There are ten kinds of offerings:

1. Incense. The finest, most expensive incense should be offered to the Buddhas. If you were to buy old incense which shopkeepers were about to discard and bring it as an offering to the Buddha, your heart would be lacking in sincerity. On the other hand, if you were to offer Gosirsa-candana, “Ox-head Sandalwood” incense, your gift, involving considerable sacrifice on your part, could be considered sincere. “Ox-head” incense is often mentioned in the Buddha’s teachings. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra explains that this incense was so fragrant that it could be detected within a radius of thirteen miles when it was being burned in the city of Sravasti during the Buddha’s dharma assemblies. The Brahman woman in the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra sold her house and sacrificed her wealth in order to make a great offering to Enlightenment Flower Samadhi Self-Existent King Tathagata. Her sincerity was so great that she sold the very roof over her head in order to make the very best offerings to the Buddha. The reward for offering incense to the Buddha is that in the future your body will be fragrant. A rare scent constantly issued from Śākyamuni Buddha’s mouth and from every pore on his body. An ordinary person’s body has such a foul odor it can be detected for miles. If you don’t believe that, just consider how a police dog is able to trace a human scent at a distance of three to five miles. However if you make offerings of incense to the Buddha with the hope of gaining a fragrant body, then you have missed the point. You should not seek for it. When your merit and virtue are sufficient your body will quite naturally be fragrant. The gods, for example, have fragrant bodies because they made offerings of incense to the Buddha in former lives. Until your merits and virtues are sufficient, you will continue to have a common stinking body no matter how much you strive to attain a fragrant odor.
2. Flowers. The finer the flowers that you offer to the Buddha, the greater the merit and virtue you receive from the offering. Do not spend all your money for good things to eat, save a little for an offering to the Buddha. The reward for offerings of flowers is that you will have perfect features and be very beautiful or extremely handsome in your next life. People will fall in love with you at first sight. Women will be strongly attracted to you if you are a man, and men will be unable to resist your beauty if you are a woman. “That is too much trouble,” you may say. “I don’t want to get involved with that.” If you don’t want that kind of trouble, so much the better. Śākyamuni Buddha had perfect features as a result of offering incense and flowers to Buddhas in former lives. If you fear the trouble a perfect appearance might bring, you can imitate Patriarch Bodhidharma who had a ragged beard and ugly features! It is up to you. However you like it, you can have it that way.
3. Lamps. If you light lamps before the Buddha, next life your eyes will be bright. You will be able to see the things other people cannot see and know the things other people cannot know. You will be able to attain the penetration of the Five Eyes, the Heavenly eye, the Buddha eye, the Dharma eye, the Wisdom eye, and the Flesh eye. “So-and-so has the Buddha eye,” you may complain. “Why don’t I have one?” Of course you do not have the five eyes; in the past you never bought one lamp to offer to the Buddha. If you want the five eyes you should quickly bring in the very finest incense and oil and light lamps before the Buddha as an offering. The merit and virtue of this kind of offering is so wonderful that as a result you can obtain the five eyes and six spiritual penetrations.
4. Necklaces. Rare jewels and gems may be placed before the Buddha as offerings.
5. Jeweled parasols. Items used in adornment of the Buddha hall are also an acceptable offering.
6. Banners and canopies. Banners made of cloth which has been painted or stitched with adornments, or wooden plaques which have been carved with inscriptions, are offerings appropriate to place before the Buddha. You may also hang canopies like the Great Brahma Heaven King’s net canopy which is circular and adorned with jewels.
7. Clothes. When you make or buy fine clothes you may place them on the altar before the Buddha prior to wearing them. Only upper garments should be offered. Although the Buddha cannot wear the clothes, the offering is a gesture to express the sincerity of your heart.
8. Fruit and food. Food should be placed before the Buddha prior to being eaten. This offering as well is a gesture of respect.
9. Music. Making temple music includes beating the wooden fish, playing the drum and bell, ringing the small bells, striking the gong, and singing praises. Music such as this is an offering to the Buddha.
10. Joined Palms. The tenth kind of offering is simple and does not expend any energy. This is merely placing your palms together as an offering.

