DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The Mahayana Bodhisattva Aspiration is the primary factor for those who wish to follow the Bodhisattva path. However, this article is based on the path of cultivation of Medicine Buddha, when he was still an ordinary person like you.

In the Medicine Buddha Sutra, when he was still a practitioner, Medicine Buddha made twelve vows, in which the fifth vow says:

- I vow that in the future, when I attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, if there are sentient beings who practice in the Dharma, I will make them complete the three pure precepts. If anyone accidentally breaks the precepts and has the opportunity to hear my name, their mind will immediately become pure and will not fall into the evil realms.

According to this idea, when any of you develop a Mahayana Bodhisattva Aspiration, living in the Buddha's Dharma, He will protect you, make all your circumstances stable and good, and help you easily progress in your cultivation. If you have developed the Bodhisattva path in the Dharma, but do not have enough wisdom, and still have many karmic obstacles, you will certainly make mistakes and suffer from guilt and suffering because of your sins. When you commit a sin that cannot be repented, you are abandoned and cannot live in the Buddhist community, just like a coconut tree whose top is cut off and cannot grow. As a Buddhist, you already know that when you have created karma, of course, you must pay for it; there is no other way. But in this case, if you know and believe in the Medicine Buddha, you just need to direct your mind to the Medicine Buddha, and he will shine his light to bless your mind to be pure, not falling into the evil realms. Because the Medicine Buddha vows to bless you when you sin, not falling into the Three Evil Paths, and to help you feel secure in practicing the Bodhisattva path.

The Medicine Buddha vows to bless your mind like that, so on the path of practice, you accept all criticism from others as a way to repay karma on your physical body. You should always keep your mind pure so that you can communicate with the Buddha's mind, and then you will be able to transform your next life into a good one. It is like giving up a dirty, torn shirt to put on a new, clean, beautiful shirt. When you have a sinful, suffering body, unable to pay off debts such as:

- Debts of money, debts of love, debts of life, so when you close your eyes and sleep, you see the debt collector coming to collect the debt, demanding payment, causing your mind to be agitated.

Hearing the name of Medicine Buddha, reciting the name of Medicine Buddha, and reciting the Medicine Buddha Sutra, thinking of Medicine Buddha, he will protect your mind from being controlled by illusions. The mind is protected by Buddha to be pure to enter the world of the Buddhas.

From the perspective of the fifth vow of Medicine Buddha, if you want to enter the sea of ​​Dharma of Medicine Buddha, you must do two things:

- Develop the Mahayana mind

- Turn your mind toward Medicine Buddha

A- Develop the Mahayana mind

Regarding developing the Mahayana mind, according to the Sutra of the Eight Great Realizations, it teaches:

- The eighth enlightenment is: Birth and death are always burning, suffering is truly boundless, so develop the Mahayana mind, save all, vow to replace sentient beings, bear immeasurable suffering, make all species, and all attain great peace.

The meaning of this passage of the Sutra is that the Buddha wants you to use the Mahayana mind as the basis for saving all living beings. The reason is that those who study and practice Hinayana only seek liberation for themselves and have no enthusiasm for saving all living beings. Life is only concerned with this body, heavily colored by individualism. But when developing the Mahayana mind, not only do they seek liberation for themselves, but they also carry the compassionate vow to save lives, help others, and do things that benefit sentient beings in society. Therefore, the Buddha taught the Dharma, and in many Sutras, he took the Bhikshus as the target. However, this Sutra of the Eight Great Realizations is aimed at lay Buddhists, aiming to guide them on how to improve their lives, how to perceive the world, and how to save all living beings. Therefore, as a lay Buddhist, you must first completely abandon the false fame and wealth in the world, train your body and mind, actively prepare your spiritual power to the point where you are no longer polluted by the world, and then you can freely enter the world to help sentient beings. This is called a true Bodhisattva. Regardless of whether you practice according to the Hinayana school of renunciation of the world, or practice according to the Mahayana school of universal salvation, both have the same view:

- Birth and death are burning, suffering is boundless.

Living beings in the cycle of reincarnation create countless sins. Those boundless and immeasurable sins, like the fire in the fire of the world, burn the body and mind, causing living beings to suffer countless pains. Suffering dominates the world, oppressing living beings. The purpose of your studying Buddhism is to liberate oneself from suffering.

Human life is suffering. Suffering comes from many desires. Many desires come from ego-grasping. Because the relationship between ego-grasping and dharma-grasping is not balanced:

- There is suffering caused by you and things, that is because you desire material things but are not satisfied.

