元有般若之智，與大智人更無差別。因何聞法不自開悟？緣邪見障重，煩惱根深，猶如大雲覆蓋於日，不得風吹，日光不現。

The inherent Prajna wisdom is no different from those with superior wisdom. Why upon hearing the dharma can’t they awaken? Because of the burdensome hindrance of heretical beliefs and the deep roots of stress. As great clouds covering the sun, without wind blowing, the sun will not show.

The Prajna wisdom is the wisdom of Tathagata. Buddha’s wisdom is frankly not too different from those people with superior wisdom. But why can’t they awaken when they hear the dharma? It is because they have heretical views. The corrupt views cause severe hindrances. And their stress is deep-rooted. These hindrances are like clouds hiding the sun. Without the wind chasing away the clouds, the sun won’t appear. We all have stress. Everyone thinks if they can take care of the trouble and worries in life, then they are free. But they don’t realize they would have stress today and will have stress tomorrow. We stress over things every single day. Because we dwell on the stress, stress is never ending.

Take myself for example. My father fell a few days ago. I was worried because we are here in the States, but he is in Taiwan. I prayed for him everyday. Finally, we learned that he was ok. He just needs some rest now. I finally felt relieved. But just then, I received another urgent fax saying my uncle passed away. He lived in Kao Hsiung so we contacted disciples there and asked for help. We also got help from the Taiwan Lai Tsang Temple. We found out he wanted his ashes to be kept in a columbarium in Yuan Heng Temple, so I asked Shimu to hurry and get a niche for him.

Had I been in Taiwan, I would’ve gone to see him one last time. We were close. He used to give me rides on his scooter to the disco club and teach me dancing. We feel we should go back to Taiwan but we have many things to handle here, including the homa on Sunday. So just this week, I have so many things happening unexpectedly. See, these are deep rooted stress.

Referring to what Reverend Lian Hsiang said, I am always honest and tell everything including those that should not be discussed such as my earlier days when I went to the dancing hall with my uncle. But this is a fact and this is when I was twenty years old, and long before my renunciation. I want to go back to Taiwan, but if I go, I won’t be able to perform the homa tomorrow. There are still many students who’ve been staying in Redmond since the fall ceremony. So I told Shimu that many things are hard to take care of and it is very difficult to predict what will happen tomorrow.

Another story. I told my son, Fo Chi, to get a repair estimate for my car, and the shop asked how I was going to pay. I thought I could pay through insurance because the deductible is $1000 and the insurance will cover the rest. So the shop said the job should take about a week. But the problem is that the insurance company sent an adjuster out. He said since they are a reputable insurance company and my car is an exotic car, they wanted to replace the whole body panel and repaint with the factory paint. But they would need to order the paint from the car maker in Europe because my car is the only one in that color in the United States. So initially, it would only take a week to fix the car, now it’ll take six months! So this problem gives me stress.

So the point is that we all have stress. Both full-time (monks) and part-time practitioners have stress. That’s why the Sixth Patriarch said how deep-rooted stress can disrupt your concentration on Buddhism. When you are bound by these worries, you can’t focus on your practice, and it’ll be even harder to reach enlightenment. So I say, just let the stress be. For those things we are able to manage, such as interpersonal, administrative, and cultivation-related issues, we do our best to resolve them. For those we can’t sort out, we just let them be. If you can treat the stress as nonexistence, you are able to awaken speedily.

All human beings have heretical views. Sometimes you believe things that you hear, even though they are not true. You believe what you see, even though they are not real. So when you believe those things, you are ill-influenced and incline to develop heretical beliefs. These would naturally obstruct you from entering enlightenment.

What the Sixth Patriarch says makes perfect sense. You have to be a person of right views, thoroughly grasping the Prajna wisdom, and not dwelling on the superficiality. When you awaken, you won’t care for the fame of being an Acharya and you won’t care whether or not you have a lineage robe because you know possessing something is the same as not possessing it.

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善知識！小根之人，聞此頓教，猶如草木根性小者，若被大雨，悉皆自倒，不能增長。小根之人，亦復如是。

Virtuous and Knowledgeable Friend, those with limited faculties upon hearing this sudden teaching are like shallow rooted plants, collapse under a heavy rain, not able to flourish.

