11  Supreme Blessings Without Condition

We will now discuss chapter eleven—Supreme Blessings Without Condition. What is without condition? Without condition (unconditional) means “without dwelling on anything.” In acting without condition, the mind arises without dwelling on anything.

In this chapter, we compare the blessings of two deeds. Sakyamuni Buddha particularly likes using two metaphors: Mount Meru to symbolize the large and tall, and the sands of the Ganges River to symbolize the infinite.

Anyone who has been to India would know the Ganges. The Ganges River runs across India and is regarded as a sacred river. India is one of the four ancient civilizations, the others being China, Babylon, and Egypt. Babylon has since disappeared, leaving only Egypt, India, and China. These are countries with over five thousand years of civilization. Grandmaster once visited India, went to Varanasi—a five-thousand-year-old ancient city on the bank of the Ganges—and rode a boat along the river. Indians revere the Ganges much like the Chinese revere the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.

The first sentence states that the sands of the Ganges are undeniably countless. Whenever the Buddha mentions the sands of the Ganges, it connotes the uncountable and the infinite. Yet in this sentence, the Buddha says something more that people may have missed.

“Should there be as many Ganges rivers as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River…”

What is meant by this? The Buddha means that every grain of sand is another Ganges River. Many people reading this statement think that the Buddha talks only about the sand in [a single] Ganges River. No, it’s much more than that! It’s taking each grain of sand to represent one Ganges River! The number of grains in one river is already countless; if each grain were to represent one river, how much more sand would there be? It’s impossible to count! This analogy denotes the uncountable. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss the figurative speech of the Buddha.

But Subhuti knew! From his reply, you could tell that he listened attentively to the Buddha, “The number of those rivers…” What? “Those” rivers?! There is only one Ganges River, but why did Subhuti say “all the Ganges Rivers”? That is because each grain of sand becomes its own Ganges River. Subhuti paid attention to what the Buddha said.

Grandmaster’s explanation of the sutra is also very detailed and clear. The Buddha uses metaphors such as Mount Meru being very tall and the Ganges River’s sands being numerous. There is a Buddhist sutra called the Metaphor Sutra or The One Hundred Parable Sutra, which contains many parables the Buddha told. You can call it the Parable Sutra or the Metaphor Sutra—either way.

Some people refer to the Vajra Sutra, an abbreviation of the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra, as the Diamond Sutra in English, using diamond as a metaphor for vajra. The vajra is very hard, and so are diamonds. [Instead of the Diamond Sutra, we call it the Vajra Sutra.] The vajra is indestructible, and it can destroy everything. So can the Vajra Sutra! I have previously expounded on the meaning of the name of the Vajra Sutra. It is the sutra that destroys everything. Everything!

The seven precious jewels are frequently mentioned in the sutra. What are the seven kinds of precious jewels? They are gold, coral, agate, and other precious jewels from the human world.

“…fills as many billion-fold universes as those grains of sand with seven kinds of precious jewels…”

The term billion-fold universes denotes innumerability. A billion-fold universe (three-thousand-great-thousand-world) is also a term Sakyamuni Buddha uses in the Buddhist sutras. The Buddha also says five hundred this and five hundred that. For instance, he says five hundred merchants were crossing the river. Does this mean exactly five hundred merchants? No, it means many! When the Buddha says five hundred arhats, he means many arhats. Five hundred is just a figure of speech to represent a large number.

I borrowed this term from the Buddha when I said, “five hundred [times] ten thousand disciples.” [Five million in Chinese is pronounced as “five hundred, ten thousand.”] Why does Grandmaster say that he has five million disciples? How come it never increases to six million or decreases to four million? When I say five million disciples, it means “many” disciples! Now do you understand? Grandmaster uses the same figure of speech as the Buddha.

Will an act of giving numerous precious jewels filling as many billion-fold universes as those grains of sand generate tremendous merit? Of course it will be immense! The merit of this act of giving is indeed incredible! However, when comparing it with a good man or good woman who upholds and expounds to others the four-line verse from the Vajra Sutra, the latter will generate merit far greater than the former.

Subhuti replied, “Tremendous indeed, World-Honored One!”

The Buddha told Subhuti, “If there is a good man or good woman who upholds this sutra and expounds it to others, even if it is only the four-line verse, their blessings and merit will exceed the former.”

The four-line verse is as follows:

no phenomena of self,
no phenomena of others,
no phenomena of sentient beings,
and no phenomena of lifespan.

