DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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The beginning of the Medicine Buddha Sutra shows that Shakyamuni Buddha came to Guangyan City to preach the Dharma. Manjushri Bodhisattva represented the assembly and asked Shakyamuni Buddha to tell the name of the Medicine Buddha's supreme vow and merit so that everyone could rely on him to practice and gain merit. In response to Manjushri Bodhisattva's request, Shakyamuni Buddha introduced Medicine Buddha as follows:

- From here, heading east, ten trillion worlds away, there is a world called Pure Lapis Lazuli Light King Tathagata. Everyone respects him because he clearly knows the true nature of all dharmas, solves all things that happen in life, and overcomes difficulties. He is a teacher of gods and humans. He is a noble one. When practicing the Bodhisattva path, he made 12 great vows, allowing sentient beings to obtain whatever they wish for.

Thanks to Shakyamuni Buddha's introduction, we know that Medicine Buddha is the Master of the Pure Lapis Lazuli world in the East. Medicine Buddha is also called Vajra Buddha in some places. Offerings to the Medicine Buddha can eliminate hundreds of diseases, eliminating the root cause of afflictions.

His body is lapis lazuli blue. Medicine Buddha sits in the Vajra posture, on the moon-wheel lotus throne; he has 32 good features and 80 beautiful features. He wears three liberation robes. His right hand is in the Giving Mudra, holding medicinal herbs; his left hand is open, holding an alms bowl containing the miraculous medicine that brings wonderful nectar to eliminate countless illnesses and sufferings, fulfilling all wishes of sentient beings. On his left is Bodhisattva Sunlight, on his right is Bodhisattva Moonlight. Medicine Buddha made 12 great vows to save all sentient beings from their illnesses and sufferings. Let us study each vow one by one

First vow: I vow that in the future, when I attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, my halo will shine throughout countless worlds, causing sentient beings to see this light with pure body and mind, with all the characteristics of a man,

Shakyamuni Buddha introduced the work of the Medicine Buddha in particular and the Buddhas in general. First of all, a Buddha must be able to understand all dharmas, that is, to know clearly and without error all events that have occurred from the past to the future. No difficulty can hinder his practice. To put it simply, all Buddhas must sublimate their wisdom, develop their abilities to the point of perfection in all abilities available in society.

The purpose of Shakyamuni Buddha speaking the Medicine Master Sutra is to encourage Bodhisattvas and Arhats who want to become Buddhas to develop the Bodhi mind, practice the Bodhisattva path, increase merit and virtue, and develop wisdom, because these are two necessary factors to reach the Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi fruit. Once reaching the supreme fruition, every Buddha has three bodies:

- Dharma Body,

- Reward Body,

- Response Body.

Speaking of the Three Bodies, in terms of history, Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana 2569 years ago. However, that was only the Response Body that transformed according to circumstances; the Buddha also had a Reward Body of dignified blessings and wisdom and a Dharma Body that was eternal and transcended time and space, covering all dharma realms.

According to the spirit of the Avatamsaka and Lotus Sutras, belonging to the sutra system of Mahayana Buddhism, the birth and transformation of Shakyamuni Buddha was only the manifestation of the Response Body Buddha. Born under the Tree of Without Sorrow, when he reached adulthood, he decided to leave home. After a period of seeking a teacher, studying the Dharma, and practicing asceticism in the jungle for 6 years, he entered meditation under the Bodhi tree for 49 days and nights and became enlightened and became a Buddha. He opened the means to transform sentient beings for 49 years, then entered Nirvana. That is the Buddha's Response Body, which manifests according to the conditions with actions to transform sentient beings, and opens up expedient means to preach the Dharma to bring benefits to all beings.

The Buddha's Reward Body is the crystallization of wisdom and merits, and blessings that the Buddha cultivated and accomplished the Bodhisattva vows in countless lifetimes, from the time he first started to practice until he attained the Tenth Ground, such as Amitabha Buddha and Medicine Buddha, with their beautiful and bright appearance in their lands. The Reward Body is the body with countless forms and unlimited dignified merits that can only be seen by Bodhisattvas of the Three Sages and Tenth Grounds.

In addition, the extraordinary abilities, noble and perfect qualities of the Response Body are also considered an aspect of the Buddha's Reward Body. During his 49 years of teaching, the Buddha used his Reward Body through the Response Body to guide sentient beings to the shore of enlightenment, opening thousands of doors of means to save sentient beings.

