The profound Buddha's teaching is beyond our general thinking.

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu (Hsu, Tao-qing) 

 

There are the Bodhisattvas who show the wide eyes, appear the anger, hold the magical tool in hand, and ride on the strange animal,  so as to deal with, punish or discipline those people who are full of hatred and rage. Such picture of or image of Bodhisattvas and the magical tool in hand is some kind of the meaning of symbol. With the evolution of the times, the picture of or the image of Bodhisattvas and the magical tool are following the modern image and the modern technology and change. In our times, The appearance of  Bodhisattvas in reality and the illusion of image of Bodhisattvas in our dream may be the similar. Therefore, we should have such knowledge and flexibility in learning Buddha. 

 

There are also the Bodhisattvas who show the greedy smile, appear the greedy heart, and take the treasures or gold or money through wisdom from the true greedy people, so as to deal with those people who are in the mind of greed, meanwhile, to save them and let them leave the suffering. That is to help them avoid the harm brought by the greed of themselves and others. 

 

There are also Bodhisattvas who show the foolish smile, appear the obsession minded, fall in love with infatuated people, so as to save those people who are in the state of obsession, and to liberate them from suffering. That is to help them avoid the harm brought by the infatuated minded of themselves and others. 

 

There are also Bodhisattvas who show the attitude of arrogant and appear the indifferent expression, so as to deal with those people who own the arrogant minded. The purpose is to save them to leave the restrain and difficulty brought by their own arrogant minded.

 

Eventually, there are no such negative minded as said for all of  Bodhisattvas, because they have always dwelled on the self-nature and the Emptiness-nature. They are like the angel to protect and teach the persons who are willing to believe Buddha's teaching, or they have the good cause and condition with the Buddha's teaching in the present life or in their past life. All Bodhisattvas would not appear without cause and condition. If you don't have any cause and condition as said, they don't appear in your life. We respect these Bodhisattvas as Protector-in-Buddhism. 

 

To sum up, if we are the stupid, stubborn or arrogant person who cannot accept the persuade or the advice from the other person's normal and reasonable thinking, however, we still have a little good cause and condition in learning Buddha, the Bodhisattvas would appear any kind of attitude, thought and state to help us to deal with what negative heart and state we own.  That is why if we show the evil thought and behavior, the said Bodhisattvas would appear the equivalent thought and behavior. That is like a mirror to reflect our thought and behavior and let us see it. 

 

How Bodhisattvas appear in our life?

 

They would appear in our environment what we are living, studying or working. Those what we may meet might be our family members, classmates, teachers, friends, colleagues, directors, strangers, or any persons who are in various industries. They might make us feel uncomfortable, anxious, angry or sad. In a word, these appeared images and the ensuing phenomenon could help us to correct or adjust our thought, behavior, and attitude which are not proper and not corresponding to the universal value. In general and in Buddhism, the universal value is corresponding to the good and free will of humans, to the mercy, empathy, content, honesty and open-minded of humans, and to the mutual aid with the equality of humans. The more profound meaning is to correspond to the no-self, no-selfishness, no-desire and no-demanding of  humans.  

 

Except for this, all various images of Bodhisattvas would appear with drama in our dreams, which are ever-changing and not what we can imagine. However, we still can feel and reason it in our dream or after our wakening. All various images of Bodhisattvas are not like what we have seen in the drawing or in the statue. However, they are like our family members and so on as mentioned above.  

 

The character "Bodhisattvas" is the appearance of name, which is the phenomenon of arising and eliminating with causes and conditions. For example, as I have told in the blog, we call "Bodhisattvas" as "Pusa" or "Busa" in the Chinese transliteration. The various images of Bodhisattvas are also the phenomenon of arising and eliminating with causes and conditions. There are not the fixed and rigid images which are regarded as Bodhisattvas. All pictures or statue or images made by humans are some kind of representative or symbol to show the exist, virtue and function of Bodhisattvas. In fact, the essence of Bodhisattvas is the Emptiness-nature, and is no form and no image. On this basis, it is able to appear various forms and images of Bodhisattvas, including the animals, such as the legendary dragons, or elephant, or big worms, even that we can reason there would be the images of alien as Bodhisattvas. 

The Buddha and Bodhisattvas don't care whether you believe the Buddha's teaching or not, because the law of cause and effect (or result, consequence, outcome) is the universal value.