“World Honored One, at present, I, Subhūti, hear the Vajra Prajña Pāramita Sūtra and with pure faith I understand the wonderful dharma of prajña, can receive it with my mind, hold it with my body, and not forget it. I do so without difficulty.” Why was it so easy for Subhūti? Because he had planted good roots for many kalpas. If he had lacked good roots, then upon hearing the wonderful dharma of prajña his faith would have been defiled by doubts and skepticism. However, in the past he had made offerings to limitless Buddhas and had planted all good roots of which there are eleven kinds:

1. Faith;
2. Shame;
3. Remorse. You would do well to produce a mind of shame and remorse, recognizing your own wrongdoings and changing the bad to good. In that way you plant good roots. Lack of shame and remorse indicates a lack of good roots;
4. Absence of greed;
5. Absence of hostility;
6. Absence of stupidity;
7. Vigor;
8. Tranquility, which refers to the light ease of sitting in Dhyana;
9. Non-laxity, which means not being careless or lazy, not running wild and being too casual. It also means not disobeying rules. If you are not lax then you follow rules;
10. Non-harming, which means not hurting other creatures; and
11. Renunciation, which means practicing giving without attachment to the mark of giving.

These are the eleven good phenomena of the fifty-one that belong to the mind.

People who are at home should make these offerings. People who have left the home life receive them. Since Sangha members receive offerings in that way, they cultivate the Three Recollections and Five Contemplations as they take their daily meal. Actually, members of the lay community as well as members of the Sangha should practice the Three Recollections as they eat.

With the first bite of food one thinks, “I vow to cut off all evil.” The vow precludes giving rise to any evil thought, not to mention doing evil deeds. With the second bite of food one thinks, “I vow to cultivate all good.” You should not just mechanically recite the vows and consider that sufficient. You need to truly cut off all evil and actually cultivate all good. With the third bite of food one thinks, “I vow to take all living beings across.” The vow means to take all living beings across the sea of suffering to Buddhahood.

You should not glance around as you eat, finding out what everyone else is eating, until you discover, “My bowl doesn’t have any of the delicacies you had to eat. … How come he gets to eat better food than I do?” You should not give rise to such greed. Instead, you should be mindful of Five Contemplations:

1. Reckon the amount of work it took to bring the food to where you eat it.

Figure out how much work the farmer did to plant the fields, and the amount of manual labor needed to cultivate, weed, nourish, and water the crops as they ripened. When ripe the rice had to be harvested and the chaff had to be separated from the grain. Through this contemplation you come to realize it was not easy to bring the food to your bowl.

2. Consider whether your virtuous conduct is sufficient for you to accept the offering.

Ask yourself, “Do I have any cultivation? Do I have any Way virtue? If I am receiving people’s offerings and I have no cultivation, I should be ashamed and penitent.” Then encourage yourself, “Ah, I must immediately cultivate. I must use effort and do the work to end birth and death.” If your virtue is abundant, you should say, “Although I am a greatly virtuous High Master probably the foremost of all High Masters in the world in Way virtue nonetheless I shall work even harder. I accept this offering, and afterwards I shall use even more effort. I still need to progress. If I have certified to the first fruit of Arhatship, then I shall seek the second fruit; if I have certified to the second fruit, I shall seek the third; and if I am a third stage Arhat, then I shall seek to reach the fourth stage. I need to go forward with ever increasing vigor.”

3. Guard your mind against excesses of which greed and so forth are the source.

When you eat, don’t stuff. Eat just enough, then stop. Do not be greedy for more. Sickness enters through the mouth. If you are too greedy, you get diarrhea. No matter how good the food is, if you eat too much and there is no room for it In your stomach, it will have to move out fast, and you will suffer the illness which results from passing undigested food.

