Chapter 13: Ask about the Dao and destiny

(Chapter 13 ) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu 

Chapter 13: Ask about the Dao and destiny  

   

A Sramana asked the Buddha: ”By what cause and condition could we know our destiny and understand it to reach the Dao?” The Buddha replied,” Purifying our own heart and obeying our own aspiration could understand and reach the Dao, such as grinding the mirror, the dirt is removed and the shine is kept; cutting off the desire and no demanding, we would surely gain the destiny.   

Sramana (श्रमण śramaṇa) is in Sanskrit. In Buddhism, Sramana means the Buddhist monk. The Sramana who asks the question has not yet reach the Dao and has not yet attained the Buddhahood. He is like the general people and eager to know his destiny.

Since ancient times, fortune telling has been around the world. Moreover, the method of fortune-telling is also diverse, and the question what has been cared is also very different. If we are not Sramana, how could it be possible for us to care about his question? But, I hope you know that his question and the reply of Buddha are really concerned about our destiny.

Everyone’s destiny is different with each other. Don't worry others destiny is not corresponding to our expectation. That is because everyone has its own life which must be experienced, no matter it is good or bad.

I have followed my interesting and have research the relatives' destiny for a while. I have found that everyone’s destiny is different. What is your destiny may be not what you have thought. What you expect someone’s destiny may be not what you expect.

Finally, I have an experience. Do not impose your dream, need and expectation on those who have their own dream and have their destiny, because your dream is not someone else’s dream. Your destiny is not the fate of others. As long as someone else does not do any harmful things to itself and others, just do not care or worry about someone else's destiny.

For example, someone’s mind just hopes its spouse to be a medical doctor so that they could have a steady and wealthy life. But, how do you know that your spouse would create a company and become a boss who owns the company valued more than 150 billion US dollars in the future.  

On the contrary, someone’s mind has a big dream and hopes its spouse to run a company so that they could earn a lot of money to raise their family. But, how could they know that there is no wealth in their destiny. And finally, they live a poverty life.

Please hold on our own dream if we think it is right to do, because our ideal destiny is waiting for us.

Similarly, what we want to do just follow our intuition and reasonable thinking, because we should be responsible for ourselves, and our dream and destiny is not someone else's dream and fate. So, please respect someone else’s dream, choice and its destiny. And please hold on our own dream if we think it is right to do, because our ideal destiny is waiting for us.

So, there is a Chinese saying, “It is hard to buy the earlier-knowing by thousand gold.” No matter what happened, we will go into our destiny.

No matter we are in the good or bad destiny, it is possible to change the destiny, from good to be bad, or from bad to be good.

If we are in the bad fate, we might have one question: can we change our destiny? The answer is yes. No matter we are in the good or bad destiny, it is possible to change the destiny, from good to be bad, or from bad to be good. Why? And How?

If the fortune-telling tells that we have a good destiny, we do not need to be happy too earlier. Because if we do not have an effort and do the good things in our life, how could it be possible for us to have a good destiny?

On the contrary, if the fortune-telling tells that our destiny may not be as good as we wish, we do not need to be upset every day. As long as we do the good things, especially the virtue things, such as to learn Buddha, the bad destiny absolutely would be changed by our effort in doing good things.

In Buddhism, the destiny is similar to consequences of some kind of retribution that someone would have to bear or enjoy.

In Buddhism, the destiny is similar to consequences of some kind of retribution that someone would have to bear or enjoy. That is because what have been done in its past life and which is as the reason. We call it karma, the strength of conduct and action. In the past life, if we had ever done the good karma, the strength of good conduct and action, we would have the good consequences of retribution to enjoy in the present life or in the future.

On the contrary, in the past life, if we had ever done the evil karma, the strength of evil conduct and action, we would have to bear the evil consequences of retribution in the present life and in the future life. We call it the fixed karma. So, in Buddha’s teaching, there are a lot of convenient methods to eliminate our fixed karma. Only completely eliminating our evil karma, it is possible for us to have the bliss in our future life. 

Most people have the good karma and evil karma at the same time. Only few people have the merely good karma or the exclusively bad karma. In Buddhism, whatever what we have done is good or evil would be recorded by our own Spirit-conscious. After we died and are in the different world, we would be judged by the king of hell who is some kind of god and actually it is Bodhisattva.

