第30集 — 佛對我們的貢獻是什麼

The Buddha’s contributions to us are disclosing and showing us the reality but becoming enlightened and entering the Buddha’s insight are entirely our own business. That’s why Buddhism is said to correspond with the truth and is adapted to sentient beings’ capacities. The person giving the Dharma lectures had really attained Supreme Enlightenment and become a buddha (i.e., having seen into his mind and true nature), but the audience must have the ability to become enlightened and enter the Buddha’s insight. If they do not have this intellectual ability, it means that their faculty is not right for attaining enlightenment. Even though they have listened to the Dharma lectures, they only have a superficial understanding and are unenlightened. When the Buddha was living in the world, even though he was endowed with wisdom and spiritual power (supernatural abilities), he could not teach people to be fully enlightened. He could only teach people with superior capacity to be perfectly enlightened, while those of modest capacity could only attain partial enlightenment. People of low-capacity might not become enlightened at all because they only regard the Buddha’s teachings as common sense. In fact, there is no way for this kind of people to cultivate. Only those with the potential to become enlightened know how to cultivate. People with the capability to become perfectly enlightened will attain Buddhahood very fast when they cultivate. The standard set by the ancients is those who can attain Buddhahood in this lifetime are people with superior capacity. Modest-capacity people cannot attain Buddhahood in this lifetime but have to wait for the next lifetimes. For those of low capacity, some of them really have to wait for innumerable kalpas to have the opportunity to become enlightened after receiving the Buddha’s teachings for numberless lives and turning them into seeds. When the Buddha was teaching the Dharma in the world, among his disciples who gained enlightenment were bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. What level must bodhisattvas achieve to become enlightened? According to the Perfect Teaching of the Hua-Yan and Tiantai (Lotus) school, they must at least attain the first stage of the Ten Abodes. In other words, bodhisattvas of the two and three vehicles (i.e., śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas and bodhisattvas) are enlightened, but have not entered the Buddha’s insight yet. Therefore, only bodhisattvas of the Perfect Teaching who had attained the first stage of the Ten Abodes, as well as bodhisattvas of the Distinct Teaching who had attained the first stage of the Ten Grounds had entered the Buddha’s insight and reaped the benefit. What benefit did they reap? They reaped the great benefit of transcending the Ten Dharma Realms, and the Adorned Land of Real Reward appears. Accomplished practitioners of the lesser vehicle (i.e., Hinayana/Theravada) who had achieved purity of mind can also attain minor enlightenment, and the real benefit they gained is transcending the Six Realms of reincarnation forever. They had entered this state. If we still continue to transmigrate within the Six Realms in the next lifetime, then to us, the Buddha had merely disclosed and shown the reality because we did not become enlightened and enter the Buddha’s insight.