Lecture No. 0354
Great Ocean of Lamrim
Lecture No. 0354
Lamrim Volume 1: P46-L10 ~ L19
Date: 08 Mar 2022
Topic: The good qualities of Buddha ── tame the nagas，incessantly benefitting all sentient beings
Let us contemplate more on “nobility”. Usually, to us, the word “nobility” connotes that someone has high social status or good upbringing, right? However, as to the meaning of the 6th of the six good qualities of Buddha, carried in the word “Bhagavan” as translated in the content of the Buddhabhūmi sutra, it is explained as “endowed with all good qualities”; what is the purpose of having this good quality? With it, Buddha “always brings all sentient beings benefits and joyful peace through skillful means”, what follows is the description of “incessantly”; thus he is noble. [00:40]
From what perspective is the word “nobility” explained? It is from the intention of the Buddha - his mind. When it comes to bringing sentient beings all the benefits and joyful peace through expedient means, the Buddha himself is tireless, without any lethargy! Based on this explanation, we understand that the epithet – nobility – is used to describe the quality that Buddha possessed because the great compassion was all in Buddha’s mind. Besides, the Buddha has all kind of expedient means to provide happiness for sentient beings, without any speck of laziness. When Buddhas and Bodhisattvas noticed the causes and conditions to help sentient beings are matured, immediately needed help would be provided to the sentient beings; namely, there is never any excuse for Buddhas and Bodhisattvas not to help the sentient beings. There are lots of such cases in the Garland of Birth Stories of the Buddha. Even when the Buddha was implored to help remove certain obstacles, he would observe with what means he could benefit the sentient beings the most. [01:30]
Now we are studying the “Serenity & Insight” teaching, right? At Buddha’s time, many monks followed the Buddha in sitting meditation; the Buddha suggested that everyone practice serenity and insight in a quieter place. With clairvoyance, some monks flew to the Mount Meru to meditate. The Mount Meru stands with 80 thousand yojanas above the sea and 80 thousand yojanas below the sea. As for the mountain above the sea, there are several sides facing different directions, one side of which is laurite, another is gold, and another is silver; in short, the Mount Meru is composed of precious gems. [02:03]
At this time, there were two jealous and gluttonous naga kings. They loved the precious gems on Mount Meru very much. How dearly did they treasure those jewels? They wrapped around Mount Meru for 7 rounds with their giant bodies, and with their heads raised high up like how the snake raised its head. And they declared, “This Mount Meru is mine!” One of these two naga kings probably was Nanda, and the other was Upananda - [in their past lives respectively]. They were so worried that other living beings would get near to this Mount Meru, so they emitted poisonous gas on a fixed schedule every day. For sure that gas was very noxious. Any small living beings nearby probably would die right on the spot. How scary it was! Surprisingly enough, some of Buddha’s disciples still went to the Mount Meru to meditate. I am wondering what kind of courage they had? [02:47]
