Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on Lingmei’s Visit to Universal Worthy Bodhisattva

Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on Lingmei’s Visit to Universal Worthy Bodhisattva
Lingmei has been asked by many people these days whether she is writing about her dreams, or if the trips take place when she is in Samadhi. Some of them also ask me of the question, too.
In fact, it is neither a dream or in Samadhi. Our soul can leave the physical body and roam around. However, it is not possible for most people. Lingmei makes it because she has reached a rather advanced state in cultivation. Nevertheless, she is not advanced enough and therefore needs a bestowal of power from Master to do it. Otherwise, her soul would just roam about and get too far away. Once bestowed with Master’s power, her soul can travel to a place very far away and enter the state she wants to go to.
Hopefully the explanation helps to solve your puzzle. I know some still fail to get it. After all, the Buddha Dharma is so very profound and esoteric and beyond the description of a few words.
Today we talk on Lingmei’s visit to Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. In His teachings, the Bodhisattva exhorts us to be down-to-earth in practice to really feel the Buddha Dharma and make real progress.
It is a pity that many people mistake the process as the end. They do read Buddhist scriptures, but have on idea of what the destination is.
Text:
Softly and lightly, I set off again, though having seen it all. I undertake the mission at Master’s behest. It is our wish that the Buddha Dharma abides permanently in both Heavens and Earth.
Commentary:
This is our vow, which is to propagate the Buddha Dharma so that it abides permanently. It is because of the magnitude of the vow that we are able to meet Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. Making a vow is very important. We never get to meet the Bodhisattva if we think with an ordinary person’s mind. It takes a great vow. We must be in harmony with the Buddha Dharma. With the vow, the condition is ripe for us to meet the Bodhisattva.

Text:
While sitting in meditation, my soul travelled. I was going to pay a visit to Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. It was as if in a dream. With a flash of light, I arrived at Mount. E’mei. I looked around, and felt it indeed a mountain for the immortals. Clouds hung over the mountains so that it looked like everything was silvered with white gown and was peeking through from behind the white clouds. I thought of what Master had told me that I need to go to the Flying Cloud Brook first to meet Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. At that time, numerous white clouds appeared suddenly in the sky. In less than a second, they transformed into a huge Buddha statue, smiling and showing a kindly face. It looked both like the Thus Come One Shakyamuni Buddha and Guanyin Bodhisattva. As I took a close look, the Buddha statue was growing larger endlessly and filled the universe completely. I may not have described it well. I felt myself immersed in the cloud, and in one with the Buddha.
Commentary:
This passage is rather easy to understand. It describes how scenic it is in Mount. E’mei. In fact, it is not exactly the same as the Mount. E’mei ordinary visitors see. Ordinary people cannot enter such a state. All the states are empty. Before she set off, I spoke to Lingmei, “You won’t find Universal Worthy Bodhisattva at the temple hall. You have to find Flying Cloud Brook first.” As she was thinking about it, she saw numerous white clouds appearing in the sky. In a second, the white clouds transformed into a huge Buddha Statue, smiling and with a kindly face. It looked like The Thus Come One Buddha. We often call Him Shakyamuni Buddha. But it also looked like Guanyin Bodhisattva. “As I took a close look, the Buddha statue was growing larger endlessly and filled the universe completely. I may not have described it well. I felt myself immersed in the cloud, and in one with the Buddha.”

You have already read through the text yesterday. What are we supposed to get from the picture? The numerous clouds first transformed into a Buddha Statue, which then grew in size infinitely and filled the whole universe. Well, this picture illustrates to us that the Buddha and Bodhisattva are omnipresent. It also indicates to us that they are formless and unmarked. They manifest specific physical features because we ordinary people discriminate. The true Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are formless and unmarked. They do not seem to be doing anything while there is nothing they cannot do. There is nothing to be said about them. They are omnipresent and fill the whole universe, the whole space and in every corner. The picture means to tell us that we shall be integrated into the empty space as long as our mind is in tune with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Lingmei felt herself in one with the Buddha and that she, too, was growing larger endlessly.
Let’s see what’s next.
Text:
As I was still immersed in the feeling, it all changed again. I saw sets of pictures played before me like a movie. First there were two small animals—seemed to be two kitties— talking to each other intimately. Then there were two young people politely declining with each other as they seemed to be cooperating to do something. After that, I saw two elderly people who together made quite a cozy picture. They all disappeared when I tried to take a closer look. Why did they all appear in a couple? There must be some connotations behind it. I could not figure out why.
Commentary:
Lingmei could not figure out why, though she was in the state. She did not understand why Universal Worthy Bodhisattva presented such pictures to her. At the outset, there were two small animals, being intimate to each other, followed by two young people in their twenties or thirties, also quite close to each other. She also saw two elderly people later. What does it mean? Well, this is how life evolves, from young to old. The Bodhisattva used the analogies and meant to tell us that our propagation of the Buddha Dharma here in the secular world is an incremental process, from the time when we first get to know the Buddha Dharma, till gradually we are able to expound it, spread it, and till the end of our life when we die in a sitting posture. That they all appeared in a couple conveys to us the message that we should stand united and of one mind.