In addition to the Response Body and the Reward Body, the Buddha also has a third body, the Dharma Body, the True Nature of all dharmas. The Dharma Body covers all dharma realms, both space and time. The Dharma Body is eternal, unborn, and undying, the true and equal nature of all dharmas. During the Buddha's life, he manifested through the Response Body and Reward Body, cultivated wisdom and accumulated merit, practiced to destroy ignorance, and then achieved the Dharma Body, or more correctly, returned to the pure Dharma Body, to the True Nature. Nothing or phenomenon is separate from the True Nature, and the True Nature always manifests through things and phenomena. Hence, the sutras call the Dharma Body or the True Nature Vairocana, which pervades all places.

Because each of us is still ignorant and confused, the Dharma Body cannot exert its miraculous power. For example, waves are just a phenomenon of water movement, but the essence of waves and water are not two. In the Buddha, all of his actions are the miraculous effects of the Dharmakaya, which affects sentient beings and the Dharma.

After the Buddha entered Nirvana, that means the Nirmanakaya ended, but his Dharmakaya remains, always present with us, expressed through the spirit of compassion, wisdom, and equality. Expressed through the path of enlightenment and liberation, the holy moral life is continued and inherited by generations

Now I talk about the Medicine Buddha; the Medicine Buddha's body is blue, symbolizing the power of energy. To have true happiness, you need to develop and nurture the power of this energy. The Buddhas manifest in countless forms; each Buddha has a different body and form, such as Amitabha Buddha's red body, symbolizing the power of love, and Shakyamuni Buddha's pure gold body, symbolizing complete achievement.

The blue color of the Medicine Buddha symbolizes the power to eliminate diseases and bad karma. You need to have strength. When you have strength, you will have an immune system, a kind of immune energy. This kind of immune energy can resist the weakness of the mind and the physical body. If the mind is not strong enough, you will always feel afraid of the fragility of impermanence and will easily get angry, sad, and desperate. But if you have enough strength, your mind will reduce anger, sadness, despair, and all kinds of true happiness will come. So you must make your mind strong. For that reason, the Medicine Buddha is blue, a color that symbolizes strength that few of us know. Many people may also ask:

- Why do Buddhas manifest in so many different forms, postures, and colors, or sometimes appear as a man, sometimes as a woman? Why are there Buddhas, that is not just one Buddha?

To answer this question, you must understand that the main purpose of Buddha's coming to the world is to bring happiness and liberation to sentient beings, so they manifest enough forms to suit the time and occasion for the benefit of sentient beings.

The halo in the first vow represents the Dharmakaya Buddha. Medicine Buddha has achieved 3 bodies like that; you who follow Medicine Buddha will also have 3 bodies like him. That is the direction of Mahayana practice to receive the Buddha's protection. The Dharmakaya Buddha covers the entire Three Thousand Worlds; sentient beings, because of ignorance and karma, cannot see the Dharmakaya Buddha. Learning about the first vow means that you should diligently rely on the eternal light of Buddha, or practice towards the Dharmakaya Buddha. Your wisdom will be clear, penetrate the teachings of Buddha, stay away from the suffering caused by the Three Poisons, and return to reside in the present.

The true nature of these sufferings is due to fundamental ignorance. He saves sentient beings from the cycle of birth and death, so he is called the Great Medicine King Buddha or the King of the Good Path. Practicing the Medicine Buddha mantra can eliminate all incurable diseases of the body, mind, and fundamental afflictions, and accomplish worldly good deeds and transcendental Buddha deeds. Therefore, the Medicine Buddha vows to have a halo that shines throughout the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, so that he can know what all sentient beings want. What do they think? What do they need? What are they capable of? He teaches accordingly. If one does not understand sentient beings, how can one save them? The matter of understanding sentient beings is described in the sutra as a halo that shines everywhere. In other words, to become a Buddha, you must have wisdom, you must understand all things and all beings. This vow of the Medicine Buddha is also the vow of Bodhisattvas and Arhats, on the path of cultivating towards Buddhahood.

As you know, the Buddha's Dharma body covers the entire Three Thousand Worlds. Sentient beings are blocked by ignorance and karma, so they cannot see the Buddha's Dharma body.