When the bimonthly Upavasatha day drew near [Upavasatha is the Sanskrit term for cleansing the defiled mind], all monks returned to where Buddha resided, went back to the Sangha community. And everyone would explain where they had been, so on and so forth. Many monks were quite skillful in their concentration meditation and they looked very solemn; however, a few of them who had returned from the Mount Meru looked very thin and pallid; they looked like they were sick. Some asked them, “How come you looked so thin and pallid?” They replied, “Ah! There was the naga king emitting poisonous gas routinely there. We must have been exposed to such noxious gas, so we looked like that.” [03:19]
Later, the other monks said, “The two of you are very skillful in concentration meditation; why did you not subdue the nagas?” They replied, “Alas! It is not that easy to tame the naga.” Then they thought, “It is not good to let the nagas continue harming living beings. Let us go and ask the Buddha!” And everyone went to ask for Buddha’s guidance. Buddha assessed the situation and thought it was better to assign Maudgalyayana the task; namely, that was due to certain causes and conditions. Take notice! To benefit all sentient beings and bring them peaceful joy, the Buddha is always tireless! And Maudgalyayana embarked immediately. [03:46]
In fact, one way to handle this matter is to bring those two disciples back, and that was it. However, the two nagas continued to blow out noxious gas, and that was why Buddha delegated Maudgalyayana to subdue the nagas. Thus, Maudgalyayana entered Samadhi, and in a split second, he arrived at Mount Meru – just like by stretching his arm and he arrived Mount Meru. Upon his arrival, Maudgalyayana saw both naga kings sound asleep after emitting noxious gas; they were in deep sleep while coiling around the Mount Meru. [04:08]
Maudgalyayana walked back and forth on the nagas, striding to and fro in the hope to wake them up, but it did not work. They did not wake up, however hard Maudgalyayana tried. Then, Maudgalyayana got into the belly of the nagas and began to make thundery noise, but these two nagas still did not wake up. After Maudgalyayana stopped making the thundery noise, he began to ponder, “Which way would be easier to wake them up, making them angry or frighten them?” If Maudgalyayana could wake them up, he would give them teachings! Maudgalyayana thought for a moment, “If they awake because of anger, they might hurt all other living beings nearby. Thus, a better approach would be to scare them!” So, Maudgalyayana immediately transformed into an even bigger colossal naga, coiling around the two nagas together for 7 rounds – entwining the two nagas in the middle with his head raised high up. [04:59]
The two nagas kept on sleeping, but then they felt, “How come the body is so heavy?” The feeling of weightiness got more and more intense, so much so that they seemed out of breath. Suddenly they noticed, wow! They were entangled by an even bigger colossal naga. The two nagas then cried out, “Gee! We are doomed! This colossal dragon occupies our base; he came to take over the Mount Meru; let’s run for our lives! Quick!” Thus, they quickly got away under the colossal dragon. It was highly possible that Maudgalyayana deliberately let them go. They fled back to where they lived and hid. They dared not come out. [05:23]
At this juncture, Maudgalyayana kept his clairvoyance powers and came to where they lived, pretending to pay them a visit. And then both naga kings said, “We dare not come out. If we do so, a colossal dragon would harm us.” Maudgalyayana said, “You take me to look for it. I will protect you and make sure it would not harm you.” Maudgalyayana convinced the naga kings and together they went. Upon arriving at the Mount Meru, they looked, “Huh? The colossal dragon is gone.” And then the naga kings looked at Maudgalyayana and said, “The colossal dragon could not be your manifestation, right?” Hearing this, Maudgalyayana did not give a straightforward answer; instead he replied, “That is also possible!” Maudgalyayana made no denial, assertion or acknowledgement. Thus, these two naga kings were very frightened and knelt, begging for pardon right away, “Alas! Great virtuous one, that colossal dragon is too frightening. We will abide by whatever you ask.” [06:10]
