Learning of God Loves All Beings – Five

Venerables, fellow students, warmest greetings to you all. We will continue with learning ‘God Loves All Beings’ today.

The first faith we learn is the Bahá’í Faith. The Bahá’í Faith is a relatively new religion. What is rare and wonderful about its teaching is that their scriptures mention almost all faiths. It is particularly remarkable that they are able to broaden their minds and affirm that all divinities are one entity and the entire universe is one big family. This notion is in tune with our topic.

We excerpted a few paragraphs from its canonical texts and here is the first paragraph, ‘God’s purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to the light of true understanding. The second is to ensure the peace and tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be established.’

These ‘means’ are found in the 5000-year culture of China in the East as well as in many religions in the West. Why is it? After delving into scriptures, we gradually realise one thing which is also made clear in Mahayana scriptures. God, there is one true God and there are infinite beings, but they are all of one entity. All divinities are one entity. And all beings are of the same entity as God. Who is the entity? In Buddhist terms, it is our own dharma body. The dharma body has no appearance or form. When one attains dharma body imperfectly, such being is called dharma body bodhisattva. When one attains a perfect dharma body, this being is called Buddha.

Before attaining perfection, we have seen many examples just like what is stated in the text, people live in the darkness of ignorance and therefore God helps them to turn around and return to their self-nature. There are many ‘means’ or methods for it. Why are there so many methods? It is because all beings have different attributes and characters. Whenever God, Buddhas or bodhisattvas teach, they adjust their teaching methods to the attributes and characters of the listeners. They will  use different materials to teach people with different attributes and characters. In so doing, it is easier for people to approach and understand the teachings. This is quite rational. There are infinite methods of teachings. In Buddhism it is said that there are 84,000 methods which also means infinite methods. When someone is able to teach using methods tailored to your attributes and characters, this someone is truly extraordinary. In Buddhism, Buddhas and bodhisattvas are extraordinary. Although arhats are awakened, they are not fully enlightened yet. Even for bodhisattvas, there are 51 levels, just like  in school education there is grade one, grade two, grade three, etc. In Mahayana Buddhism there are 51 levels of bodhisattvas. Among them, there are ten highest levels, together with the level of equal-enlightenment bodhisattva makes it eleven. These 11 highest levels bodhisattvas have almost reached perfection in cultivation. Going through 51 levels then there is the level of Buddha, the merit of which is perfect.

There are ten schools of Mahayana Buddhism in China. Under each of them there are sub-schools. It is why a Buddhist line goes, ‘There are many doors of convenience, but there is only one path taking us back to the origin.’ Each method will enable us to attain the ultimate Enlightenment. Why are there so many methods? It is because of the different attributes and characters of all beings. In fact, to speak the truth, the Buddha has nothing to teach you. When you attain Enlightenment, you will have done it by yourself. The Buddha has ways of helping you to break delusions and attain Enlightenment. Attaining Enlightenment is your own business, but without using those methods, you do not know how to get there and will get lost, and you will not benefit from the Buddha’s teachings. Therefore, for the convenience of myriads of beings, or even one single being, Buddhas show them numerous methods. We have now gradually experienced the rationale behind it. It is just like us pursuing education. In our childhood we attended primary school. There were corresponding textbooks and pedagogy for primary school students. When we progressed to secondary school, there were textbooks and pedagogy for secondary school students. Similar things applied when we embarked on higher education.

God loves all beings and God helps all beings. He dispatches delegates to do it, just like us sending off representatives or teachers today. Using an analogy of school, God is the school principal and He has many teachers assisting Him. These teachers carry out assignments and help all beings break delusions, attain Enlightenment, be freed from suffering and obtain happiness. Hence, they use 84,000 methods or infinite methods. The true body of the sages, saints and prophets of all religions on this planet is God. In other words, they are the manifestations or the provisional forms  of God, and are of the same entity as God.

Let us look at the next paragraph. This paragraph is very important, ‘You are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean.’ ‘The drops of one ocean’, we can easily understand it, one entity. He used an analogy of tree and its leaves. The big tree is God and it is transformed into infinite beings and worlds. One planet is a world. How many astronomical bodies are there in the space? Myriads of them. We can only see a few of them. Many of them are too far away from our planet. It is easier for us to see stars as they are luminous, but there are countless astronomical bodies that are not luminous. Scientists told us that there is one star in the Solar System, the Sun, and there are nine planets orbiting it. There are also natural satellites or moons orbiting each of the planets. We can see those planets and moons because they reflect the light of the sun. But we do not know the astronomical phenomenon that do not reflect the light of stars.

Science is constantly developing and our horizon is constantly being expanded. Thanks to science and many devices it invented, we can now see many things that are impossible to observe with our naked eyes. This is the macro-world. As for the micro-world, scientific devices help us observe much more organisms that we cannot see with our naked eyes such as cells and bacteria. We learn common knowledge like these from scientific reports. But is that all? I doubt it. There is bound to be more than that. We wait for the further development of scientific equipment enabling us to see everything that we cannot see now. This tells us that we are of one dharma body, just as it is said here ‘the leaves of one tree’.

