Ninety-nine Faults

The Buddha taught us to have “a mind that embraces the expanse of space and encompasses the vastness of the universe.” He taught “Compassion is the essence, and expediency is the means.” He taught us to have loving-kindness and compassion, to end delusion and attain enlightenment, and to end suffering and attain happiness. If what we think, say, and do is the very opposite of his teachings, is this learning from the Buddha? No, this is going against the teachings of the Buddha. Such a person believes in his afflictions and residual habits. He believes in fame and wealth. He does not believe in the Buddha’s teachings.

What should we do if we wish to help propagate the teachings? We should start with ourselves. This is an era of democracy, freedom, and openness. For many, individual rights are considered to be of the utmost importance. Therefore, we must not interfere with others or criticize them. We can only examine ourselves to see if we have these faults. It is very important to start with examining ourselves. We should be modest and praise others, even when they praise themselves and disparage everyone else. If a person has ninety-nine faults and only one merit, we praise the merit and do not mention the ninety-nine faults or keep them in mind. We focus on cultivating our purity and goodness. If we do this, the Buddha’s teachings will have bright future to be passed on to many generations to come.

Buddhist practitioners should try to keep in contact and encourage one another often. If other Buddhists accept us, we can work together to propagate Buddhism and benefit others. If they do not accept us, we should not pressure them but respect their wishes.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

What is "Renunciation"?

We often hear about renunciation in Buddhism. For the vast majority of Buddhists, renunciation does not mean giving up a worldly life and becoming a monastic. It means letting go of one’s attachments. The Buddha showed us how for he had no attachments to this world. Unfortunately, as ordinary beings we are still very much attached to the world in our every thought. Although the Mahayana teachings emphasize substance rather than form, if there is substance, it will certainly be reflected in form. Therefore, if our thoughts transcend this world, our behavior will reflect this.

How will our behavior reflect our thoughts of transcending the world? We will not be attached to anything in this world, be it a good reputation, money, or our five desires of wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep. Our every thought will be like those of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. For ourselves, we come to this world to cultivate, which is to train and discipline our minds when we encounter various situations. We are here to test ourselves to see if we still have wandering thoughts and attachments to this world. For all other beings, we are here to teach and help them on behalf of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. We should have the Buddhas’ great compassion and skillful means to help all beings, who are suffering in this world.

We help different people achieve different goals. We help people with a superior capacity to end the cycle of birth and death, to transcend the Three Realms, and to be reborn in the Western Pure Land to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime. We help people with a medium capacity to end delusion and attain awakening and to advance to a higher stage in their cultivation. We help people with a dull capacity to plant the good roots of enlightenment.

In other words, regardless of a person’s capacity, we should benefit him or her impartially, like Buddhas and bodhisattvas do. On our part, we are impartial at the level of inner truth and the level of phenomena when it comes to helping beings. On the part of the beings, they are equal at the level of inner truth but are not equal at the level of phenomena. For example, when we teach Buddhism, we teach everyone to the best of our ability. But people will understand the teachings differently so some people will grasp more, others less. This is because every being’s good roots, good fortune, and conditions are different.

To renounce the world is to see through the truth of impermanence, to let go of all wandering thoughts and attachments, to attain freedom of mind and spirit, to accord with proper conditions, to be mindful of Amitabha Buddha, and to aspire to attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

Every Thought is a Karma

Our every thought is a karmic act. If a cause arises from wisdom, so then will the effect. If a cause arises from ignorance, so will the effect. Unfortunately, we plant causes mainly because of our ignorance, and this is why we have created innumerable transgressions in our past and present lifetimes. Most of the time, our bad deeds outweigh our good ones! If our good deeds had exceeded the bad ones, we would have already transcended the cycle of birth and death.

As long as we remain in this cycle, we will undoubtedly commit more bad than good deeds. Thus, we should be very cautious and mindful. Fortunately, as the Buddha tells us, our karma is not fixed and can be transformed. Since everything arises from our minds, our karmas also arise from our minds. Since our wrongdoings are created by our minds, then they can also be transformed by our minds.

Shouldn't, Wouldn't

One of Ajahn Chah's disciples had a knee problem that could only be corrected by surgery. Although the doctors had assured him his knee would be well in a couple of weeks, months went by and it still hadn't healed properly.

When he saw Ajahn Chah again, he complained saying, "They said it wouldn't take this long. It shouldn't be this way." Ajahn Chah laughed and said, "If it shouldn't be this way, it wouldn't be this way."

~ Ajahn Chah

Not Yet Time to Appear

 

In our study of the Buddhadharma, we will have often heard that everything is subject to causality. But as ordinary people, we are unable to deeply believe and awaken. Why? We have seen many people who have committed wrongdoings escape retribution, while others who have done good deeds are not rewarded with good fortune. So we do not believe that one who practices virtue will receive good fortune and one who commits wrongdoings will receive their just retribution.

There is a profound principle here. We do not reflect deeply enough and our foresight is shallow. We do not know that a karmic reward passes through time, through the past, present, and future. It has been explained that cause and effect continues in an eternal and endless cycle. This cycle does not begin and end in one lifetime. In other words: “It does not mean there is no karmic effect, rather the time has not yet come for it to manifest.” We need to understand and affirm this principle to be able to completely understand the true reality of life and the universe.

Many of us continue to have good fortune even after we have committed misdeeds in this lifetime. This is because of our having cultivated vast good fortune in our previous lifetimes. Although we have currently committed misdeeds, the remaining good fortune, which we already had, is not yet exhausted. This good fortune resulted from previous lifetimes, not from the present lifetime. If we had not committed wrongdoings, our good fortune would have been even greater.

For example, a wealthy person who indulges his every whim while still committing bad deeds, would find that the great enjoyment in this daily life was because of the good fortune amassed in previous lifetimes. If this person was not currently committing wrongdoings, he might be even wealthier! The underlying principle is that when we do not experience immediate downfall when we enjoy good fortune and commit misdeeds at the same time, it is because of our past accumulation of good fortune. But, as the accumulation of wrongdoings increases, there will come a time when all of our good fortune will be depleted and the negative karmic retribution will come into effect. At this point it will be too late for regret.

On the other hand, we see others who seemingly do not receive good karmic rewards in return for their kind deeds and, in fact, they face many hardships. Their kind deeds seem to be repaid with unkind results. The Buddha explained why this happens many times in the sutras.

In their past lifetimes, these people committed countless serious offenses. If they were not currently performing good deeds, they would be suffering even more. Fortunately, they can stop all wrongdoings and cultivate virtue, and thus avoid even more troubles. As the teachings often tell us: “A serious wrongdoing has been transformed into a light retribution.”

So if we meet difficulties while cultivating good deeds, we should realize that such hardships are not the result of our current cultivation of good deeds. In addition, we need to be even more diligent in ending wrongdoings and in cultivating virtuous deeds. Through our endurance of hardship, we will undoubtedly experience prosperity, our transgressions will be eliminated, and we will receive good fortune.