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The Myriad Dharmas Arise from the Mind Alone2014-10-09
A Talk by Dharma Master Heng Ju
English Translation by Genglin Zheng
In the Eastern culture, houses are cleaned up before the New Year. Your participation in bowing the repentance is in itself a form of house cleaning. How come? At home, we clean up the environment; here we clean up the mind.
At the beginning of the repentance ceremony, there is a stanza that goes: Offenses arise from the mind, therefore we must repent from the mind. When the mind is extinguished, offenses will also disappear. When both the mind and offenses are emptied, that is called true repentance and reform.
Why it is said that “Offenses arise from the mind, therefore we must repent from the mind”? Because all evils originate from thoughts arising from the mind, this is why “the ten dharma realms are not beyond a single thought.” Now here is a true story.
During the Song Dynasty , in China, there is a very famous painter, Mr. Zhao Zi’ang, who is among the top painters in history. At one time, he was working on a painting of one hundred and eight horses, and had completed one hundred and seven of them. But he had difficulty completing the reminding horse, one that was to be falling backwards with all four feet up in the air. He exhausted all efforts to draw the best ever horse, but in vain. He kept drawing day after day and night after night for about a month, concentrating himself completely on this very horse.
In his mind were questions such as how to paint the head, the feet, and the tail? To make the story short, he had nothing but horses in his mind. One day after lunch, he took a nap on the bed. Even in his sleep, he was painting the horse. Suddenly there appeared a horse, falling backwards with all four feet up in the air. At the very moment his wife stepped inside the room to fetch something from the bed. The bed drapes were down so she opened them and saw on the bed a horse falling backwards with all four feet up in the air, its head by the headboard, the horse lied across the bed. She was scared out of her wits; with a loud cry she fell on the ground unconsciously.
Zhao Zi’ang was startled out of his dream at his wife’s shocking cry, seeing his wife on the ground, lifelessly, white foam around the mouth. He called up people to perform CPR and administered ginger drink. Slowly she came around. He asked his wife: “What happened? You must have seen something which frightened you to such extend?” The wife told him: “I was going towards the bed, something almost scared me to death. I saw a horse, falling backwards with all four feet up in the air, lying on your bed. Scared me to death!” Zhao Zi’ang said, “What? How can a horse, falling backwards with all four feet up in the air, lying on my bed?” Said his wife, “I opened the drapes and saw the horse, its four legs were moving!” “Oh, really? I became a horse, how scary, turned into a horse by drawing a horse.” At this Zhao Zi’ang was shivering all over, his teeth chattering, unable to speak.
His wife said, “How did you became a horse?” He said, “because I wanted to paint a horse falling backwards with all four feet up in the air. For months I concentrated on this horse. Today I was taking a nap, by the inconceivable power of the mind, I turned into a horse by trying to draw it. If I paint a Buddha, wouldn’t I become one? From then on, Zhao Zi’ang stopped painting horses, instead he painted Buddha’s. This is the famous story of Zhao Zi’ang’s turning into a horse by painting one.
What do you all think after hearing this story? Now you come to venerate the Buddha, you will become the Buddha. This very mind of ours is very powerful, as the story proves that “the myriad dharmas arise from the mind alone” and that ““the ten dharma realms are not beyond a single thought.” We easterners usually clean up the house prior to the New Year. So how do we clean up our mind? That is to turn the light back home and to reflect upon ourselves, this is how we clean up ourselves and do away completely with evil thoughts. I hope you can learn from Zhao Zi’ang, reciting the Buddha name or mantras, or the sutras, with his concentration. You recite today, recite tomorrow, recite during the day, recite at night, keep nothing but the Buddhas in the mind in every single moment, one day eventually you will become a Buddha.
It will be the New Year the day after tomorrow. Let me ask you which Bodhisattva’s birthday falls on the New Year’s day? All of you know it is the Maitreya Bodhisattva’s. This Maitreya Bodhisattva is very blessed, his birthday falling on the New Year’s Day-Christmas, on which it seems that everyone is especially joyous. So you see, Maitreya Bodhisattva smiles all the time, he is happy.
It is said that the Cloth Bag Monk was the incarnation of Maitreya Bodhisattva. He’s had super ability in enduring insults. While travelling and transforming people around Fenghua County of Zhejiang Province, he practiced the Playful Roaming Samadhi with little kids. People kidded him around, attacked him, some hooligans even beat him, and bullied him. As to him, he was not angry at all, smiling as usually. If all of us start to learn the large heart and endurance of humiliation from Maitreya Bodhisattva, do not get angry in the new year, then, the Gods of Happiness and Wealth will all come our way and there will be the Five Blessings descending upon the house, (this Wealth can also be the wealth of dharma) ---- this will be true eradication of calamities and truly auspicious.