In His teachings, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva asked you to follow Master’s instructions and act in compliance with what Master has told you. It is important that our mind is in tune with the mind of the Bodhisattva’s. We have to stand united together as well. The pictures presented by Universal Worthy Bodhisattva convey such a message to us. They also show to us that everything in the world, no matter how it appears, can be the Buddha Dharma, as long as we observe it. Contemplate it attentively, and our life is what the Buddha Dharma is about.
The Bodhisattva also told us to integrate the Buddha Dharma into our life. It is useless simply to talk on theories. People won’t understand it. Integrating it into our life means we employ expedient means to propagate the Dharma. Take Master for example. If you stay with me for sometime, you’d find that I do not speak the Buddha Dharma in the same way to different people. If I am talking to someone who does not believe in Buddhism and who thinks all the time about making a fortune, I’d tell him that the Buddha Dharma is a very big industry. I’d tell him why it is big, how to develop it, and how he can possibly make a fortune out of it. He may just be interested after listening to me, and will set off to do it. Once he gets to know the Buddha Dharma, his good roots start to grow. In one year, or maybe two to three years time, he’d convert without being urged. He’d come to me without I asking him to and request that I talk the Dharma for him. My telling him that the Buddha Dharma is a big industry and can help him make a fortune is the expedient means employed. This is how we integrate it into life. In the final analysis, the key is how we approach it. Contemplate our life and the rule of changes with mind.
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva presented the picture of two kitties to show to us that not only human beings but also everything else in the universe is part of the Buddha Dharma.
Water will die, too. Some of you may think it is impossible that water dies. Well, pay attention to it, and you will find water disappears at a very fast speed. Some scientists are working on how water changes. Take the Golden Sand River for example, which the Red Army led by Chairman Mao Zedong crossed seventy years ago. Its water flow has dropped by 70% compared to seventy years ago. This is just how fast water disappears. The earth shall go extinct as well sometime in the future. Do not think that only humans die. Everything in the universe has a finite lifespan. Take time to observe it, and you’d find Buddha Dharma in everything. Impermanence is about birth, old age, sickness and death. If you know who you are, where you are from, and where you are going, you’d enter Buddhahood.
This is what Universal Worthy Bodhisattva meant to tell us by presenting to us the pictures of the kitties, the young people, and the elderly people. There is much more to be said about it. After all, integrating the Dharma into our life isn’t really that easy. Most of the time, people do not pay attention or analyze to figure out why.
Let me share with you a story of a family that happened in the period of the Republic of China in Mainland. The husband was a butcher, while the wife was a doctor. They had a son and loved the son dearly. One day, the husband was injured. The wife tried to save him, but failed. The husband died later, because of which, the son became hateful of his mother. He thought it was because her that his father died. When he was grown up, he dispelled his mother away from home. The mother was a devote Buddhist believer and paid homage to the Bodhisattvas everyday. She built a hut at the foot of a mountain, and lived a simple life there. She provided treatment to local villagers who in turn were kind to her. From time to time, they offered nice food to her. The son for sure received his due retribution for what he had done to his mother. His wife died soon after giving birth to their son. He loved his son very much to the extent of spoiling him and took him as more precious than his own life. In fact later it was the son’s son that received the retribution for him.
His son was very evil-hearted and impious. Wherever he went, he was disliked and reprimanded. One day, Guanyin Bodhisattva transformed Himself into an elderly monk to rescue him. It is very difficult to try to change such evil-hearted people. In some sense, those who are impious are evils. The son was an evil. To the Bodhisattva, however, no matter how evil-hearted they are, they can also become a Buddha once they discard the evil thoughts, or so-called “to lay down the butcher knife” in Chinese, as they could have deep good roots. Guanyin Bodhisattva saw that the son’s son had such a good root and did all He could to rescue him. Transformed into an elderly Dharma master, He approached him and talked Dharma to him. It didn’t work out, though. The father and the son were so bad that they placed a stink pot above the door. When the master went through the door, the stinkpot would drop and the filthy excrement would pour on him.
Guanyin Bodhisattva knew there was such a stinkpot for sure. Nevertheless, He kept smiling as He walked through it. He did not disclose it. He pushed open the door, and the stinkpot dropped on Him. This is just how patient Guanyin Bodhisattva is. Can we ordinary cultivators make it? Even I cannot make it. Guanyin Bodhisattva later walked away, and the father and the son, as well as other local villagers followed Him and sneered at Him, “The monk is so filthy!” They did not know the monk was Guanyin Bodhisattva. He went to a little pond, walking into it, and washed the filth away. After He was done with it, He said to those around, “While the filth on our body can be washed away by clean water, the filth in our mind cannot.”
