LONG HOA HIGHNESS ASSEMBLY, SECOND PERIOD

 The living beings, the Four Species, are ceaselessly living with thought. The one who is practicing dharma can only see its lively mobility by full attention. Nobody can master it and everyone is guided by the thought in the birth and death.

Because of the pollution of human beings, the thought becomes noble or mean, generous or stingy, good or evil. Therefore, it represents different levels of practices such as ordinary man, taught men, and fairies or deities. The thought gives rise to joy and sadness, happiness and misery in all the three thousand great thousand worlds. The Buddhist disciple can see clearly the mobility of thought in ten directions and through countless strata in order to be enlightened. It also easily makes the disciple erroneously fall into attachment, believing he himself is someone. As a consequence, in many cases, because of erroneous proclamation, he cannot meet the true one who knows how to instruct. So he keeps on living with the false thought and becomes clinging at the end of his practice.

“With regard to the stream of thoughts, thought is usually thought, and spirit is spirit. It is impossible to consider the thought to be the spirit. When the stream of thoughts develops systematically and clearly, it is called wisdom; when obscure and vague, it is termed idiocy. For that reason, there are different levels and classes, each using its kind of thought. People, either moral or immoral, are all using their thought, complying with their thought in the perception. It is difficult to take the thought of one class to use in another, except that everyone by his will and instinct have formed and trained himself for some time to make the thought healthy and appropriate for use. Otherwise, any effort to help in whichever condition will gain less success.

Why? Because each thought has its separate nature, only the persons with their fixed thought can resolve it by themselves.” –T.V.

The thought produces the karma consciousness; being a living creature, nobody can escape from it. It is the source of stupidity, which makes human beings, and the four species attached and clung. If the disciple practices by virtue, he is attached. If he practices by wisdom to suppress the attachment, he is still attached. These two ways of practice cannot escape from the karma consciousness. Practicing the sitting meditation to emerge from it and to be in meditation, that can’t help escape from the karma consciousness either. Some disciples erroneously fall in the clinging and do not know how to abolish the ignorance. In reality, Long Hoa Chief Monk has given the teaching. All the venerables, arahants, fairies, and deities present in Long Hoa congregation can see and realize that the practice of the dharma requires the relief of the karma. But while practicing, everyone finds it very difficult to escape from the thought’s transformation.

There are thus high and low degrees of practicing for enlightenment; the attestation and non-attestation for the disciples around him. On account of such importance and utility of the thought, Long Hoa Chief Monk, Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha has recommended the parallelism of virtue and wisdom. The thought with the minds consciousness generates virtue. This is the concenteated dharma. The thought at the rank of spiritual consciousness produces wisdom, which is dharma body. Thanks to his clear explanation, most of the disciples can understand while passing from the Mahayna to the unique career vehicle, but they are unable to carry it out. Because the thought contains a group forming the character, they can at most correct their character in the Mahayana, but most of them cannot comprehend the thought to observe in detail the dragon circuit of the dharma body belonging to the unique career vehicle. So he has to stop for their sake. A whole Buddha life with one more Buddha life in this century, that is too long. Most of the holy disciples can understand the Mahayana, but they are far away from the Buddhayana, so how can people understand thoroughly just through judgment by reason? Therefore, it is difficult to impute the clinging thought of one class to another.

Hence, in the presence of the Buddhas, it is impossible to force anyone without the will, even the high-class holy disciples, despite the Buddhas’ great compassion, great will and great courage.

“Buddhism does not accept the spirit. It only accepts the thoughts, even the wrong, foolish and chaotic thoughts called delusion. Because of the completely erroneous, chaotic and uncontrollable thoughts, people are continually plunging into delusion, serving the delusion, hoping it to be true, never reaching the truth and they are coming to the falseness. Since the thought is false the things must be changed according to the affirmation of the thoughts, becoming the temporary life of the Four Species in general and of the human beings in particular. Every realm of life is changing after the transmigration of birth and death. For that reason, the Buddha said that all dharma are deluding and fictitious. Life is a dream. You have to practice for liberation from the dream and hope for the attestation in the true supreme.” –T.V.

