Today we continue talking about the ”Explanation of the Amitabha Sutra”. Today we will still talk about the so-called ten names in ”The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra”. The ten titles of the Buddha are:
Tathagata,
Worthy of Offerings,
Truly All-Knowing,
Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct,
Immaculately Departed One,
Knower of the World,
Supreme Sage,
Tamer,
Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans,
Buddha.
There are these ten names, if we talk about these ten titles for ten days, it will take almost a year. We should talk about it faster.
What is “Tathagata“? The first title, Tathagata, is Buddha. “Tathagata” means as it is, so what is “as it is”? “As it is” means “naturally”. What is “coming”? It means coming naturally, what is coming naturally – that is Tathagata. “Coming as it is, leaving as it is, neither coming nor leaving” is “Tathagata”, so this title is a very high realm. You have to think about it, because since there is no coming, then it is there, and since there is no leaving, then it is here. What is “not coming and not leaving”? In fact, it is all inclusive. It is originally like this!
Since there is no past tense, also no present tense thus there is no future tense, English is like this. It is so troublesome, what past, present, future, am I right? Anyway they are all the same. This is Tathagata.
What is “Worthy of Offerings“? This word is the best, which means everyone should make offerings to one another. To reach such a high level, if you want to learn from Him, you must think about it with your heart, make offerings to Him with your heart, and learn with a very sincere heart in order to truly attain it. This phrase means “worthy of offerings”—it should be made offerings to one.
So when Sakyamuni Buddha was alive, he often went offering. When Master Guoxian met me, I said, “I’ll treat you.” He said, “You can’t treat me. I am offering and should be offering.” But then I thought again, is it me who should be offering to you or you offering to me? Suddenly I couldn’t figure it out either. But it seems to be so. If you make offerings to the Buddha, to the Tathagata, there is nothing wrong. But if you offer offerings to very poor people, or if you give alms to others, this is also called worthy of offerings. So offerings have no differentiation, sometimes it is the up offering down, sometimes it is the down offering up, offering among each other.
The meaning of Buddha itself is that the Tathagata is worthy of offerings. You should give offerings to such a high-level Buddha. But because you make offerings to the Buddha, he will give you blessings, so he is also worthy of offerings. This is the principle.
The third is “Truly All-Knowing“. What is Truly All-Knowing? It is knowing both right and wrong. This truth, the real principles the Buddha knows. The Buddha is perfect wisdom and knows all wisdom. He also knows the wrong wisdom and all the evil arts. So he knows all the evil dharmas, the Hinayana dharmas, and the heavenly dharmas. This is called ”Truly All-Knowing”. You know both the right and the wrong. So Guru knows everything. I have learned a lot of wrong dharmas before. I know Taiwanese mahjong and mainland mahjong, am I right? Thirteen cards, sixteen cards, I know all. Someone asked “Have you been to a nightclub before? ” I said, “I’ve been everywhere. There is no place I haven’t been to.”
This is called “I know both the right and the wrong”. If you know the wrong but not the right, that is not good. If you only know the wrong and do not know the right, then you are a demon. So if you know both the wrong and the right, then you are a Buddha. If you only know the right and do not know the wrong, then how can you save sentient beings? How can you understand the minds of sentient beings? If you want to understand the minds of sentient beings, you must enter the world and know everything. That is why it is called “Truly All-Knowing”.
However, if a Buddha is obsessed with the wrong and leaves the right, then he is a demon. If you leave the wrong and attain the perfect enlightenment, then you are a Buddha. This is where the difference lies. The Buddha’s practice does not necessarily mean that he is in the highest realm and abandons sentient beings. He understands the realm of sentient beings and knows the perfect enlightenment of the Buddha, which is Truly All-Knowing.
The fourth title is “Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct“. Understanding all actions, able to reach all places, is called “Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct”. Understanding all actions, all actions are clear, what can be done, what cannot be done. What is reasonable, what is unreasonable, what is seventy percent reasonable, thirty percent unreasonable, he is clear. Everything is clear, all actions are clear and understood. This is perfect wisdom, that is not easy!
The fifth title is “Immaculately Departed One“. What is virtuous? Whatever is good is virtuous, whatever is bad is evil. What about gone? It is to leave, depart. Doing so going towards what is good is Immaculately Departed. Like today everyone is learning about Buddhism, it is going towards good. So it is called Immaculately Departed. In our case of explaining, this title means going to a good place; the literal interpretation is to pass away, depart to a good place, which is also acceptable. Anyway, everyone goes to the Western Paradise, all go to the West, which means passing away to a good place. Then, if you go to hell, you are passing away to the evil place, not Immaculately Departed. This explanation is very simple.
The sixth is “Knower of the World“. Understanding all worldly matters and eliminating all worldly troubles is called “Knower of the World”. Solving all worldly troubles is called “Knower of the World”.
The seventh is “Supreme Sage“. When you reach the realm of Buddha, you are truly supreme. There is no realm higher than this, it is called supreme. This is the highest, and there is no higher, it is called supreme. Supreme is the best title for Buddha, and there is no higher than this.
The eighth is “Tamer“. The Chinese name is “regulate and control husband“. This “husband” word, we cannot explain it simply as “husband”. When we Chinese say husband, or regulate and control husband, it means the husband is very great, very strong, very capable, able to handle everything, put it this way. The term “regulate and control” means that you handle everything very well, and you can adjust and teach everyone to go to a good place. You can regulate these people, life, worldly people, and all living things, and you can teach them in an orderly manner. This is called the husbandry of regulation and controlling/taming.
The ninth is “Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans“. In heaven, you can teach the heavenly beings in heaven, and you can also teach the sentient beings in the world. You are a teacher in heaven and on earth. This is the title, Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans.
The tenth is “Buddha“. Last time I talked about what “Buddha” means. Awakened and enlightened, the one who has attained enlightenment is a Buddha.
So there are these ten titles:
Tathagata,
Worthy of Offerings,
Truly All-Knowing,
Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct,
Immaculately Departed One,
Knower of the World,
Supreme Sage,
Tamer,
Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans,
Buddha.
My explanation is also close to the original meaning, the way I explain does not deviate from the main meaning. The one who has the above ten titles are called “World Honored One“. What does “World Honored One” mean? It means that all people in the world respect him, which is called “World Honored One”. So when we call Shakyamuni Buddha, sometimes we call him “World Honored One”. When we say “World Honored One”, we are directly calling Shakyamuni Buddha. The one who is respected and admired by the world is “World Honored One”.
Just talking about the word “Buddha” in “The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra“, only today, I have just finished explaining the word “Buddha” in “The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra“. Next week, we will talk about this “speaks“. Speaking means talking, and talking means speaking. If I were to speak faster, I would have finished it. If I were to speak slower, there would be a lot to say.
There are things that can be said and things that cannot be said; there is a deep explanation and a shallow explanation; there is an explanation and there is no explanation; there is a long explanation and a short explanation.
It is wonderful to talk about Dharma. It takes almost a month to talk about one word! So, if I want to talk about this next word “speaks“, of course I can talk about it in a long way or short way. Let’s talk about it next Saturday!
Amitabha!