Teachings by Venerable Master Bai Yun of Chiefsun Monastry, Taiwan
The Bhodi Path
Clothes serve more than a decoration for our body.
Food goes beyond curbing our hunger.
With knowledge we can satisfy our many physical needs.
Whatever it is, we do it because we have to live.
It is these very needs of outs that have led to the birth of the Buddha who took on the physical body of man, experienced the process of living and subsequently discovered how the law of Cause and Effect in determining what we are. The Buddha revealed to us the positive and negative consequences of karma, the truth of our Five Desires of our human nature, how we can through the learning of Precepts, Meditation and Wisdom discover the Buddha nature embedded inside us to achieve enlightenment. By following these instructions strictly and putting them into practice diligently, every little step we make in every little way will one day lead us to the highway to enlightenment.
While Buddhist teaching focuses on eradicating all that is bad and nurturing all that is good, its true essence rest with enlightenment. That is to say, Buddhist teaching can be summed up as follows:
Buddhist teaching shows us the way to enlightenment; to put Buddhist teaching into practice is to learn how to be enlightened.
Based on these principles, we can then see the interrelationship between learning the theories and learning to put them into practice. By merging the two and applying them constantly in our daily lives, we can keep ourselves away from making mistakes, tackle issues with calmness and rationality, ultimately achieving a state of perfect enlightenment.
It can, therefore, be said that: It is only right to spell out the correct theories and lay down the right path. It is by treading on the right path that we will reap the fruit of our cultivation. Buddhist teaching lies in its theories and logic which map out for us the right path to follow. If we follow this path and follow His instructions faithfully, uphold the precepts, practise with unshaken focus, rid ourselves of delusions with wisdom, there is no reason why we will not be able to determine our own cyclic rebirth with ease.
Self-cultivation means Reconciliation and Adjustment
Everyone knows that:
“You have to sow before you can reap.”
However, in the domain of "knowing", people are always unwilling to sow but ready to reap. It is just like in our daily life, everyone is happy to lead a better life and be engrossed in enjoyment. How many of you are willing to think that better enjoyment in life is a reward gained only after considerable effort!
As a result, the dislike of sowing and the eagerness to reap have created the current social problems. In Dharma teaching, we talk about "diligence". It looks at the negligence of people who indulge themselves in a dissipated life, and consume their precious lives with the satisfaction in the "causal conditions”. They have wasted their useful lives with laziness and greed. As a result, they become the slaves of desires for their whole lives without knowing it, and are very pleased with themselves!
The way to "sowing", according to the Dharma Teaching, is "diligence". It is different from the “Karmic” power. Only by sowing diligently can the fruit of the Way be exhibited, i.e. the merits of accumulated blessings attained through self-cultivation. Regarding diligent behaviours, there are both "negative" and "positive" aspects in the secular world principles. In the aspect of “dissipation”, of the reward gained is not the targeting result of “negligence”. It is because "dissipation" itself involves "greed”. One is lost in the "causal conditions" and become the slave of the desires without realizing it.
Therefore, leisure in a positive way should not lead to dissipation. In such way, it is natural that one would not be easily prone to negligence. For example, by not overdoing a thing, a desire can still be satisfied without the risk of becoming the slave of greed. Take for another example, a workaholic, it looks like that he is working diligently but in fact, it only reflects the result of an unbalanced way, which is also a kind of greedy behaviour. Therefore, it cannot be referred as diligent.
The core of studying Buddhist Dharma is not to give up "sowing" and "reaping", but to stress on right effort of working diligently in a correct way. By doing this, in no way can negligence be developed, then there will not be any problems of dissipation. After all, when a practitioner is sidetracked by the Body, Speech and Mind during the course of learning, he must put himself back to the right track. Besides, the cultivation of virtues is still a very important homework!
That's why it is said that:
"Self-cultivation and the spreading of the Dharma, the merits of accumulated blessings, mean the reconciliation and adjustment of behaviors."
What is the Three Learnings
Learning the precepts is to prevent re-offending.
Learning deep concentration is to prepare us for chaos.
Learning wisdom is to rid us of ignorance and delusions.
How to go about learning the precepts?
Through what we see and hear, we learn to recognize the consequences of greed. In order not to re-offend, we need the help of the precepts.
How do we learn deep concentration?
Through meditation, we learn to recognize the effect of bitterness and hatred in us. Deep concentration maintain calmness in us at all times amidst chaos and confusion.
What about wisdom?
Through the ability to analyse one’s thoughts, we learn to recognize the consequences of ignorance. Wisdom can free us from delusions.
When the Buddha set up the Buddhist institution, he based it on the these “Three Hole proof Learnings”, namely the precepts, deep concentration and wisdom cultivation to guard one’s action, speech and thought. The Three Learnings, when mastered, will enable one to arrive at a perfect solution should one is at risk of committing a negative act through one’s speech, action or thought.
Therefore, there is one and only one way to Buddhist practice: Abide by what the Buddha said, do as he had advised and put his teaching into practice. This is Buddhist cultivation and such is the Buddhist’s Way.
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