- There is suffering caused by you and people, which is because of the relationship of contact between you and people.

- There is suffering caused by you and your body and mind, that is, aging, sickness, and afflictions, which follow and coexist with birth.

- There is suffering caused by you and your desires combined with your perception, that is because your inner self wrongly perceives the world.

When you are surrounded by suffering, no matter who you are, you all have the common wish to be free from suffering. Therefore, the responsibility of a Bodhisattva is to develop the Mahayana mind, to save all sentient beings from suffering.

Talking about saving all sentient beings from suffering, there are two different ways:

- First, save yourself, then save others.

- Second, save others first; if you have not been saved yet, it is not urgent.

The way of saving yourself first, then saving others, some people think:

- If you have not been saved yet, how can you save others?

The sea of ​​suffering is vast, sentient beings are drowning; if you do not know how to swim, how can you save them? Therefore, if you want to save all sentient beings, you must first be free from birth and death, no longer have sorrow, grief, and suffering.

- Talking about saving others first, but you have not been saved yet, this is the Bodhisattva's mind. Learning Bodhisattva is learning right from sentient beings. A Bodhisattva who leaves sentient beings is not called a Bodhisattva. When saving sentient beings is complete, it is also when your Bodhisattva path is complete.

No matter how you say it, when you have developed the Mahayana mind to study the path, vowing to save all sentient beings, the most important thing is to propagate the Dharma and benefit living beings. For a Bodhisattva, propagating the Dharma is a natural duty, benefiting living beings is an aspiration from the beginning, without any hesitation or doubt. This is the attitude of a Mahayana Bodhisattva towards life.

So when you talk about developing the Mahayana mind, you are talking about a Bodhisattva, a Bodhisattva who saves himself and can save all living beings. When you talk about the Mahayana mind, you are talking about the mind that includes the Bodhi mind, the great compassion mind, and the skillful means mind:

1- The Bodhi mind is the seed (cause):

Anyone who has developed the Mahayana mind must have all three minds: the Bodhi mind, the great compassion mind, and the skillful means mind. Because developing the Bodhi mind is developing the mind to seek Buddhahood. In your life, if you develop the Bodhi mind, you will have one more seed to become a Buddha. Therefore, if you study Buddhism without developing the Bodhi mind, it is like a field without sowing seeds, and there will be no harvest. Because the Bodhi mind is the mind of vows, and only with the mind of vows can there be accomplishment. Developing the Bodhi mind is to develop four broad vows:

- Living beings are limitless, I vow to save

Endless afflictions, I vow to cut them off

Immeasurable Dharma doors, I vow to learn

Unsurpassed Buddhahood, I vow to attain it.

This is the Bodhi mind of Mahayana.

2- The mind of great compassion is the root (base)

When you develop the mind of great compassion, you develop the mind below to save living beings. Below saving living beings, you must develop the mind of great compassion without conditions. Great compassion is the same, seeing the suffering of living beings as your suffering, seeing the joy of living beings as your joy, saving living beings without expecting anything in return, and seeing serving living beings as a matter of course. Vow to endure the immeasurable sufferings of sentient beings as this Sutra speaks of, that is the great compassion of Mahayana.

3- The mind of expedient means is the fruit (the ultimate goal)

You generate the mind of expedient means; you generate the mind to practice the four methods of conversion. Sentient beings have different roots; if you want to save sentient beings from suffering, you need to have many skillful means. The Buddha once observed the roots of sentient beings and taught the Dharma according to circumstances, speaking of forty-eight thousand Dharma doors. This is the Buddha's means of saving sentient beings. Bodhisattvas practice the four ways of conversion, that is, the four methods of conversion:

- Giving, loving speech, beneficial conduct, working together

To make sentient beings attain great peace and happiness. This is the mind of expedient means.

Including all three minds: the mind of Bodhi, the mind of great compassion, the mind of expedient means, that is the Mahayana mind. To generate the mind of Mahayana to save sentient beings, you need to do what is difficult to do, endure what is difficult to endure. Otherwise, the Mahayana mind would not be easily aroused, and through that, in the Southern Transmission Sutras, there are recorded images of some venerable monks who, before attaining enlightenment, had practiced the Mahayana mind:

- In the past, when Venerable Sariputta was still in the human realm, practicing to transform from Hinayana to Mahayana, about to attain the level of the Seventh Ground Bodhisattva who never regresses, there was a deva who wanted to test his Mahayana mind. That deva transformed into a filial son, sitting and crying by the side of the road. Sariputta passed by and saw him, asking:

- Why are you sitting here crying? What happened?