The clairvoyant Buddhas clearly see all living creatures’ false thoughts. Because living creatures are following the false hope, their mind lives with the false hope. How wonderful it is, the supreme Amitabha has promulgated the thoughts of going to be born in the pure land, helping living creatures to go from the obscure and false thoughts to the clear thoughts of the pure land. It is not easy either to follow precisely the Buddha way to the pure land. You should not wrongly believe that the practice of the pure land is the easiest way. Because of that false conception; you will neglect your thought and not fully understand the birth and death belt of the thought.

In his way of practice for liberation, the disciple has to realize that thoughts are extremely numerous with ceaseless manifestation. It is as numerous as the sand of the Ganga River, each grain of sand is an initial of thought, and each thought is a different seed. If the disciple clings to a conception he must receive a grain of sand to enjoy it.  For the great bodhisattva, and bodhisattva who knows how to make use of every seed as the basic dharma sphere in their practice, it becomes the very useful seed of the Tathagata.  To recognize it belongs to the great ego seeing the Tathagata to get rid of the wrong and guide to the supreme enlightenment. Therefore, the great bodhisattvas are very prudent in vowing to serve the boundless Tathagata, vowing to learn the boundless Buddha dharma. For the disciple who makes the vow as a matter of form, that is another thing, because this sentence is so ordinary!

Being erroneous in their thoughts and producing delusion and false hope, living creatures have to live temporarily in the deluding dharma and transform life to a dream. Therefore, the Buddhas have developed the way of liberation from the birth and death. Why did the disciples not wish for liberation? In whichever religion, living creatures have to be liberated from birth and death; though coming to the heaven world, they would return after their death to the secular world and to be never in satisfaction and peace.

“The false ego itself is the spiritual representative of living creatures who have blindly followed the false imagination, leaving the true enlightenment and not yet returning to the eight elements. The eight elements spirit is thus constant and permanent. The recognition would make living creatures achieve perfectly their Buddha way. Therefore, the Buddha has encouraged the bodhsattvas to deeply penetrate into the dharma world and practice for the prajna in order to be able to receive completely the prajna mind and enjoy paradise in peace. They should eliminate all false thoughts in order to master their own body and life, all dharma, and thoroughly understanding the enlightenment.” –T.V.

The supreme enlightened like him has thoroughly guided the bodhisattvas. Therefore, the latter have employed suitable language to preach to disciples, guiding living creatures according to each individual circumstance. The bodhisattva has relied on the thoughts to understand thoroughly numberless falsely imaginary thoughts of living creatures lost in the birth and death cycle. This is in order to attain the prajna mind, to get out of the false thoughts belt, to be master of their own body and all dharma, in order to attain the true enlightenment. He can then continue to conduct the vow and realize the vow for deep penetration until attaining the constant and permanent spirit of eight elements before becoming Buddha.

How difficult it is, but many of those in the Buddha sphere have been wrongly attached and believed themselves to be Buddhas, just as He has countlessly witnessed in this Dharma Ending Age.

“It is insufficient for the bodhisattva to use only conduct in his way of practice for liberation. The conduct must be accompanied by the will and vow. Then he is called the bodhisattva with complete conduct-vow. Otherwise, conduct alone, when conservative and stabilized, will only become a wood statue and dried bud and the bodhisattva is living in empty and distant self-feelings’ thought. The bodhisattva with will and vow is the one who already has an ascendant conduct. Without the will and vow the bodhisattva would be only posing as bodhisattva with his consolidated thoughts, never exploiting the thoughts in himself to illuminate all over and be aware of himself.” –T.V.

The Bodhisattva having a consolidated conduct is usually loved by all. Therefore, in the presence of an impure or difficult dharma with embarrassment, he is often discouraged. For that reason, he has to make a great will and vow in order to advance farther in his way of complete liberation. It is by this way that he could fully conduct the vow and understand numberless living creatures, getting perfectly clear the purity and impurity and vowing to offer it to the Tathagata. The bodhisattva is then free of pollution; he is fearlessly satisfied, getting the great compassion and complete liberation through wisdom. The satisfied great bodhisattva is no longer polluted at all in his work of penetrating into the dharma world, only wishesing to acquire the knowledge of all, even without the attainment of the second vehicle. The bodhisattva still practices, and recognizes pact, in order to gets the dharani and together with the Tathagata enters the samadhi right concentration, waiting for the occasion to be ordained by the Buddhas to become Buddha.

