9.6 Wonderfully! The Gentle Saint! The Enlightened Buddha!

After meditative sitting, the Meditation Master mumbled these words: “The Gentle Saint! The Enlightened Buddha!” His eyes are natural and bright, seemingly communicating with the ten directions. He appeared satisfied, nodded and said: “Saints have a gentle nature, the Buddha represents the Comprehensive Truth, True Enlightenment, thus being called the Gentle Saint! The Enlightened Buddha!” For the two ranks of Buddha and Saint: the one with the will, courage and effortful deeds will attain the Buddhahood, the Sainthood by themselves. They cannot have these attainments by praying and supplicating. The Acquired Sainthood is not rare, but attaining the Saint-completely- Appearing is very scarce. Why?

It is because humans do not fulfill the ten perfections— “Human is without the ten perfections.” Though human is combined with their perfect instinct, they are only able to restore three, five, or seven perfections; they still learn to be a Saint, overcoming to clear wastelands right in themselves to become an Acquired Saint. To be the Acquired Sainthood means to resolve the karma. Being perfectly cleansed from the karma, perfectly bright, one immediately becomes spontaneously appearing; once accomplishing, one becomes a Saint Appearing without learning.  —T. V.

C. DOCTRINE

The Enlightened Buddha!

The Maitreya Buddha     The Eastern Medicine-Master Buddha    The Shakyamuni Buddha

I heard the Lord say the followings:

Acquired Saints are those who have acquired the truth. Each Saint achieves one subject; each subject once penetrated will become immeasurably useful to many branches. Just like a Dharma produces thousands of Dharmas and thousands of Dharmas return to one Dharma. An Acquired Saint, depending on his or her expertise, will develop for each class of followers to resolve their karma, who may also become Acquired Saints in the future. Attaining the Acquired Sainthood is due to will, courage and noble character, tolerance, becoming gentle. An Acquired Saint has no more self-satisfaction, arrogance, and no more the three toxicants from living being natures — Because of being no longer self-satisfied, self-conceited but with sweetness, one, therefore, acquires the sainthood. The Acquired Sainthood—such as a Human Saint like Confucius, a Divine Saint like Lao-tzu—are many and those Saints often come into the human world. But the Saint-completely-Appearing is very rare because no one has fully realized the Ten Titles as The Founding Master and as the Supreme Maitreya Buddha who incarnated Himself in this Period of [His] Return. 

Some could realize the Tathagata, the Entire Offering to Tathagata, and the True Advanced Wisdom, belonging to the Dignity of Practical Use; some attained the Perfect Intelligence-Morality, the Supreme Good Vow, and the Great Person of Control, belonging to some part of the Dignity of Miraculous Use. None of them achieved adequately the Ten Titles of the Saint-Appearing.

Lao-tzu

A Divine Saint

(Image from epochtimesviet.com)

Confucius

A Human Saint

(Image from nghiencuuquocte.org)

It is difficult, even for those of root capability to meet the Saint-Appearing, but it is even more difficult to receive the Tathagata Buddha in Him. It is too hard to know Him. Once knowing Him, a Tao practitioner is able to follow the supreme principle precisely without error, becoming the Saint-Appearing. 

The Saint-Appearing is unthinkably supreme in the conduct of the Secular World Solver. He resolves karma, clears out all karma, being perfectly brilliant, thereby spontaneously appearing without learning. With the spontaneously appearing, the Lord could do anything, so the Lord has promulgated the Proclamation Attesting the Universe by His own will of self-appearing. Any powerful authoritative person is simply ‘a puppet’ controllable from afar by the Lord, if this is necessary for living beings’ safety. Even with a forest of modern weapons, biological weapons, nuclear and chemical weapons, remote control weapons, they could not surpass this ‘matchless supreme power’ of the Lord. That is the truth, a hundred thousand times the truth, and even a million times greater; it is impossible to fully describe the Saint- Appearing by words. An Acquired Saint could not know the Saint-Appearing.

Having just explained to this point, the Meditation Master placed His both hands on the small table, looked at His ten fingers and meditatively continued: The True Advanced Wisdom is a Title of the Buddha. It is extremely immense, an infinite righteous lightening factor. Why? Due to the transforming intelligence, the mind consciousness transforms into advanced wisdom; the career transforms into intelligence; the reform transforms into intelligence; the transformation of intelligence depends upon the karma whereas the True Advanced Wisdom belongs to the Enlightenment-about-Form, returning to the Suchness Forms to see and know, thereby seeing and knowing the Buddha.

