To Understand Buddhism - The Seventh Vow

The Seventh Vow: To Request the Buddha to Reside in this World

The main purpose of the sixth vow is to introduce Buddhism to all people. If we hope to have accomplishment in our cultivation, the vow to request the turning of the Dharma talk on the sutra only once or twice in his or her lifetime? If this could happen, then enlight" enment would be obtainable only when the Buddha was in the world and unobtainable when he was not. However, with our limited abilities we cannot do this so we need to re" quest the Buddha to reside in this world. In other words, we need a teacher who is with us every day so that we can be under their constant guidance and thus be able to reach en" lightenment.

Years ago, I was asked by Professor Lee about my aspirations. I told him that I wished to travel around the world encouraging others to practice Buddhism. He nodded and told me that this was good, that I could achieve but I could not help others to do so. I asked why. He replied that I could only propagandize. He said that he had lived in Taizhong for more than thirty years and therefore many people had attained achievement. He went on to ex" plain that if he had not lived in Taizhong but had simply visited to lecture once or twice a year than nobody would have had any achievement. To be able to help another, there needs to be an existing affinity. Without this affinity, even a Buddha cannot help us. By trav" elling around the world propagating Buddhism we meet many people but the affinities with them are lighter. Staying in one place to conduct regular teachings needs stronger affinities.

I have benefited greatly from my travels as I have been freed from the concept of home. Every day I was either on the road or in a hotel. Where is my home? No home at all. Although I have places to give talks, I usually do not stay there for longer than a few weeks. The shattering of the idea of home has proven to be an escape for me.

If we want to reach any achievement we need to request the Buddha to remain in this world. The Buddha himself is no longer here but his followers are, be they monks and nuns or laypeople. Those who are knowledgeable and virtuous can be invited to reside in is easy to provide for masters of virtue and character because they lead simple lives. How" ever, the Lecture Hall should look magnificent so that the listeners will like it and will thus de" velop respect for the way place. However, if the appearance of the hall is mediocre they might look down on the way place. People often set store by appearance and pay less at" tention to content. Although a person who knows the true value of things does not attach much importance to appearance, a splendid and imposing looking Lecture Hall is necessary for people to see initially.

Although the Lecture and Cultivation Halls are very impressive, the living quarters of the monks and nuns are very simple. If we look at the temples in China we will understand. Even the head monk lives in a small room. The luxurious exterior rooms are only for laypeople and visitors. By carefully observing this we will know the right manner we need to have and the right methods we need to adopt. Doing so properly will enable Buddhism to take root, grow, blossom and bear fruit wherever we live.

From the above, we can see that among the Ten Great Vows of Universal Worthy Bo" dhisattva, the first seven are for a Bodhisattvas vows and conduct and the last three are the ways to dedicate all merits.