When entering the dharma sphere, the bodhisattva keeps up high mindedness in spite of curses because it is the indispensable Buddha Nature he ought to obtain.

“On account of the universal contradictory mind, the ego undertakes every aspect of thought as clinging as living creatures’ limit. The representation must be lively tolerant, ranging from the purity to the impurity, which manifest themselves without omission. Hence, the thought is the master of three thousand worlds and the Buddhas’ Three Dharma Elements.

The three dharma elements of the Buddhas unanimously rely upon the basic vows of saving living creatures entirely in order to attain enlightenment. The Buddhas, therefore, make their apparition so those living creatures could see them. This apparition likened to an abode where the Buddhas embodied themselves whereas the bodhisattvas, returning to the world are relying on their bodies and undertaking the special regulation of manifestations. The manifested Buddhas have the privilege to attest the universe. The manifested bodhisattvas save human beings, and attest the degree of acquisition for living creatures. The Buddhas, therefore, have attained the full truth, the sound good and perfect enlightenment.” –T.V.

The thought is the representation of the spirit; it is, therefore, omnipotent, from the purity to the impurity, ruling the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, even the Three Dharma-Solution of the Buddha. The Buddhas are always great in benevolence and compassion. They have constantly the basic vow to save all living creatures to enlightenment as they have done. As a result, they would rely primarily on the living creatures to open up the dharma and see and know the root of every dharma so as to help the living creatures become the Buddha.

As for the bodhisattvas, when returning to this secular world, they rely on the Tathagata Buddha’s constitution. They are assuming the responsibility of the living creatures’ salvation, following the Buddha’s principle guidelines. They are neither strictly following the sutra nor getting rid of it. The Buddhas control all their thoughts, so they have all powers and the Buddha’s authorities, which are countless and boundless, overcoming all difficulties, satisfactorily seeking for ways of offering living creatures bliss and peace. As the Chief Monk of Long Hoa, Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha provides a well arranged international world where the two oppositions can share their co-existence in peace, helping them avoid a nuclear war menacing mankind, which helps them live in peace for good. He has arranged and set up the world in a wonderful order, a new order of the world.

It takes thousands of thoughts in conjunction with words to describe the current condition between Vietnam today and the People’s Republic of China, which has been well set up and reformed. It is a crossroad of the East and the West. You should not think it is yourself who produce and create it, because when leading the living creatures, the Buddhas have used the Samadhi concentration to attain unthinkable clairvoyance. There are thousands of truths in these confidential words. For those who have known the samadhi, only a slight action can reveal the real truth.

Seeing the world, He has promulgated the Proclamation of Attestation of the Universe. As for the dharma, he has restored the order in the practice, following the Main Ideas of the Three Dharma-Solutions of the Buddhas. The bodhisattvas, arahants ordained by the signed and sealed mandate of the Buddhas, have saved living creatures according to the Buddhas’ constitution. The bodhisattvas can do nothing outside the nation of the Buddhas. Due to their conduct-vow, they can progress gradually to the enlightened Buddha. There must be a parallelism of the dharma and the life in order to become fully an enlightened Buddha. Know yourself before you proclaim yourselves to be the Buddha.