And Venerable Maudgalyayana told them, “You two are here engaging in non-virtuous deeds every day. Now, as the naga kings, you are very wealthy with so many treasures. However, once this life ends, for sure you two will descend to the hell realm. Why? Because you blow out poisonous gas, harming other living beings day in, day out. So, from now on, you should not blow out poisonous gas to harm other living beings. You should tame your gluttonous and angry attitude.” Both naga kings turned to rely on Venerable Maudgalyayana. And it took another split second for Maudgalyayana to return to Buddha’s side. [06:38]
Wherever Buddha hears the cries of suffering beings, knows that whoever is engaging in non-virtuous deed, regardless whether they are the bully or the ones been bullied, Buddha always hopes that all sentient beings can live peacefully and happily, instead of creating suffering causes. [06:49]
【广海明月 讲次: 0354】
讲次 | 0354 (2021-08-19 ~ 2021-08-22)
标题 | 佛功德──调伏龙王，利他不懈
《广论》段落 | P8-L11 ~ P8-L13 今初……谓尽胜者所有善说。
音档 | 5B 15:53 ~ 5B 17:33
手抄页/行 | 第1册 P154-LL5 ~ P155-L6 ( 2016 南普陀版：P154-LL5 ~ P155-L7 )
手抄段落 | 所以同样地……那么这个是圣教，
(更新日期: 2022年3月8日)
00:00
“尊贵”，我们可以再考虑一下，比如说：我们会认为地位很高，或者很有教养。一般是这样吧？但是对于佛陀薄伽梵具有的这个六种功德的第六种“尊贵”的意思，这里边的解释是说：“具足一切的功德”，它的作用是什么呢？“恒常以种种方便利益安乐一切有情”，后面还有四个字“毫无懈怠”，所以“具足尊贵”。00:40
这个尊贵点是从什么地方出发呢？就是他的心，有种种方便安乐一切有情的时候，完全没有懈怠──毫无懈怠！这个“尊贵”的阐释，尊贵之所以称为尊贵的原因，是因为他的心里都是大悲的意乐，而且有种种方便安乐有情，完全没有一丝一毫的懈怠。佛菩萨看到有众生的得度因缘出现了之后，立刻就去救度他，是完全没有不救度他的理由。像佛陀在他的本生中有很多这样的故事，就算请佛去帮忙消除什么障碍的时候，佛陀也会观察用什么样的方式能够最好地帮到他。01:30
比如说现在不是学到止观吗？在佛世的时候，有很多比丘跟随着佛陀修习静坐，佛陀希望大家能够在稍稍安静一点的地方修习定慧。有的比丘就前往须弥山上修，因为他们已经神通自在。那个须弥山是海上有八万由旬、海下有八万由旬，它突出在海面有几个方向，有一面是琉璃的、一面是金子的、一面是白银的，总之就是众宝所成的须弥山。02:03
这个时候有两条龙王，又嫉妒、又很贪心，它们就非常非常地喜欢这个须弥山众宝。喜欢到什么程度呢？就用它硕大的身躯把须弥山缠绕了七周，缠完了之后就把头昂起来，有点像蛇那样昂起来，宣誓说：“这个须弥山是我的！”两个龙王，其中有一个好像是难陀，还有一个叫邬波难陀。它们为了怕其他的有情靠近这个须弥山，就每天定时地会吐毒气。那个肯定是很毒的，靠近的小生命大概顷刻间就会死亡，所以是非常可怕的！居然佛陀有些弟子还去须弥山上修定，不知道是什么样的勇气？02:47
结果到半月诵戒的时候，比丘们都回来了，都回到佛陀身边、回到这个僧团，然后大家说：“啊！去哪里、去哪里……。”很多修定的法师们都很庄严，结果有几个比丘从须弥山回来的，怎么看起来形容憔悴，看起来好像生病了的样子。然后就问：“你们怎么会这么憔悴呀？看起来。”他们就说：“啊，是因为那儿有个龙王定期地吐毒气，我们是被沾染到了所以变成这样。”03:19
后来法师们就说：“你们俩那么有修行，你们就把那个龙降伏了就好了。”他说：“哎呀！那个龙不是很好降伏的。”然后说：“那它继续这样害众生也不行啊，我们去请问佛陀吧！”然后大家就去请问佛陀。佛陀就观察了一下，觉得派目犍连尊者去可能是比较好，就是有因缘。你看！利益方便安乐一切有情，毫无懈怠！然后马上就去了。03:46
其实有一种办法就是让那两个弟子回来就好了，但是那两个龙却在那儿继续吐毒气，所以佛陀就派目犍连尊者去了。然后目犍连尊者入定之后，很快就到了须弥山──屈伸臂顷到了须弥山，到了须弥山一下看那两个龙王吐完了毒气呼呼睡大觉，缠着那个须弥山睡得非常地熟。04:08
然后目犍连尊者就在它们的身上来回走路、踏步，希望能够叫醒它们，依然是叫不醒，怎么用方法叫不醒。后来目犍连尊者就钻到这个龙的肚子里边，开始用雷鸣的声音轰响，结果这两个龙依然没有醒。目犍连尊者停止了雷鸣之后，开始想：到底是让它们起嗔恨，还是让它们害怕，它们更容易醒来？因为叫醒它好给它说法呀！目犍连尊者想了一下：如果让它们感到嗔恨醒来的话，可能周围的会遭殃，那么还是让它们恐惧吧！所以目犍连尊者就摇身一变，变成一条更大的巨龙，在它俩缠绕的外面再缠了七圈，把这两个龙都缠在里边，然后把头抬起来。04:59
这两个龙睡啊睡睡睡，觉得：“怎么身体这么重？”越来越重、越来越重，好像都快透不过气来，突然发现：哇！被一条更大的巨龙缠住了。它俩就喊说：“完了！我们的基地都被这个大龙占据了，还来抢须弥山，赶快逃命！”就赶快在那巨龙下抽身，那应该是目犍连尊者故意放它们走了，它就逃回住处躲起来，不肯出来。05:23
这时候目犍连尊者就收起了神变，到它们那儿假装来拜访。然后那两个龙王说：“我们不能出去，因为有个大龙来了会伤害我们。”目犍连尊者就说：“你带我去看一看，我会保护你们，一定不会让它伤害了你们。”目犍连尊者说服了这个龙王，龙王就去了。到须弥山一看：“嗯？大龙不见了。”后来这个龙王就看了一下目犍连尊者说：“刚才那个龙王不是你变的吧？”当时目犍连尊者不置可否说：“也可能是吧！”没有否定，也没有说是、没有承认。结果这两个龙王就很惊恐，就赶快跪地求饶：“哎呀！大德，那个大龙太恐怖了，您有什么要求我们照做。”06:10
然后目犍连尊者就跟它俩说：“你们天天在这造恶业，现在是当个龙王，非常地富足，拥有这么多宝贝，但是此生结束之后一定会堕落地狱，因为天天喷毒气害生命。所以一定不要再喷毒气害生命了，要遮止自己的贪嗔之心。”两个龙王就都归命目犍连尊者。然后目犍连尊者屈伸臂顷又回到了佛陀的身边。06:38
佛陀只要听到众生哪里痛苦，有哪个众生在造恶业，不管是逞威风的、还是受欺负的，佛陀都希望他们能够安乐，不要造苦因。06:49