Principles of the Teaching

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The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism emphasize perfect harmony, perfect wisdom, perfect undertaking and perfect merits. People today should try to appreciate this point and learn from the teachings.

Only the sages' teaching of wisdom can help us improve ourselves. Buddhism teaches us to eliminate our afflictions and bad habits. In other words, we are to correct our wrong thoughts, wrong mindsets, wandering thoughts, discrimination and attachments and accord with the rules of the nature and the order in which nature functions.

We should also understand the relationship between the entire universe and the rules of nature; the ultimate truth is what everything indeed one entity and is harmonious. We and the universe are all in one entity.

The reason why our merits cannot compare with those of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is the differences in the minds, in the intentions. The environment changes according to the mind. As ordinary people, we are very narrow-minded, thus no matter how much good fortune or how many merits we cultivate, we are bound by our discrimination and attachments. But these no longer bind Bodhisattvas and Arahants. Even when they perform small deed, their merits are infinite. In understanding this principle, our every thought will be perfect and our merits and virtues will be infinite.

Conflicts

Why does conflict arise? Because one's thoughts, speech and behavior do not accord with the innate virtuousness of one's nature. When one's thoughts and behavior do not accord with one's nature, conflict will then arise.

Why can't one's thoughts and behavior accord to one's nature? If we look into this, we will find that the origin of conflict is greed. Therefore, in the teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha, geed, anger and ignorance are considered the root causes of conflict and are called the Three Poisons. The most fundamental among the Three Poisons is greed, one's greed for material gain.

We see that the universe is ever changing and the changing never stops for a second. Buddhism calls this "instantaneous arising and ceasing". When the tide rises, it is "arising", when the tide ebbs, it is "ceasing". We usually see only the constantly changing phenomena but we do not see the situation that manifests these changing phenomena.

Although all phenomena arise and cease instantaneously and are constantly changing, the situation of the universe that manifests and makes changes possible does not change at all. It has the qualities of neither arising nor ceasing, neither coming nor going, neither eternal nor permanent and neither one nor many.

These are the qualities used to describe the situation of the universe. It is our original face prior to birth.

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