How could we be sure to know about our destiny? The reply of Buddha could give us a good suggestion and offer us a good reference.

We also have one question. Does what the fortune-telling tells is true? Not necessarily to be true. Mostly, we may be in the half belief and in the half doubt. So, how could we be sure to know about our destiny? The reply of Buddha could give us a good suggestion and offer us a good reference.

The Sramana wanted to learn Buddha. He wanted to do the virtue things. But, he had the question about his destiny and how to understand the Dao and how to reach it. Do you know? It is not everyone to have the chance and destiny to be a Sramana. If we have never done any good things in our past life, it is impossible for us to be Sramana.

Furthermore, if we had ever been a Sramana in our past life and we didn’t have vowed to be Sramana in our next life, it is impossible for us to be Sramana in this life.

Whether the chance and destiny is good or not, would be up to our one thought, what we have decided and what we have done. Good chance and good destiny would not be fall from the sky with no reason and with no condition.

Some of the Buddhist monks who practice the Buddhism well and have good karma would reincarnate to be king or to be son of rich man in their next life. That is called bliss of retribution or bliss-repaying, the result of good karma. Because they have good reason and good karma in their past life, so in the present life, they still have more chance and destiny to learn Buddha.

However, if they don’t seize the opportunity and destiny to keep learning Buddha, but indulge in the worldly enjoyment, it is possible for them to fall into and go into the three evil paths after their death. Actually, many of their current retribution are on the evil paths in the present life.

So, whether the chance and destiny is good or not, would be up to our one thought, what we have decided and what we have done. Good chance and good destiny would not be fall from the sky with no reason and with no condition. 

If we do not rely on the fortune-telling, how could we know our destiny? This question is quite similar to the question what the Sramana ask to the Buddha. What the difference is that the Sramana’s goal is to understand and reach the Dao, however, the goal of the general people is to understand and reach the worldly bliss.

The Dao has the great meaning for the Sramana. That is why one person wants to be Sramana, because he wants to reach the Dao through the practice in the Sramana's conduct, action, or thought. We might have one question. What is the Dao? In the Chapter 2, the Buddha had mentioned what is the Dao. It is as follows:

Chapter 2: Cutting off the desire and no demanding

The Buddha said, “Those who go out of the family, become the Sramana, cut off the desire, remove the love, recognize the source of their own heart, reach the profound principle of the Buddha, realize the law of no-doing, have nothing being gained inside, have nothing being demanded outside, not to fasten the Dao in heart, nor to collect the karma, have no thoughts, have the no-doing, are non-practicing, are non-proving, not to experience the successive levels, but reach the own loftiest state of all, are called the Dao.”

The further explanation you can refer to and link to the following: Chapter 2: Cutting off the desire and no demanding, if you have not yet read this article.

The above-mentioned realm of Dao is similar to the realm of Buddha. It is one part of the Dao of Buddha. But, it is not completely the same. The supreme Dao is the Dao of Buddha, the path of Buddha. Such supreme Dao is really the goal which we want to reach if we sincerely learn Buddha.

What is the difference between the Dao mentioned in Chapter 2 and the supreme Dao of Buddha? In a word, the Dao mentioned in Chapter 2 is only for self-saving and self-liberation. Such energy is just used for self-help. However, the supreme-Buddha Dao is on the basis of completely self-saving and self-liberation, and of the compassion and joy, so as to have the capability to save and liberate the sentient beings from the suffering. So, such energy is not just for self-help, but also could help others. 

As we have mentioned in Chapter 12 (20)《 (Chapter 12 ﹝20﹞ ) : Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.》, each Buddha has its own convenient methods to save and liberate the sentient beings from the suffering. Such methods are quite diverse and some of them are beyond our mind. It is very flexible and creative, even to be incredible. If you have ever met them, you might want to burst out, ”What a crazy man. ”

Everything what we have met has the good meaning for us, if we know how to learn something from it.

You might have one question. If we are not Sramana and we are not interesting in learning Buddha, what is the meaning of Dao for us? Actually, everything what we have met has the good meaning for us, if we know how to learn something from it.

The Buddha replied,” Purifying our own heart and obeying our own aspiration could understand and reach the Dao, such as grinding the mirror, the dirt is removed and the shine is kept; cutting off the desire and no demanding, we would surely gain the destiny.

