White Tara said:
“Sentient beings are inconceivable. A Buddhist practitioner should cultivate their heart and mind by engaging with sentient beings. By practicing compassion and developing bodhicitta, the sincere aspiration for enlightenment, one can attain the true path of awakening. This is referred to as the emergence of buddhas from within our world.”
These words were inconceivable to me.
I said:
“Sentient beings are not sentient beings, and yet they are sentient beings.”
White Tara answered:
“This is understood only by the enlightened, so it is inconceivable. A Buddhist who aspires to attain bodhi must cultivate for the sake of sentient beings — everything is for their sake. Only in this way can one become a buddha or bodhisattva.”
I said:
“What if there are no sentient beings?”
White Tara replied:
“One would be unable to become a buddha.”
“Why?”
“Because there would be no cause to give rise to bodhicitta!”
***
Grandmaster Lu would like to remind all spiritual cultivators:
Even if you have attained the insight of prajna, hold the most potent mantra, or embody the force of a mighty deity, you cannot generate bodhicitta if there are no beings to benefit.
Then there would be no means to reach accomplishment.
Even if accomplishment were achieved, it would be empty and meaningless.
This is immensely profound.
I once said in a dharma talk:
“Grandmaster Lu is a virtuous and wise spiritual friend. However, if there are no sentient beings to hear and understand the Buddhadharma, then what purpose does it serve?”
I might as well enter nirvana!
I might as well enter parinirvana!
To use a contemporary saying, “This would make any sense of achievement meaningless!”
Therefore, generating bodhicitta depends on the existence of sentient beings, which is key to becoming a buddha.
Because sentient beings exist, “troubles” and “worldliness” exist.
A Buddhist practitioner who wants to remedy these troubles and this worldliness will engage in meditation.
By acknowledging the existence of sentient beings, a cultivator strives to eliminate all worldly desires, refrains from pursuing social status, and avoids forming strong worldly attachments.
This is the way to become a great yogi.
A Buddhist practitioner does not crave the eight worldly dharmas.
A Buddhist practitioner must deliver sentient beings.
A Buddhist practitioner recognizes that the realm of desires and sensory impressions is ultimately illusory.
We must not succumb to this illusion, but instead use the illusion of sentient beings to remedy afflictions and give rise to bodhicitta.
(This is a key point from White Tara.)
***
There may still be people who struggle to understand the explanation above and find it paradoxical.
In short, my message is:
A Buddhist practitioner is not separate from sentient beings.
Yet remains unpolluted by the impurities of sentient beings.
A Buddhist practitioner is not attached to the eight worldly concerns.
And gives rise to bodhicitta for the secular world.
A Buddhist practitioner has the responsibility to guide sentient beings.
The happiness and well-being of all sentient beings come from the Buddha’s Dharma.
Sentient beings have sorrows and joys.
Sentient beings can be good or evil.
When we engage in our spiritual practice amidst sentient beings, it becomes crucial to safeguard our vows, aspirations, and samaya.
We must faithfully abide by the precepts and not become corrupted.
This is what true cultivation entails.
I understood the intentions and key points of White Tara, and the intricate relationship between a Buddhist practitioner and sentient beings.
Sentient beings can help a cultivator.
Sentient beings can also destroy a cultivator.
The nature of sentient beings is truly inconceivable.
It is in this context that the significance of my vow — to never abandon any sentient being — becomes clear.