4. This is a dose of medicine to keep my body from wasting away. The food is like medicine which keeps my body healthy.

5. It is to accomplish my karma of the Way that I should accept this food.

Ask yourself, “Why do I eat these things?” Then answer yourself, “because I want to cultivate and realize my Way karma so that ultimately I become a Buddha.”

When members of the Sangha are given offerings, they should not be arrogant. And when no one makes offerings to them, they should not harbor greed. Even if you are starving to death, you should cultivate the Way. To starve to death in the course of cultivation is the very greatest glory, the worthiest kind of sacrifice. Don’t fear starvation.

Lao Zi was a transformation body of the Venerable Mahākāśyapa. When the Buddha entered the world, he saw that living beings in China committed many offenses and did not conduct themselves in accord with propriety, so he sent Lao Zi, Confucius, and Yan Hui to China to teach and transform living beings. All three were transformation bodies of Bodhisattvas.

Lao Zi introduced the concept of the unconditioned to the Chinese people. If one can understand unconditioned dharma, one can then come to understand that which is not unconditioned. The Buddhadharma speaks of that which is unconditioned and yet not unconditioned.

A Srotaāpanna is a first stage Arhat. Certification to the first fruit of Arhatship, which is within the Small Vehicle, comes when the eighty-eight categories of view delusions are smashed. It is called the Position of the Way of Seeing. By means of sixteen minds one can cut off the eighty-eight categories of view delusions and certify to the truth.

View delusions are the result of the greed and love that arise when viewing situations. Before one sees something, one has no greed or love concerning it, but once the thing is seen, greed and love for it arise. The production of greed and love regarding states is termed view delusion. The eighty-eight categories of view delusions are cut off by means of the sixteen states of mind, which are aspects of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, accumulation, extinction, and the Way.

Within the desire realm are eight of these hearts:

1. Patience Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Suffering.
2. Wisdom Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Suffering.
3. Patience Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Accumulation,
4. Wisdom Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Accumulation,
5. Patience Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Extinction,
6. Wisdom Regarding the Phenomena Involved in Extinction,
7. Patience Regarding the Phenomena Involved in the Way,
8. Wisdom Regarding the Phenomena Involved in the Way.

The form realm and formless realm have eight:

1. Subsequent Patience Regarding Suffering.
2. Subsequent Wisdom Regarding Suffering.
3. Subsequent Patience Regarding Accumulation,
4. Subsequent Wisdom Regarding Accumulation,
5. Subsequent Patience Regarding Extinction,
6. Subsequent Wisdom Regarding Extinction,
7. Subsequent Patience Regarding the Way,
8. Subsequent Wisdom Regarding the Way.

The sixteen minds are all located in realms where there is attachment to marks. At the fifteenth of the sixteen minds, Subsequent Patience Regarding the Way, view delusions are cut off. That point is classified as Inclination Towards the First Fruit, and is called a Way of Non-Interruption. When one completely attains the sixteenth mind, Subsequent Wisdom Regarding the Way, that is certification to the first fruit of Arhatship. It is called a Way of Liberation, for at that point delusion is completely severed and liberation is obtained.

Some people say that there is no need to hold precepts, and will not even hold the five precepts in order to refrain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and the use of intoxicants. “The Buddhadharma is flexible, not fixed,” they contend, “so my killing isn’t killing, my stealing isn’t stealing, my lying isn’t lying.” One who has such great deviant knowledge and views certainly will fall into the hells in the future. Be very careful not to fall into the kind of total emptiness which denies cause and effect by professing “Offenses are empty, blessings are empty, everything is empty.” If you do not perform acts of merit and virtue you create offenses and bad karma. Right practice is to do good deeds and not to be attached to them. It is essential to perform acts of merit and virtue and maintain the precepts. If you do not maintain the precepts, you can fall into the hells. Everyone should be very clear about that.

