Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra 

A Detailed Exposition by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu 

Translated into English by the True Buddha School Vimala Sutra Translation Team 

Discourse 58, 14 January 2023 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)  

Chapter One—Buddhaverse

“The one with vast pure eyes like a deep blue lotus, 

And pure mind transcending all meditations,

With infinite pure karma accumulated since long ago,

You guide beings to nirvana; to you we pay homage!

We witnessed Great Holiness’ miraculous power

In manifesting the infinite lands of the ten directions,

Wherein them, all the buddhas are teaching dharma.

Hereby, we personally saw and heard!

The dharma king has unsurpassed dharma power,

And ever generous to all in giving dharma wealth.” 

Let’s now talk about the Vimalakirti Sutra. We covered the first two lines of this praise last time.

“The one with vast pure eyes like a deep blue lotus,

And pure mind transcending all meditations,”

Pure eyes refer to the five kinds of eyes—buddha eyes, wisdom eyes, dharma eyes, divine eyes, and physical eyes. And his pure mind has transcended all forms of meditations.

“With infinite pure karma accumulated since long ago,”

When did Sakyamuni Buddha accumulate pure karma? When he was a bodhisattva for five hundred lifetimes, as recorded in the Jatakas. The Buddha cultivated bodhisattvahood for five hundred lifetimes before attaining buddhahood under the bodhi tree in the saha world. You can check the Jatakas—the sutra which records Sakyamuni Buddha’s past lives. Reading these Jataka Tales, you would know that Sakyamuni Buddha generated all kinds of merit and accumulated infinite merit as a bodhisattva.

Inside the Dunhuang Caves, there are many murals that depict Sakyamuni Buddha’s past lives as a bodhisattva. We all know that he had been reincarnated in the animal realm as an elephant king, a deer king, a monkey king, and a peacock king. He had also been a king in the human realm—King of Awesome Virtues. As a bodhisattva, he generated tremendous merit—this is infinite pure karma. Thus, Accumulated Treasures Bodhisattva praised him: With infinite pure karma accumulated since long ago.

“You guide beings to nirvana; to you we pay homage.”

The most important word in this phrase is nirvana—extinction. What is nirvana or extinction? It is the most important seal in the Three Dharma Seals. The Three Dharma Seals are:

Everything is devoid of “self.”

Everything is impermanent.

Nirvana is extinction.

They all kneeled with their heads touching the ground to Sakyamuni Buddha. This is the same as “paying homage.” Back then, Master Pu Fang often chanted: “I pay homage and take refuge in the Susiddhi [precepts]. Homage to Maha Cundi Buddha Mother.” So they made prostration to pay homage to Sakyamuni Buddha, as we do to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Making prostrations is equivalent to paying homage or giving respect.

Accumulated Treasures Bodhisattva paid homage to Sakyamuni Buddha because the Buddha guided sentient beings to nirvana—the realm of extinction. Nirvana is fruition. What does it mean to guide beings to nirvana? Why did Accumulated Treasures Bodhisattva use nirvana in his praise?

It is because nirvana or extinction is the only fundamental wisdom. Sakyamuni Buddha has spoken on many sutras but most of them are not about the Enlightening Reality—which is the ultimate. The sutras on Enlightening Reality talk about nirvana as extinction. The Prajnaparamitra Sutra, the Vajra Sutra, and the Heart Sutra are sutras about the ultimate truth. So, this phrase means that the Buddha guides sentient beings to understand the ultimate enlightening reality and to reach extinction.

What is extinction? It is when everything is equal and utterly perfect.

On the contrary, there is no equality for sentient beings. Look at our fingers, they are not equal—the thumb is short, and the middle finger is long. How is there any equality? I was born in 1945, during World War II. I was born in a chicken coop by the bank of the Niuchou River while Jesus was born in a manger. There was no milk, and all I had as a baby was rice gruel. I grew up without much nutrition so I was skinny and short. I cannot blame my parents.

Nowadays, I wear high-heeled footwear like the ones commonly worn by Taoist priests—Cloud Climber Shoes. Wearing this kind of shoes, one exudes an air of presence when they walk, and each step is deliberate and lofty. One step is one step, and not two steps. I wear high-heeled footwear to extend my height and add some esteem. Now I am 158 cm, shrunk from 163 cm at my tallest height. The spine shrinks as one ages. You will know it yourself when you are old. I want to grow taller. I heard that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is amazing and Dr. Liao is an amazing doctor. So, Dr. Liao, can you do acupuncture to make me taller? You can? Yeah, I know in the Allopathic Western Medicine, they can amputate the legs, add some bones and reconnect them to make you taller. Can TCM do that too? What acupoints would you use the needles at? Oh, I see, you can stretch my spine to make it longer. By how many cm? See, nothing is equal or fair in the world. People always compliment a man by saying that he is tall and handsome, but they never compliment a short man even when he is handsome. It’s so unfair! Can’t short men be handsome too? [laughing]

Many things on earth are not equal or fair. There are men and then there are women. Some are good, some are bad, some beautiful, some ugly, fat or slim, tall or short. There is so much inequality in this world! 

Sakyamuni Buddha guided sentient beings to the state of equality. What is equality? When everything is extinct and perfect, then there is equality. In the Buddhist sutras on the ultimate enlightening reality, the Buddha spoke on nirvana as extinction. There is only one phenomenon—extinction! There are no other phenomena or differentiations among the phenomena. All sentient beings embody buddhanature and they will become a buddha eventually. There is only one—extinction! 

