Sixth Patriarch's Sutra January 25, 2013 lecture

7/29/2019 Sixth Patriarch's Sutra January 25, 2013 lecture

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The Sixth Patriarchs Sutra7:30pm Pacific timeJanuary 25, 2013 lecture

as outlined by a Buddhist monkat 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, California 94010, open to public(phone 650-6925912)

(Listen live or recorded audio explanations at

www.wondrousdharma.org)

Q&A Worrying over the impending death

Chapter 6 Repentance and reform the 3 refugesof our own nature

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Verse for opening a sutra

Na Mwo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha (3x)

Homage to the Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (3x)

The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderful Dharma, In a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult to encounter,

Now that Ive come to receive and hold it, within my sight and hearing,

I vow to fathom the Thus Come Ones true and actual meaning.

Exhortation to uphold the Dharma: 11

Just then the Saha world was transformed into one of purity, with lapislazuli for soil and adorned with jeweled trees. Its eight roads werebordered with golden cords. In it there were no towns, villages, cities,

oceans, rivers, streams, mountains, brooks, forests or thickets.Precious incense was burned and mandarava flowers completelycovered the ground. Above it were spread jeweled nets and bannershung with jeweled bells. Only those in the assembly remained, as thegods and humans have been moved to another land.(The WonderfulDharma Lotus Flower Sutra)


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Q&A

Question: My 90 year old mother knows that she is going to depart

from the world soon. She is worried for the unknown as to what

is going to happen. How do I explain to her?

Answer:

With one mind, I return my life to Buddha Amitabha who is inthe land of Ultimate Bliss

Wishing his pure light illumines me and his kind vows gather

me in.

Now, with proper mindfulness, I praise the Thus Come Ones

name. 3


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Q&A

In order to take the path of Bodhi and to seek rebirth in the pure

land.

In the past, the Buddha vowed, If living beings who wish for

rebirth in my land

And who resolve their minds with faith and joy even for ten

recitations, are not reborn there,

I will not attain the Proper Enlightenment.

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Q&A

Through mindfulness of the Buddha, I enter the sea of the

Thus Come Ones great vows,

And receive the power of the Buddhas kindness. My

multitude of offenses is eradicated and my good roots increase

and grow.

As I approach the end of life, I myself will know the time of its

coming.

My body will be free of illness and pain.

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Q&A

My mind will have no greed or fondness, and my thought will

not be upside down, just as entering Chan concentration.

The Buddha and the assembly of sages, leading me by thehand to the golden dais, will come to welcome me.

And in the space of a thought, I will be reborn in the land ofUltimate Bliss.

The flower will open, and I will see the Buddha, straightway

hear the Buddha Vehicle.

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Q&A

And immediately attain the wisdom of a Buddha. I will cross

over living beings on a wide scale, fulfilling my Bodhi vows.

All Buddhas of the ten directions, and the three periods of time,

All Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas

Mahaprajna paramita!

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Listen to what I say, for it can cause you to see the three

bodies of your own self-nature within your own body. The

three bodies of the Buddha arise from your own self-natureand are not obtained from outside.

Comments

The precious pearl is within us; turn your light of attention

inwards.

Recognize your original mind and you will see your Buddha-

nature.

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Our original mind is pure without anything at all; in confusion

everything comes from it.

Our original mind is wise without attachment to good or evil.

Our original mind is in samadhi; the unmoving thusness that

unites with Reality.

Recognize the original mind and you will see the originalnature.

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Sutra:

What is the clear, pure Dharma-body Buddha? The

worldly persons nature is basically clear and pure, and the

ten thousand dharmas are produced from it. The thought ofevil produces evil actions and the thought of good

produces good actions. Thus all dharmas exist within the

self-nature.

Comments

The actual appearance of Reality is without appearance; there

isnt anything at all.

If people wish to understand the nature of the Dharma

Realm, everything is made by the mind alone. 10


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Basically the Buddha nature within us is without any attributes,

(true emptiness)

but from within it because of confusion, everything both good

and evil manifest within it (wonderful existence) and

it is explained in the Ten Suchness applicable to each of the10 Dharma Realms.