“The thought is not fallible and neither is the store consciousness? Not being mistaken, one can obviously perceive the Tathagata, meet the Tathagata and they become the one. So, their practicing is not sufficient to complete and to appear under the form of the Nirvana of Eight Elements. Why? Because the eight elements have to experience the Maha Pari Nirvana as the eight elements are completely enlightened. What are the Eight Elements? The first six are:

      1- Earth             2- Water

      3- Wind             4- Fire

      5- Emptiness     6- Consciousness- Store

Among these 6 elements the universe consists of four elements: earth, water, wind, and fire. Besides the earth, water, wind and fire, there are two additional elements in the four species: emptiness and conscious store, therefore when returning to life, the four species are the masters of the universe. The inheritance of the four species confines itself in the direct retribution of their previous existence and the receiving results of their deeds in harmony with their thoughts. Therefore, men and devas have made use of the thought for their progress, and those of the second vehicle have to employ their fixed thought to create the heaven to succeed in their principal foundations. Besides that, there are only three spheres such as the desire sphere, the form sphere, the formless sphere and the spheres of devas and fairies, which apply to the empty consciousness- store and are called the three thousand great thousand worlds. Its quality and material are formed according to the class and series.

The two remaining elements are transcendent and called the Tathagata element and enlightened form element. Therefore, as long as you are not mistaken, you can only meet the Tathagata or perceive the Tathagata, but not yet attain the Tathagata. You have to understand the infinite emptiness and know well the great enlightened form of the Buddha.” –T.V.

If the thought is not fallible the bodhisattva can enter the constitution’s Tathagata, which is the seen Tathagata, and thoroughly understand that the Tathagata is perfect and generous. The bodhisattvas in the presence of the Tathagata can recognize the seen Tathagata everywhere in the four stages. The mahasattva has to enter deeply the eight elements of the Tathagata before being fully enlightened.

Only the Blessed One, Long Hoa Chief Monk Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha can achieve the eight elements to enter the infinite emptiness and fully understand the enlightened form of the Buddha.

The Four Species guided by their thoughts with the clairvoyance; they will get the blessed rewards of devas and men; with the obscure thought they will receive the result of their deeds to become asura, hunger devil, animals and hells. If they know how to use their thought to master their body and mind, master the three thousand, they can receive the direct retribution of their previous existence. The bodhisattvas have fully known how to use their thought. For the inferiors, whatever practices might be, they will still be controlled by their thoughts. For that reason, the Buddhas have recommended the disciples to pray for the Buddha to have bright thoughts, and be free from receiving the results of their evil deeds, but living creatures without a determined mind are still lost in the birth and death cycle.

The bodhisattvas meeting the Tathagata should take the Tathagata Element as a refuge to practice until the perfect enlightened form element and wait to be ordained by the Buddhas to become Buddha.

From the second vehicle to those who practice for blessed rewards of men and devas, all are using their thought as a fixed thought. In the fixed thought, there are all kinds of subjects, which receive their case as a result of their deeds. For example, the fairies and deities are dwelling in a pure plane, which becomes a formed nirvana and consider the emptiness as fullness. For those who do not practice for the direct retribution of their previous existence, they will fall into the Nirupadhisesa - Nirvana, presently without seeing the Buddha, or getting the enlightened form element.

Only the Buddhas with adequate eight elements could perfectly instruct the bodhisattvas, maha bodhisattvas to recognize the eight elements. For the arahants, only when they are no longer dwelling in the Buddha sphere they could see the Tathagata and deeply penetrate into the enlightened form element. It is extremely difficult, from the Triple Canon to the wonderful application in the Buddhas' words and acts. All the teachings make the four orders of disciples enter illumination, but their seed nature and seed karma of all kinds produce a hinder ignorance making the cognition very difficult impeding the four orders.

Because the living creatures are indifferent, not firmly determined and having the same inclination as the boddhisattva, they are thus not yet maturing the fruit of their practice. They have to raise themselves in order to resolve their body, their thoughts, taking the ascendance as a bright thought, perspicaciously discovering the consciousness- store and returning to the suchness. By such a manner of practice and realization there cannot be hindrance and impediment from the karma.

You can realize that: The Tagathata itself does not preach the dharma nor do living creatures themselves hear it. The Blessed One has said: "You are right, you yourself do not hear the dharma nor do i myself preach it. How wonderful and how miraculous it is! That is truly the Supreme Blessed One. Otherwise, if the Tathagata has preached the dharma and the Venerable Subhiti has listened to it, all would be false dharma. Receiving imaginary thoughts, how can you get the enlightened form to penetrate into the emptiness and get over it to come to enlightenment?"