http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol6no3f.htm
1. If whatever we do, we do them for our own benefit, out of
selfish and egoistic reasons, thinking that that is the way to
pursue bliss and happiness, then in the end we will receive the
exact opposite.
2. It is important that people know how and when to let go of their
attachments. When people ceaselessly let go of the thoughts that
arise from the mind, then the mind calms down, and their wisdom and
brightness will appear.
3. We have to cultivate ourselves first before we can reach out and
guide others. If we are able to cultivate ourselves well, then we
will be able to guide others.
4. The human mind is constantly busy with redundant and illusory
thoughts. This is the inner sentient being and when extinguished,
wisdom will unfold. With wisdom people will be able to reach out
and help others. 
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol9no2e.htm
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no4f.htm
10. Buddhism advocates that there are infinite sentient
beings and to guide them to the path of Enlightenment. How do we
guide people who are stubborn?
We
have to convince and transform ourselves first.
We
should advise people who are stubborn to convince
themselves.
When
we speak of “sentient beings”, many people do not fully understand
what sentient beings are. Some people spent a whole lifetime
learning Buddhism, and to them sentient beings are other people
besides themselves. They are oblivious to the fact that they have
an inner sentient being in them and therefore they are also
sentient beings themselves.
Where
do sentient beings reside? They reside in our mind – your mind and
my mind. When we speak of guiding sentient beings to the path of
Enlightenment, first and foremost, we have to guide ourselves to
the path. We have to convince and transform our own inner sentient
being first. If we cannot even convince ourselves, then how can we
convince the other sentient beings to do so?
From
day to night, at every moment, the human mind is engaged in
ceaseless thoughts which are infinite. These distracting and
illusory thoughts are our inner sentient being. Thus, the sentient
beings in this world and in this universe are infinite because in
every person’s mind the inner sentient being is infinite. Buddhism
therefore advocates guiding these infinite minds, these infinite
sentient beings to the path of Enlightenment.
Sentient being is synonymous with darkness; brightness is
synonymous with wisdom. When we constantly eliminate our own inner
sentient being, and maintain a state where the inner sentient being
does not exist, then we attain brightness. From this, everybody can
understand the way to guide sentient beings to the path of
Enlightenment. When you don’t have even a single distracting
thought in your mind, then it means that you have overcome your
sentient being. When you maintain in this state forever, it proves
that you have eliminated your inner sentient being. If every person
knows about guiding his own inner sentient being, then there will
be many Bodhisattvas in this world. In future, there will be
numerous Bodhisattvas coming to this world to guide the other
sentient beings.
What
is Bodhisattva? When one has already eliminated his own inner
sentient being and can see that his mind is purified, then this is
called the Bodhisattva. When we have not reined in the sentient
being in our mind and we are fuzzy, then we cannot think of guiding
the other sentient beings. That is impossible. That is, “a sentient
being guiding another sentient being”. To be a Bodhisattva is a
quicker way to guide sentient beings to the path of Enlightenment.
If the mind is free of distracting and illusory thoughts and is
completely purified, then you will know how to guide all sentient
beings.
This
is an expedient way to become a Bodhisattva. Let us not engage in
distracting and illusory thoughts anymore. Let us guide our own
inner sentient beings first, and then the other sentient
beings.
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/
In contrast, when we are cultivating the Great
Dharma, during meditation we extinguish this
transient-invisible-body. By the non-arising (and therefore
non-cessation) of the mind the sentient being inside you no longer
exists. We thereby awake our own Buddha-nature. At this point the
transient-invisible-body is extinguished by the brightness of
Buddha-nature. This is because the transient-invisible-body gathers
darkness, and when we have awakened our Buddha-nature, brightness
will manifest and the transient-invisible-body naturally
disappears.
The human being’s seventh mind-consciousness is the “I”. Because of
“I”, it gives rise to “my”. Because of “me”, it gives rise to
self-attachment, followed by attachment of perception such as “I
like it this way …” or “I like it that way …” In the end, people
become attached to everything, be it right or wrong. This is the
root cause of distress and suffering. “Ignorance” means darkness
and without brightness. People lose their temper because of
ignorance. If we investigate the reason for being angry, at the
beginning most people will blame it on others. On further
investigation, we will discover that the anger stems from
self-ignorance. When we have understood this principle, we will
realize that these are due to this “I” (seventh mind-consciousness,
transient-invisible body). Therefore if we allow it (the ignorance)
to further develop and lead according to the wishes of this “I”, we
will certainly descend to a lower realm of life, because the root
of this “I” is ignorance.
.
.
...When we practise the Great Dharma, we
spontaneously transform our seventh mind-consciousness or
“transient-invisible-body” into light. That light is the same as
the quintessence of Buddha. When we stop breathing, our breath
actually diffuses into space and becomes an integral part of space.
Thus, if we are skilful in practising the Great Dharma, we do not
have the “transient-invisible-body”. It is transformed into
brightness and returned to the quintessence of Buddha of the Dharma
World. This brightness is not the sunlight. It is also not the
brightness of a lamp, but the quintessence of Buddha (known as ??
[Ji-Guang] in Mandarin).
When our mind is completely pure, devoid of
arising and ceasing of thoughts, it naturally produces brightness.
Our brightness is the same as that of all Buddha’s and
Bodhisattva’s. At that point in time, we should not ask, “Where am
I going?” It is because sentient beings have this habit of self
attachment, the moment thoughts pertaining to the self arise, such
as “Where am I?”, or “What is happening to my possessions?” arise,
it produces the transient-invisible-body again and transmigration
will take place
When our brightness merges with
the brightness of Buddha, we become a “greater self” in the
quintessence of the universe and no longer the “little self” of an
ordinary being. The quintessence of Buddha is the real self,
whereas the self of an ordinary being is false.
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/beginnin.htm
Are there any
advantages in taking
refuge?
There is brightness in taking refuge
There are
many, many advantages in taking refuge. If you were to ask somebody
about the advantages of going to university, he will tell you about
the many advantages: you can become an engineer or a doctor after
graduating from the university. There is an enormous amount of
knowledge, principles and theories which one would be able to
understand when one goes to university. It is the same with taking
refuge. The many things which we do not understand before, become
clear to us when we have unfold our wisdom after taking refuge to
learn Buddhism. Being without wisdom is like the night, the room is
dark and we do not know how many people are in it. With wisdom is
like turning on the light, with one look we know what is in the
room and how many people are there. Turning on the light is
analogous to the brightness in our mind. With brightness we can
understand many things. These are the advantages of taking refuge,
learning Buddhism and unfolding our
wisdom.