- It has nothing to do with you, please leave me alone.

- Tell me, I am a Buddhist disciple who practices compassion and helps people. If you encounter any difficulties, please let me know, and I will be happy to assist you.

- I am afraid you cannot help me with my problem!

- Tell me!

Sariputra urged.

At that time, the person sitting and crying lamented:

- My mother, unfortunately, has an incurable disease. The doctor said that she must use the eyes of a living person mixed with medicine to cure it. But this person must be a practicing saint! Think about it, living eyes are hard to find, and they must be the eyes of a practicing saint, so where can they be found? Thinking about how my mother could not be saved and would definitely die, I cried with sadness.

After hearing that, Sariputra smiled and gently said to that person:

- Okay, don't worry, I will help!

- Really?

- Not wrong at all! Let me tell you, I am a person who has attained enlightenment, having developed the Mahayana mind to offer things outside my body to sentient beings. Now that I have the opportunity to give things inside my body to sentient beings, please gouge out my eyes!

After saying that, Sariputra calmly stood and let the other person gouge out his eyes. But the other person waved his hand and said:

- That cannot be done! I dare not gouge out your eyes, because this is an illegal act. If you are happy to save my mother's life, please gouge out your own eyes!

Sariputra heard that it made sense, so he gouged out his left eye with his own hands, endured the pain, and said to the other person:

- Please take it, pray for your mother to recover soon.

But the other person also waved his hand and said:

- The doctor said it must be the right eye! I don't need your left eye.

Sariputra was startled and turned pale after hearing this, thinking:

- What a misfortune! The left eye was already gouged out, leaving the right eye to see. What should I do now?

He blamed himself for being careless and not asking which eye was needed first! Then, Sariputra thought again: The ancient saints practiced the Bodhisattva path, developed the Mahayana mind, spent many lives and many kalpas giving up their heads, eyes, marrow, and brains, and giving them to living beings. Why can't I do it now? Saving people must be thorough. If the left eye is no longer usable, then give the right eye. After thinking like that, he bravely gouged out his right eye and gave it to the other person. But the other person took the eye, smelled it, threw it on the ground, and trampled on it with his foot, scolding him:

- What kind of saint are you that your eyeballs smell so bad? How can I use it to make medicine to cure my mother's illness?

Although Sariputta was blind at that time, he still heard the person throw his eyes to the ground and trample on them. He also heard the scolding, so he became discouraged and thought:

- You need a living human eye, which is something that cannot be found. I have developed the Mahayana mind to save all living beings, so I gouged out my eyes and gave them to you. But you said my left eye was useless, my right eye you said was stinky, what wrong have I done to you that you scold me!"

At that time, Sariputta no longer had the heart to think about saving living beings; he was extremely discouraged, feeling that living beings were difficult to save, so he no longer developed the Mahayana mind.

This is one of the paths that Sariputra went through while practicing in the past.

Through this, you can see that the Mahayana mind is complicated to develop. However, you should not be afraid of the difficulty. Because you have a discriminatory concept between you and living beings, you do not have a mind of great compassion. If you can leave behind the four forms: Self, person, living beings, and lifespan, as stated in the Diamond Sutra, then the Mahayana mind of saving all living beings will arise.

To practice the practice of benefiting others, you must have a brave spirit; you must rush into the boiling oil and fire, joyfully vowing to endure immeasurable suffering on behalf of living beings. Only then can you be a practitioner of the Mahayana Bodhisattva. In that way, when the Buddha was still a prince, when he first left home, he made four vows:

1. Vow to save living beings from suffering.

2. Vow to remove obstacles for living beings

3. Vow to end wrong views for living beings.

4. Vow to save living beings from the cycle of birth and death.

These four vows are also the Mahayana mind of the Bodhisattva. The Avatamsaka Sutra says:

- Do not seek peace for yourself; only wish for all living beings to be free from suffering.

This is the Mahayana mind of the Bodhisattva to save all living beings. For example, Bodhisattva Manjushri has great wisdom, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has great conduct, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara has great compassion, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha has great vows; these are all characters representing the Mahayana mind, worthy for you to follow. Therefore, to complete the Mahayana vow, there are three forms of mind

- One is the direct mind, mindful of the true Dharma;

- Two is the deep mind, wishing for all good deeds;

- Three is the great compassionate mind, wishing to eliminate suffering for all living beings.