See, life is the Buddha Dharma. Only the Bodhisattvas can integrate them so well. They transform us using our life as examples. Even bad examples are part of the Dharma. This is the message Universal Worthy Bodhisattva sent to us that we need to integrate the Buddha Dharma into life and take what happens in our life as the Dharma. This is how Guanyin Bodhisattva manifests. What if our mind is filthy? It is very difficult to wash the filth in our mind away. The evil thoughts harboured, the three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance, the desires for fame, sex, and profit, are like the excrement on our body. Our body is like a pit toilet filthy with seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons. Well, you don’t seem to have caught the point. It is just too esoteric. I am not going to finish the story. I mentioned it so that you know that we need to integrate the Buddha Dharma into our life. Whatever happens in life can be expounded as the Dharma, just like Guanyin Bodhisattva’s transformation into the monk.
Text:
I asked Master and Universal Worthy Bodhisattva for a bestowal of power. In the twinkling of an eye, everything changed before me. I was in a different place. Purple-colored air and mist hovered around. The heaven and earth became purple in color.
Commentary:
Lingmei said, “I asked Master and Universal Worthy Bodhisattva for a bestowal of power. In the twinkling of an eye, everything changed before me. I was in a different place. Purple-colored air and mist hovered around.”
See, with the bestowal of power on her by Master and the Bodhisattva, Lingmei was really powerful. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas always appear with auspicious signs manifesting. As the popular saying goes, “Purple air comes from the east.” In fact, it means the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and immortals are coming, and they come with such an auspicious sign. This was what Lingmei saw, too. When she saw the purple air and cloud, the heaven and earth changed. Amidst it, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva appeared.
Text:
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva appeared amidst the Buddha light. Wow, He looked exactly as I had imagined, so amicable and respectable. He was riding on a white elephant with six tusks. Immediately, I felt inexpressibly warm and encouraged.
Commentary:
She had been thinking how Universal Worthy Bodhisattva looked since she was paying a visit to Him. Therefore, the Bodhisattva appeared before her just the way she had imagined Him to be. Otherwise, Lingmei would not be able to recognize Him. The Bodhisattvas are formless and unmarked. They manifest as what we imagine them to be. In China, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva usually is thought to be riding on a white elephant with six tusks. Why does the elephant have six tusks, since usually an elephant has only two? The one with six tusks is the white elephant king. We hardly see such an elephant in the world. They dwell in Mount. Elephant King of the Ten Treasures Mountain, which is also within the scope of Three Realms. We will find them if we are in the Mountain. Anyway, ordinary people usually are not able to see them. Universal Worthy Bodhisattva manifested such an unusual sign before Lingmei, which made her inexpressibly warm and encouraged.

Text:
I knelt down right away and bowed to Him, “At the behest of Master, I have come for your teachings.”
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva said, “Fulfill the tough mission as you cultivate, and all in the Heavens and earth will rejoice for you. Practice is the key in cultivating the Great Way. Ponder over it in your everyday life. Behold the towering mountain and the boundless sea! Their appearance is no appearance, and their mark no mark. Alas! You may tell Heaven, “Contemplate it, and you’d see how esoteric and profound it is.”
Commentary:
This is pretty much the same as what other Bodhisattvas had said. We come to the secular world both to cultivate and to fulfill a very important mission. It is important that we act upon it instead of simply watching others do it. Practice is the key. If we can make it, well, that is a cause for rejoicing for all beings in the heaven and earth. We’d all come to celebrate it and be filled with joy for it.
“Practice is the key in cultivating the Great Way.”
We have to apply real efforts to cultivation to attain the Great Way and enter Buddhahood or Bodhisattvahood.
“Ponder over it in your everyday life.”
As we cultivate, we should pay attention to the changes in our body, and contemplate what we experience in cultivation. Take notice of the every bit of details in our life, and how everything in the universe evolves. It is very esoteric. By the time He was 16, Shakyamuni Buddha was thinking over what others took as normal: why is the little bug eaten by lizard, lizard by snake, and snake by eagle? Universal Worthy Bodhisattva exhorted us to keep cultivation and pondering over it. Why the states? Where is its origin?
“Behold the towering mountain and the boundless sea! Their appearance is no appearance, and their mark no mark.”
The message is that the mark of everything in the universe is no mark. For example, why the sea is so huge? It is so because it accepts all rivers that run into it, and absorbs everything whether good or bad, clean or filthy. The same holds true for we humans. If we can have a big heart, and treat well everybody, whether they are good or bad or regardless or how they are to us, aren’t we as big as the sea? By saying “Their appearance is no appearance, and their mark is no mark”, the Bodhisattva told us not to be attached to the mark.
