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Book: An Overview
of The Buddhadharma
- Book: An Overview of The Buddhadharma
- Title: Comprehension
- Written by: Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by: Janny Chow
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COMPREHENSION
What comes after one generates faith and confidence? One next has
to achieve "comprehension." Comprehension involves contemplation,
analytical thinking and understanding.
Generally the monks advise one to go and read the sutras. They
say, "Go and study the sutras! Go and turn the sutras around!" Does
the studying of sutras offer any benefits? Of course they offer
some benefits. Many people are able to eventually experience this:
when they open the scriptures, they can see the Buddha Shakyamuni
and Kuan Yin Bodhisattva emerging from the sutras. This happens
when one deeply penetrates the sutras. This happens when one deeply
penetrates the sutras perfunctorily! They just casually read over
them. They will read and chant the Diamond Sutra,
the Amitabha Sutra, the Article of Universal Gateway
from the Lotus Sutra, the Ksitigarbha Original
Vow Sutra and any other kind of sutra! But when you ask
them if they know what the essences of the sutras are, they say,
"I don't know! I am only chanting!" (laughter) That is like playing
a record! (laughter) Why? The record just spins around. In such
chanting, one has not used one's heart or mind to comprehend the
sutras.
"Comprehension" means understanding the scriptures and this understanding
is known as the "Enlightened Wisdom." We study the sutras today
so we can understand their meanings, which entails a deep penetration
and not just a superficial reading. What does "turning the sutras
around" mean? Does it mean holding the sutra in hand and turning
it around? Or does it mean turning of the prayer wheel with each
recitation? It means neither. It means that one has become a living
proof of teachings of the sutras. One has turned one's normal activities
and the sutra into one inseparable state of being. This is what
"turning the sutra around" means. A skillful adept can truly enter
into the state of being of the sutras. If it snows outside, he can
sit upon the snow and start floating and gliding with the snowflakes.
When he thirsts, he can hide himself under the stamens and pistils
of flowers to drink from their water. When the flowers sway with
the wind, the adept can hide himself inside the flower to sip from
its nectar. He can also sit upon the snowflake and float along with
the other snowflakes. In reading the sutras, the adept has reached
the state of merging his body and mind with the wind and can thus
sail up and down just as the wind does. This state of being is a
kind of free and liberating state. Only when one is able to read
the sutras and enter into a state of union, to open up a more expansive
consciousness, and to become as free as the world of Nature, can
it be considered as "penetration into the treasury of the sutras"
or "comprehension."
As Buddhist believers, what exactly is it that we believe in? We
believe in the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni. In penetrating
into the treasury of the sutras taught by the Buddha, we obtain
his teachings. Then the next step is to practice his teachings,
to become one with the Buddha, and to attain sovereignty and transcendental
powers just like the Buddha. Isn't one also the Buddha? This is
a kind of "comprehension" in practicing Buddhism. That is why we
go to listen Dharma teachings. You have to come to hear me talk
about the Dharma, you have to come to be close to the disseminator
of true knowledge and to obtain the true Buddhadharma. When you
acquire a tacit understanding of the teachings, the teachings will
become yours ¡V this is why we go to listen the Dharma teachings.
After viewing A Complete and Detailed Exposition on the True
Buddha Tantric Dharma, the knowledge becomes yours. You
only spend US $60 - $80 to obtain the knowledge, and you can verify
this when you practice the liturgy accordingly.
To "comprehend" is to penetrate deeply into the Buddhadharma. Therefore
one has to listen to the Dharma teachings, to read the scriptures
and to contemplate their meanings. The three steps in the learning
of the Buddhadharma are: Hearing (exposure), Contemplation, and
Practice. To hear, to contemplate, and finally to practice and verify
one's learning. When one is able to contemplate and understand the
meaning in the sutras, one attains the wisdom of the sutras. Simply
put, this is "comprehension."
In this first talk of An Overview of the Buddhadharma, I have talked
about "Faith," "Impermanence," and "Comprehension." Regarding "Comprehension,"
it is very important to attend more talks given by Dharma masters
and sages. One must study scriptures and read the sutras. To penetrate
into the treasury of the sutras, one has to ponder and deeply contemplate
their meanings. "Comprehension" is when one is able to tacitly understand
the meanings. Implicit in the term "Comprehension" is Hearing (exposure)
and Contemplation.
In these several days, I shall be teaching to you a synopsis of
the Buddhadharma. These are important teachings that I have gleaned
from my Buddhist knowledge. They are also what I have contemplated
on and understood. Take time to slowly understand and experience
these Dharma teachings, and you will be able to achieve a yogic
reponse. After achieving a yogic response, continue to follow your
faith and to practice it, you will then receive great empowerments
and blessings from many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Your consciousness
will expand and you will achieve great accomplishments. These are
the simple teachings on my first day of discourse.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
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