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Ten Lectures on the Enlightenment Sutra of the Eight Great Masters
Ten Lectures on the Enlightenment Sutra of the Eight Great Masters
Master Hsing Yun speaks
“The First Lecture: An Overview of the Eight Great People’s Awakening Sutras”
The Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutras Said by the Buddha
( Translated by Salmon An Shigao of the Anxi Kingdom of the Later Han Dynasty )
As a disciple of the Buddha, I often recite the Eight Great Human Enlightenments day and night sincerely.
- First Enlightenment: The world is impermanent, the country is fragile, the four great sufferings are empty, the five yins have no self, birth and death change, hypocrisy has no owner, the mind is the source of evil, and the form is a sinful nest. If you observe this way, you will gradually get away from life and death.
- The second awareness: Too much desire is suffering, life and death are exhausting, starting from greed, having few desires and doing nothing, the body and mind are at ease.
- The third awareness: the heart is never satisfied, only seeking more, increasing sins, bodhisattvas are not good, always thinking about contentment, staying in poverty and keeping the way, only wisdom is karma.
- The fourth awareness: slackness and fall, constant diligence, breaking the afflictions and evils, destroying the four demons, and getting out of the underworld.
- The Fifth Enlightenment: Life and death of ignorance, Bodhisattvas always think, learn a lot, increase wisdom, achieve eloquence, teach and transform everything, and take great joy.
- The Sixth Awareness: Poverty and many grievances, forming evil karma, Bodhisattva giving, always thinking of grudges against relatives, not thinking of old evils, not hating others.
- The Seventh Enlightenment: Defects of the five desires, although you are a layman, do not indulge in worldly pleasures, always recite the three robes, pottery bowls and ritual vessels, volunteer to become a monk, keep the Tao and be clean, live the holy life loftily, and be merciful to everything.
- The eighth awareness: life and death are blazing, suffering is immeasurable, develop a Mahayana heart, and help all people, wish to take the place of all living beings, suffer immeasurable suffering, and make all living beings happy in the end.
These eight things are realized by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Practicing the Tao diligently, cultivating wisdom with compassion, taking the Dharma body boat, reaching the shore of Nirvana, returning to life and death, liberating sentient beings, and enlightening all of the previous eight things. Let all living beings feel the suffering of life and death, give up the five desires, and cultivate the holy way of mind. If a disciple of the Buddha recites these eight things, he will eradicate immeasurable sins in his thoughts, enter into Bodhi, quickly ascend to enlightenment, end life and death forever, and live in happiness forever.
“The First Lecture: An Overview of the Eight Great People’s Awakening Sutras”
I am very happy to introduce this bible for the application of Buddhism in the world – “Buddha Says Eight Masters of Enlightenment Sutra” to the public.
Before I talk about the scriptures, let me give an overview of the scriptures.
I want to use the time of ten speeches to finish this sutra. This sutra is called the Eight Great Human Enlightenments. Each enlightenment, as the subject of my speech, is divided into eight major human enlightenments, so I have to talk about it eight times. The title, translator, and preface of this sutra, I will talk about it in the overview, as the first lecture, and the final circulation of the scriptures is the summary, which is also a lecture. There are ten lectures in total. The title of the speech was “Ten Lectures on the Enlightenment Sutra of the Eight Great Masters of the Buddha”.
1. The cause and condition of the Buddha’s teaching of this scripture
One thing always has its causes and conditions. Why did the Buddha preach this scripture? Naturally, there is also a karma
When the Buddha was living in the Gion Abode, one day during a dharma assembly, Venerable Anarudhi, who had the most heavenly eyes, asked the Buddha:
“Buddha! In the Sangha respected by Liuhe, forget selfishness and ego, this is what we should do; we also know that we should be absolutely compassionate and benevolent to all living beings, but, Buddha! Believers who study at home There are many, and there are also many disciples who become monks and approach the society to spread the Dharma and benefit living beings. I beg the Buddha for guidance and enlightenment on how to achieve enlightenment and enter Nirvana!”
The Buddha smiled kindly and happily replied:
“Analudd! What you said is the truth. What you asked is a question of a great person (Bodhisattva). I will tell you about the Eight Great People’s Enlightenment. You can recite it day and night with your heart…”
This is why the Buddha preached the scriptures.
2. Organization of Scripture
All scriptures start with the six accomplishments of “I heard it this way”, but this sutra does not have it, because this sutra is not said by the Buddha in a short while, but because it is fragmented, so there is no “I heard it this way” in the preface of the sutra, and there is no “I heard it in this way” after the sutra. There is no “belief and practice”.
