Issue 280

For example, among the plenitude of medications, some cure headaches, some cure sore throat, some cure eye pain, some cure earaches, toothaches, nose pain and other physiological maladies. Which medication would you say is number one? If you say the headache pill is number one and eye pain pill is number two, that’s wrong. If you have a headache and took the headache pill, then that’s the number one. If you have eye pain and took the eye pain pill, then that’s the number one.

For example, we humans have greed, hatred and delusion. When you comprehend the Buddhadharma and your greed is cured, the Buddhadharma that cured your greed is the number one. When you comprehend the Buddhadharma and your hatred is cured, the Buddhadharma that cured your hatred is the number one. When you comprehend the Buddhadharma and your delusion is cured, the Buddhadharma that cured your delusion is the number one. Living beings have 84,000 faulty habits so the Buddha spoke 84,000 dharmas to cure those 84,000 faulty habits. Whichever dharma that cures your sickness is the number one; otherwise, you can’t say it’s the number one. So, there are 84,000 number one’s in the 84,000 dharmas. The Vajra Sutra says, “The Dharma is equal in level, nothing is above or below.” Since there is nothing above or below, I thereby say that the 84,000 dharmas are all number one’s. Isn’t this the Buddhadharma?

I lecture the sutras differently than others. When other people lecture on ‘not doing all that is evil’, they will definitely refer all as many, not as one. Since I do not know numbers, when there are too many numbers, I don’t know which is which. I figured since I can’t catch up, I might as well turn around and head back, meet up from another direction. For example, this person is a fast runner, so I will turn whenever he turns. I can never catch up by chasing after him. But if I turn around and wait for him at the other end, I meet up with him. See, this is the way I lecture the sutras too. Since there are so many numbers that I cannot figure out how many exactly, I will just say one. This time, not only do I understand, even children understand. This is how I lecture the Dharmas.

Shila paramita. Shila means keeping up the precepts. There are very many people who keep the precepts, but I will talk of one. Who is this one? Vinaya Master Dao Xuan. In China, Vinaya Master Dao Xuan was foremost in keeping the precepts and attained the highest level of study of the vinaya. The heavenly beings were so touched by his diligence in upholding the precepts that they bring him offerings of food. So, he did not eat food from the human realm but only heavenly food offered by the heavenly beings. Everyone knows that among the Chinese patriarchs, only Vinaya Master Dao Xuan received offerings from heavenly beings.

Speaking of vinaya, we focus on the principles of precept marks, precept dharma, and comportment…the 3,000 comportments and 80,000 fine conducts. Where did these 3,000 comportments come from? They came from the four great comportments of walking, standing, sitting and reclining. Walk with dignified decorum, sit with dignified decorum, stand with dignified decorum, recline with dignified decorum. Walk like a breeze, stand like a pine, sit like a bell, recline like a bow.

Walk like a breeze. A breeze is a light gentle wind that does not stir any waves on water. It is not the strong gust of a hurricane or a gale. If you walk like you are running, you may not set off a hurricane but you may be blowing a gale. Do not do that. Instead, waft by like a light breeze, not stirring waves in the water. A light breeze is gentle. You can feel the wind but there are no waves on the water. Walk this way.

Stand like a pine. Stand as straight as a pine tree. Don’t contract your head and neck and look lethargic and sleepy. Stand with your chest out and back straight. Neither stoop nor hunch your back, with your head down, you are constantly looking downward at the ground, looking at the hells. Do not walk with your head tilted high up either. Let your head maintain its natural straight alignment. This is the comportment of standing, one of the four great comportments. Also, don’t look around when you walk, glancing back and forth. When the police see you glancing to your left and to your right, they may suspect that you are planning on stealing or burglarizing. They will keep an eye on you. So, don’t glance around.

Sit like a bell. When you sit, your posture should look like a bell.

Recline like a bow. Maintain the shape of a bow when reclining. Lying down on your right side, cup your right chin with your right hand and rest your left hand on your hip. Pull your legs together and slightly bend, like a bow. This is an auspicious posture for reclining.

There are 250 rules for each of the four major comportments governing walking, standing, sitting and reclining. There are 250 for walking, 250 for sitting, 250 for lying down and 250 for standing. These are very detailed. Each has 250 rules. See, it’s not easy. The total of 250 for each of the four comportments makes a total of 1000. There are three sets of one thousand: one thousand of the past, one thousand of the present, one thousand of the future. Altogether, these are the three thousand rules of comportments.