Some people don't understand why the Buddhist worship the image  of Buddha or Bodhisattva in the drawing or the statue. They deny, reject and sneer such behavior. According to our normal intelligence,  of course, we are not to stupidly obsess with the image in the drawing or with the statue. The image of the drawing or statue is some kind of representative or symbol. In fact, the Buddha or Bodhissattva exist in everywhere of the Emptiness.       

 

The Buddha said that he cannot save those people who don't have the cause and condition with Buddha and those people who don't have good causes and conditions in their present or past life. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas don't care whether you believe the Buddha's teaching or not, because the law of cause and effect (or result, consequence, outcome) is the universal value. What we have done absolutely repay in our present or future life. Good deeds are rewarded with good deeds, and evil deeds are rewarded with evil deeds. All evil is self-inflicted. All goodness creates auspiciousness by itself. It is doesn't matter what kind of religions or ideologies we believe. When we deeply realize the Buddhism, we can understand this truth. 

It is better for us to listen more from various kind of the teachings of  Buddha, and should be careful and alert any fraud from the fake teachers in Buddhism.

 

Furthermore, I cannot deny there are existed a lot of fraud by the mean of religions. The profound Buddha's teaching is some kind of danger for the beginner who learn Buddhism. That is why I have to remind you that if we are the beginner in learning Buddhism, it is better for us to listen more from various kind of the teachings of  Buddha, and should be careful and alert any fraud from the fake teachers in Buddhism. When we learn Buddhism, it is better for us to use our common sense and normal logical thinking to judge whether the teachers are honest and  moral persons or not.  

The secondly, we have to think and judge whether what they have taught is corresponding to the true meaning of Buddha, to the social order and good customs or  is their own subjective consciousness and ideology. It is to avoid us to be washed brain by the mean persons. When we have the correct thinking and judgement, we can choose who can be our teachers and we are willing to follow them to learn Buddha.     

An Enlightened Story -- I Hope I Can Send The Full Moon In The Sky To Him.

The Chinese original author: unknown

Translator-editor: Tao Qing Hsu (A Buddhist at home; born and living in Taiwan; since AD 1971-- )

There was a Buddhist monk who was very poor and lived in a small temple on a mountain. At midnight one day, a thief sneaked into this temple, looked around in everywhere, and could not find any worth. Finally, he had to but stole the clothes of the Buddhist monk and thought to sell it for getting some money. When he prepared to go out, he ran into the Buddhist monk.

The Buddhist monk had seen his clothes in the hand of thief. The Buddhist monk knew that this person was a thief, and thought that he became a thief because of some hardship in life. So he did not scold him. On the contrary, he told the thief that he is willing to give the clothes to him, and told him that he did not steal his clothes because the clothes was given by the Buddhist monk.

The thief was very moved and felt shame. The Buddhist monk looked at the thief’s back to leave. Then, the Buddhist monk looked at the full moon and said,” I really hoped to give the bright-clean moon to him at the same time.”

After few months, the thief came to the temple and knelt in front of the Buddhist monk, to repent his fault, to ask for the forgiving by the Buddhist monk, and to ask for the Buddhist monk to recruit him as a disciple. The Buddhist monk had felt his sincerity and finally accepted his repent and agreed to accept him as his disciple.

Remark: A full moon is indicated a pure and clean heart, which is sincere and honesty,  is neither adulating mind nor scheming mind, and is not polluted by the greedy, hatred and the stupid obsession and the stupid infatuation, and any negative mentality. Therefore, a full moon is also symbolized the brightness of a heart. 

Chapter 25: The fire of desires burns the body.

(Chapter 25) 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 25: The fire of desires burns the body.  

The Buddha said,” For the people, the love and desire are such as holding a burning torch to walk against the wind, and which absolutely has the trouble of burning your hands.” 

Humans are born by love and desire. The humans being produced by the artificial reproduction is also derived from the parents' love and desire. Love and desire is the root of human nature. Mostly, love and desire is related to the eroticism.

But, I hope that you know that love and desire is not just concerning about eroticism, because love and desire can be connected with the money, authority, social status, social reputation, social control and luxury life such as to have good cars, gorgeous clothes, delicious eating and luxurious living.

When we insight such root of human nature and what have been done, we can understand anyone’s motivation. Even though they use any upside-down and twisted reasons to fool the masses, it is impossible to fool us.  