As mentioned above, the mind of supreme Bodhi, but Bodhi mind has a very profound meaning, but in brief, there are three types of mind. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, when talking about the pure land of the Bodhisattva, these three types of mind are also taken as the main ones. Or in other words, these three minds are: Mindfulness of the true nature of the dharma, liking all good deeds, wanting to eliminate suffering for all living beings. If they are fully compatible, then Bodhicitta is achieved.

The ancients used many meanings to explain these three types of minds, such as:

- Using the direct mind to mindfully contemplate the true nature of the dharma, attaining the dharma body;

- Using the deep mind to like all good deeds can become the reward body.

- Using the great compassionate mind to want to eliminate suffering for all living beings, then giving rise to the transformation body.

In the sutras, it is said that the content of generating the mind is shallow and deep. Some types focus on mindfulness of the true nature of the dharma, saying that generating the mind must be far away from all idle talk, realizing that it is not form, not mind, not existence, not non-existence, etc. When you generate the Bodhicitta, you must like all good deeds, wanting to eliminate suffering for all living beings, mindful of the true nature of the dharma. Therefore, if you want to develop the mind to become a Buddha, you only need to be mindful of the true nature of the Dharma and rely on learning good deeds. For example, like a great mani jewel, if you want it to be pure, you must wash away the dirt on the outside. If you only know the pure nature of the jewel, but do not use polishing methods, then in the end, you will not get a pure pearl. The true nature of sentient beings is the same; its nature is empty and pure, but it is contaminated by countless afflictions. If you only know that the true nature of the Dharma is pure and bright, but you do not use various means of cultivation, then you will not get purity. Because of the countless impurities that pervade all dharmas, you need to cultivate all good deeds to counteract them. If you cultivate all good dharmas, you will naturally return to follow the true nature of the Dharma. Therefore, if you only think of the true nature, contemplate without discrimination, without attachment, but do not use various means of cultivation, the true nature will not attain purity. Therefore, you should practice all good deeds to counteract afflictions, such as:

- Generosity to counteract greed;

- Practice compassion to counteract anger;

- Practice wisdom to counteract ignorance, etc.

There are boundless impurities, so you also need boundless pure good deeds to counteract them.

If you practice all good dharmas, you will naturally return to the Dharma of true nature, and true nature is everywhere, and evil dharmas are not far from true nature. However, evil dharmas are contrary to true nature, not in accordance with the nature of true nature, and therefore are called non-dharma. On the contrary, good dharmas are in accordance with the dharma, in accordance with the nature of true nature. You should not think that good deeds are just external efforts. You must know that the good deeds of these external efforts are in accordance with true nature, and can return to true nature. For example, relying on precepts to cultivate concentration, relying on concentration to attain wisdom, and relying on wisdom to attain liberation are all achieved by following the order of good deeds.

B. Turning your mind to the Medicine Buddha

As you know, each of you has heavy karma, light karma, little karma, much karma, but no matter what, near-death karma is the karma at the time of death, or your mental strength before dying is the most important in guiding your karmic consciousness to be reborn. Indeed, just as you can do evil all your life, but before dying, you make an effort to generate good dharma, good things in life, and thanks to that willpower, you can be reborn into a good realm. The same is true for the opposite cases. From understanding the near-death experience, you need to cultivate good karma in your life to create a strength, that is, the willpower to eliminate bad karma right in your daily life and even at the moment of death. Here are some convincing evidences of the conversion of evil kamma leading to hell into good kamma leading to heaven found in the Pali Canon, such as two of the following cases:

1. The old woman Chandala

While the Blessed One was staying at Ràjagaha, he entered the Great Compassion meditation that the Buddhas usually reside in, then emerged from the meditation and observed the world. He saw right in that city, in the area of ​​the Chandala people (Chandala, the most miserable and untouchable people), an old woman about to die, and an evil kamma leading to hell had appeared for her. With a mind of Great Compassion, wishing to make her create a good kamma leading to heaven, he thought:

- I will establish that person in heaven; he immediately went with a large group of monks to Ràjagaha for alms.

At that time, the old woman Chandala, leaning on her staff, came out of the city, saw the Blessed One approaching, and when she faced him, she stopped. The Blessed One also stopped and stood right in front of her as if to stop her from advancing.

Then the Venerable Mahà-Moggallàna (Maudgalyayana), knowing the mind of the Teacher and also knowing that the old woman's life was about to end, urged her to pay homage to the Blessed One. When she heard the Venerable's words, her heart was filled with emotion. She aroused her faith in the Teacher, immediately paid homage to the Blessed One with all five parts of her body touching the ground, and out of joy before the Buddha, she stood silently with her head bowed. The Blessed One said:

- This is enough for her to go to heaven.