With deep good roots and deep faith, you receive the Buddha's Dharma body that does not enter nirvana. The Buddha is eternal, so if you rely on the eternal light of the Buddha or practice towards the Buddha's Dharma body, your wisdom will develop. It must be said that it is a miracle that you are a practitioner to see. Normally, young people learn the easiest to memorize, middle-aged people have good judgment, and older people have declining wisdom, learning slowly over time. However, for those who practice and attain enlightenment, it is the opposite. When they are old, their health is poor, but their spirit is high; they develop their wisdom, live with the perception of the mind, and wisdom

You become brighter, sharper, see everything without mistakes, and easily penetrate the teachings of the Buddha. Reality shows that when material life increases, the spirit often declines. On the contrary, living frugally, but the spirit is more steadfast.

A typical example is when Buddha meditated in Bodh Gaya. Because he did not eat, his body became sick. But at that time, Buddha's spirit was highly developed, his wisdom was extremely bright, he attained the Three Knowledges, Six Supernatural Powers, and understood the birth and death process of all living beings throughout the world.

Practicing the Dharma correctly, relying on the Buddha's Dharma Body, the older you get, the more you remember your childhood. Remembering the process of previous lives is attaining the Knowledge of Past Lives. Poor health due to old age, but not being obstructed by the five aggregates, not having many material demands like when you were young, so your spirit is not confused. That is the meaning of relying on the Buddha's Dharma Body, or the Buddha's wisdom, to develop your own Dharma Body. Having a clear perception, making a few mistakes, a practitioner must be different from a non-practitioner. When people are weak, their spirit is weak. But you practice, although you are old, your health is poor, your spirit is sublimated because you have cut off the troubles of the world, have overcome the influence of material things, have lived with the pure spiritual world. Therefore, practicing requires setting goals to strive for. If you set the goal too high, you will not reach it. Buddha set the goal within reach, so he reached it. To do so, you must always set goals to strive for on the path of practice and look up to Buddha, Bodhisattva, a see that they also set goals, but not in one day, one life, but through many lifetimes to achieve it. Therefore, they are Buddhas who have achieved; you are Buddhas who will achieve. If you choose a Buddha to strive for, you can also reach it. If you choose Medicine Buddha as the goal to strive for, you begin to learn about his actions and deeds, which are closer to you.

If you have to choose a goal to practice, you always need a good teacher and good friends to encourage and motivate you, and through that, Buddha has also done the same. Indeed, when reciting the Medicine Master Sutra, I see Buddhas of the ten directions praising Amitabha Buddha and also praising Shakyamuni Buddha. Buddhas of the ten directions praise Amitabha Buddha for skillfully creating means for practitioners, such as the sound of a flowing stream, birds singing, etc. All recite Buddha, recite Dharma, recite Sangha, and do not commit evil. Shakyamuni Buddha said that the lifespan in the Pure Land world is long; it existed ten kalpas before Shakyamuni Buddha and still exists and will exist for a long time. Conversely, Amitabha Buddha also praised Shakyamuni Buddha in the world of five turbidities, who attained Supreme Enlightenment, and he also skillfully used means to guide sentient beings out of the Three Realms' House of Fire. Buddhas of the ten directions often rejoice and praise each other to encourage each other. You who follow the Buddha's footsteps must also practice the same. Whoever has good conduct, you should rejoice and praise; those who are jealous and speak ill of each other are evil demons. In the eyes of those who practice, there are no bad people. In front of you, you must consider those who can practice as good things, and Buddhists on Saturdays should not go to places of entertainment, beer, and alcohol, but you should go to the temple to listen to the Dharma and practice, which is good.

Furthermore, if you want to follow the good path, you must see the good deeds of others and praise the good; do not see the bad, because if you bring the bad into your heart, you are already bad, and criticizing others will be criticized in return. From my experience, I see that people who criticize often do the same things they criticize. Seeing good things will make you happy, and in life, if you see a lot of good things, you will make connections with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, then you will not see the human world and you will leave the House of Fire, so when others see you, they will also escape from greed and selfishness and follow you out of the House of Fire. If you do not like them, they will also be upset with you, which will turn into the House of Fire of the Three Realms.

Buddha Shakyamuni said that Medicine Buddha set a goal to strive to eliminate all disasters of living beings and achieved that goal, so he became Medicine Buddha; his name itself represents that goal. All Buddhas are famous for their conduct. Just like Buddha Shakyamuni means omnipotent, that is his goal to strive for; he can do anything, he can save both his followers and opponents, he knows everything, so he has such a title. However, when he became a Buddha, he could not bring the ultimate understanding to sentient beings, so when Buddha came to you, he had to manifest himself as a human like you to live together, and he had to use human language to spread the Dharma.