While on the surface the sea may be roaring, or on which the ship sails, yet if we take a deeper look into it, you’d find its origin in the Buddha Dharma. Some Dharma Masters who are very advanced in cultivation will say the seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons are good things and part of the Buddha Dharma. Why is it? Aren’t we working hard to rid ourselves of greed, hatred, and ignorance? How come they can be good? Well, as long as we take good advantage of them, certainly they can be good. For example, take time to think over why we lose temper, and after we do, whether we feel uncomfortable and why? You’d understand the Buddha Dharma if you think them through. The origin lies in our mind. Everything is created by the mind. If you give rise to the thought, you get angry and outrageous. If you do not give rise to any thought, nowhere will anger take root in your mind. When we reach a certain stage in cultivation, our mind will always be at peace. Some of you may think it is impossible. Well, it is possible. I have made it. Nothing can irritate me. I did get angry before, and I always felt bad whenever I lost temper. It all came from our mind.
“Alas! You may tell Heaven, “contemplate it, and you’d see how esoteric and profound it is.”
This is the exclamation expressed. When we have been through what is described above, “Fulfill the tough mission as you cultivate, and all in the heaven and earth will rejoice for you. Practice is the key is cultivating the Great Way. Ponder over it in our everyday life. You see the towering mountain and the boundless sea. Their appearance is no appearance, and their mark is mark”, and come to understand the truth, we should raise our head up and ask Heaven. We did not quite understand the two lines as we read it yesterday. In fact, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva meant to tell us that we need to pay attention to everything, no matter how insignificant around us, and the changes in the universe. Contemplate it with our mind and see how esoteric they are.
Let me give you some examples to see just how esoteric and profound the Buddha Dharma is. Ant, for example, is tiny in size and yet can lift objects many times its own weight. Isn’t it amazing? Even the ants can be further divided into different groups. The same holds true for we humans. You never find two people exactly the same, not even twins. Who create it all? It is Buddha nature. Buddha nature seems to be doing nothing and yet can do everything.
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva reminds us that we’d find how amazing everything is if we pay attention to contemplating it. It is inconceivable! Isn’t it profound, esoteric, and far-reaching?
The Bodhisattva conveys so much to us through such a simple message. If we take time to observe how everything changes around us, we’d find everything can speak the Dharma for us.
Some people say all the species convey the Buddha Dharma. This is correct!
Text:
That was beyond my ken. So I again asked, “What shall we do to make the Buddha Dharma abide permanently?”
Commentary:
If fact, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva had answered the question at the very beginning. Lingmei asked it again on behalf of us.
Text:
The Bodhisattva explained, “Have faith built in his and her mind. Be devoted in every thought. There are numerous ‘MEs’ standing united as a group. The kindness of your master to you is as huge as the mountains. You disciples should respond to it should Master have any request. Your mind shall be in tune with Master’s, and are always connected. As long as your minds are joint in one, they will be as firm as the biggest five mountains. When your mind is opened and single-minded sincerity shown, everything is within your reach. Nevertheless, there are lingering thoughts in your mind.”
Commentary:
To have the Buddha Dharma abide permanently, the key is to have faith. Everyone should have faith in the Buddha Dharma. As we work to propagate the Buddha Dharma, we help ourselves and others to build faith in it. As the Bodhisattva said, “Be devoted in every thought.”
With every single thought we give rise to, we are fully devoted to it. We help enlighten others with our mind. We have to show single-minded sincerity as we talk the Dharma to people, to teach them, transform them, and ferry them over.
“There are numerous ‘MEs’ standing united as a group.”
If everybody has faith in it, and is devoted to it, our group shall get larger and larger. There will be numerous MEs. As long as we stand united as one in propagating the Dharma, it shall abide.
“The kindness of your master to you is as huge as the mountains. You disciples should respond to it should Master have any request. Your mind shall be in tune with Master’s, and are always connected. As long as your minds are joint in one, they will be as firm as the biggest five mountains.”
People often say “the kindness of master is hard to repay and it is as huge as the mountains.”
The more advanced you are in cultivation, the more keenly you shall feel that you can never repay the kindness of Master, of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
You may not feel it when you are at the primary stage of cultivation.
In fact, the best way to repay is to make progress in cultivation and attain the Way.
“You disciples should respond to it should Master have any request.”
Many people find it hard to respond to it. Master never harbours any evil thoughts towards disciples, but always wants you to be good. However, not every disciple knows Master well. Anyway, as your Master, I am never impatient. Nor shall I give you up, thought it is likely that you may give me up.
The message is here is that when you reach a more advanced stage in cultivation, when your mind is in tune with master’s, you shall understand what master is thinking.
When you reached a certain stage in cultivation, and your mind is in tune with Master’s, you’d hear Master’s voice speaking to your ears wherever you are. Our minds are well united, and will be as firm as the biggest five mountains in China. The five mountains serve as an analogy drawn by Universal Bodhisattva to remind us that as long as we stand united and have our minds joint in one, we can overcome any challenge. Our practice of the Buddha Dharma will be very firmly deeply rooted.