Outside this building there are parks on both sides of the street. The trees in the parks are of old age and very tall, and give us comfortable shadows keeping us cool. All those trees, as it is said in the sacred text, there are so many of you and you are all the leaves of one tree. We are closely connected. We are not separate individual trees, but are the leaves of one single tree.

Here is another line, ‘…are the drops of one ocean.’ Ocean is not far from us. Paris is next to Atlantic Ocean. We cannot see the boundary of the ocean. Each being is like a drop of seawater. This metaphor is heart-warming. It clearly explains the relationship between human beings and that between human beings and God. Have we accepted the explanation? No, we haven’t. Why not? It is because we have been deluded too deeply and for too long.

Therefore, we cannot be without God and the messengers that God sends to the world. The messengers are God’s assistants and they are our teachers. We should respect and trust them without doubt. If we seek the ultimate truth  with doubt, it is difficult to succeed. It is fine to study science with doubt, but it does not work with seeking and cultivating towards ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is metaphysical. Hence, we must be convinced that what is said in the sacred text is God’s words and it is what God’s messengers taught us. It is where we build our confidence. After we have gained confidence, we will then resolve problems.

To cultivate oneself is to seriously learn the teachings given in sacred texts and turn them into the norms of our daily lives. We should think, speak and behave in accordance with the scriptures. This is what the children of God and the students of saints and sages do.

There are fellow practitioners telling me that ‘I really want to learn more, but just can’t get into that state of mind. What can I do?’ I will tell you from where we can start. Be it Confucianism, Buddhism or the sacred texts of all religions, in order to initiate our learning,  we need to take the steps of practise and attainment first. We may have understood what is taught, but have not yet put it into practice in our daily lives. In that case the teaching does not work and we cannot get attain the benefits. The rationale applies to many religions which also propose starting from letting go. What do we let go? Let go of wandering thoughts, let go of differentiation, let go of attachment. In so doing, you will be able to see the door that leads to true cultivation and subsequently enter that door.

Some practitioners tell me that ‘I just can’t let go. What can I do?’ I suggest you to learn the teachings in sacred texts. Why can’t you let go? It is because you do not know the truth of reality. Once you have known the truth, you will no longer keep them in your mind but will naturally let go of them. Once you can let go, you will feel at ease. Once you can let go, your wisdom will arise. I’ll tell you one more thing. If you genuinely want to learn and find your way to the truth, no matter which one of the ten religions you want to learn, there is no exception, it all starts from letting go of afflictions and acquired habits. Afflictions and acquired habits are the roots. They are like the roots of a tree. If we can let go of these roots, the leaves and branches of the tree will naturally disappear.

From where do we set foot in Confucianism? The roots of ‘fighting  desires’ and ‘ achieving wisdom’ is a starting point. Subsequently, we will be able to cultivate ourselves, managing our families in harmony, governing our countries properly and bringing peace to the world. What do these roots mean? We must have a thorough understanding of them.  ‘Fighting desires’ is to fight against ourselves, our inner desires. What does  ‘desires’ mean here? Desires will eventually kill us. We are used to having desires at all times. When we see, hear, smell or taste, our desires are enabled. But when they are in action, we are actually deluded but not awakened. What is awakening like? When our desires are not in action, we are awakened. So where do we start? We start from letting go of our desires, afflictions, acquired habits and all mistakes.

We should rectify our mistakes as soon as we are aware of them. So how do we rectify mistakes? Start from letting go first, and then learn the teachings. In so doing, our cultivation will be well-grounded. But if we repeat the same mistake again after we have let go of it, how can we really let go? After letting go, our wisdom will reveal itself. Where does wisdom come from? Well, those with few afflictions have more wisdom, and those with more afflictions have less wisdom. Wandering thoughts, differentiation and attachment only bring us afflictions but not wisdom. But the problem is that we just cannot let go of wandering thoughts, differentiation and attachment. Not only that. We are even adding fuel to the fire. There is nothing wrong with what we read in scriptures. However, our way of practice are wrong, the direction and the path we take are wrong.

Buddhism speaks of seeing through and letting go. Confucianism speaks of ‘fighting desires and achieving wisdom’. Doing battles against the materialistic desires and eventually defeat them. And we finally achieve or illuminate our innate wisdom. We do not have wisdom at present because we have too many desires and wandering thoughts, none of which are real. From today onwards, we let go of those things but only keep God’s love in our minds. The main title of the lecture is ‘God Loves All Beings’. All sacred texts tell us that God loves all beings and it is true, not false. We must thoroughly understand this teaching and begin our work from here.

By following this order of learning steps and constantly improve ourselves, we will in the end govern our countries properly and bring peace to the world. Well, speaking of it, we have not yet left the Earth and still reside on this planet. Your merit will have reached perfection while you are still here. If we keep improving ourselves, we will be living with God in Heaven or reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss according to Buddhist teachings. Only then, the question will be thoroughly understood and we will gain the ultimate and best benefit, the great perfection. This is the goal that we all should work towards. The sacred texts, divinities, saints and prophets of all religions tell us that we can do it. So long as we are determined and really endeavour to do it, together, we will be able to help one another and continuously improve ourselves.

Time is up. This is it for today. Thank you.