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As to that foremost, rare, and hard to understand Dharma

accomplished by the Buddha, only the Buddhas and the

Buddha can exhaust the Real Appearance of all dharmas;that is to say, with regard to all dharmas: the suchness of

the appearance, the suchness of the nature, the suchness

of the substance, the suchness of the power, the suchness

of the function, the suchness of the causes, the suchness

of the conditions, the suchness of the effects, the

suchness of the retributionss and the suchness of the

ultimate equality from beginning to end.(The Dharma Flower SutraChapter 2 Expedient Device)

The Great Master Sixth Patriarch gives the analogy of the

clouds in the sky to depict the suchness of people 12


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Sutra:

This is like the sky which is always clear, and the sun and

moon which are always bright, so that if they are obscured

by floating clouds it is bright above the clouds and darkbelow them. But if the wind suddenly blows and scatters

the clouds, there is brightness above and below, and the

myriad forms appear. The worldly persons nature

constantly drifts like those clouds in the sky.

Comments

The worldly person sometimes manifest his good nature andsometimes manifest his evil nature.

When we do more good, we ascend; the inverse appliesequally.13


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Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, intelligence is like the sun and

wisdom is like the moon. Intelligence and wisdom are

constantly bright, but if you are attached to external states,the floating clouds of false thought cover the self-nature so

that it cannot shine.

Comments

The pure mind is like the moon in water;

The quiet mind like a cloudless sky;

True blessings: the mind stopped, thoughts cut off;

True fields of blessing: all desires ended. 14


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Sutra:

If you meet a Good Knowing Advisor, if you listen to the

true and right Dharma and cast out your own confusion

and falseness, then inside and out there will be penetratingbrightness, and within the self-nature all the ten thousand

dharmas will appear. That is how it is with those who see

their own nature. It is called the clear, pure Dharma-body of

the Buddha.

Comments

A good knowing advisor does the job of the Buddha; it takes

good roots to meet one.

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Sutra:

If you meet a Good Knowing Advisor, if you listen to the

true and right Dharma and cast out your own confusion

and falseness, then inside and out there will be penetratingbrightness, and within the self-nature all the ten thousand

dharmas will appear. That is how it is with those who see

their own nature. It is called the clear, pure Dharma-body of

the Buddha.

Comments

First you listen to the good knowing one; then you practice byremoving our confusion and falseness (the false self).

When there is no more confusion, the clear, pure Dharma bodyof the Buddha within us remains.16


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Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, when your own mind takes

refuge with your self-nature, it takes refuge with the true

Buddha. To take refuge is to rid your self-nature of egotismand unwholesome thoughts as well as of jealousy,

obsequiousness, deceitfulness, contempt, pride, conceit,

and deviant views, and all other unwholesome tendencies

whenever they arise.

Comments

Our own mind takes refuge with our inherent Buddha nature,

the mahaprajnaparamita within us.

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Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, when your own mind takes

refuge with your self-nature, it takes refuge with the true

Buddha. To take refuge is to rid your self-nature of egotismand unwholesome thoughts as well as of jealousy,

obsequiousness, deceitfulness, contempt, pride, conceit,

and deviant views, and all other unwholesome tendencies

whenever they arise.

Comments

Taking refuge is the intent to turnaround from being

unwholesome to wholesome and it begins with our thoughts.

The original self nature is without the self; turning around

comes when the false self comparing with others is put down.18


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Sutra:

To take refuge is to be always aware of your own

transgressions and never to speak of other peoples good

or bad traits. Always to be humble and polite is to havepenetrated to the self-nature without any obstacle. That is

taking refuge.

Comments

A common habit is to look and compare with others, resulting in

our mind not being able to return to the original stillness.

I see yet do not see.

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Sutra:

To take refuge is to be always aware of your own

transgressions and never to speak of other peoples good

or bad traits. Always to be humble and polite is to havepenetrated to the self-nature without any obstacle. That is

taking refuge.

Comments

There is tendency to attach to the notion that our practice is

superior and being condescending towards others

thats why the Great Master reminds us to be humble and

polite to others.

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Sutra:

What is the perfect, full Reward-body of the Buddha? Just

as one lamp can disperse the darkness of a thousand

years, one thought of wisdom can destroy ten thousandyears of delusion.

Comments

The perfect full Reward body is the greater transformation body

that comes from our wisdom nature.

Wisdom is the reversal of delusion; it begins with our mind.

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Sutra:

Do not think of the past; it is gone and can never be

recovered. Instead think always of the future and in every

thought, perfect and clear, see your own original nature.Although good and evil differ, the original nature is non-

dual.

Comments

Dont think of the past because whatever good or evil cause will

take its effect; it is pointless to regret but to be perfect and clear

in future.

Being perfect and clear in future thoughts are thoughts that are

non dual. 22


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Dont be anxious about the future because the reason for

anxiety is that you have expectations that are non dual.

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Sutra:

That non-dual nature is the real nature. Undefiled by either

good or evil, it is the perfect, full Reward-body of the

Buddha.