“When your mind is opened and single-minded sincerity shown, everything is within your reach.”
As long as we stand united to have our mind opened, be single-mindful, then whatever it is that we do, it can be achieved. Opening our mind, as I said the other day, is like opening a melon. When it is open, the true mind is revealed. By then, everything is within our reach.
“Nevertheless, there are lingering thoughts in your mind.”
Many of you are still attached to secular things. You fail to put them down. You have a lingering impression of secular enjoyment. You take suffering as pleasure.
Text:
I again asked, “What can we do to get more people to cultivate the Buddha Dharma?”

The Bodhisattva answered, “Amitabha-Buddha! Work on your mind! Transform the small self, and you will transcend your mind. All the words boil down to one truth: rid yourself of the small self, stand united firmly, and always keep in mind master’s instruction. Be mindful of it! Move the moutains away, and always cherish the Buddha in your mind. Upholding the sutra on a daily basis, and vow to do what you think in your mind. Holding on to single-mindfulness, and they shall be fulfilled. Put it down and let it go. You’d gain release gradually day by day. Take a look around by then, and you will fill the Dharma realm fully.
Commentary:
This passage shows to us how well the Bodhisattvas know us. Never try to cut the corners before the Bodhisattvas. They know clearly what we are thinking.
Lingmei raised such a wonderful question that even the Bodhisattva said Amitabha-Buddha! After all, Lingmei’s question is about a very big vow that we are going to make. It is to bring benefits to the living beings instead of to ourselves. Therefore, the Bodhisattva was very happy to hear it and said Amitabha-Buddha!
Lingmei asked “What can we do to get more people to cultivate the Buddha Dharma?”
It can make a great vow. The Bodhisattva told us that we need to work on our mind. Do not place your attention on others’ but your own mind. Every cultivator of the Dharma must work to cultivate the mind. Rid ourselves of selfishness, and deflate self-importance, so that our kindness and compassion is felt by all.
I was talking about asking for alms donation yesterday. It is because you have yet to rid yourself of the ego that you get happy when the donation is big, and upset when it is small, and angry when jeered at. Work to remove the ego, and we shall overcome the obstacles presented to us by it. Nevertheless, it is naturally that we may feel happy (or upset) when we have just come to practice it. It is a process. We have to be mindful of our own problems and work to address them. Hold on to single-mindfulness, and always reflect within. If we can remain single-mindful, nothing can disturb us. We won’t get overjoyed if the alms donation is big nor upset if it is small. Happiness and afflictions always come together. Happiness is no different from afflictions. Isn’t there a saying that goes, “Extreme joy begets sorrow.”
I have never said it is a must that we all try going for alms rounds. It is but a means of cultivation. If you don’t mind, then just go for it. Asking ourselves for alms donation is rather easy. In fact, it is not alms donation, but the practice of giving. Asking others for it gives us the opportunity to look at directly our own weaknesses. We shall be able to tell how much we have put down greed, hatred, and ignorance. Do we feel outrageous when being sneered at? How much do we care about fame and reputation? Do we feel upset or hateful if turned down?
These are the challenges we have to face when practicing alms rounds. Famous poet Su Dong-po once wrote, “I remain firm and unwavering being blown by the eight winds (translator: meaning profit, misfortune, slander, reputation, praise, sneer, bitterness, and happiness), and sit upright on the purple-golden lotus dais. If even the eight winds cannot shake you, you are already sitting in the Wayplace under the tree of the Way, just like Shakyamuni Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree when he attained the enlightenment.
However, some of us seem easily shaken by any wind.
We should not discriminate when asking for alms donation. If we do it with a discriminative mind, we are being turned by the state. Cultivation is not easy. Asking for alms donation is only tougher. Our practicing the Six Paramitas is part of the cultivation of the Great Way. Summon up our courage and go ahead! Why care about the face so much! It is a means to cultivate our mind. We cultivate to deflate self-importance. Whatever we do, we think for ourselves first.
Once we transcend the small self, we will transcend our mind. It is a must that we work on cultivation of the mind. This is why the Bodhisattva said “you transcend your mind.” As I said just now, once you have transcended yourself, you’ll get to a new stage naturally and see it differently.
Universal Bodhisattva then said, “All the words boil down to one truth”. He must have known Lingmei would keep asking him for more teachings and protest that He was speaking too little. Lingmei has visited Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Earth Store Boddhisattva, and now Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. All of them send the same message to us, which is to work on cultivation of our mind.
“All the words boil down to one truth: rid yourself of the small self, stand united firmly, and always keep in mind master’s instruction. Be mindful of it!”
Though they speak differently, the message conveyed is the same. We have to work on our mind.
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva then said, “Free from the small self, and staying united.”