In a word, what the Buddha said is to calm our mind and to let our heart be in the stillness and clearness. Don’t fall into the abyss of desire, because once we fall into the abyss of desire and are in the black hole, how could we climb up to the wide land, see the bright sun and keep going to our goal, so as to obey and complete our own aspiration?

The Sramana’s aspiration is self-saving and then to have the ability to save others. That is to attain the Buddhahood. And what is your aspiration?

Our heart is like the magic crystal ball or the magic mirror which could appear anything and prophet our future. 

If we have more desire, we would have more demands. Such greedy heart would let us make crime unconsciously. It would be like the dirt which would pollute our heart and cover the light of the heart. 

Our heart is like a mirror. We call it heart-mirror. Such heart-mirror would shine by itself. It is like the magic crystal ball or the magic mirror which could appear anything and prophet our future. It is not fairy tale, but is true.

“Magic mirror! Magic mirror! Tell me who is the most beautiful woman in the world?”

“Magic crystal ball! Magic crystal ball! Show me where is the gold-treasure to be hidden? ”

Ha! Ha! It is ok to ask our own heart-mirror.

Some people call it the third-eye which can see what cannot be seen by our naked eyes. That is also the self-nature in every one. The self-nature is also like the treasure-pearl which could obedient to our own wish. Such treasure-pearl could light our life and our future. It is so precious.

Our un-meaningful and endless desires and demands would not only disturb and poison our stillness-clearness heart, but also cover the light shined by the heart. Once the heart is like a mirror to be contaminated by thick dust, that is the endless desires and unnecessarily demanding, the shine of heart is disappeared. In the dark, how could we see anything from our own heart-mirror?

Stop greedy and have no unnecessarily demanding in inter and outer physical and mental body, our heart would be shine again and we could see anything concerning about us from our own heart-mirror. Then, we surely know our destiny by ourselves.

So what should be cut off are the un-meaningful and endless desires which could birth our greedy, let us do harmful things to others, and make us to be a sin person. To harm others is really to harm self. So to stop greedy and have no unnecessarily demanding in inter and outer physical and mental body, our heart would be shine again and we could see anything concerning about us from our own heart-mirror. Then, we surely know our destiny by ourselves.

For the Sramana, to cut off desires and no demands are very important practice in learning Buddha. It can't go into the sky by only one step. Our heart is so easy to be affected by any outer or inter reasons and conditions. So the heart is very easy to be moved (or shaken) and thus in the chaos. Once our heart is moved(or shaken), we cannot see and judge anything clearly. That is why to cut off desires and no demands is like to grind mirror which should be done in step by step.

To cut off desires and no demanding would be helpful for our life. Even though we are not a Sramana, we also have learned something from the Buddha’s teaching.

p.s. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

 

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion.

Chapter 9: Return to the root and understand the Dao

(Chapter 9) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 9: Return to the root and understand the Dao 

The Buddha said,” Extensively hearing and liking the Dao, the Dao is certainly hard to be understood; obeying our own aspiration and keeping the Dao, such Dao is very grand.”

Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese character; its original meaning is path, road and way. Then, the meaning of Dao is extended more widely and its meaning has become more broadly with the change in time and space, such as talking, saying, method, law, doctrine, morality, skillfulness, capability, and the thought system of religion or education. The thought system of religion or education includes the aforesaid meanings.

In the history and in the time of war in China, the literati, the scholarship, intellectuals, and some of them in seclusion, they liked to study and talk about the Dao, and some of them would put what they have studied about the Dao into practice. Then, they concluded the concepts and created their own group, to teach their disciples. Such situation is also happened in ancient India, in the time of Buddha Siddhartha. In the modern time, especially in recently 300 year, there are also different concepts or dogmas being created.

A lot of concepts or dogmas are created from the ancient to the modern time. But, it doesn’t mean that the concepts itself are right or wrong. The problem is how it is applied properly by human and to benefit others. So, any concept or dogma is some kind of Dao. But, mostly, we think that Dao is lean to the positive concept which could benefit people and make people live a good life, including in the material and mental areas.

Any concept or doctrine itself has its own advantages and disadvantages. But, how do we delimit it? In any concept or doctrine, some advantage might be a disadvantage for others. And, some disadvantage being thought might be an advantage for others. That is, the advantage what you have thought or the doctrine is advantage to you might be the disadvantage to us.