The Meditation Master raised His both hands straight to His ear level widely, smiled and continued: When the True Advanced Wisdom is mistaken, it becomes the False Advanced Wisdom. How does one distinguish the true one from the other? Like an erudite person, who tries to gain their knowledge, and yet they simply are the one created to be an employee of the knowledge. One must have the basis of mastering their own essence, their own nature with nobleness and stableness, called the virtuous nature of generosity, to succeed in erudition. That is truly an erudite person themselves. —T. V.

An erudite person needs to train themselves in the capability to master their own essence, their own nature in order to mobilize the erudition. Otherwise, without the virtuous nature of self-control and generosity, their erudition being the slave for someone will also bring harm to human beings. Therefore, an erudite person also creates danger beside the useful for the life; they are still intelligence-transformed, subject to be reborn as animals according to the law of transmigration! How harmful it is!

In the presence of the spirit of resolving ignorance, separation; in the presence of the spirit of overcoming the dividing obstacles to become intactness; in the presence of the spirit of struggling against the lazy and tardy self, that is really a limitless will and courage. It is unthinkable for the great heroes who go from erroneous passions to enlightenment. From this human world to the outside of this world, it is the spirit, which constructs all things, and in lack of spirit, everything is paralyzed. Let us see what the spirit is? How it has great impacts like that? It is nothing, but it can achieve everything.

The spirit is truly unthinkable, beyond thought or discussion. The spirit is the main essence and capacity of the Tathagata, why? It is because the Buddha has attested and directly indicated that “The Tathagata neither comes nor goes, has no dwelling-place, thereby being called the Tathagata.” The Bodhisattva rank generates the great vow of serving the limitless Tathagata. The Bodhisattva serving makes practical uses, aiming to save living beings. Living beings are practical uses according to the using essence of the Tathagata’s operation. Therefore, the Bodhisattva has served with his entire spirit, accomplishing the True Advanced Wisdom, seeing the Tathagata's main essence and capacity, and being ordained by the Tathagata. —T. V.                   

All Tao practitioners with intelligence admit that the success or failure of the Dharma practice is depending on the spirit; with a courageous spirit everything is possible. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have also followed this way, which is very practical. The spirit is the main essence with a limitless capacity from the Tathagata, unifying living beings and the Tathagata into one unthinkably. After integrating himself into the constitution, the Bodhisattva affirms that the Tathagata neither comes nor goes, has no dwelling-place. The Tathagata seeds are present everywhere from the non-beginning to the endless; they are permanent and constant; also, they are perfect and extremely lively. A spirit of will and courage is essential in the Dharma practice for liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving. Though having an earnest and sincere spirit, but without Buddhist intelligence, a Tao practitioner still falls into the fanatical spirit; they therefore are in need of a Good-Intelligent-Awakened One who could show them the right way to the liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving. If having not met such a Master, a Tao practitioner should have the spirit of rooted goodness and good will, making offerings of their virtuous deeds to the Triple Gem. Such a spirit is very peaceful and precious.  

A Tao practitioner recites the Dharma sutra basing only on the sutra form, without reciting its holy meaning; how can they truly know and see? Secondly, listening to the Dharma preaching without perceiving in safety, with a unilateral judgement, that is not in conformity with the spirit of the Dharma; how can they see and know the holy Dharma? —T. V.

Living beings live without leaving their mind consciousness. Even the educated people or the erudite people cannot escape from the mind consciousness; though, they have consciousness, which is the mind consciousness of their individuality. A Buddhist practitioner reading the Dharma sutra, studying and learning the scriptures though with consciousness, that is no other than the mind consciousness, in which their understanding is still subject to being known and they are, therefore, being practiced. These three points mentioned above are all erroneous. The mind consciousness controls all of them by the hour and by the minute, making them live in a winding path because it nourishes chaos and confusion. The mind consciousness is like lightning of thunder, like moonlight under water, constantly shaking… It is truly difficult to dissolve the precepts with a thorough understanding of them to be completely pure. Being living beings, they practice the Dharma according to their living beings’ regulation; they haven’t realized the basic Buddhist intelligence, the advanced Buddhist intelligence, and the Prajñà Intelligence, how can they attain the Holy Mind, True Enlightenment?

The enlightenment based on doctrine and hypotheses are plenty, but that is being practiced, being attained, while the formation of the Holy Mind, True Enlightenment, up to the Saint-Appearing is very difficult. When there remains only a conception, there is still the embracing self, self-possession. It is as small as a tiny dust, very easily mistaken. Therefore, to succeed in the Dharma practice, a Tao practitioner with will and courage needs a Bodhisattva, who leans on the Tathagata Buddha to save them.