Then he entered the city with a large community of monks. Immediately after, a cow ran away with her calf, rushed towards the old woman, gored her with its horns, and killed her on the spot, and she was reborn in heaven at that moment.

2- The Mansion of the Burnt Rice Giver

At that time, the Blessed One was staying in the city of Ràjagaha, at the squirrel feeding place in the Bamboo Grove. At that time, a cholera epidemic struck a family in Rajagaha. All the members of that family died except one woman. Terrified by the fear of death, she left her house, along with all the money and grain inside, and fled through a crack in the wall. Since no one would help her, she went to another family's house and asked to stay there. The people in that house took pity on her and gave her rice porridge, cooked rice, burnt rice, and the remaining things in the pots and pans. Thanks to their generosity, she was able to live there.

At that time, the Venerable Mahà-Kassapa (Great Kassapa) had been in the state of cessation for seven days and had emerged from the state of cessation, while he was thinking:

- Whom shall I do a favor for today by accepting food? Whom shall I relieve from sorrow?

After contemplation, He saw that the woman who was living on burnt rice from that family was near death, and an evil karma that would lead to hell had appeared for her. The Venerable thought:

When I come near, this woman will give me the burnt rice she received for herself, and by that very act, she will be reborn in the world of Nirmanakaya. When I have thus freed her from rebirth in hell, I shall certainly create heavenly happiness for her.

After dressing early in the morning, the Venerable took his bowl and went towards the house of the woman who was living on burnt rice from that house. At that time, Sakka, the lord of the gods, that is, Indra, disguised himself and offered the Venerable one heavenly food with all its delicious flavors and many kinds of porridge, soup, and curry. The Venerable Mahà-Kassapa recognized him and refused, saying:

- Hey Kosiya, why do you do such a thing when you have accomplished such meritorious deeds? Please do not ruin the good fortune of the unfortunate ones.

Then the Venerable One went and stood before the woman. She wished to offer him something, and thought:

- There is nothing here worthy to offer this dignified Elder,

And she said:                   

- Please come forward a little further.

The Elder not forward but only stepped back a step and did not accept anything offered by the others. She clearly saw that the Venerable One wanted to help her, so she offered him her burnt rice, and the Venerable One ate it on the spot and said:

- In the third previous life, you were my mother.

After saying this, the Venerable One left. She passed away that very night and was reborn in the assembly of the Nirmanakaya.

It is clear from the above sutras that the Buddha and his holy disciples are the most excellent fields of merit, able to transform the evil karma of a dying person falling into hell into good karma of being reborn in heaven. Similarly, when you know your own karmic affinity and practice the Medicine Master Dharma, you only need to direct your mind to the Medicine Buddha and recite his name, and dwell in good karma, that is, let go of everything, only have faith, and concentrate on reciting the Medicine Buddha and earnestly wish to be born in his Eastern land. Therefore, directing your mind to all Buddhas and the Medicine Buddha alone is extremely necessary because it not only helps you increase your blessings and reduce your karma in this life, but also helps you avoid bad karma at the moment of death and fall into the three evil paths, and especially helps you to dwell in the holy name of the Medicine Buddha to be liberated and reborn in the Buddha realms.

Remember, once you recite one Buddha's name, you eliminate eighty billion kalpas of birth and death sins. Shakyamuni Buddha, as well as the Buddhas in the ten directions, have great compassion for sentient beings who commit bad karma, and they will fall into the three evil paths and drift in the sea of ​​suffering of birth and death, and not know when they will be able to have a human body again. The main purpose of practice is to sincerely and actively help your body to be full of the three provisions of Faith, Aspiration, and Conduct so that you can be reborn peacefully in the Buddha's land.

In short, the perfect vow of compassion and wisdom of the Medicine Buddha and of the Buddhas of the ten directions is to save sentient beings, but for the Medicine Buddha, you see that you have a more steadfast belief, because no one in the world is without fault, but for the Medicine Buddha, when you have faults and hear his name, your mind will immediately become pure, as He always said:

- I vow that in the future, when I attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, if there are sentient beings in the Dharma who practice purely, I will make them complete the three aggregates of pure precepts. If anyone violates them and hears my name, their mind will immediately become pure and will not fall into the evil realms.

This vow deserves to be respected, praised, and encouraged more widely. However, you need to take care to avoid undesirable situations from happening. All things are difficult at first, but with understanding and strong determination, when conditions permit, you must actively develop the Mahayana mind and resolve to turn to Buddha. Then your present life will certainly be peaceful and happy, and when you die, you will certainly be reborn in the Pure Land.

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