南无本师释迦牟尼佛（三称） Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha !(three times)
南无大愿地藏王菩萨（三称） Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! (three times)
Chapter 2: The Division Bodies Gather (分身集会品), English sound recording with captions, Bilingual Chinese-English version recording with opening and dedications. Online Chinese Earth Store Sutra text; English Earth Store Sutra text, A commentary by Master Hsuan Hua at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas;
The above illustrations show a schematic representation of realms satient being can be born in. But they are not only just physical or spiritual realms, they also correspondence to psychological realms. In Buddhism, one of the most important insight is the cosmological world reflects the psychological world, and psychological world is reflected in the cosmological world. Psychological attainment you get, or not get, from meditation, are mirrored in the cosmological world. The correspondence between the psychological and cosmological in Buddhism is a very striking characteristic that you don’t find in other religions. Buddha himself is like a master psychologist, who already attained all those levels, he was able to identify and described clearly to us to help our understanding.
It is important to note that Bodhisattvas work for the enlightenment of all beings, not just themselves. They vow not to enter Nirvana until all beings enter Nirvana together. The bodhisattva is the ideal of all Mahayana Buddhists. This kind of vows and strong desire to help others attain enlightenment are called Bodhicitta. The bodhisattva’s path is for all of us, not just the beings in the statues and pictures.
Through the practice of Six Paramitas(Perfections), we cross over from ignorance and delusion to enlightenment. Each of the six paramitas is an enlightened quality of the heart, a glorious virtue or attribute – the innate seed of perfect realisation within us. The six paramitas are: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom. Ultimately, bodhicitta in all of its forms is about allowing compassion for others to lead us all to wisdom, by releasing us from the fetters of self-clinging. American Tibetan Buddhist, ordained nun Pema Chodron wrote in her book No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva. “Perhaps the simplest answer is that it lifts us out of self-centeredness and gives us a chance to leave dysfunctional habits behind. Moreover, everything we encounter becomes an opportunity to develop the outrageous courage of the bodhi heart.” In this program, she talked about what is Bodhicitta in detail.
Buddha teaches us, Bodhicitta is the Path, and the Path is Bodhicitta. (大般若经 严净佛土品 一切法不生 如来出世若不出世诸法法界常住 菩提是道道是菩提 佛即是菩提菩提即是佛. 佛告善现：“不用道得菩提，亦不用非道得菩提。何以故？善现，菩提即是道，道即是菩提故。” ). The Buddhas manifest and teach living beings according to their potential. He uses all kinds of penetration power to support us in the path of enlightenment. Every action and every move of the Buddha is to benefit people so that they are liberated.
Earth Store Sutra says a mountain or a forest, a stream or a meadow are all transformations of Tathagata’s Dharma Body. The Buddhas make a mountain appear, so as you take a walk in the mountains and absorb some of the energy there, your Bodhi resolve comes forth. Or you may breathe some fresh air in the forest without realizing that this is the air of the Buddha’s Dharma Body. All air in space is the Buddha’s qi. The Buddhas may manifest as a river, so that you feel comfortable bathing in the river, and then become enlightened. Shakyamuni Buddha may manifest as a pond or a well. Drink the water from the well and your commitment to this path grows day after day. These are all inconceivable states.
The Buddha may appear in the body of a lay person. Perhaps one of you laypeople is a manifestation of Shakyamuni Buddha, but we do not know. Don’t think it is impossible. Laity can be part of this too.He may appear in the body of a national leader, such as an emperor,or in the body of a prime minister, the highest official. He may appear in the body of an official. He may appear in the body of a member of the fourfold assembly, a Bhikshu, a Bhikshuni, an Upasaka, or an Upasika, and so forth up to the body of a Hearer, an Arhat, a Pratyekabuddha, or a Bodhisattva in order to teach and rescue beings. Although the Buddha appears in various bodies, none is not for the transformation of living beings. It is not that Shakyamuni Buddha appears only in the body of a Buddha to transform and liberate beings.
Now Master Xuan Hua told us a stories about Master Yin Guang (1861-1940) to illustrate the principle of three bodies of a Buddha.