Although the organization of the scriptures in this scripture is different from other scriptures, this scripture still has a beginning and an end, with clear entries, so that scholars can easily grasp the original meaning of the scriptures.
3. Content and value
In Buddhism, many great masters believe that this sutra is the most suitable scripture for lay believers to accept and uphold. They often hear the slogans “Buddhism of life” and “Buddhism of lay people”. How to establish Buddhism of life? What is lay Buddhism? The amount of sacred words must be used as a basis. In my opinion, this sutra is the best treasure book for establishing Buddhism in life and studying Buddhism at home!
Although Buddhism is divided into those who live at home and those who leave home, the proportion of believers who are lay is the majority; Buddhism is divided into those who enter the world and those who leave the world, but its spirit still focuses on joining the world; Buddhism is divided into real life and the afterlife Begotten, but the focus is still on real life. The scriptures say: “Buddhism is in the world, and it cannot be separated from the world. Seeking Bodhi outside the world is like looking for the horns of a rabbit.” Master Taixu also said: “Looking up to the Buddha is the only way to achieve perfection in personality; when a man becomes a Buddha, he becomes a true reality.” In Buddhism, life Buddhism and lay Buddhism have extremely important positions.
Therefore, although the scriptures are only a few hundred words in length, this precious book of life that can be used in the world – “Buddha Says the Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra”, its value is very important!
Therefore, we can clearly state that:
The content of this sutra is like a nautical compass, indicating the future of life!
The content of this sutra is like the sound of the midnight bell, waking up the dream of life!
This Sutra is the Bible for knowing the lost way and returning to the way of enlightenment!
This Sutra is the Bible for lay disciples to improve their lives!
4. Explanation of scriptures
“Buddha Says the Sutra of Eight Great People’s Enlightenment”:
The leader and teacher Sakyamuni Buddha was originally the prince of Kapilavatthu in India. Because he wanted to save life and death and save all living beings, at the age of nineteen, he resolutely abandoned the false princely vanity in the world and became a monk to learn Taoism; at the age of thirty-one At that time, he finally achieved the Supreme Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and lived for forty-nine years by teaching the Dharma. At the age of eighty, he entered Nirvana under the double trees of Sala. The title of all Buddhist scriptures has the word “Buddha said”, which means that all Buddhist scriptures are said by our teacher Shakyamuni Buddha, and this scripture is of course no exception.
When discussing the topic of this sutra, we must first understand the term “adult”, because the “adult” mentioned here does not refer to “adult” or “little man”, nor does it refer to a high official. Or those who run big businesses are called adults. This sutra does not tell people how to get promoted and get rich. The adults mentioned in this sutra refer to those who have accomplished the great cause of liberating life and death and saving sentient beings, that is, the meaning of “Bodhisattva”.
Bodhisattva is the abbreviation of Bodhisattva, translated into Chinese, it means “feeling sentient beings”, or “all living beings with a great heart”. When we talk about Bodhisattva, some people will think of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in the center of the main hall of the temple. It is true that Avalokitesvara and Ksitigarbha are both Bodhisattvas, but the Bodhisattvas mentioned here refer to Bodhisattvas who have entered Buddhism and have set their minds to learn the Tao.
You may ask: How can a human being be called a Bodhisattva? In fact, Bodhisattvas are not portraits, and they are not just placed in the Three Treasures Hall for offerings and worship. Bodhisattvas symbolize a lively life, with infinite enthusiasm, boundless compassionate wishes, and those who can benefit themselves and others are the real living Bodhisattvas.
As long as there is one more person in the world with the bodhicitta of “seeking the Buddha way above and transforming sentient beings below”, there will be one more bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are divided into many ranks, including ten beliefs, ten dwellings, ten lines, ten devotion, ten grounds, equal enlightenment, and wonderful enlightenment, etc. fifty-two ranks. Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha, Manjusri, and Samantabhadra are certainly Bodhisattvas, Bodhisattvas of Bodhisattva Bodhisattvas who have reached the tenth stage or higher. However, those who have set their minds on life and death and saved sentient beings can also be called Bodhisattvas. However, they can only be called Bodhisattvas who have just set their minds, or Bodhisattvas who have faith.
This sutra has “eight” methods of practicing and becoming a Buddha. It is a “sutra” that “people” who have done the “big” cause of life and death and saving sentient beings should “enlighten” and realize it, so it is called “Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra”.
