequate manner, not being caught with any dharma sphere in order to be re-born just one life to wait for the incarnation of the Buddha.
For that reason, the maha bodhisattvas are dwelling in the samadhi at the rank of great bodhisattva, but unable to become Buddha perfectly. They have also to make a great vow to offer all their body, mind, organs... to offer the Tathagata wishing to achieve the Tathagata eye-store in order to be clairvoyant and free from stupidity. The great bodhisattvas use useful esoteric words helping living creatures, distributing all over their great compassion in order to achieve the Buddha form. Those are truly the bodhisattvas who are realizing adequately the tagathata and waiting for attaining the Buddhahood.
If the bodhisattvas are pleasantly clinging to the illumination, not continuing to produce merits to offer to the tathagata not yet exchanging the material, fame and love which are the surrounding dharma sphere, he could not come to the mahasattva in order to get out of the birth and death cycle. Not knowing how to exchange their body, mind and organs, even if illuminated by thousands of samadhi supernatural powers, the bodhisattvas cannot achieve the mahasattva and cannot attain the goal of being ordained by the Buddhas. That is the most effective way of practicing and cultivating.
There are several degrees of illumination, which represent the seed and the fruit. Therefore, when the Buddhas taught the bodhisattvas; arahants, fairies and deities, living creatures are illuminated differently according to their abilities and merits. They receive the precious dharma equally but unequally. According to his right or wrong thought, every disciple believes himself to be impregnated with the Buddha's teaching, but in reality, the impregnation depends on the understanding of each disciple.
The truth is one and the Buddha’s words are second to none, but the disciples are divided into several ranks and classes, according to their degree, labor and the will and courage in the practice of the dharma. The Buddhas, therefore, have the sealed indication:
“There is only Buddhayana, not the three vehicles, which results from the true disiple’s labor and acquisition. So, there is diversity in the Illumination.” –TV
Having wisdom free from doubt attachment and clearly illuminated, but with an inferior act not corresponding to their wisdom, the disciple cannot be equal to bodhisattva. The disciple with wisdom acquires the truth of the dharma body, but his corresponding body does not attain the truth. For the disciple who consolidates his conduct of practice, his corresponding body can attain the truth, but his dharma body cannot. Many disciples wrongly understand the illumination as above, and do not know their inadequate present outcome. That is the most significant concern in this dharma-ending age.
The disciple during this dharma-ending age has to enter all four forms of opening - realizing - enlightening - entering to get adequate corresponding body and dharma body, so that his acquisition of the truth could be perfectly realized. In the lucky kalpa, when the Blessed One has appeared in the world. He has taught: the disciple must have the parallelism of wisdom and virtue to be successful.
The disciple acquiring the truth can see immediately the direct retribution of his previous existence. At that time, the disciples often entered the right concentration of samadhi to meet the fairies and deities and they communicate with each other according to their degrees of practice. In the Final Law Period to come, people live in misery and starvation, and the disciple practices according to his reason rather than to the sutra. Though some of them are studying the sutra, but the practice through reason is often guided by the consciousness-karma thus disoriented from the Buddha orthodox and they are erroneous in the truth of direct retribution of their previous existences. Consequently, in spite of a great number of disciples, the final result of their practice is still too little.
The practice way is unique, so the maha bodhisattvas have to look at the previous Buddhas' footprint to practice and rely on it to achieve their conduct vow. If the bodhisattva makes up his mind to realize what is difficult to realize, to hear what is hard to hear and to practice in a critical period when the practice of the dharma is contravened, he can then hope for success.
Following are the verses commemorating the dharma-ending age of this 20th century, despite countless spites and thorns, miseries and bitterness; He has appeared in Nha Trang City of the province of Khanh Hoa with his great compassion, great will and great courage to save living creatures.
“I'm trying to row in the deep river,
Passing high mountains and deep forests.
From the bodhisattva to the Buddha
We are on the same path, following the same route.
In spite of the numerous ways and countless directions,
With intuition we can always realize the enlightened truth.” –TV
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