I. Faith and Filial Piety
The Buddha said that hearing even one line or one verse from the Lotus Sutra is enough to realize Buddhahood and receive a prediction. You will definitely realize Buddhahood. Because you are already a Buddha, you will ultimately realize Buddhahood. One day, you will awaken, and you will long to awaken.
(Teacher, my mother follows another religion. They don’t really like me studying Buddhism; she thinks it’s better to believe in Christianity. There still seems to be some conflict between filial piety and truly returning to myself.)
Do you think going against her wishes means you’re unfilial? But your wisdom lies in this: Who speaks the highest truth in the universe?
Christianity is fine too. But from the standpoint of the highest truth, I think Buddhism and Buddhist teachings are more complete. So if you attain the Buddha’s wisdom, we can be liberated from saṃsāra, lifetime after lifetime. Then you can bring your mother salvation.
If your mother has not reached the highest wisdom but you have, then bringing her out of saṃsāra, lifetime after lifetime, is a form of great filial piety—the great filial piety of Buddhism.
That is why Buddhism has monastic life; Confucianism says that what one’s parents gave one—one’s hair and skin—must not be harmed… Buddhism speaks of great filial piety from another angle: all the elderly in the world are my parents. Because Buddhism teaches saṃsāra, you have many parents across many lifetimes, not just in this one. If you insist there has only been this one lifetime, you are defining yourself as so-and-so; how could you be the Tathāgata?
So your parents from lifetime after lifetime are all waiting for you to bring them salvation and free them from saṃsāra; your filial piety is boundless. If you want to fulfill filial duty, bringing salvation to all sentient beings is the true fulfillment of filial duty.
(So the wisdom for the present moment is… My mother’s situation right now is that she doesn’t really understand this.)
Then use some skillful means; it’s fine. You don’t need her to change. Just say, “I’m studying religions,” okay? You can say, “I’m studying Christianity, and I’m studying Buddhism too. I’m looking at what each religious leader says; I don’t know what they’re saying.” You don’t have to say you’re a Buddhist. Just say, “I’m studying. I’m a scholar. I’m exploring religion.”
(Sometimes I go to worship with her too.)
Sure. I think Christianity is pretty good too. Some denominations are exclusionary, but Jesus, Christ, and God are not; only the denominations are.
You know this truth, so sometimes, to make your mother happy, be tactful. Say, “Jesus is pretty good, the Lord is pretty good. Bless us—bless me so I can study faster.”
(Oh, it’s strange. I told my mom that I went to hear Jesus’ teaching, and that many of the ideas seemed to be the same… that they were all about love, and so on. Are they brothers or something…)
II. Jesus’ Love and Buddhist Love
But, Jesus’ love is love with a self, while Buddhist love is no-self. So Jesus’ love includes suffering: Jesus was nailed to the cross. Because there was an “I” undergoing suffering, he has the appearance of sentient beings and the appearance of a self.
So, “I am Jesus”: “I bear all sentient beings’ sins; I carry them all. So, ‘I was nailed to the cross.’” Therefore, he is attached to the appearance of sentient beings and the appearance of a self; this is love with a self.
But Buddhist love begins with no-self, so it is fundamentally different. In the end, Buddhist love rises into wisdom and compassion; Jesus’ love manifests suffering in this world.
But Jesus’ love in this world is very great, a sacrifice. When Buddhas and Bodhisattvas bring salvation to sentient beings, at first that too is a sacrifice. In the beginning, when one cannot cling to appearances and cannot place too much importance on one’s own sensations, it too can be a sacrifice. But as one gradually realizes and enters the state of no-self, that sacrifice becomes merit—merit from attaining enlightenment!
III. Inner Meditation and Practice
(Teacher, this is how my current master teaches us: after reciting the sutras, we cultivate concentration and sit in meditation; during samādhi, we scan the whole body.)
Scan the whole body—inner meditation.
(Does inner meditation mean that, while sitting in meditation, he has us start by focusing on the scalp and hair, then move through each part of the body? Is this cultivating concentration?)
What state is this meant to bring you to? Is it meant to make you inwardly aware? He didn’t say. Is it simply becoming still, reducing stray thoughts, or developing concentration?
(Concentration, focus, and becoming more keenly aware of every part of my body. The teacher hasn’t said much about any of this.)
I understand. A lot of inner meditation is cultivating a kind of awareness. In fact, when we practice inner meditation, it is simply awareness, awareness. Normally our consciousness is outside; so we return and settle it on the body’s chakras, keeping the mind on them, or settle it somewhere else. That can also make you drowsy or scattered. Moving it like this works a little better.
But these are all tools, not the ultimate purpose. By moving like this—moving, moving—you gradually become concentrated. When you become concentrated and still, once your consciousness and thoughts no longer make distinctions, the movement no longer exists; how could you move it?
You move it because you have thoughts: move your thoughts from top to bottom, moving, moving… Slowly, slowly, this brings you into a state close to stillness, or samādhi.
If this is meditation, and you want to realize Buddhahood, this is a transitional method. If you only want to become more keenly aware of your body’s condition, then it is another Dharma method, with little to do with realizing Buddhahood. It depends on what you wanted to do at the outset.
(He did say to settle down and contemplate that lotus…)
IV. Dharma Methods and Their Purpose
All Dharma methods are tools. They’re like the pliers, screwdriver, axe, and hammer in a toolbox… perhaps a given method is just a screwdriver, or something else.
The most important thing is: what are you going to do? What are you preparing to do with this tool? Are you using it to break through attachment, cultivate samādhi, develop your concentration, or gain spiritual powers so you can see your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys inside?
Everything is a tool. Most important is: what is your purpose? What purpose are you trying to achieve with this tool? That’s what matters. Be clear about it. What are you trying to do?
(First of all, I feel that there seem to be fewer thoughts…)
That is also a thought; it has merely become this thought: what you think of as those “messy thoughts” has become this “more orderly thought.”
(What kind of state is the state they’re in?)
You’d have to ask him. I generally don’t dare look at their state. In my eyes, they’re all in states of awakening. As long as they continue their cultivation, in my eyes another Buddha is about to be born—that’s the state they’re in.
(I’m like a kindergartner—I haven’t graduated yet.)
No, no—you’re in the upper class, the preschool class… It’s good, it’s good. You’re just not familiar with the concepts; you can’t really say you’re familiar with them at all. Being unfamiliar with them doesn’t mean anything about your practice and realization; practice and realization will come in time. This really doesn’t mean anything.
The question is whether, through your practice and realization, you can let go of your attachment. Breaking through that attachment of yours as soon as possible—that is the key.
So some people, once they become familiar with Buddhist concepts, may let go of many things in an instant. Some people have already done a lot of self-reflection. Although they have not studied Buddhism, they have had many experiences, a wide range of experiences, and then they stop being attached; many things no longer hold them, and they immediately get on the right path.
Some people are very attached and care deeply about themselves. In fact, the self is the hardest thing to break through; ego-clinging is the hardest thing to break through. You may not care about anyone else, but you cannot let go of yourself; you cannot let go of your selfishness. You may even think, on attaining Buddhahood, “I did it; I want to realize Buddhahood.” You aren’t saying, “He should realize Buddhahood.” A Bodhisattva first wants others to realize Buddhahood. “I want to realize Buddhahood”—all of that is self, all of it attachment.
Note: This text was prepared from a teaching video by Yang Ning. If it differs from the video, the video takes precedence. Watch the video.