There are more than one hundred theories, concepts, principles, dogmas or doctrine in ancient China, let alone in India, in European, or in other place. Those mentioned above are some kind of Dao. Even though a person who has the spirit of learning motivation and has learned a lot of knowledge, honestly, it is barely impossible for him to comprehend the all, let alone some concepts might be never heard or seen by people, such as this scripture. To have the knowledge of Dao is one thing; to put the knowledge of Dao into practice is another.

In the chapter 2, the Buddha had defined the Dao for their disciples. 

The Buddha said, “Those who go out of the family, become the Sramana, cut off the desire, remove the love, recognize the source of their own heart, reach the profound principle of the Buddha, realize the law of no-doing, have nothing being gained inside, have nothing being demanded outside, not to fasten the Dao in heart, nor to collect the karma, have no thoughts, have the no-doing, are non-practicing, are non-proving, not to experience the successive levels, but reach the own loftiest state of all, are called the Dao.”

Such Dao is also suitable for all people. But, it is hard to most people to understand, let alone to practice it. For most people, they think that such Dao is no useful for their life. But, if you could understand it deeply, you could find it is very useful for our life, even though we are not disciples of Buddha. If you are interested in the content of chapter 2 that I had explained, you can find here(Chapter 2)A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha.

“Extensively hearing and liking the Dao, the Dao is certainly hard to be understood. “ Here, the first Dao means a lot of doctrine. The second Dao means the Dao which is explained by Buddha. It also means that it would not help us specialize in the truth, if we extensively hear and like a lot of doctrine. But, I think that it would help us open our mind and increase our knowledge. And it also help us to judge and choice what kind of doctrine is suitable for us.

All the teachings of Buddha include the philosophy, psychology, ethics, medicine, sociology, economics, science, physics and politics. If we widely involved such knowledge, and we have the fundamental concept of Buddhism, we would find that. Of course, the Buddhism is not classified in those respectively academic. The Buddhism is not used for researching in any academic, but for researching to our inner heart and practicing it in our real life. Then, we would find that the truth is in our heart, not from any research of academic, and also not from any outside supreme Spirit. That is the truth that the Buddha wants us to know.       

When we are lack of knowledge and are thus ignorant, we are easy to be bounded by and attach to one doctrine, especially, those persons who are poor and are oppressed by the pressure of life. For them, the Dao explained by Buddha is almost useless.

In the history, unfortunately, there is always the people to use the doctrine what they think it is right, to use it as their faith, and use the military power or the other means to force others people to obey their doctrine. The more worse is that they constrain the other doctrine to be transmitted and oppress or kill the people who practice these doctrines.

From the history, we can find that the Buddhism in the beginning is accepted by those people who are more educated, own more knowledge, and are in the high status, such as the emperor, or the prime minister. Ordinary people barely have the chance to hear or read The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapter Said by Buddha, except for being a Buddhist monk or nun. Most people just know to pray the Buddha to bless them to have a good and peaceful life. But, they do not know, to have a good and peaceful life is based on what they do in compassion and wisdom, and in knowledge. That is why the Buddhism was ever regarded as blind faith. Fortunately, those noble persons protect the Buddhism.

So, the Buddha said,” Extensively hearing and liking the Dao, the Dao is certainly hard to be understood.” In a word, it means that we could understand the truth, only when we profoundly realize the Dao and put it into practice intently.

The Buddha said,” Obeying our own aspiration and keeping the Dao, such Dao is very grand.” Even though these words are said to disciples of Buddha, it is also good for us. We might be curious about what the aspiration for the disciples of Buddha is, and why Buddha had said that.  

In the deep contemplation under the Bodhi tree, The Buddha had perceived that there are three kinds of sentient beings about their root of wisdom. He had classified them as higher root, intermediate root and lower root in wisdom. Why is it called the root of wisdom? The root of wisdom could bear the fruits of Buddha. And he also had used the container as a metaphor to describe how the degree is that the sentient beings could accept the teaching of Buddha, and how the degree is that they could achieve the goal. He also had classified it as large container, middle container and small container.