The Bodhisattva found that some of you are hesitant. Your minds have yet to be in harmony with each other. Certainly, it takes time. The key is that we need to put down the small self. I shall have altogether 3,000 disciples. All of us are in the secular world to fulfill a particular mission. Do not emulate each other out of jealousy or vanity. Isn’t it great that we now meeting each other here in the on-line chatting room and sharing with each other our ideas and thoughts? Keep cultivating with a singular focus. Let us cultivate to transcend the small self, and stand united firmly. Follow Master’s instructions, and you will for sure make progress. Always be mindful of what Master has told you!
By then, “moving the mountains away” is no challenge. Our mind will be at peace if the mountains on it are moved away. The main thing is to cherish the Buddha in our mind. The Buddha is none other than the nature inherent in us. We need to work on our mind, to brighten our mind so that the nature is seen and the Buddha found.
“Upholding the sutra on a daily basis, and vow to do what you think in your mind.”
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva is giving us the instructions again. We pray and make a vow before the sutra recitation begins. It is very important to be sincere and honest when praying and making the vow. Once a friend of Lingying joined us at a sutra lecture. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer, and she kept reciting the sutra beside him for him. Will that work? One’s karmic obstacles can only be removed by oneself. Otherwise, the Buddhas, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Earth Store Bodhisattva, who are so kind and compassionate, would have done it for us long ago. Practicing cultivation is the only way out. It is the conversion of energy in accordance with the law of nature. Even the biggest spiritual power can do nothing to change the law of cause and effect. Make a vow with sincerity. Vow to do what you think in your mind.
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva was speaking right to the point. We recite the sutra everyday so that we remember to fulfill the vows made. We need to make the vow, speak the vow ourselves, and vow to do what we are determined to do to in our mind. No need to vow for others. What we vow to do has to be consistent with what we truly think in our mind. Otherwise, we never get our wishes granted. No wonder some of you never recover, or get smooth in business. We have to be sincere in practicing the Dharma. The Bodhisattva’s instruction is really pithy. Some of you are just so greedy that they want to reach somewhere ten steps away before having even taken the first step. Cultivation helps to rid us of greed. In fact, we’d soon gain release from the Three Realms if we can cast away greed. Nevertheless, it is a step-by-step process. We need to be practical.
The Bodhisattva kept urging us to hold on to single-mindfulness. In fact, we cultivate everyday, be it reciting the sutra or sitting in meditation, for single-mindfulness. We’d fulfill the vows if we remain single-mindful. The key is to put those secular things down and let them go.
When we can let them go, we’d gradually gain release day by day. As we get more and more enlightened through cultivation, we shall gain release from the Three Realms and the Five Elements. When we take a look around by then, we’d find that our Dharma body pervades the complete Dharma realm. We are no different from the Bodhisattvas as our body shall be omnipresent. The instruction by the Bodhisattva in this passage is still about cultivation of the mind.
Text:
I asked again, “But I don’t know what I can do to benefit more people.”
Commentary:
Lingmei asked another question on how to benefit more people.
Text:
The Bodhisattva answered, “The Buddha knows your mind well. Refrain from being anxious. Do it in a step-by-step and orderly manner. Don’t get obsessed to it. Stay in accord with conditions. Great love is invisible and yet omnipresent.
Commentary:
The Buddha knows it well if we act in compliance with the above-mentioned principles. We don’t need to be impatient or anxious. Things always develop and evolve in sequence. It takes time. Many people ignore that we have to cultivate by steps not by leaps. Take I myself for example. I knew nothing about the Buddha Dharma nor bowed to the Bodhisattvas before I was 39. I never believed in it. Would you say the first 39 years of my life were spent in vain? Certainly not. I was able to experience the ups and downs as well as joy and bitterness of life. Now that I have learnt the Dharma, I reflect back and find everything in the world is empty.
What I experienced in the first 39 years of my life is part of the process of cultivation. I took refuge in 2005, and there was a leap in 2006. It all changed. I put it all down in 2006, and stayed in-house at the temple. Many people could not understand why I made the choice. It was such a major turning point in my life. Many of my friends work in the government, and could not understand why. Those closer to me even called to scold me. They tried to prevent me, but I refused to turn back. I have all thought it through, and there is no turning back. This is just how things develop. When the condition is ripe, we just take the U turn. Therefore, we don’t need to be anxious. Do it step-by-step and let it proceed steadily.
The Bodhisattva also advised earnestly that we should “refrain from being anxious. Do it in a step-by-step and orderly manner.” Something is to be done ahead of others. Try feeling it with our mind. Things will get resolved naturally. As long as we keep clam, do not go out of our way to seek anything. While applying real efforts to cultivation, things will always change for the better for us.