The source of love and desire is mostly coming from the personal selfishness. It is very rare to come from the selfless love and desire. Selfishness and selflessness are coming from the same heart of one person. If this heart is enlightened, it can be selfless to face the all sentient beings. However, if this heart is unable to be enlightened, it becomes negative and selfish and what have been done is just want to take the advantage from the world.

Whether the heart of one person is selfish or not, it is not concerning about what and how a person has educated, but it is concerning about whether its heart is enlightened or not. Unfortunately, those who have the more education will have the more love and desire to grasp the resource of the world, and will not share the resource to all mankind, that is because their heart is not enlightened.

In the history of China, the corrupt officials always have the good background of education and the appointment through national examination. They collect a lot of gold, money and valuables. They also have many wives. They grasp the resource of the country and do not will to share it to the civilians.

Whenever the new emperor took office, he began to sweep away the corrupt officials of the previous emperor. The outcome of the corrupt officials is not only to go into jail or to be executed, but all property is also confiscated by the state. And this situation has been repeated again and again, China has not learned the lessons and reforms from history. Those who want to be official are because of their selfish love and desire so as they can collect the more gold, money and valuables for themselves and their families. Such situation is not just existed in China, but also existed in many countries in the world.

Such officials don’t have the selfless mind to share the resource of the country for the civilians and don’t have the kind mind to take care of them, let alone that they can respect them. Violence from the government to the civilians often occurs in this situation.

Unfortunately, selfish love and desire are not just exists in the officials, but also exists in the families. Many families have their own family business and property. Those who have the more selfish love and desire for the family business and property would have the intention to occupy the resource of the family. Disputes between brothers to fight for property often occur in such situation. Mental and physical violence also occur in this situation. Injuries and deaths can also occur.

Selfish love and desire is more coming from the eroticism. Why those people want to occupy the resource or to collect the money, gold and valuables? We can find that it is because they want to raise more wives or women who they love and desire, and their children. Moreover, it is also because they have obsessed with the authority, reputation and the luxury life.

Many people fall into this life situation and don't think there is anything wrong with this. They are even proud of this value. Unfortunately, they do not know what the moral wealth is. Wealth obtained in an immoral way is not real wealth. It will eventually turn into smoke and gone. However, the crime and mistake are recorded and will not be disappeared.

For people, eroticism is like walking with a burning torch against the wind, and there must be the worry of burning your hands. In eroticism, it is more concerning about the erotic desire and money. If the desire for the erotic and money is not contented, emotional disputes occur. People will lose their minds. Mental and physical violence also occur in this situation. Injuries and deaths cannot be avoided.

Therefore, we must be careful about any personal selfish love, desire and eroticism. The most important is to be cautious about the selfish love, desire and eroticism of the self so as to avoid any harm or any crime or mistake.

Of course, what we want to review is not others, but ourselves. Avoiding us as a slave to ourselves’ selfish love and desire can prevent us from becoming a slave to others’ selfish love and desire. It is very important. When we thoroughly understand this, our heart can therefore truly be enlightened and realize the truth, and transform selfish love and desire into selfless love and desire. Only in this way can we really benefit the world. We thus naturally can make merits and virtues, and gain moral wealth from it.

Chapter 24: The erotic and desire hinder the Dao

(Chapter 24) 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 24: The erotic and desire hinder the Dao   

The Buddha said,” Love and desire is not more than erotic. The erotic as a desire is so large and there is no beyond it in the external. Fortunately, there is only such one. If there were the second one as the same, the people in the universal world would be incapable of acting the Dao.”   

Anything has two sides, one is positive and the other is negative. The erotic and desire may be the source of inspiration for artistic creation, but it is also the origin of criminal violence, and more is the source of crime. For a practitioner in religion, the prohibition of erotic and desire is one of the most basic precept and the most important precept on the way to practice the faith. Although we are not monks, controlling our erotic and desire can prevent us from embarking on the path of evil.

The Buddha said,” Love and desire is not more than erotic.” It also means that love and desire do not exceed erotic. In other words, the serious and harmful of erotic is more than that of love and desire.