Comments

The sixth conscious mind is the mind that makes distinction; it

is not our original nature.

Our original nature is beyond good and evil because originally

there isnt anything at all; if there is good, there is evil.

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Sutra:

One evil thought arising from the self-nature destroys ten

thousand eons worth of good karma. One good thought

arising from the self-nature ends evils as numerous as thesand-grains in the Ganges River.

Comments

Our self nature has both our good nature and evil nature.

The self nature can produce everything both good and evil

depending upon our thoughts.

But the original self nature is non dual and without movement.

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Sutra:

To reach the unsurpassed Bodhi directly, see it for

yourself in every thought and do not lose the original

thought. That is the Reward-body of the Buddha.

Comments

The original thought comes from the original self nature which

is non dual and without movement.

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To recap earlier

1. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallypure in itself.

2. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallyneither produced

nor destroyed.

3. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallycomplete in itself.

4. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallywithout

movement.

5. How unexpected! The self-nature can produce the ten thousand

dharmas.27


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Sutra:

What are the hundred thousand myriad Transformation

bodies of the Buddha? If you are free of any thought of the

ten thousand dharmas, then your nature is basically likeemptiness, but in one thought of calculation,

transformation occurs.

Comments

Why arent we Buddhas of the past and present but continue to

remain Buddhas of the future?

It is because we are full of calculating thoughts; the Buddhas of

the past were the ones who were the first to forget about the

self and quickly cease calculating thoughts. 28


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Sutra:

Evil thoughts are transformed into hell-beings and good

thoughts into heavenly beings. Viciousness is transformed

into dragons and snakes, and compassion intoBodhisattvas. Wisdom is transformed into the upper

realms, and delusion into the lower realms.

Comments

Good and evil comes from the mind; everything is made by the

mind alone.

In the true reality of all dharmas, there is equality between

wisdom and confusion. 29


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Sutra:

The transformations of the self-nature are extremely

many, and yet the confused person, unawakened to that

truth, continually gives rise to evil and walks evil paths.Turn a single thought back to goodness, and wisdom is

produced. That is the Transformation-body of the Buddha

within your self- nature.

Comments

A turn of the head is the other shore; affliction becomes bodhi.

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Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, the Dharma body of the Buddha

is basically complete. To see your own nature in every

thought is the Reward body of the Buddha. When theReward body thinks and calculates, it is the

Transformation body of the Buddha.

Comments

The Dharma body is basically complete; one with reality.

The Reward body that sees the self nature does not think of

good or evil

The Reward body that moves creates the Transformation

body, the product of thinking and making distinctions. 31


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Venerable Master Hjsuan Hua explaining the 3 bodies:

Why do I say the Shurangama Sutra is the sutra for developing

wisdom and the Dharma Flower Sutra is the sutra for becoming

Buddhas?

Its because the Dharma Flower Sutra is the Buddhas Dharma

Body. Its the real body of the Buddha.

Its the Buddhas Reward Body.

The Buddhas clear, pure, Dharma Body Vairochana Buddha is

also the Dharma Flower Sutra.

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The perfect, full Reward Body Nishyanda Buddha is also the

Dharma Flower Sutra.

The one hundred thousand millions transformation bodies are

also the Dharma Flower Sutra.

Within the Dharma Flower Sutra you will find the three bodies of

the Buddha, the four wisdoms of the Buddha, the five eyes and

six spiritual penetrations of the Buddha as well.

The Dharma Flower Sutra is the king of the Sutras.

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Sutra:

Awaken and cultivate by your own efforts the merit and

virtue of your self-nature. That is truly taking refuge.

Comments

Once you understand the principle, you put it into practice toturn your Transformation Buddha back into the Reward Body

Buddha.

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Dedication of merit

May every living beings,

Our minds as one and radiant with light

Share the fruits of peace, with hearts of goodness

luminous and bright. If people hear and see, how hands and hearts can find in

giving unity

May their minds awake, to great compassion, wisdom

and to joy. May kindness find reward; may all who sorrow leave their

grief and pain;

May this boundless light break the darkness of theirendless night.

Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns intoparadise;

May all become compassionate and wise (2x)


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Dedication of merit

I vow that merit made from this deed will become,

Adornments for the Pure Land of Bu-ddhas. Repaying the four kinds of kindness above,

And aiding those in three paths below.

May all who see and hear of this deed Bring forth the resolve to reborn

In the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

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Sixth Patriarch's Sutra January 25, 2013 lecture

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Transcript of Sixth Patriarch's Sutra January 25, 2013 lecture