41. The Four Moral Conducts

Those who guide and save living creatures must be diligent in receiving the four moral conducts, achieving their dharma body to get the Insight, and entering into the realization, not inclined to the compatible appearance.

The four conducts are:
                                1. The Arahant Conduct
                                2. The Sravaka Conduct
                                3. The Pratyeka Conduct
                                4. The Bodhisattva Conduct

1. The Arahant Conduct

“The Arahant Conduct is called the conduct of Buddha form. Those who are clinging to the form to attain the Buddha form are called Pratyaka Buddhas. Otherwise, if you practice the Arahant conduct, according to the degree of clinging you will attain from the heaven fairy to the great fairy limited to the compatible and direct appearance in the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, called the Three Spheres.” –T.V.

The disciples who have acquired the truth of awareness, great awareness and ultimate awareness are mistaken to be the highest and believe wrongly they have attained the extreme of the truth.

Therefore, they are clinging to this conduct, which is the Buddha Sphere. In fact, those who are clinging to this form are only Pratyaka-Buddha also called those of Buddha Sphere. Those ones, according to their degree of attainment of awareness, great awareness and ultimate awareness, would attain the degrees from heaven fairy to great fairy called Buddha Fairy and still remain in the calyx of flower of dharma sphere, which is difficult to escape from the Buddha sphere to enter in communication with the Bodhisattva conduct in any lifetime.

At this degree of attainment those who realize the need of advancement and would not be clinging to the behavior of Buddha sphere are extremely rare. Even meeting the supreme enlightened Buddha, it is difficult for them to abandon their habits of Buddha sphere to be guided to the bodhisattva path. It is better to be a bodhisattva and continue to practice waiting for the right time to become Buddha than to be clinging to the Buddha sphere, getting into the life of incalculable, and unable to advance further.

2. The Sravaka Conduct

“The disciple of the arahant conduct basing on the four conducts to practice for enlightenment has considered the sutra as an index-finger, reading it to understand the meaning, not clinging to the words to get the insight, which is the realization of the Sravaka conduct.” –T.V.

The Sravaka conduct awakened through practice is also called the arahant conduct. From the arahant conduct, practicing for supreme enlightenment they read the sutra in order to understand its meaning and see truly all dharma. Reading, studying and learning sutra without knowing how to apply it to the daily life in order to understand and directly see all dharma, insightfully awakening all dharma is still being awakened that is hard to get out of it. They have usually stumbled over their self and self-possession, never knowing that they are covered by the ignorance and unceasingly caught in the scripture. They have believed that reading and studying Buddhist sutra is the unique way of practice, not knowing that the Buddhist sutra is only the base to practice the insight and escape from the dharma sphere of being known. It is very difficult for any disciple to see it profoundly to guide his own life to the practice for liberation through wisdom and to be free from stupidity for many lives.

3. The Pratyeka Conduct

“The insight applied that varies with favorable and unfavorable situations, basing neither on the pro nor on con, with a separated and obstructed mind in the purity and impurity, does not became impatient, attached and doubtful, attaining uniquely through insight, that is the realization of the Pratyeka conduct.” –TV

Adapting oneself to the favorable and unfavorable situations means in presence of the situation manifest favorably or unfavorably of the daily life, you should recognize that everyone in the world has his joyful and sorrowful situation of happiness and misery, fullness and emptiness, yet remains impartial and does not consider it to be strange, calmly examining the situation with acceptance. No matter how difficult the situation may be, you should be calm and joyful, seeking for an appropriate solution without differentiation and obstruction, no more doubt about the Buddhas and Awakened One, to the permanence, no more belonging to the impermanence of living creatures and become peaceful and joyful. Those who could get insights in the presence of favorable or unfavorable, pure or impure situations and dissolve it - that is called Pratyeka conduct.

When the Pratyeka dissolved the situation, he should not be concerned with the right or wrong solution. Even if the situation is incorrectly or inappropriately solved, he would remember it to use the defect as a lesson for his future success in order to accomplish the pratyeka conduct that is essential. Those of arahant conduct, sravaka conduct and pratyeka conduct in the right signification usually acquired one of three dignities:

–The No-Birth of Dharma Patience

–The Equality of Nature and Mind.

–The Samadhi Dharma Subject of Real Form and Formless.

Nevertheless, the disciples should have undergone many lives of practicing before attaining the awareness, great awareness and ultimate awareness.

If the disciple meets an awakened one who is Buddha or bodhisattva who has the real sealed Mind of Sakyamuni, Maitreya Buddha, it is extremely advantageous for him. Why? Because he needs only one lifetime of adequate confidence, obedience, and respect to attain the true enlightenment without waiting many lifetimes for attestation.