If we profoundly analyze what is love, we will understand that the essence of love is desire. But, do you know why we would generate the emotion of love? In Buddhism, it is analyzed according to the roots of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, which is called as Six-Roots, and thus to generate Six-Awareness when the Six-Roots contact to the phenomena outside the body. Meanwhile, it will thus generate Six-Dust, which means the troubles, worries, or annoyances. The example and the explanation are as follows:  

1.     Eyes: When any hot girl or strong man is seen by our eyes, it will stir the inside desire and generate the feeling of love, and then will make us hope to own them. Anything which can cause our interests and thus stir our desires is seen by our eyes, a strong feeling of wanting to own them is happened. In other words, our mind is affected, controlled and tied up by what we have seen and by the generated desires. Under such circumstances, those who do not temper their desires will easily be lured into making the crime and violence.

2.     Ears: The sound quality will affect our feelings. If we hear the sound which will enjoy us and correspond to our interest, it will also stir our desire and thus is generated any thoughts, such as love. Meanwhile, it will stir any fantasy in our mind.

3.     Nose: Aroma is related to libido. Smelling the aroma by nose will stir the sexual desire. It is generally known by the masses. There are different body fragrances or body odors in every one, which will also incur any like or dislike in our mind.

4.     Tongue: Taste is produced through the tongue. Everyone has different feelings about taste. Some people are prone to inertia for certain tastes. Once any taste could not content them, any annoy will be generated. The desires to eat have to be stirred by the feeling of eyes and tongue. Unfortunately, many people are obsessed on the desires to eat and there is no self-restraint in eating.  

5.     Body: Touching any part of the body produces a sense of touch. The younger the skin is, the smoother it is, and it causes more peoples’ desires and makes them want to touch it. Meanwhile, it will stir the sexual desire.

6.     Mind: What have caused by the aforesaid roots connecting to any phenomena will generate any thoughts, feelings and awareness. Such mind is also the root of any desire.

In a word, if we mistakenly use these Six-Roots, it will bring us a lot of troubles. However, if we can correctly use these Six-Roots with positive attitude, it will bring us a lot of blessing. So, the Six-Roots are neuter. They are neither good nor bad. It is dependent on how we use it. The love and desire is the same thing.

There are five desires from human beings, which are the desire for money, erotic, fame, eating and sleeping. Because of these five desires, mankind has created a lot of bad karma. Among these five desires, the desire for the erotic is the most serious for hindering the practicing of faith and Dao. If a person thinks only with his lower body and not with his positive mind in upper body, it is really no different with the beast.

The erotic is full of love and desire and can cause a lot of harm to the self and the mankind. In fact, a lot of chaos in personality, in society and in international can find the cause coming from the erotic. Some people advocate sexual freedom and think that it is the personal freedom and human right. Unfortunately, they only think of the freedom, but do not think about what it might cause the harm. If we understand the harm, we will be careful about the desire for erotic.

The Buddha said,” The erotic as a desire is so large and there is no beyond it in the external.” In other words, the erotic as a desire is the largest in our inside. Except for this, any desire for anything in our inside and outside couldn’t exceed it.

How to eliminate or avoid the desire to the erotic? There is a method which is called as perceiving and thinking about the white bone. Before using such method, it is better for us to have the concepts of generating, dwelling, changing and eliminating, and the concepts of forming, dwelling, corrupting and emptying. Such concepts are the change in any situation and mental state.

The method is as follows:

Suppose there are a young and beautiful woman with long hair and smooth skin. Her smile is so sweet. And she has captured your eyes and attracts your attention and interest. Your love and desire for her has generated. Then, you close your eyes and meditate in sitting. The figure of this girl is appeared in your third eye, that is, in your mind. Then, use your imagination. Image that she is aging and her appearance become ugly with messy hair. Now she is totally an elder woman and death. Her body begins to rot. In the end, only white bones are left. Then, ask yourself, why you want to love an ugly and dying woman?  

Perceiving and thinking about the white bone is completed. Such method should be used for many times, even to be used for a whole life. Until you are no longer obsessed on the love and desire for woman, you can thereafter abandon such method. No matter the object is, and whatever they are male or female, we can use this method flexibly to help us give up our attachment to anyone or anything.

Such method is very useful and helpful in practicing of faith in Buddhism. Meanwhile, it is also very helpful for us to generate wisdom and avoid going on the evil way.  

