Issue 281

The next morning, Vinaya Master Dao Xuan told Dharma Master Kui Ji, “Hey! How come you do not cultivate at all? You don’t meditate, you don’t do any practice. At nightfall, you lie down and slept right away, snoring loudly and talking in your sleep. I could not meditate or enter Samadhi.”

Dharma Master Kui Ji said, “Ah! You say I have no cultivation, but I think it’s you who have no cultivation. You say heavenly beings bring you offerings but I have not seen any heavenly being since I have been here. Last night, instead of doing your practice, you were picking lice. You picked two. If you had pinched them dead, then so be it; but you placed them on the ground. One fell and died, the other broke two legs. The dead louse went to King Yama and pressed charges against you. King Yama was about to send some ghosts over to bring you for questioning. I spoke a lot on your behalf. I told him that you are a cultivator and hoped that King Yama will forgive you. I told those two lice to find their next birth. This is how you were saved from getting in trouble. And now you are telling me that I disturbed you, preventing you from cultivating? I think you are the one who truly has no cultivation!”

Vinaya Master Dao Xuan thought, “How did he know about the two lice being thrown on the ground? There were no lights on or anything; how did he know?” He did not dare to argue. Because he keeps the precepts, he did not speak to people casually. Whatever people say of him, he patiently endures and does not argue. Later, Dharma Master Kui Ji said, “I’m leaving, you are pretending to cultivate here. I am not going to wait for lunch today.”

By noon, heavenly being Lu Xuan Chang brought offerings to Vinaya Master Dao Xuan. Vinaya Master Dao Xuan, somewhat upset, said, “Why did you not bring any food yesterday?” Lu Xuan Chang immediately knelt down and said, “Vinaya Master, it’s not that I did not come to make offerings yesterday. When I came yesterday, I could not enter your hut. There was a dazzling golden light shining within a radius of a dozen miles around your hut. The golden light was radiating so brightly that I could neither open my eyes nor see the road in front of me. I asked the local earth Bodhisattva how come there were golden lights so bright that I could not proceed. The local earth Bodhisattva said, ‘Someone in the hut is a Bodhisattva in the flesh, a living Bodhisattva.’ I circled around a few times yesterday and could not come in, so I could not bring you offerings. Please forgive me.”

Vinaya Master Dao Xuan thought, “No wonder Dharma Master Kui Ji is a national master whom even the emperor believes in. He is a Bodhisattva in the flesh.” From then on, he dared not look down on Dharma Master Kui Ji. The state of Bodhisattvas is something we can’t fathom.

The sound of kshanti paramita. We have talked about two of the paramitas among the Six Paramitas and the Myriad Conducts in the Buddhadharma. There are four more. The third is kshanti, which is Sanskrit for patience. There is patience with production, patience with the Dharma and patience with the non-production of Dharma, something extremely wondrous and filled with joy. If you certify to the patience of non-production of Dharma, then you have really savored the Dharma, really understood the wonder and the inconceivability of the Buddhadharma. Being patient, you can reach paramita; being impatient, you cannot reach paramita.
The sound of virya paramita. Virya is also Sanskrit. It means vigor. Some people misconstrue vigor as being diligent with non-Buddhist practices. Actually, those who really understand vigor are diligent with the Buddhadharma. Diligence with non-Buddhist practices is merely cultivating useless ascetic practices. There were many heretics in India. One heretic practice was eating grass instead of rice; keeping the cows’ precepts, imitating cows. Another heretic practice was keeping the dogs’ precepts and imitating dogs, e.g. not doing what dogs refuse to do, rejecting any food that dogs reject, eating only what dogs eat. These are the cows’ and dogs’ precepts. Another heretic practice was sleeping in a pile of ash. The human body is already unclean, and yet these heretics pile lots of dust on their bodies and cultivate in the dust. Another heretic practice was sleeping on a bed of nails to show that they can tolerate pain and practice asceticism. These are examples of useless ascetic practices of the heretics. They think they are being very diligent, but it is actually a form of deviant knowledge and deviant view. It is not proper knowledge and proper view. This kind of diligence is useless.

Apply diligence in the practice of good dharma, not in the practice of evil dharma. Diligence in evil dharma goes against the Way. Diligence in good dharma, such as bowing to the Buddhas, reciting the sutras, bowing in repentance, reciting the Buddha’s name, constitute diligence with the physical body. Then there is diligence with the mind. What does it mean? In thought after thought, cultivate the Way at all times. Diligently cultivate the good dharma, never to forget. Diligently cultivate the paramita of vigor, forget about your fatigue. When you truly cultivate the Buddhadharma, you will not feel tired or hungry, you will not be vexed by anything that is not in accord with the Dharma. Why? Since you are able to practice diligently, you do not have any bad feelings. If you were not diligent, you will encounter problems. You will feel tired and lethargic; you figure you might as well go to sleep. This is non-diligence. Diligence is primarily based on what you do, such as cultivating the path of goodness at all times and in all places. That is the paramita of vigor.

Last summer when I lectured on the Shurangama Sutra, I explained a four-line gatha. Every monk or nun should remember this four-line gatha. When the Buddha was in the world, monastics recited this four-line gatha daily, never forgetting it at any time. That’s why I specially brought up this gatha at that time. I even think that laypeople who aspire to be monastics should memorize it, how much more so should monastics not forget it. Here is the four-line gatha.

Guard the mouth, gather in thoughts,

make no bodily transgressions.

Never annoy sentient beings.

Stay far away from useless asceticism.

Such practitioners can save the world.

Guard the mouth, gather in thoughts, make no bodily transgressions. Do not speak casually or gossip. Watch over the mouth to prevent it from talking about this being good and that being bad, this being delicious and that being not. Gather in thoughts means to reign in all those thoughts so they do not run off in all directions. Make no bodily transgressions means not violating any precepts with the body. At all times, be reminded of oneself being a left-home person. Do not violate the rules and regulations.

Never annoy sentient beings. Do not bother or perturb any sentient being, causing them distress. Sentient beings include not only humans, but also animals. It is wrong to make any of them upset. Monastics should not distress any sentient being.

Stay far away from useless asceticism. Stay distant from unbeneficial ascetic practices; but do follow the twelve dhutanga practices. Refrain from practices that are useless and do not accord with the Buddhadharma. Do not study from heretics who claim that they will become Buddhas in this lifetime. Cultivate according to the Buddhadharma. Do not observe the precepts of cows and dogs. What is this all about? Externalists practice asceticism so bitter that they eventually open up their Heavenly Eye. Having opened up their Heavenly Eye, they see a dog ascending to the heavens after it dies; so, they practice what dogs do – dog precepts. Other externalists see cows ascending to the heavens and so they follow what cows do – cow precepts. These externalists in India were short on wisdom. Although they cultivated various ascetic practices, none of these practices are helpful. So, stay afar from useless asceticism.

Such practitioners can save the world. People who cultivate like this can save the world, teaching and transforming living beings.