There are some who have met Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha, but still keep their selves, carrying with them an analytical scale to calculate the gain and the loss so would not obtain the result of their practice. In my life, I have seen and known too much about those facts. On His path of ministry, He has heartily given them all. But it is difficult because they are not diligent. Many of them are clinging to the emptiness, and releasing to attain the enlightenment. Unfortunately, they could not overcome until Long Hoa Chief Monk has passed away they are still clinging to the emptiness. What an eternal embarrassment!

At the Central Highness Assembly, here is what I heard about Long Hoa Chief Monk’s incarnating Lord Supreme Maitreya’s teachings.

The Dharma Ending Age is about to come to an end, we need to tell the disciples to practice carefully so that the faithful believer in the future could avoid the erroneous attachment to the emptiness, and follow the right way of enlightenment.

He has then sweetly continued his teaching:

The Chinese King Wu Liang Dynasty was very faithful in Buddhism. One day, he paid a visit to the Bodhidharma and asked:

– I built thousands of temples, offering to thousands of monks, were those merits?

– No, answered the Bodhidharma.

The King then asked:

– Do you know who I am?

– No, answered the Patriarch.

The King Wu Liang did not believe in the Patriarch, left Him and forbade all his courtiers to follow the Patriarch.

The above story showed us: The Bodhidharma does not use the immediate education at the right moment. Because the King only meets him for the first time, it is impossible to apply the immediate education.

The Patriarch should have used the dharma conduct sparingly making a gradual education to the King for some time, until he has the adequate confidence, obedience and respect before using the immediate, mainly to make the King awakened.

The Patriarch thus knows only himself, not knowing what the level of practice of the King is. The Patriarch has not attained the samadhi dharma subject of the real form and formless. Therefore, the Patriarch has only saved himself, not the others. He has acquired the truth, preaching the Mahayana, but is caught by the nothingness in the application to the life. Finally, the Patriarch had faced the wall meditating for 9 years to repent, having used wrongly the immediate education and creating this disastrous effect, and the high practice of 9 years didn’t enable him to be enlightened as many of the following disciples have wrongly believed.

Facing the wall to meditate for 9 years and avoiding the secular world would lead him into the "fairy-way."

• The reason: The Mahayana.

• The facts: Unable to manipulate the dharma and being caught in the emptiness

• The result: Loss in the fairy-way.

As noted above, in this last period of return, during His ministry from 1957 to 1993, Long Hoa Maitreya Buddha, himself, has met the thirty-three (33) patriarchs from the time of the Blessed-One. They are reunited in large numbers. But all of them are appearing as laymen with their families, and earning their living by all types of careers in the society of Vietnam.

The Bodhidharma also came back in 1980 with a new incarnation, an existent name. Once, I witnessed Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha has advised the Patriarch to make up his mind bravely and strongly to practice the bodhisattva conduct, not be clinging to the conduct of Buddha form, limited in the Buddha sphere and called Pratyaka Buddha. It is better to remain in the bodhisattva conduct and become a bodhisattva later in the hope one day of becoming the supreme enlightened Buddha rather than remaining eternally in the Buddha sphere, unable to get out.

The Patriarch could not accept the manner of the lively dharma, belonging to the formless, which is skillfully used by the Long Hoa Maitreya Buddha. Only one year later, he had gone back home closed the door, receiving nobody from the dharma school. He has kept closing his door in spite of the call of the Chief Monk. The dharma nature is clear and equal, since then the impregnation is manifesting for many lifetimes without any change.

These two verses written by Lord Supreme Maitreya about the Patriarch have still remained in the dharma-store.

The way to the Buddhahood is very, very, very far.

But the Bodhidharma Patriarch carries the term of emptiness.

–T.V.

The Patriarch has acquired the true emptiness, but he is not yet enlightened. It is the same for the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. After one year of practicing in the dharma store, he has left because he is not able to accept the lively dharma. By this story, we know that the practice as layman in this lively dharma requires a lot of patience and accepts sufferings and misery to be able to overcome countless dharma spheres.

The previous life of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng was Channa, the charioteer in the time of the Crown Prince Siddhartha Gautama. When the Blessed One had become Buddha, Channa was also practicing in the sangha. He has not yet been attested in the bodhisattva rank.

At that time, Sariputta and Moggallana were the two active Venerables, presented now in Long Hoa, and are still practicing to go from venerables to bodhisattvas, how could that story be told of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng (was Channa) who attained the Buddhahood!

The five later patriarchs who are passed down to China, from the Bodhidharma to the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng, both have attained the emptiness, but none of them are enlightened yet.

Neither speaking well nor writing well is mine;
appropriately solving the situation is mine.

– T.V.