The Buddha said,” Fortunately, there is only such one. If there were the second one as the same, the people in the universal world would be incapable of acting the Dao.” It means that the erotic is the largest in the love and desire. There is no second one which could be as largest as the erotic. In other words, other things such as love and desire for money, fame, eating and sleeping, obstacle to the practice of Dao are not as large as erotic. Why?

If we can correctly use money, fame, eating and sleeping with positive attitude, such things would help the practice of Dao and the development of faith in Buddhism. However, the erotic is the abyss of desires’ indulgence. It hardly helps any positive development of faith and Dao's practice.

No matter what our role is, and no matter what aspiration we want to achieve, to restraint the love and desire to the erotic will have a positive help for us.

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.

Chapter 22: Money and erotic incur the affliction

(Chapter 22) 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 22: Money and erotic incur the affliction

The Buddha said,” That money and erotic for people can not be abandoned are such as honey on the blade of one knife which is not enough to be the perfect of one meal; when a child licks them, it would cause the trouble of cutting tongue. ” 

Personal ignorance and greed bring the harm and trouble to the self and others.

There is no one who does not like money. There is no man who does not like erotic. For seeking and obtaining money and erotic, people do not care about morality and justice. They even do not care about their responsibility for their family members, the public, the society, or the country. Such things can be observed from the history and the news, even around our daily life.

The worse is that such things would cause the chain structure of accomplice. And people may use the legislation or protocol to hide their intention. And such legislation or protocol even is made between one country and the other country.

The evil retributions because of harming others through money and erotic are also truly existed.

What we have observed and seen is that those who want to maintain their own money and erotic always threaten A and bully B, even to lie and twist the facts. What surprise us is that someone is also willing to cooperate with those persons in order to maintain theirs own money and erotic, too.

For those people, they do not know and even do not think that doing so would bring them the trouble. That is because they indulge in the illusory enjoyment of the moment and forget any danger after the enjoyment.

When I am young, I do not understand why such things can be existed in the world. And most good people can not do anything to change it. There is also unbalance emotion in my mind in that time. But, when I deeply observe the history and news, even to my daily life, I find that the retributions for such things are also actually existed.

Many people are suffering because of tangling in chasing money and erotic.

Why the money and erotic incur the affliction? It can be spoken in two parts. One is the retribution in the present life. And the other is the retribution in the next life.

Many people are suffering because of tangling in chasing money and erotic, and they may thus harm others purposely. But, they may not have such self perceiving. Some people may lose job unwillingly, become poorer or go into the jail, even to die. Even though they have a life, they still have to suffer in their life.

Before their dying, they may have ever experienced threatening and panic, even to violence. That is the retribution in their present life. Unfortunately, they even do not know they would be died for such reasons. Once they have dead, their souls directly goes into one of the three evil ways and are suffering there. That is the retribution in their next life.

The fortune and nobility are pursued in the danger.

There is a Chinese saying, ”The fortune and nobility are pursued in the danger. ” Which means that, if people want to pursue the wealthy and noble life, they must have the preparing to lost their life and job, even to take the risk to make crime. Even though they may know that, they still will to risk it.

Why? In the history, the population in China is very large, the unfair is always existed in the society, and the generated wealth and the authority are so attractive. If they want to be the top or the wealthy person from the large population, it is not count on their merit and virtue, but any risk in life. And the money and erotic is the best tool to get the wealth and the authority.  

Money and erotic is sweet as honey. Everyone would like to taste it. However, most people do not know that the honey is on the blade of one knife and can not let us eat enough. Those persons are like the ignorant children to lick the knife's honey and let their tongue to be cut. In other word, they many become the stepping stones of those who desire to be the top and wealthy person.

Pursuing money and erotic is coming from the greedy nature and heart.

No matter the persons become the stepping stones or the persons who have step on the stones to be the top or wealthy one, pursuing money and erotic is coming from the greedy nature. Greedy nature is one of the three poisons which can harm the self and others.

Some evil people not only indulge in such poison but also use such poison to control or threaten others. And its spread damages are beyond our imagination, for example, the biochemical weapon damage. Such damage is global. It not only causes the large death of human beings, but also causes the huge economic loss. It is the Invisible poison and its harm is more beyond than the tangible poison.

In a country, the government may arrest suspect or held accountable who make a mistake because of greedy nature. But, in the international politic, there is no international law which can punish those who cause any large disasters and economic loss in the world because of their greedy nature.

