|
I. True Mind-Right Faith In the Hua-Yen Sutra, Faith is the Spring of Tao (Truth), The Motherhood of Virtue and Merits; It will nourish each and every good ulterior motive. And also in the Mind-Only Shastra, Faith is like a water-purifying-jewel; It will purify the dirty water. According to this we should know faith as the frontiersman of ten-thousand good conducts. Therefore, every sutra begins with 'Thus have I heard', To manifest the faith in the sincerity. Student: What is the difference between patriarchal faith and doctrinal faith? Pojo: There are many differences; in the doctrinal teaching the intent is to teach the truth of cause-and-effect for human and heaven-beings. By this, those who wish to receive fortune and happiness will, by practicing the Ten Good-conducts, create good karmic motives. As a result, they will be born in a happy land either as a human or a heaven-being. On the other hand, those who wish peace and tranquility are taught of the karmic connection between birth and death; that righteousness is the cause while the Four noble Truths; i.e. suffering, its causation, its extinction, and the path (to Nirbana) are the noble effects. Or, again, those who believe in the attainment of Buddhahood are taught (to believe) that the six
paramitas over three samkhyea kalpas are a cause, and the accomplishment of right
enlightenment(Bodhi and Nirvana) is the effect. But, the Patriarchal door does not depend on the truth of cause-and-effect through karmic
actions; rather, just on the belief that the self is originally Buddha. Everyone has divinely true
self-nature and has accomplished the essence of complete enlightenment ( Nirvana); which does
not depend on another, but is perfect in itself. In the Gatha, of Third Patriarch, Sung Chan(Seng
chan): Tao is as pervasive as space, neither excessive nor deficient; although it is, only because of a
thought, which is inclined to choose or relinguish. And in the Gatha of Ji Gong (Chih Kung): The formless body inside of visualized body, birth-and-deathless Way in the way of unenlightened darkness. And Young ka (Yung chia) sang, The true nature of unenlightened darkness is the Buddha-nature; the illusory empty body is the
Dharma Body(of the Truth). Therefore, one should know that the indigent-being is originally the Buddha. Although one
mobilizes the right faith, he should understand clearly that which is said in Young Myung's (Yen
Shou) Gatha: Faith without understanding increases the unenlightened Darkness. Understanding without faith
increases the evil opinion. Therefore, you should know that faith and understanding must combine for one to enter the
gateway swiftly. Student: What if one has not entered the Buddha-Tao Yet, but has already mobilized the mind of faith; is it beneficial? Pojo: According to the Awakening of Faith: One who, hearing this Dharma, does not have any fearful feeling, will finally become a
transmitter of Buddha; he will be sealed by all Buddhas. The one who teaches innumerable
numbers of indigent-beings throughout the three-thousand times three-thousand worlds and
allows them to learn and practice ten-good-conducts, still cannot be compared with, and is
inferior to, the one who has raised a righteous thought of this dharma even for a very short
time. In the Wisdom-Paramita Sutra, Buddha3 will see and know all who mobilized an immaculate faith, even if in one thought; he
will attain immeasurable virtue and merit. It is like this; a one-thousand mile trip begins with one right first step! One wrong step will result in
a thousand miles of going the wrong way. In order to go to the Country of Formless-Doing, first,
have right initial faith! If one loses this faith, all the good will be gone by then. This is the reason
all patriarchs say: Once there is a tiny crack; Split will be as great as the distance from sky to earth. |
Copyright(c) 1998 DIBO All rights reserved.