Sentient beings are illusory. Their existence is due to the arising of causes and conditions, and it is temporary. However, they are trapped in the cycle of samsara because in this illusory world; the illusory selves continue to create karma—bondage. Thus, they need to be awakened from this illusion. Buddhadharma is a skillful means to awaken sentient beings and liberate them from their bondage. Once they lucidly recognize their own buddhanature, they are equivalent to a buddha. At such a moment, everything is completely equal without differentiation. That is called the fundamental wisdom.

Once you attain the fundamental wisdom, you reach extinction (nirvana). Extinction means [having] the fundamental wisdom of the Tathagata, which is the ultimate [reality]. When you have attained such fundamental wisdom and have perfected everything, then you become a buddha.

I need to clearly explain nirvana or extinction. To guide beings to nirvana is the same as guiding beings to buddhahood. Nirvana is perfection and equality, and it is also buddhahood. In such a state, nothing is comparative, and everything is absolute. That is buddhahood, and it is also extinction. In the future, I will explain this more. For this, they made prostration to the Buddha.

Buddhas have so many kinds of wisdom. The wisdom of discernment is likened to having dharma eyes. The fundamental wisdom is having wisdom eyes. They also have divine eyes and physical eyes. When all these eyes are perfectly cultivated, that is referred to as having buddha eyes. That’s why they paid great homage to Sakyamuni Buddha with palms joined together. Respectfully joining your palms also show obeisance and homage.

Next,

“We witnessed Great Holiness’ miraculous power

In manifesting the infinite lands of the ten directions,”

Great Holiness refers to His Holiness Sakyamuni Buddha. What are the infinite lands? They refer to all the buddhaverses and purelands in all ten directions— east, west, north, south, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest, plus zenith above and nadir below, adding up to ten directions—that were manifested under the parasol by Sakyamuni Buddha. So, Accumulated Treasures Bodhisattva praised Sakyamuni Buddha as the Great Holiness.

Grandmaster, on the other hand, is just a “Small Holiness,” as I only manifested a relatively small parasol that covered this temple—Taiwan Lei Tsang Temple—the other day. Sakyamuni Buddha is referred to as Great Holiness because of his great transcendent power.

“Wherein them, all the buddhas are teaching dharma.

Hereby, we personally saw and heard!”

If Grandmaster were Sakyamuni Buddha, I would have said, “Alright now, which buddha would you like to see speaking dharma? Then I’d wave my sleeve, and in it you’d be able to see the buddha you wish to see. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva? Sure. Manjusri Bodhisattva? Here he comes. You would be able to see them all inside my sleeves. Well, how could it be possible for me to do that?

Nonetheless, I demonstrated some transcendent power. Do you want to see your grandma? Perhaps your grandma is still alive, perhaps not. Back then, during bardo deliverances, people could see their deceased loved ones. There were not that many people then. So, you want to see your grandma? I opened my sleeve and told them, “See? Your grandma is right there!” And sure enough, they saw her.

People could see the spirits back then. Grandmaster asked Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in front of me to take his staff and knock three times. Immediately, a woman was able to see her deceased son walking toward her from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Seeing her son, she couldn’t help but sob from the depth of her heart as they hugged each other—full of tears. Some of you saw that incident at the Seattle Leizang Temple.

I once said on the dharma throne, “Now, close your eyes to see your ancestors.” I think that was the first time I said it, “I will let your ancestors come to meet you.” [Someone from the audience was present then and she narrated her experience.] It’s very good that you came out and testified!

When I was still living at 39 Lixing Road, Taichung, Taiwan, there was the Yonglong Food Company nearby at the Hezuo New Village. It is not there anymore, and I don’t know where they have moved to as I have moved out of that place too. Their son died at a young age. One time, the mother wanted to see her deceased son. So I performed the bardo deliverance, and it really happened; she saw her son, and mother and son hugged and wept bitterly.

Many people had visions during my bardo deliverances over there. I’d just raise my hand and pray to Golden Mother to help so they could see. That is called the meeting of the living with the dead, where a living person can see the deceased. In the future, let’s organize this again, so people can meet their deceased loved ones.

Let’s also have another ceremony where sicknesses can be cured, like the one we had at the Liberty Square in Taipei—Mahottara Heruka. People with cancer and all sorts of illnesses who were cured instantly wrote about their miraculous experiences [which had been included in Grandmaster’s books.] Let’s have many more of these ceremonies, including the meeting of the living and the dead, where you can see all the ancestors you’d like to meet. Yet, these miraculous manifestations that Grandmaster demonstrated are small compared to Sakyamuni Buddha’s.

“Wherein them, all the buddhas are teaching dharma.

Hereby, we personally saw and heard!"

Sakyamuni Buddha can let all sentient beings and the bodhisattvas see and hear all the buddhas preaching dharma in their respective buddhaverses. That’s how great Sakyamuni Buddha is, which was heard and witnessed by the assembly.   

“The dharma king has unsurpassed dharma power,

And ever generous to all in giving dharma wealth.” 

Dharma King referred to Sakyamuni Buddha; he is a true dharma king. His dharma power surpassed all sentient beings. What is dharma wealth? We will explain this later. Today, someone testified that in the past when Grandmaster performed bardo deliverances, I could invoke the spirits from the netherworld for people to see. This is indeed true. Thank you for that. Amitabha! 

Om mani padme hum. 

Next discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 59, 22 January 2023 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Previous discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 57, 7 January 2023 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Index of links to all discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: https://en.tbsn.org/guidem/detail/2975/ 

Back to the main index page of all dharma discourse: https://en.tbsn.org/guidem/index   

Full webcast of 2023.1.14 Vajrasattva Homa Ceremony (Taiwan Lei Tsang Temple) and dharma discourse with English interpretation: https://youtu.be/vS5FEtd163o 

More photos at https://en.tbsn.org/news/detail/1697/