Elder Master Ying Guang. He is a native of Shanxi Province in China. After he received the precepts, he went to Potola Mountain for a secluded retreat. His retreat consisted of reading sutras all day. He read the sutras with utmost respect, sitting perfectly upright. He would change into a different set of clothing and shoes for the restroom. After he is done in the restroom and finishes cleaning himself, he puts on his clothes for reading the sutras.
Even if the restroom is very clean, he nevertheless changes clothes. He never dresses in the attire worn while reading sutras to the restrooms, and he never wears the restroom clothes into the sutra room. He read the sutras respectfully everyday. He lived at the Potola Mountain, Guanyin Bodhisattva’s wayplace, for eighteen years, reading the sutras everyday and never taking one day’s break. After reading the sutras for eighteen years, he went to Nanjing to lecture on the Amitabha Sutra. Imagine the scene of the Amitabha Sutra lecture. A greatly virtuous and preeminent monk lectures to an empty house. He was pleased that someone was so attentive and asked, “Do you understand what I explain?” He asked in his Shanxi accent.
This person said, “Oh! Dharma Master, I don’t understand.”
“You don’t understand? What are you doing here?” he said.
This person said, “I am waiting for you to finish speaking the Sutra so I can put the benches away. I am the bench-keeper, not an audience member for the sutra lectures.”
Ah! The elder Dharma Master was very sad to hear this, and he swore to never lecture on the sutras in Nanjing again. See! No one listened to the sutra lectures except for one person, who waited because he was the bench-keeper.
Later Shangha’s Forest of Laity invited him to speak on the Amitabha Sutra. He went to Shanghai to speak the Sutra. This time, the audience was large instead of non-existent. Since Buddhism was not thriving in Nanjing, no one will know about or attend the sutra lectures without advertisements, even if it was by a greatly virtuous and preeminent monk such as Dharma Master Ying Guang.
In Shanghai, however, some disciples who took refuge with him advertised their master’s sutra lectures. “Come and listen! Come and listen!” They got all the Buddhists together to listen to the Dharma. There was one 18, 19 or 20 year-old student among them. She was not a Buddhist, but she dreamt one night about someone telling her, “Go to the Forest of Laity to listen to sutra lectures! Great Strength Bodhisattva is there propagating the Buddhadharma, explaining the Amitabha Sutra!” The next morning, she read the newspapers, and read that Elder Master Ying Guang was going to lecture on the Amitabha Sutra at the Forest of Laity. “How strange! How come I dreamt that it was Great Strength Bodhisattva speaking the Amitabha Sutra there?” she thought.
She went to listen to the sutra lectures, bringing many classmates with her too. She told these students that she dreamt that this Dharma Master was Great Strength Bodhisattva. She did not know who Great Strength Bodhisattva was so she asked Buddhists, “What is Great Strength Bodhisattva?” They asked her why she wanted to know. She explained that she heard someone tell her in a dream that Great Strength Bodhisattva is at Shanghai’s Forest of Laity speaking on the Amitabha Sutra. These laypeople think, “Oh! This Elder Master is probably Great Strength Bodhisattva come again.” They told Elder Master Ying Guang, “A female student had a dream where she was told that you are Great Strength Bodhisattva and here speaking on the Amitabha Sutra!” The Elder Master said, “Nonsense.” He scolded these people and no one dared to say anymore. Thereafter, this female student took refuge with Elder Master Ying Guang.
That female student was also told in her dream that Great Strength Bodhisattva will stay for three more years. He will then disappear. Indeed, three years later, this Great Strength Bodhisattva, Elder Master Ying Guang, entered nirvana in 1944. It was only after his nirvana that people realized that he was Great Strength Bodhisattva come-again. Elder Master Ying Guang enjoyed copying out the text in the Shurangama Sutra’s “Great Strength Bodhisattva’s Perfect Penetration through Mindfulness of the Buddha Chapter” the most. Many laypeople own the Master’s calligraphy on this chapter.
To be continued …….
Dedicate Merits:
May the precious bodhicitta That has not yet arisen, arise and grow, And may that which has already arisen not diminish, But increase more and more. 回向偈： 愿以此功德，庄严佛净土。 上报四重恩，下济三涂苦。 若有见闻者，悉发菩提心。 尽此一报身，同生极乐国。