If people are compared and described as the large container, it means such people could accept the deep doctrine said by Buddha. On the contrary, if people are compared and described as the small container, it means such people could not accept the deep doctrine, and could only accept the simplistic doctrine.

So, we connect the word ”root” and “container” to be “root-container”. We can explain it as that the container could storage the root; the large container could hold the large root; the small container could only hold the small root of wisdom. The Buddha then had classified sentient beings as large root-container, which means it has the large wisdom; middle root-container, which means that it has the intermediate wisdom; and small root-container, which means it only has the little wisdom.

No matter the wisdom is large or little, it is unrelated to the academic experience, social status, age, IQ, and illiteracy. So, it is very important to give up the prejudice and the restriction coming from any concept. 

Those who are in poor have no chance to accept the teaching of Buddha. do you know how many they are in the world? They are more than half of the world's population. So, if you have ever read The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha, you are really lucky and blissful. Why? First, you might be in the wealth so you can use the smartphone or computer to read this chapter. Second, you might be healthful so you have the energy to read this chapter. Third, you have time and brain to study this chapter. Be positive thinking is always good for life.   

Now, we return back to the question what the aspiration for the disciples of Buddha is. Do you know how many disciples there are? According to the records in the history, there are 2500 disciples to follow the Buddha. As we have mentioned above, the disciples of Buddha are classified as large root-container, middle root-container, and small root-container.

So, according to the difference of root-container, what the Buddha had taught to them is also different. There is a saying,” Teaching in accordance with the aptitude of student”. The teaching of Buddha is very enlightened, that is Q&A, and there is a lot of “why” or "by what the cause and condition is" coming from the inquiry of disciples. If you have ever read any scripture in Buddhism, you would find it.

Of course, according to the difference of the root-container, there is about the deep question or the shallow question, so their aspirations are different. Then, what is the difference of their aspirations?

Those who are small root-container could little understand what the Buddha had taught, but, at least, could be carefully not to make any mistakes, just ask for not go to the hell, and wish that after dying, it is better to have the chance to go to the heaven or the pure land created by Buddha Amitabha. In there, they still have the chance to accept the teaching of Buddha and to learn the Buddha.

Those who are middle root-container could not realize the real Dao said by Buddha, could be enlightened a bit, and put it into practice in life at times, but, not completely. They also obey the precepts and further do the good thing, to save sentient beings to liberate from suffering. They also could teach and explain what the Buddha had taught, but, just according to the words to explain the meaning, not from their real practice and also not from their personal enlightenment. Even though this, they have wished to become Buddha in future life and to go to the pure land created by Buddha after their dying.

Those who are large root-container could realize the real Dao said by Buddha, could be enlightened, and put it into practice in real life. They could teach and explain what the Buddha had taught based on their real practice and their personal enlightenment. What they taught is very alive, and not be bounded to the words. Furthermore, it is very possible for them to attain the Buddhahood, to become Buddha, in the present life. They would create the pure land in heart by themselves. Where to go after their dying? Just be there.    

These three kinds of persons have one common basis, that is, their minds have been inspired by Buddha and they thus have wished to attain the Buddhahood, to become Buddha, in the future. This is the first and very important aspiration which has been obeyed. On the basis, they could learn the Buddha and accept what the Buddha had taught, and thus to keep the Dao. Keeping the Dao to become Buddha is their final goal. Why it is very grand? The all Buddha-law is completely understood and achieved, and the all virtue is solemn, after becoming Buddha. That is why such Dao is very grand for them.

Then, we might have a question. What is the Buddha-law? In generally speaking, the Buddha-law includes the all, the positive thing and the negative thing, and whether it is positive or negative which are judged by the human subjective consciousness. But, in the concept of Buddha-law, the delimited things sometimes might be broken, because the fact might be not what we have seen and what we have thought.

Furthermore, if we can properly apply the Buddha-law with our wisdom in our life, it could make our life alive and live well. But, if we could not apply the Buddha-law properly, we might “die” in the Buddha-law, which means no elasticity and no creation in our life.   

So, we have understood that, whether such Dao is very grand or not, is not concerned about others, also not concerned about you and me, but concerned about the person who has wished to attain the Buddhahood, to become Buddha.

As mentioned before, Buddha is a substantive noun given by people. It means a state of Emptiness and Non-Emptiness, which include the peace, the wisdom, compassion, and the soul of kindness.