Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing)
What is the good-knowledge person in Buddha's teaching?
The good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who own the virtue and merit in personal conduct and character. Meanwhile, they have been enlightened from the Buddha's teaching, and they have seen the true self-nature, the Buddha-nature, the Emptiness-nature. Furthermore, they have been proved the fruit of Dao in the realm of learning Buddha. Because they have the virtuous knowledge to put it into the practice and to persuade people to be good, they can thus help them and others people to be good persons at the same time. Furthermore, they can help human beings liberate themselves from suffering and teach them to realize the meaning of Dao in Buddha's teaching.
In Buddhism, the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who have been enlightened in the path of virtue, such as in the path of Buddha and Bodhisattva, and have liberated them from the suffering in life and death. Meanwhile, they have such knowledge and experience to teach and help people liberate from the suffering in life and death. That is, all of the Buddha and Bodhisattva are so called good-knowledge persons.
Where and how can we “meet” such good-knowledge persons?
Where can we “meet” such
good-knowledge persons? Through reading and reciting the Buddhist scripture,
and profoundly understanding the teaching and meaning of Buddhist scripture, we
have the chance to “meet” such good-knowledge persons.
However, not everyone has a
chance to read and recite the Buddhist scripture, let alone to profoundly
understand the teaching and meaning of Buddhist scripture. In this time, if we
have a chance to meet the Buddhist monk, or Buddhist nun, or the
Buddhist-residing scholar of male or female, and they have the above-mentioned
characteristics to teach the public of the knowledge of Buddhism, we regard
them as such good-knowledge persons. Such good-knowledge persons are one of the
three treasures in Buddhism. The another two treasures is Buddha and Buddha-law (Dharma).
However, not everyone has a
chance to meet such good-knowledge persons as said above. If we have no virtue
in present and past life, we would have no chance to meet such good-knowledge
persons. It is mentioned by Buddha Sakyamuni in the Buddhist scripture. That is
why Buddha Sakyamuni always persuades the public and the human beings to do
good things, to learn wisdom, and not to do evil things.
The boy Virtue-Wealth (Shàn cái tóngzǐ) visits the various good-knowledge persons with a modest attitude.
There is a famous Buddhist scripture named as the Avatamsaka Sutra. In Sanskrit, it is as " महावैपुल्यबुद्धावतंसकसूत्र mahā-vaipulya-buddhâvataṃsaka-sūtra ". In its last part, The Buddha has mentioned about a boy whose name is Virtue-Wealth. Here, "virtue" also means "good". "Good" involve the meaning of virtue. I translate the boy’s name as Virtue-Wealth which is from the meaning of the Chinese characters. The transliteration from the Chinese characters is Shàn cái tóngzǐ. The boy Virtue-Wealth (Shàn cái tóngzǐ) is about 15-18 years old. Due to he has planted a lot of virtue in his mind in the present and past life, he thus owns a lot of wealth naturally. That is why he is called as boy Virtue-Wealth. The famous part is that he visits 53 good-knowledge persons, and consults them how to learn the conduct of Bodhisattva and how to practice on the path of Bodhisattva. In a word, it is meant to how to learn Buddha.
In this part, in the said
Avatamsaka Sutra, I have not yet found any version of translation from Chinese
into English. This is a pity. The human beings would rather spend huge money to
develop or buy the high-tech weapon, but won't spend a lot of money to
develop the wisdom and the true bliss for the human beings.
In the 53 good knowledge
persons, there are Buddhist monks, Buddhist nuns, Buddhist-residing scholar of
females, Buddhist-residing scholar of males, Immortals, Brahmans, elders, boys,
girls, non-Buddhist monks, kings, women, the gods of heaven, the gods of land,
the gods of night, God-light girl, and Bodhisattvas.
We can find that the
good-knowledge persons are not limited in the Buddhism. The good-knowledge
persons are also coming from the outer of Buddhism, and also coming from the
different genders, ages, and various industries, even from the immortals,
goddesses and gods. I think it is more corresponding to our logical thinking of
the diversity and the equality.
What is the advantage to meet such good-knowledge persons?
All of the good-knowledge
persons have and practice their own method or Buddha-law to liberate from
suffering in life and death, and to use such method or Buddha-law to liberate
others people from suffering in life and death. It is not only liberating
sentient beings from suffering, but also enlightening them and letting them own
the wisdom, wealth and bliss naturally.
Some of the method is like the worldly knowledge, such as architecture, arithmetic, and law. However, most of the method or Buddha-law is beyond our knowledge and experience, even to beyond what it should be as we think. Mostly, it is positive concept and energy with benevolence and empathy to the all sentient beings. All is worth for us to learn and practice in our life, so as to make us an open-minded person with good and abundant knowledge.
How to encounter the good-knowledge persons as mentioned above?
In a word, how to encounter the good-knowledge persons as mentioned above? According to the Buddha’s teaching, we should initiate and have the Bodhi-heart and planted the virtue in mind. If we have such good causes, we would absolutely meet the good-knowledge persons as mentioned above and it would help us go on the path of Buddha.