In the direction of practicing according to the first vow of the Medicine Master, you must definitely do three things:

- Take refuge in the Three Jewels: Take refuge in the Buddha, Take refuge in the Dharma, Take refuge in the Sangha.

Please note that Buddhists, if you do not accept and practice these three refuges, you cannot practice on the path of Buddhism.

- Second is to develop Bodhicitta: Bodhicitta is the mind that seeks enlightenment and develops Compassion and Wisdom.

- Third is to make offerings: You offer gifts to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

When you offer offerings with such sincerity, you wish that all sentient beings be happy and free from suffering. Shakyamuni Buddha taught that:

- The true Buddha is not outside but in your own mind

This is also the original nature of compassion and wisdom in each person's mind. You often wish to attain Buddhahood and achieve enlightenment. You should know that to realize Buddhahood, you do not need to change anything external. Enlightenment is just the transformation of the mind to the necessary degree to realize your own Buddha nature. At that moment, you become a Buddha, but if you keep searching for Buddha as an external object, you will only waste your time and effort, further distance yourself from your own Buddha nature, and never attain wisdom.

In the direction of practicing the first Medicine Buddha vow, you should listen to the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha:

- Each person should develop their own wisdom. When developing this wisdom, you will understand all dharmas (this is omniscient wisdom).

Therefore, if you want to know the minds of others, you must first know your own mind. Right now, you are not skillful enough to understand your own mind. Not knowing your own life, you cannot know the minds and lives of others, and this is called ignorance. You are truly ignorant, although you now have all six senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, but you still do not understand your own life. Try to review your lifestyle! You always live by guessing, calculating what will happen and is happening, an important person or event will appear tomorrow, but in reality, you never know exactly what tomorrow will be like. You often live in hope and expectation, hoping that today will have many gifts, many joys, and pleasant surprises. But in the end, it is just a vain speculation, simply because you do not have the wisdom to recognize your Buddha nature. If you realize Buddha nature, you will not have to live by speculation but still know everything clearly. Obviously, at that time, you will no longer suffer much. Thanks to the omniscient wisdom, the cause of suffering, all the bad karma will be eliminated. Gradually, you will never be sick again, and you will know the cause of illness and suffering. All illness and suffering originate from ignorance. When ignorance is gone, all illness and suffering will also be gone, and true happiness will come.

The true method to achieve happiness is giving, such as bringing joy and happiness to others, or releasing animals to save the lives of other species. In this way, you will achieve happiness and longevity. That is true happiness, so the most important thing is that you need to recognize and eliminate the source of suffering or ignorance.

Medicine Buddha is an enlightened being, meaning one who has wisdom or understanding. When you practice the first vow and visualize yourself in his image, you are trying to have wisdom, compassion, and all the other qualities of a man like him. In his image, you see his right hand extended down in the Giving Mudra, holding a medicinal herb, and his left hand, open, holding a bowl filled with nectar. The medicinal herb symbolizes that when you realize your Buddha nature, you will no longer have any physical or mental illness. The bowl filled with nectar symbolizes that when you realize your Buddha nature, you can fulfill all the wishes and desires of sentient beings. His legs are in the lotus position, symbolizing that when you realize your Buddha nature, you will no longer have any suffering like the suffering you are currently experiencing in this world. His right hand is stretched on his knee in the Giving Vow Mudra, symbolizing that when you become a Buddha, you will always be closely connected with people and sentient beings around you to help, rescue, and protect them. His left hand is placed in a meditation position right in the center of his body, symbolizing that when you become a Buddha, you will never be disturbed by negative states such as greed and anger, and your mind will always be in a state of meditation. Like all Buddhas, Medicine Buddha also sits on a lotus flower, symbolizing that when you become a Buddha, even if you are in the impure Saha world, you will not be affected by the defilements and afflictions of Saha. All the jewels and precious flowers surrounding his throne symbolize that when you become a Buddha, you will always enjoy all the good things in this world, without being disturbed by suffering. Maybe now you also have some good things like money, a house, friends, and family, but these things are always associated with suffering. When you become a Buddha, things that are more beautiful, splendid, and glorious will come naturally without any suffering. Therefore, the most important thing is that you must realize the Buddha nature, the Medicine Buddha, within yourself.

In short, learning and practicing the first vow of the Medicine Buddha is that you must choose for yourself an object to practice, and once you have chosen that object, just practice it. Combined with personal diligence, you will succeed as you wish.

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