Let me explain the Supreme Blessings Without Condition. A human being becomes a sage when they reach the state of no “I,” which means they hold no phenomena of self. [The merit of] having no phenomena of self far exceeds [the merit of] infinite precious jewels filling the multitudes of worlds. It is more so when one also upholds the non-phenomena of others, sentient beings, and lifespan in addition to the non-phenomena of self.

If you uphold these four non-phenomena, then you are a sage! You are a bodhisattva! What afflictions can exist if you have no phenomena of self? Afflictions exist only because you exist; you are afflicted when you hold this notion of “you.” If there is no self, where does affliction come from? Is your affliction due to some illness? If you don’t exist, will you be ill? Will there be any illness?

What is [the meaning of this common saying] “others and self, right and wrong”? As long as I exist and other people exist, rights and wrongs exist—opinions exist. A Taiwanese minister once said, “Where there are people, there are opinions. People talk.” If self does not exist, then the phenomena of self and the phenomena of others do not exist. So others, self, right, and wrong will not exist. Without “I,” there will be no afflictions. Won’t that be extraordinary?! So you should first learn to view yourself as nonexistent! When the “self” does not exist anymore and this state can be maintained, the other three non-phenomena will naturally follow.

Thus I let myself drowse on the dharma throne because I view myself as nonexistent. I hold no phenomena of self. I even suggested turning the dharma throne into a bed and giving me a pillow and a blanket so that I could sleep soundly. You are saying, “Grandmaster Lu, you should give a dharma teaching! Why are you sleeping instead? How can you take a nap when we are chanting? You should not; you won’t look dignified!” I have no more “me” (self), so why would I care if I appear dignified or not? Right? I would rather nap! At the right time, I’ll wake up and give the dharma teaching. So it’s okay, no big deal. Grandmaster has no worries and no concerns at all! Who cares? Do you know why? Your concern is your business, not mine; your concern is none of my business. Leave me alone! Let things be. With this mindset, I gradually enter the state of non-phenomena of self.

People say that most seniors have difficulty falling asleep. The older one gets, the harder it is to fall asleep. Yet, as I grow older, I sleep even better! I sleep so well that I can’t get up in the morning; I have not had enough sleep. At night I put Shimu to bed. After she falls asleep, I tiptoe back to my room. In the morning she wakes me up, saying, “Today is Saturday,” or “Today is Sunday. You must go to the Rainbow Temple!” I tell her, “I am taking a day off.” Yet I still get myself up. I must be diligent; I must give dharma teachings. I always say I’ll take a break, but I still get up and go every time. My life is like this.

Non-dwelling is wonderful; it is doing things naturally without conditions, intentions, expectations, or reasons. There are no “whys”! Instead, I only do what I am supposed to do.

In the future, I will continue to expound on the Vajra Sutra, which is truly about the absence of phenomena—no self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. I will explain more in the next few chapters.

Grandmaster is giving a dharma teaching right now. But am I? Giving dharma teachings is equivalent to not giving dharma teachings. Because I do not give dharma teachings, I am giving dharma teachings! [The real dharma teaching is when there is no dharma teaching.] Does dharma exist?

If you go to the Moon, would you find buddhadharma there? The Moon has no phenomena of human beings since there are no human beings there. So how can there be buddhadharma there? And how can there be an “I”? Are there any sentient beings on the Moon? No. Are there any human beings there? No. Is there anyone with a long lifespan? No. On the Moon, what use is time? Lifespan is time, and the phenomena of sentient beings refers to the spatial dimension.

[Jokes] All the land on the Moon is mine. Do you want to buy some? I’ll sell it to you. [laughs] Grandmaster will make a lot of money! I’ll sell the land on the Moon and write that Sheng-Yen Lu sold a number of acres to you. With this piece of paper, you’ll have proof and can become a landlord there! One day you get on a spaceship to the Moon and say upon arrival, “Grandmaster Lu sold me this piece of land. This is the proof,” and show your certificate. But that is useless, isn’t it?!

Over there, there is no phenomena of self, human beings, sentient beings, and lifespan. Once I sell the Moon, I’ll sell Saturn, Mars, Pluto, Neptune, Venus, etc. It’s better to sell outer space than to deal with land on Earth. I’ll also sell certificates for rebirth in the pureland! I want to sell my dharma boat tickets! If you want a seat on my dharma boat to go to Sukhavati, you must buy my boat ticket! But let me tell you, all those papers are useless! What am I selling those tickets for?

Today, I used many analogies to explain the non-phenomena of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. As for the boat ticket from the saha world to Sukhavati? Once you are purified, your purity will be your boat ticket! That’s all for today.

Om mani padme hum.