In Buddhism, there are Gradual teachings and Sudden teachings.

1) Gradual teachings – a step-by-step process to build the basic foundation to achieve enlightenment. Unlike Sudden teachings which are unsuitable for those with limited faculties. Take the basic training of a soldier for example; he has to go through levels of training before he can be ready for the battlefield. Those with limited capacities are just like the shallow rooted plants and trees that are easily wiped out by heavy rains thus unable to grow further. They would not be able to accept the sudden teachings; unable to imagine or believe what enlightenment is about. It will create more harm than good by revealing the truth directly to them.

2) Sudden teachings – What the Sixth Patriarch teaches leads to sudden enlightenment. It is speaking about the supreme truth. When those of superior wisdom and faculties receive the sudden teachings, they reap instant benefits. They are able to grasp the significant message and accomplish awakening.

Fixed karma cannot be erased but can be altered, through cultivation and accumulating great virtue. Chanting frequently Medicine Buddha’s mantra or Mahamayuri Vidyarajni’s mantra or obtaining a spiritual response from your personal deity, you can change your fate. A spiritual response is a union. If practitioners and their personal deities can become one, they are just like their personal deities. When Buddha and I become a whole, we are transfigured to form a new Buddha. When that happens, fate and fixed karma naturally change. When practitioners can’t get spiritual response from a Buddha or Bodhisattva, then they can’t break the law of karma.

Awakening is the first priority. Life is full of sufferings. There are eighty-four thousand dharma gates in Buddhism that can help you cope with eighty-four thousand sufferings. If you practice diligently or chant many repetitions of Hundred Syllable Mantra or the High King Sutra, you can change karma. There is only one way to change karma – practice hands-on the cultivation of Buddha’s teachings. Alter your fixed karma. Miracle will happen.

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若大乘人，若最上乘人。聞說金剛經，心開悟解。知本性自有般若之智。自用智慧，常觀照，不假文字。譬如雨水，不從天有。元是龍能興致。令一切眾生一切草木有情無情悉皆蒙潤。百川眾流，卻入大海，合為一體。眾生本性般若之智亦復如是。

If those of the Great Vehicle, of the Most Superior Vehicle, hear the Diamond Sutra, they awaken. They are aware self-nature holds the wisdom of Prajna. Use the wisdom to continually examine and contemplate, relying not on written words. As rain comes not from the sky, rather from dragons at play, it moistens all the sentient beings, vegetation, including those with feelings or not. One hundred rivers are but tributaries that join as one with the sea. The wisdom of Prajna within sentient being’s self-nature is the same.

The key point is examining and contemplating. If you hear the Diamond Sutra and awaken, it doesn’t mean you are already a Buddha. Those who have awakened are Buddhas only in theory; however, if they do not apply Prajna to examine what they do, what they say and what they think, they are still unenlightened. Those who achieved enlightenment have to look inside themselves to see if anything from their actions, speech and thoughts fails to represent Buddha’s teachings. If they don’t do that, they are just ordinary people, not the awakened ones. They are to be scrutinized by all and lead by example for all.

Acharya Lian Chuan mentioned “a heart as big as the world.” All sentient beings have the tendency to discriminate. The disciples from the True Buddha School distinguish their own temples from other temples, so do some Acharyas and Reverends. In reality, everybody including but not limited to TBS disciples is Buddha’s disciple. Everyone including but not limited to Buddha’s disciples is a Buddha. Just like the Sixth Patriarch said, “When rain falls, it doesn’t discriminate and falls only on good people’s farms.” Another key point here is that everything merges as one. Heaven and earth have the same root as me; all things are a whole. What does that mean? It means the Prajna in the self-nature of every sentient being is identical.

When you arrive at the Western Paradise, you’ll know that everyone is interconnected. If one’s happy, everyone is happy. When you are there, you will no longer discriminate. If you awaken, you see no slanders hence you no longer have to practice tolerance. Slanders do not have any influence on the awakened ones. You might not understand what I am saying but have perseverance. Practice nonstop and you will awaken eventually.

Sixth Patriarch’s words teach us how to be unbounded and barrier-free, because when you discriminate, you can’t be unbounded and barrier-free.

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