Being aware of one's own nature to clear off living creatures’ natures, we must lean on all dharma to resolve, accepting purity as well as impurity, aiming to create abilities and relying also on merits to be able to attain the truth. According to the profound degree of your abilities and merits, you will attain from the awareness to the ultimate awareness. You have to establish a firm standpoint, examining and lighting your karma consciousness, karma defilement and your old fixed karma fetters, and by dissolving your stupidity and manipulating all dharma in order to attain enlightenment.

The disciples who practice for liberation through wisdom should practice all matters in order to make the dharma return to the mind. Only the right dharma-subject of liberation leads to being enlightened. Otherwise, the practice of only a gradual way or an immediate way, an exoteric or esoteric way would never lead to liberation.

Because of the practice of immediate way, you just understand the immediate one, the gradual way, you understand the gradual one, of exoteric way, you understand the exoteric one, of esoteric way, and you understand the esoteric one. You still, therefore, do not understand the dharma subject of liberation.

The disciple who practiced by desire, by the wishes for purity, is not liberated either. He has to practice accordingly to main ideas or principle guidance and a goal clearly showed by an enlightened one to get liberation, as previously discussed. The Ten Venerables and many dharma protectors during the times of the Sakyamuni Buddha are all present at the Long Hoa in this last period. They have to submit an examination organized by Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha for an equal and explicit faith about their morality as well as knowledge and their practical training as a layman. As a result, most of them have still remained in the rank of venerables and dharma protectors.

He genuinely attests only one of the venerables as bodhisattva and realizing the Mahasatva in presence of the three true disciples.

The Patriarch Bodhidharma and the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng are still in the dharma protectors’ rank and not yet attested as venerables. According to the attestation of Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha in this Final Law Period, the Venerable Moggallana is advanced one Buddha-life ahead of the Venerable Sariputta, Consequently, the Moggallana will return to the secular world later, continuing his practice to attain Buddhahood, who would in turn help the Sariputta to become bodhisattva, because the Venerable Sariputta is not presently attested as bodhisattva to realize mahasattva.

As for the knowledge ones, who usually consider the right and the wrong, vice versa, that would never be the right one. By thinking some dharma to be wrong, they would like to avoid them. Those who would act without fear of failure have learned from experience to make it right the next time.

We have to penetrate into all dharma and lean on all dharma, even though it is an incorrect one, so that we could learn from it and make it right one day. That is the path of those who practice for liberation. For those who do nothing for fear of failure, the rightness of their karma consciousness is not true. They would still be caught in their thoughts and unable to escape from the belt of thoughts. Every thought has its own character when someone is clinging to it, nobody would be able to relieve them, even the Buddha coming into the world. Only those who are thinking with the goal of fixing it could readily relieve their thoughts themselves. Therefore, the Buddhas have taught: All dharma are fictitious and life is just like a dream, passing by as fast as a flash of lightning in the sky. We have to practice in the fictitious dharma, in the dreaminess until cessation of fictitiousness and dream, and then we could reach the true supreme

“In the time of The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng he was practicing concurrently with the Venerable Shen Hsiu under the guide of the Fifth Patriarch Hung Jen.

Each of them practiced in his particular manner The Venerable Shen Hsiu inclined to the gradualness, while the Hui Neng to the immediateness. The Venenerable Shen Hsiu practiced for the dharma behavior, while Hui Neng for the awareness of the nature of extinction in all dharma. One based on the form to know the truth; the other sought for the truth to know the nature.

Finally, the Sixth Patriarch has continuously practiced the dharma behavior and the form to know the truth. Then Venerable Shen Hsiu has sought the truth in combination with the form; that was the unique path of the Buddhayana, not two ways.” –T.V.

At the beginning, every subject has to practice for their correction; neglecting it you would be fixed and clinging. Whatever your subject of practice is, you would be fixed and always confused and wrong for countless lives, and unable to be liberated. In this Final Law Period, many problems are difficult to hear, but true. The Venerable Avaghosa, Vasubandhu, Asanga who have taught the dharma of unique vehicle, supreme vehicle in the past are regarded as bodhisattvas; but in Long Hoa this time, Lord Supreme Maitreya has verified and attested them to remain still in the rank of venerables sravaka conduct. For the rank of arahant, they reason well but for the manipulation of dharma, which they could not yet surpass, and remained in place, that is the unparallelism of theory and action, the disproportion between the morality and knowledge is not yet in parallel either. Generally speaking, the Lord is very serious in the attestation: He has taught: "In attesting holy disciples, I have never fallen into partiality. All are very clear and perfect. Owing to that, there has been the basic orthodox."