Vinaya Master Dao Xuan upheld the precepts strictly and rigorously. He was replete with the 3000 forms of comportment and 80,000 minor conducts. Because of this, the heavenly beings were moved to making him food offerings. When he was practicing his cultivation, he did not speak or laugh at random. He did not engage in casual talk. You have to speak to him according to the rules of the vinaya for him to respond; otherwise, he would not speak. He did not laugh at random, cry, get angry, nor pout. He was just his natural self at all times. He did not have the emotions of joy, anger, sadness or happiness run through him.

What kind of person does not have any joy, anger, sadness or happiness? A wooden person. A wooden sculpture has no joy, anger, sadness or happiness. He was neither happy nor upset, and neither cried nor delighted. Nonetheless, before the emanation of joy, anger, sadness or happiness, that is just the Middle Way. People who uphold the precepts maintain the Middle Way in every action and every move. Because Vinaya Master Dao Xuan adhered to the Middle Way, the heavenly beings were moved to bring him food offerings, following the practice of one-meal-a-day. Heavenly being Lu Xuan Chang brought him offerings of food from the heavens every day at noon.

Vinaya Master Dao Xuan practiced his cultivation at Mt. Zhong Nan, a mountain range connected to the Himalayas. I hear that Mt. Zhong Nan in China has many seasoned cultivators who cultivated there and attained enlightenment. There are many wolves and tigers there too, but they do not bother monastic cultivators or cause them trouble; in fact, they are dharma protectors. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan stayed there to practice cultivation, living in a straw hut, and receiving offerings from the heavenly beings.

At that time, Dharma Master Kui Ji stroke up false thoughts. What were they? He said, “I have eaten all the delicious foods in the human realm, whether vegetarian or not, I have tried them all. But I have not tasted food from the heavens. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan has heavenly beings bringing him food offerings. I’ll go there for lunch.” Hence, he went to Mt. Zhong Nan to see Vinaya Master Dao Xuan.

Dharma Master Kui Ji was a national master too. He was a very intelligent disciple of Dharma Master Xuan Zang of the Consciousness-Only School. At that time, there were 800 or 900 monks translating sutras together. He was a key player too. In any case, he went there early for lunch, since Vinaya Master Tao Xuan only eats lunch. He waited and waited, from lunch time, throughout the afternoon, to evening time….no one offered any food. Both Vinaya Master Dao Xuan and Dharma Master Kui Ji did not have any food to eat.

Dharma Master Kui Ji loved to eat excellent food, so he could not tolerate going without food for a day. This was no small distress. “You say heavenly beings offer you food every day, how come there is nothing now that I am here? Did you brag? Did you lie?” Vinaya Master Dao Xuan said, “Say whatever you want to say. You said I lied, but I know whether I lied or not.” Even though Dharma Master Kui Ji accused him of telling a lie, Vinaya Master Dao Xuan did not argue with him. Having waited till nightfall, Dharma Master Kui Ji spend the night at the straw hut because it was too dark to walk.

So be it – there was a fat monk and a skinny monk. The fat monk was Dharma Master Kui Ji; the skinny monk was Vinaya Master Dao Xuan. Although Vinaya Master Dao Xuan ate heavenly offerings, he was not fat. Although Dharma Master Kui Ji did not eat heavenly offerings, he was very fat because he loved to eat and he always asked the cook to come up with ideas to prepare tasty food. So, this fat monk stayed the night here.

Dharma Master Kui Ji did not meditate or investigate Dhyana. As soon as his head touched the bed, he fell asleep right away and snored thunderously. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan meditated and did not snore. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan was disturbed by Dharma Master Kui Ji’s thunderous snore so much so that he could not enter samadhi. Unable to enter samadhi, he started picking lice off of his body (Mt. Zhong Nan is very cold so cultivators have lice from not showering too often.) As the lice bit him, he picked the lice off of him. Because he kept the precepts, he did not dare to kill, so he slowly placed the lice on the ground. There was no light and nothing going on. Dharma Master Kui Ji was sound asleep, so basically unaware of anything. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan continued to meditate.