A genuine cultivator should not look at the Three Realms from within the Three Realms. I told you when lecturing the Buddha Speaks the Eight-Yang Dharani Sutra of Heaven and Earth what the mark of the Three Realms was like. Take the apple for example. Suppose an apple represents the Three Realms. Now there are a lot of apples on the table. There are as many great thousand worlds as there are apples. The Buddha is the one who stands by the apples. For him, the Three Realms is but a small apple. Will He interfere if the cells in the apple are fighting against each other? He won’t show favor to any particular cell. We are like the cells in the apple. We practice to gain release from the apple, or the Three Realms. As we keep cultivating our mind, we become a bug and crawl our way out of the apple. Once out of it, we’d notice that there are so many other apples, and a very big person by us. Who is that big person? The Buddha! (Laughter).
Hopefully, the apple story can help you gain a better understanding about it. Since you have yet to gain release from the Three Realms, it is unlikely that you know how to view it from outside the Three Realms. It is a process. It takes time to transcend it, anyway.
“Don’t get obsessed to it.”
It is not hard to understand it but hard to do it. What does it mean to “not get obsessed to it”? We are attached to many secular things. Lingxu, for example, is able to look after her thoughts quite well. She would be alert when she finds herself overjoyed. She is getting less and less obsessed to it. We should all be cautious when a thought arises. Why the Buddha is enlightened? It is so because He is always watchful. You are enlightened when you are no longer deluded. I have always asked you to work on cultivation of the mind. If you meet a challenge, come and ask me. I’d help you solve it. You need to always be watchful of your thoughts.
“Stay in accord with conditions.”
Try our best to do it when the condition is ripe. Forget about it when the condition is over. For example, our lecture has been going on quite well when suddenly my wife interrupts us and ask me to stop it. Ok, then let’s stop it. Don’t feel it a pity or grumble about it. Stay in accord with the conditions. Anyway, while it may be easy for us to understand it, applying into practice is rather difficult. We should learn to get the Bodhi out of afflictions. Think about it. Why do we have afflictions? We are afflicted because our mind is disturbed. If our mind is so firm that nothing can disturb it, will you have any more afflictions?
Anyway, this is just by way of analogy. We tend to have afflictions all the time. There are many things that we should stay in accord with conditions. We practice the Buddha Dharma not to avoid the challenges but to face them. Stay calm no matter how urgent it is, even if the fire has reached our heel. When our mind is at peace, we’d be able to focus on whatever we do, without thinking what if it fails. In this case, we always succeed. Even when it seems about to fail, we’d be helped unexpectedly.
Text:
I asked, “What should we disciples do?”
The Bodhisattva smiled, rubbed my crown, and said, “Look into your mind! Look into your mind!”
Hearing Him say it, I was actually very much encouraged. I blurted out, “Bodhisattva, your remark is really wonderful, but you speak too little.”
The Bodhisattva replied with a smile, “Everything so wonderful, subtle, and perfectly covering everything is made by the mind, whose power can be as huge as the heaven. All the changes are made by the mind. It won’t be long before you can meet me everyday. The Buddhas are omnipresent. Cultivate with vigor and in a down-to-earth, step-by-step manner. Do seize the opportunity before you. Everything develops out of the self. It is because of the self that it arises. It is the thoughts in your mind that decide whether you’ll make it or fail.”
Commentary:
Everything in the universe, from the sutras of the twelve divisions and Tripitaka, to the 84,000 Dharma Doors, is hidden in our mind and develops by our mind power. If we are mindful of the truth, work hard on cultivation, it won’t be long before we are able to meet the Bodhisattva everyday, because our Buddha nature is revealed by then. As I said to you jokingly the other day, now that you are in my Bag of Heaven and Earth, you’d never get out of it. The bag is just so large.
Even the monkey king, who can travel 18,000 miles with one somersault, won’t be able to get out of it. Remember how the monkey had once pissed to something he thought as marking the end of the Heaven while in fact he was a finger of the Thus Come One. Don’t laugh! It is the truth (Laughter).
When you get into the Bag of Heaven and Earth, you’d realize that the heaven and earth are just boundless. When Lingmei got into the Hiding-the-life Mirror (of Earth-Store Bodhisattva), she could find no end of it. The state inside the mirror is the Buddha’s state. Nowhere is there an end to it. Just be practical. Don’t bother to ask why. Not everything is within our comprehension. Or as the Bodhisattva said, “Be diligent everyday in learning.”
“Make good use of it.” We need to keep a close eye over our thoughts. Don’t let them get idle. If you want to cure a disease, then focus on it. Nothing is more important than curing it. Place your faith in the Buddha Dharma. Do not get skeptical. Don’t get distracted simply because Lingmei is travelling between heaven and earth. Just focus on what you should do. Universal Bodhisattva told you to make use of what we have now, and by doing so we’d be able to make progress. It all depends on your mind.