Speaking of the enlightenment of a Bodhisattva, we must talk about the essentials of Buddhism. Buddhism is the teaching to make all living beings enlightened. The Buddha was born into the world for a great cause and reason. It is nothing more than to make all living beings enter the Buddha’s knowledge and view, and to enlighten all beings on the road to enlightenment. Consciousness is the opposite of delusion. All living beings wander about life and death, samsara and the six realms, and lose their true colors, so they are delusion. If you can now know that samsara is suffering, life and death are terrible, and realize that you must practice according to the eight dharma gates learned by adults. , this is called feeling.
The collection of the eight principles that the Buddha said to make sentient beings awaken is called the “Sutra”. The sutra means the path, and the path means the path. If you walk along the path instructed by the Buddha, you will be able to achieve the state of freedom from life and death, freedom and happiness. The reason why all truths can be called sutras: above all, it must conform to the indelible truth, and below must conform to the roots of thousands of changing sentient beings. This sutra was taught by the Buddha, and it can also be learned by all sentient beings, so the sutra is called “Buddha Said the Sutra of Eight Great People’s Enlightenment”.
5. The textual research of the translator
“Translation by Salmon An Shigao of the Anxi Kingdom of the Later Han Dynasty”:
All the scriptures spoken by the Buddha are originally in Sanskrit in India. To translate Sanskrit into Chinese, there must be a translator.
Later Han is the name of the dynasty, which is the later Han of my country’s Guangwu Zhongxing; Anxi is the current Persia; Samana refers to people who learn Taoism, and the Chinese word “diligence” means “diligently cultivate precepts, concentration and wisdom, and put an end to greed, hatred and ignorance”. Said. Later Han Dynasty refers to the time of An Shigao’s birth, Anxi Kingdom refers to the place where An Shigao was born, Shamen refers to An Shigao’s identity, and An Shigao is the translator who translated the scriptures.
Master An Shigao, also known as Anqing, was originally the prince of Anxi Kingdom. After he succeeded to the throne, he suffered from a tiresome political life, which made him extremely unfree. At the same time, he felt that wealth and glory were not real. He put on cassock and became a monk to learn Taoism. Master students are gifted in language, proficient in more than 30 languages, especially proficient in Chinese, read a lot of scriptures, and can understand the language of birds and animals. There are many magical deeds in their lives. During the time of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, he came to Luoyang from Anxi. He translated more than one hundred classics, but only about thirty are circulated today. The scriptures translated by Master An Shigao have clear meanings, fair and correct words, and the words are not flashy, but the quality is not wild. position in history.
6. Preaching of the preamble
“As a disciple of the Buddha, I often recite sincerely day and night, and the Eight Great Masters will awaken”:
Master Dao’an in the Eastern Jin Dynasty divided each Buddhist scripture into three parts, the so-called preface, authentic and circulation. Order is divided into heads, authenticity is divided into bodies, and circulation is divided into feet. Master Dao’an divided the sentence in this way, and everyone praised it: “The sentence is extremely high, and it is the same in the past and present.” It can be seen that this division of judgment is brilliant.
This sutra is not discussed in one meeting, but this sutra is also divided into order, authenticity and circulation, and it is still as complete as other classics.
The above four verses can be regarded as the preface and the beginning of this sutra.
As a disciple of the Buddha, sooner or later, you should have regular homework. In Buddhism, most monasteries take the Shurangama Mantra and the Amitabha Sutra as compulsory homework in the morning and evening. In fact, judging from the order of this sutra, if we want to promote the Buddhism of life and change our physical and mental disposition, it is very true and appropriate to use the “Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra” as a lesson to be recited in the morning and evening.
Although this sutra can be used as a scripture for lay believers to uphold sooner or later, it is even more important for monks to uphold it. As disciples of the Buddha, regardless of men, women, young or old, rich or poor, high or low, no matter whether you are a monk or not, as long as you have the heart to believe in the Buddha, take refuge in the Three Jewels, and act according to Buddhism, you are all called Buddha’s disciples.
Disciples of the Buddha, with a sincere and sincere heart, without hypocrisy, without confusion, regardless of seasons, seasons, day and night, should continuously recite these eight bodhisattvas should be enlightened, always recite, or read aloud , or meditate in the heart, this is the best practice.
Buddhist disciples include monks, nuns, upasakas, upasakas, novice monks, novice monks, and Shichamana. These seven disciples should all recite the “Eight Great People’s Enlightenment Sutra” sincerely, but those who study this sutra For the content, it is more suitable for Buddhist disciples at home—Upasaka and Upasika to receive and hold it!
