Following yesterday’s example of how Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary expands the Lotus Sutra, I offer another example of how he uses the sutra to explain basic Buddhist concepts.

SUTRA

“Bhikṣus, you should know that the Tathagata possesses skillful means and profound understanding of the dispositions of living beings. Knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas and are deeply attached to the five desires, he teaches them nirvana. When they hear this teaching, they will immediately believe and accept it.”

COMMENTARY

Bhikṣus, you should know that the Tathagata possesses skillful means and profound understanding of the dispositions of living beings. Knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas and are deeply attached to the five desires… Śākyamuni Buddha said to the bhikṣus, “You should know!” Know what? The Dharma that the Tathagata teaches is the provisional Dharma. Why does he teach the provisional Dharma? Because the potentials of living beings vary. If you were to teach them the ultimate Dharma, they probably wouldn’t believe it; if you were to teach them through skillful means, then they probably would believe it.

The expedient Dharma-doors that the Tathagatas use are always in accord with living beings. Why does the Buddha use expedient Dharma-doors to teach living beings? He does so because all living beings have individual conditions that allow them to be taken across through specific skillful means. The Buddha teaches them accordingly. What’s meant by living beings with conditions that allow them to be taken across through specific skillful means? For example, the Buddha, “knowing that they aspire to lesser Dharmas,” can see that their vision of things is small. Since all these living beings know are petty things and minor principles, they wouldn’t understand if you were to speak to them about the entire universe. They know only their small problems, so they wouldn’t understand it if you tried to talk to them about the problems of the world. Their resolve is to just cultivate a tiny path. They continue to be “deeply attached to the five desires.”

The five desires are the desires for wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep.

1. Wealth. In this world, if you have wealth, you can buy any material goods, so people are attached to their wealth. If they could see through it, then they wouldn’t be attached to it; being unable to see through it, people fight over money. I’ve often told you that the word money in Chinese [錢 qian], is composed of two swords [戈ge] and the radical for gold [金 jin]. This means that “You have a sword, I have a sword, and the two of us fight over the gold.” So those with money will have a lot of trouble; those who don’t have money won’t have this problem. But everyone wants money, and they aren’t afraid of the trouble it brings. If you know how to use money properly, you can create blessings; if you don’t know how to use it well, you’ll commit offenses. With money you can either create merit or else commit a lot of offenses. Therefore, money is really the worst thing there is! Money is filthy! You’ll often see people counting money by spitting on their fingers when they count the bills. Who knows how many germs are on that money? It’s quite unsanitary, yet no one seems to mind. When it comes to money, people seem to like it, and they aren’t concerned about hygiene.

2. Sex. This is the desire for nice-looking forms and the attachment to attractive appearances.

3. Fame. This is greed for celebrity. When someone praises you, you’re elated. If someone says something bad about you, you may feel even more hurt than if you’d been stabbed in the heart with a knife. Reputation is very important to people, but it’s just one of the five desires.

4. Food. This refers to the food we eat every day. If you have one kind of food to eat but not another kind, you may not feel satisfied. If you have that kind of food but not this kind, you may not feel satisfied either. If you eat both kinds of food at the same time, you won’t be able to eat much of either one, so you still won’t feel satisfied. There’s no way that you can ever satisfy your desire for food. If you cultivate the Path, you mustn’t look upon food and drink as being overly important. You should think of them as medicine that you use to keep your body from becoming dehydrated and emaciated. Don’t get too attached to food.

5. Sleep. Everyone likes to sleep. You might feel that sleeping for one hour is not enough, nor is sleeping for two, three, four, or five hours. Finding sleep immensely enjoyable, you feel you must sleep at least seven or eight hours a night.

These are the five desires to which living beings are attached and which they find extremely important. They can’t get along without money. Nor can they go without sex. They have to have some fame, and they can’t be lacking food or sleep either. They tend to be deeply attached to one or more of these five desires.