4. The Bodhisattva Conduct

“When the above three dignities are adequate, one would naturally make up one's mind to enter courageously in the way of practice of the bodhisattva conduct. Why? The conduct of bodhisattva according to the faculty that directly appears; the explicit origination in bodhisattva; when the Bodhisattva has realized the corresponding Body in himself; the Bodhisattva has pretended to be Ignorant, naturally got the adequate dignity, the majesty, the righteous words that exist in his own nature which, when emitted, neither depended on the dogmatic nor damaged the discourses as instructed by the Blessed One.” –T.V.

The conduct of bodhisattva is that of voluntarism. The direct apparition implies the voluntary correction of one's nature, digging of all karma fetters in one's body to be able to see, know and dissolve all dharma. It means not inclined to worshipping and supplicating any more. Once attested by the Buddhas, although the bodhisattva who is returning to the world not yet reaching the state of “wisdom”, called the bodhisattva pretended to be ignorant, nevertheless as young in age, he would already have the dignity and majesty of a bodhisattva. Those would return to bodhisattva at the same age of the previous life, suddenly directly appearing, not being covered by ignorance like living creatures.

If it was a bodhisattva in the right meaning and formed by the Buddhas, none of his mistakes could be seen and known by those of low frequency, and only the Tathagata could teach him. Therefore, all his thought, speech, acts emitted the purity and impurity without any error. All are carrying out the order of the Buddhas in teaching the Four Beings, aiming to enlighten them.

“Because these words of wisdom are all characterizing the Buddhas, what the Bodhisattva said today under their order is their words. You should neither criticize the words of wisdom emitted through apperception, nor be attached to the doubt to be clinging and never attain the Bodhihood. I’m now acting for your sake, aiming to keep you free of mistakes in your way of practice.” –T.V.

It is usual that the secular world criticizes what the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have done. Long Hoa Chief Monk is now reminding faithful disciples to practice for liberation, neither being attached to the doubts nor criticizing and rejecting, because their virtue was too little and their abilities much less than that of the bodhisattvas. If they criticize those of wisdom such as the rank of bodhisattvas, they would harm greatly their own merits. They should carefully preserve their fragile merits, accumulated through many lives, but not yet attested by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

In this Final Law Period, I witness that a lot of disciples who attached to the doubts have unintentionally destroyed the dharma and harmed the bodhisattvas, creating immeasurably disastrous consequences. So we can see that the famous words “The Great Virtue Frightens even Devils” are eternally true.

Upon His words, all the sravaka, pratyaka arahants and devas stood up and respectfully addressed:

Reverend Buddha-King, we are walking on this path and practicing in this way. If we have to wait for the end of our life, for the right time and the right occasion, not yet either to meet the Buddha or to see the Great Monk, how could we practice for enlightenment? Reverend, please preach it to save us.

His forehead was radiating into nine flows of light. His face had become extremely beautiful and His smile was like millions of udumbara flowers spreading all its petals. He said:

“Fortunately, fortunately for you: You are getting a favorable occasion; you are those who have sown the good condition for millions of lives and have lost your way. Now you are meeting an awakened one to guide you, how can you lose your way to worry and implore for it?

Upon His words, all of them are very delighted; they respectfully bowed down, solemnly admired and adored Him just like a good father who has saved his suffering children. In the high sky, the songs then resounded and all the fairylands are covered with multicolored flowers, the best flowers offered. He has silently ordained all their merits and said:

You should listen now; you should diligently recite the sutras. The four behaviors must be equaled not greater or smaller, higher or lower. The lack of one of these four behaviors would make you fail to achieve. Have you got the equality in your practice and realized the four behaviors in order to attain enlightenment?

All of them have respectfully bowed and obeyed His order.” –T.V.

The ranks of sravaka, pratyaka, arahant are also called Pratyaka Buddha, each of them is saving living creatures from suffering and dissolving it. From the bodhisattvas to the great bodhisattvas all must practically and skillfully make use of the sudkha dharma to realize equally in those four behaviors. Besides the equality, they have also realized them at the right time, in the right place. Therefore, the dharma is neither greater nor smaller, neither higher nor lower. Those who did not yet realize the four behaviors or yet realize them profoundly enough would not attain the full enlightenment. They are not bodhisattvas in the right meaning.

When Long Hoa Chief Monk Maitreya Buddha had returned to this Last Return Period and became Buddha, whenever and wherever, He had taught the dharma in addition to the living creatures and the four beings of the dharma store. There are also those from the heaven, and the devas who have sympathetically come to assist in great numbers. Meanwhile, a lot of monks nuns and disciples in the secular world did not have a good enough condition to assist at these teachings during His 37 years of ministry. He has also lamented. “It is very hard to reconstruct in this Dharma-Ending Age.”

LORD SUPREME MAITREYA WITH LONG HOA