v111q3r9@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Yi L Chiang) (02/06/91)
PRACTICING GOODNESS AND GENEROSITY, ------------------------------------- INCREASING BLISS AND DISPELLING CALA. ------------------------------------- MITIES ------ Faith of confidence in the Three Precious Ones is extemely wholesome because synonymous with this confidence is the desire to practice loving-kindness and perform acts of goodness. According to the Buddha's Teaching, to respect, make offerings towards and to contribute to the happiness and welfare of all sentient beings is the primary field in which to sow the seeds of bliss in this world. Building temples or creating statues of religious personalities, etc., can lead to bliss and wisdom and is termed the field of reverence. Offering devotion. respect and gratitude to one's parents and teachers due to the fact that they are one's benefactors is termed the field of grace. We should do our best for the poverty-strichen, the ill,old, weak and disabled , etc., because they are fall into states of woe and calamity, should we be armed with our practice of generosty and purity of heart, we would then be able to transform these situations into more fortunate ones. Natural disasters and catastrophes arise simply as a response to evil minds and unwholesome activities on the part of many living being. If human beings were to determine to use wholesome mind and pure action in all circumstances, then bliss and happiness would follow naturally. All people want a life free from ill and calamity and full of happiness. To expect a life of happiness without performing wholesome and benficial activites is not a legitimate expectation. If one does not sow the appropriate seeds, one will surely not reap the desired response or result. The novice Boddhi- sattva should develop a storehouse of skillful activity and virtue in order to increase the happiness of all sentient beings. TAKING THE REFUGE OF RIGHT FAITH -------------------------------- After accepting the Three Refuges, it is important to take the refuge of the Right faith. People who have cultivated the Buddha-dharma in their previous lives and have developed strong ,deep roots and thus have natural confidence in the Teaching can take the refuge of the Right Faith directly. One takes this Refuge of Right Faith in the presence of a teacher and offers one's unlimited devotion of the Three Precious Ones. When reciting one's affirmation the pratice path of Bodhi, One should visualize woshipping at the Buddha's feet and achieving unity with the infinite Dharmadhatu of the Triple Jewel. As the nature of a drop of water and the Ocean is the same, so is the nature of a small space and a large one; similary, there is and should be non-differentiation and non-discrimation between the worshipper and the worshipped. It follow from this, then that there is no duality between one's self-nature and the Buddha-nature; i.e., there is no notion of an ego, personality,being,etc., involved, the only reality being the complete identification of one's self-nature with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and their unlimited compassion extended to all sentient beings. this awareness is transcendental to all notions of insides, outside and middle, and it comprehends all the ten directions. Transcending considerations of time, it has no beginning or end and encompasses the Three Realms. Now, Just as this moment of right faith and concentration, one makes a determination of dedicate oneself to the Dharmadhatu of the Three Precious Ones for all time without Beginning or end. This is done in accordance with and adamantince faith in wisdom that is done in accordance with and adamantine faith in wisdom that is compared to eating a small diamond that one can never digest. this is the manifestation of fundamental Faith and is one of the four kinds that are explained in THE SASTRA OF THE AWAKENING OF FAITH IN THE MAHAYANA, where it is said: "This faith is the delight of True Dharma." The acknowedgement of this Original Faith is considered to be right faith, and one who possesses this eligible to undertake the preliminary training of the Bodhisattva Tao. TO DESTROY ILLUSION, ESTABLISH THE RIGHT ---------------------------------------- FAITH WITH RESPECT FOR THE RIGHT TAO ----------------------------------- AND DISPEL HETERODOX VIEWS --------------------------- This is the actual proof of the efficaciousness of the right faith. For it one has solid confidence in the Buddhadharma based on wisdom derived from pratice, then all doctrinal disputatuions or the pitting of one religious or philosophical view against another leaves one's faith unmoved. moreover, the use of the mature wisdom can destroy all absurd statements, evil modes of though, and erroneous views with which one might come in contact. The Sutras and the Sastras taught by Buddha and Budhisattvas contain a complete, universally valid and reasonable teaching for all sentient begin. Also, many different masters made every effort to enhance and gorify these profound doctrines by way of commentary. Therefore, Taking the refuge of right faith in the Bodhisattva Tao means not only to recognize the truth for oneself but also to protect the Buddhadharma against insult and abuse and to profit others by teaching. Using skillful eloguence of speech and writing, one should manifest the truth of Buddhadharma to increase the faith of both oneself and others. The Bodhisattva who takes the refuge of right faith, with his qualification of self-knowledge, is able , eventually, to arrive at the stage of non-retrogression. Those who have taken merely the Three Refuges in order to link up with the tradition of Bodhi- sattva Pratice are not yet prepared for this stage.