What the Buddha has seen is the mind and true heart inside, not the decorated phenomenon.

The Buddha also observed about this. Any artificial law or agreement may be twisted, despised, fake, bias, or fraud. However, in Buddhism, the retribution through personal reasons and conditions are impossible to be twisted, bias or fraud. Why? That is because what the Buddha has seen is the mind and true heart inside, not the phenomenon which is decorated.

When we understand it, we know that we would not violate our good nature to do evil things. When we do not lie to self, we do not lie to the Buddha and the public.

The ignorant person may lie to the world. But, it can not lie to the Buddha. So, it is better for us to be a wise person and be humble front the Buddha.

When we have such common sense, we would not be bind in following money and erotic, and would not use them to do the evil things, and would never be exploited, controlled or threatened by others. Under the circumstances, we would be the true free person and make sure that our destiny is on the bright way.

Chapter 12 ﹝16﹞ : Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult.

(Chapter 12 ﹝16﹞ ) 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 12: List the difficulties and exhort to practice   

The Buddha said,” There are twenty difficulties for people. Giving something to others is difficult when people are in poor. Learning the Dao is difficult when people are in the huge wealth and are the nobility. It is hard to the people when they must die because their lives have to be abandoned. Being able to see the scripture of Buddha is difficult. Being born in the time of Buddha is difficult. Enduring the erotic and desire is difficult. Seeing the self-interest and not to pursue it is difficult. No resentment when being humiliated is difficult. When having the authority and not to draw near to ordinary people is difficult. When contact with things and no heart  is difficult. Learning widely and researching extensively are difficult. Removing the ego-arrogance is difficult. Not to despise the un-learner is difficult. Practicing the equality in heart is difficult. Not saying its right or wrong is difficult. Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. Seeing the Nature and learning the Dao are difficult. According to conditions to reform people so as to save them is difficult. Seeing the circumstance and unmoved in heart are difficult. Good at understanding the convenience is difficult.

Chapter 12 ﹝16﹞ : Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult. (Meeting a person who owns the good knowledge is difficult.)

Meeting the good-knowledge person is difficult (It is difficult to meet a person who owns the good knowledge.). It is the Sixteenth difficulty in the twenty difficulties said by Buddha Shakyamuni in this Chapter.

According to my personal knowledge and understanding, there are three definitions for  a person who owns the good knowledge. 

The first definition for the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who are understanding of the specialized subject and have information about the specialized field. 

It is referring to the profession which can be used in the society and country. And mostly it must be tested and issued a certificate from the school or university or any allowable educational institution. Furthermore, it must have the good experience in some specialized subject and field, such as politic, finance, environmental protection, education, management, medicine, technology and so on.

This good-knowledge person would help us increase our knowledge and fortune to survive in the world. However, if we are not studying or working in the some specialized field, we almost have no chance to meet such professional persons. 

The second definition for the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who own the virtue and merit in personal conduct and character.

The second definition for the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who own the virtue and merit in personal conduct and character. 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.

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 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.

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.

What is the advantage to meet such good-knowledge persons? In a word, they would enlighten our wisdom, help us know who we are and where we come from, and increase our bliss in present and future life. In Buddhism, it would help us become Buddha someday.  

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. 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 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 not will to 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.  

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.

The third definition for the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who became the “evil person” to teach and punish the true evil persons, and to adjust them to be good persons.

However, there are exceptions. Even though there are exceptions, its essence is still based on the benevolence and empathy to the all sentient beings. Just he used another means which we think it might be not normal and not corresponding with our logical thinking.

For example, one of the good-knowledge persons is a king, and he might be not a good king according to our common sense. On the contrary, according to the public's common sense, they think the king is “evil and brutal”. Due to there are more evil people in his country, such evil people are full of greedy and hatred in mind, and always to bully and cheat the good persons, that is why the king becomes “the evil person” and uses the cruel punishment to punish such evil people.

So the third definition for the good-knowledge person is meant to those persons who became the “evil person” to teach and punish the true evil persons, and to adjust them to be good persons. There is a Chinese saying, “Evil people ride the evil horse.” It means that the true evil people are like the evil horse and there would be the more-evil people to tame such evil people.       

Do not worry. If we are not the true evil people, we would absolutely not meet the “more-evil person”.

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.

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.