Once upon a time, there was a rich man and his two sons who were equally rich and intelligent. They were born into the same rich family and grew up in the same wealthy environment. One day, the younger brother had the urge to experience a different life, so he told his father that he would like to venture outside to gain new life experiences.

In the world outside, he encountered many predicaments and lived through great difficulties, but he had also learned a lot of truths. Therefore, he became more intelligent, wiser and more capable. He knew how to handle many different situations and discovered his own potentials. Previously, he was not aware he had these abilities because he was living in a wealthy family and attended to by slaves, laborers and servants in everything. He could get anything he wanted without having to lift a finger. Therefore, he did not know what kind of abilities he had. Only after venturing outside to experience life, did he discover that he possessed so many incredible abilities and talents. He became happier and happier,realizing more and more  that he had such great power.

Nevertheless, before realizing this truth, he ran into many hardships. Finally, the gravest situation befell him: he was left seriously ill, penniless, had no one to take care of him, had no home, nothing and was treated badly.  At that moment, he really missed home. He thought: “I cannot carry on like this; I must go home. I can live comfortably at home, so why must I go outside and live like a beggar?” At that time, he longed to go home and contacted his family. When he finally came home, his father was extremely delighted and welcomed him warmly. He immediately gave his son the best clothes, food and the best gifts. A grand banquet was held to welcome him home.

At that time, the elder son asked his father: “What about me? You have never held a banquet for me or given me anything special! Why? I have been faithful to you all this time and I have never left you! I attended to you every day and stayed close to you, yet you never gave me anything.” His father then told him: “All the things that I have belong to you brothers.”

Now, the circumstances of the two brothers were exactly the same as before. The younger brother didn’t lose anything; he was still as wealthy as before. However, he had gained something that his elder brother had not. Do you have any idea what? He had gained more life experiences, more intelligence, more wisdom, more capabilities and more self-realizations. Thus he understood himself better than before. Is that right?

On the other hand, the elder brother was like a spoiled son. He enjoyed a comfortable life, but that was all he had; nothing really useful. He had the same wealth as his younger brother had, without the wisdom. Now his younger brother understood many things, had a better realization and understanding of himself, and became more independent. Yet, the elder brother had none of these.

It is true that a Buddha is originally a Buddha, but we can only realize this after we have gone through the stage of a sentient being. Otherwise, we do not know that we are Buddha. Without going through the stage of a sentient being, even though we are still Buddha, we are useless. Therefore, we have to come to this deluding world to study, to learn how to be a human being, how to overcome difficult and painful situations, and eventually understand what “happiness” is. We have to learn about “ephemeral” situations in order to realize what “eternity” is. We have to learn about the “ignorance” of this world before we can understand what “wisdom” is.

Before you have completed your learning, although you are still a Buddha, you are an “ignorant Buddha.” Slowly you will become an “enlightened Buddha,” a true Buddha, exactly the same as we originally are. We already had everything in the first place; we don’t have to wait until we are enlightened to have it. It is just that we are not aware of what we have.

There is no difference between before enlightenment and after enlightenment. We still have the same power after enlightenment as before, except that we did not know we had such power before. Now you understand.  That was why Sakyamuni Buddha said: “Vexation is Wisdom,” and “Sentient beings are Buddhas.” He was not lying. Today I am explaining to you what He meant: Why Buddhas are sentient beings, and why Buddhas have to come to this world to become sentient beings and endure great sufferings?

The truth is sufferings are not really sufferings; we are merely learning, just like learning in school. Whether we go to elementary school, secondary school or university, all of them are challenging. However, after we have learned the various subjects, we will become more intelligent. After growing up, we will earn our own place and become independent. Therefore, we must learn. Otherwise, we will not be aware of what abilities we have.

If all sentient beings have the Buddha Nature and are originally Buddhas, then why do people say women cannot achieve Buddhahood? This is nonsense! Attaining Buddhahood is attaining Buddhahood; there is no difference. That is why I have told you many times that both heretical paths and orthodox paths are spiritual paths, and good beings and bad beings are Buddhas. There is no good, or bad. But that’s speaking from the point of view of the highest level. Before we reach this level, we must learn and we still need to do good deeds. We cannot say: “Since good or bad is the same, there is no need to learn. Since I am already a Buddha, I don’t need to practice.” We must not embrace such ideas!

It is true we are originally Buddhas, but we still need to practice spiritually because we have not yet truly realized that we are the Buddhas. When I tell you all this, you believe, because you believe in me. However, you still have not truly known this for yourself, so you must practice spiritually. Otherwise, you will have a lot of suffering. Before knowing ourselves, we feel very hurt when people reproach us however lightly; we hate whoever hates us, because we still have not realized that all sentient beings are Buddhas. We have yet to reach the level where we treat all beings equally and without discrimination. That is why we should pursue spiritual practice until our hearts become still and we see all sentient beings as ourselves. At that time, we can say we have truly realized ourselves.

 

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