Why should you make good use of it? It is because of the “self”, the ego, that you feel disturbed. As I often say to you, “Nothing is happening, except you are making a great fuss about it.” Why get hung up on it? I stay at the temple all day long. I have no idea what others are doing. Well, I always say “I don’t know” when asked. A genuine cultivator should be able to “know nothing but everything.” I’d know it all as long as I want. If I don’t want to know it, I know nothing. I don’t want to make a fuss out of nothing and get disturbed by it. Be practical. Don’t get over-ambitious. All the afflictions are because of the “self”.
Not long ago, I met a Buddhist practitioner. He paid homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by making 49 bows everyday so much as that calluses were formed on his knees. He certainly was very sincere. The Bodhisattva showed sympathy on him, and helped him so that he was able to meet me. He wanted to make a donation, but somehow the donation reached me. He found it and came to me to ask it back, through which we got to know each other. If he had followed me in practicing the Buddha Dharma, he would gain release from the Three Realms. Unfortunately, he did not seize the opportunity. Though he had been doing so much, he did not realize that he should focus on the mind.
On the one hand, he had accumulated a lot of blessings, merits, and virtues, through which he might be born, for example, as an emperor in the next life. On the other hand, he is still subject to the cycle of life and death. He may exhaust all the blessings, merits and virtues as an emperor and receive serious retributions in the life after it. In the final analysis, we need to cultivate the mind. Only by doing so can we reach home.
Some of you are just so blind that you don’t recognize it when the Bodhisattva is right before you even though you keep looking for him all the time. You can only recognize the Bodhisattva who looks the same as the clay statue.
The Buddhist practitioner listened to me talk for quite a while, and thought it very thought-provoking. However, it just did not strike him that he could follow me in practicing the Buddha Dharma. What a pity! He was disturbed by the thought over the donation, “How come the donation which I meant to make to that place ends up here?”
The Bodhisattva wanted to help him and led him here with spiritual penetrations since he was so sincere. However, he failed to seize the opportunity.
There is nothing good or bad but our thinking makes it so. A single thought can decide whether it is a win or a loss. We might lose something very important because of a wrong thought. If I send you a legendary luminous pearl wrapped with a towel, some of you may turn it down, thinking that the towel is worthless, while others may accept it immediately. They know what is given by Master must be valuable. They go back home, unwrap it, and find a legendary luminous pearl inside! Clever people may be cheated by their own cleverness. Buddhist cultivators should be dull. Some of you are just too clever. It is secular wisdom, which won’t help you to get enlightened.
There is a story in the Lotus Sutra that compares clearing away the excrement as the Great Vehicles. The Arhats repented over it before the Buddha. They did not realize that the true treasure is in their own mind. It is their inherent nature!
The Bodhisattva first had the white clouds all merged together, and a Buddha statue appeared before Lingmei which eventually filled the entire universe. He meant to tell us that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are omnipresent. He later presented two kitties, two young people, and two elderly people. All of them are centered on the topic. After finishing saying it, He disappeared.
Text:
The Bodhisattva disappeared having finished saying it, not leaving any trace behind. I looked up the sky, and it was bright and clean. I looked down on the ground, and it was covered by green grass. I had no choice but to return.
Commentary:
She must be feeling bad. The Bodhisattva left without saying good-bye to her. After all, He had finished what he wanted to say to us. Though the message consists of but a few lines, it takes me three days to explain it.
She then returned.
Text:
I kept thinking upon returning why so many different pictures were unfolded before me when yet another book appeared. It was in the traditional complex form of the Chinese characters and I could not recognize them all. Before I took a closer look at it, the book had disappeared.
Commentary:
Lingwei was wondering why the book. In fact, the book represents the Buddhist scriptures. The Bodhisattva’s message to us is that the scriptures and the Buddha Dharma are found in our life. This is why Lingmei could not recognize the characters in the book. Buddha Dharma originates in life. That’s why I never need to prepare any notes for my lecture.
Fortunately, Lingmei understood why eventually.
Text:
Um, the Bodhisattva wanted us to realize it by ourselves. I remember Master once described me as “crazy about the Dharma”. Yes, this is how I am now. My mind, my body, and every single cell of mind is immersed in the Dharma! As long as we cherish the Dharma in our heart, the Dharma can be found everywhere. As long as we cherish the Buddha in our mind, the Buddha is everywhere. : )
Commentary:
You are very correct. As long as we cherish the Dharma in our heart, the Dharma can be found everywhere. Anything that happens in our life can be the Dharma and be talked about. Dharma is found in the way we walk, live, sit, and recline.
Ok, with this we now come to the conclusion of the lecture.
May the merit and virtue accrued from this work,
Adorn the Buddha’s Pure Lands,
Repaying the four kinds of kindness above,
And aiding those suffering in the paths below.
May those who see and hear of this,
All bring forth the resolve for Bodhi,
And when this retribution body is over,
Be born together in Ultimate Bliss.