The section of text which begins, “If, on the other hand, a person were to receive and hold from this sutra,” was spoken by Śākyamuni Buddha. Receive means that the mind receives it. Hold means that the body puts the teaching into practice. …

In general, one may memorize any four-lines that suit him and explain them to others. One should not interpret the passage of sutra text in this section as referring only to the verses in this particular sutra, because the dharma is not fixed; it’s not inflexible. If one insists on a given four lines, the dharma becomes static. The Vajra Sutra subdues the mind and rids it of rigid attachments, enabling it to separate from all marks. It sweeps away all phenomena and separates from all marks. Separation from all marks is Buddhahood. Do not be attached to a particular four lines. Keep the dharma alive! Let it be like a vital dragon, like a coursing tiger. Speak the sutra until it leaps and bounds. Talk until it soars. Do not be so stuffy that you put everyone to sleep, and then be so stupid as to think your lecturing has caused them to enter samadhi.

Receiving and holding the sutra is self-benefitting cultivation which leads to self-enlightenment. Explaining it to others benefits and enlightens them.

If you can receive and hold a four-line gāthā yourself, and speak it for others, the blessings and virtue of that act are far greater than the blessings and virtue derived by the person who gives three thousand great thousand world systems full of the seven precious gems as a gift. Why? Because the giving of dharma is the most supreme kind of giving, and as such far surpasses the giving of wealth.

Every world system contains:

1 Mount Sumeru;

1 set of the Four Great Continents, namely:

• • • • Jambudvipa to the south,
      • Pūravavideha to the east,
      • Aparagodānīya to the west, and
      • Uttarakuru to the north;

1 sun, and 1 moon.

One thousand of such world systems is called one small-thousand world system. A thousand small-thousand world systems is called one middle-thousand world system. A thousand middle-thousand world systems is called one great-thousand world system. Because the word “thousand” occurs three times, the great-thousand world system is referred to as the three thousand great-thousand world system. This gigantic world system contains limitless Buddhalands, and in spite of its name, the number of worlds it contains may vary, because phenomena are flexible, not fixed. One should not become too attached to an exact number.

You can plant good roots or bad roots. If you do not believe in and make offerings to the Triple Jewel, your bad roots increase. When you withdraw from the Triple Jewel, your good roots decrease. When you are near the Triple Jewel your good roots increase. Take heed. Do not do bad deeds. Offer up only good conduct.

The inhabitants of Uttarakuru cannot see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, or see the Sangha, and so their good roots die. In order to plant good roots one should first take refuge with the Triple Jewel. To plant further good roots one can receive the five precepts, the eight precepts, or the ten major and forty-eight minor precepts of a Bodhisattva available for laymen; or the 250 bhikṣu or 348 bhikṣunī precepts available for those who wish to leave the home life.

The good roots one plants by accepting and holding the five precepts and cultivating the ten good acts cannot be seen, smelled, tasted, or touched because they are without a mark. “All with marks is empty and false,” but people do not realize that, and only know how to nurture their bodies, not their good roots.

“What are good roots?”

Good roots are another name for your dharma body and your wisdom. Good roots are the firm foundation which comes from cultivation. A good foundation causes your dharma body to manifest, your wisdom to increase, and your originally existent real mark prajña to function.

It Is essential, however, that you plant good roots before the Triple Jewel in order to reap the fruit of Bodhi. If you plant good roots with non-Buddhist religions, you will not be able to reap any ultimate benefit, no matter how many good roots you plant or how long you nurture them.

The words Subhūti said to the Buddha were added by the Venerable Ananda when the sutras were compiled.

Subhūti said, “Is it possible that living beings will hear this sutra which the Buddha has spoken and will actually believe it?” What he was really asking Śākyamuni Buddha was, “Is it the case that they will not believe it?”

The Buddha immediately admonished Subhūti for even suggesting such a possibility, and said that even in the last five hundred years beings would believe the sutra.

1. The first period of five hundred years is called “The Period Strong in Liberation.” It constitutes the time when the Buddha is in the world, and many people certify to the Way and attain liberation.
2. The second five hundred years is called “The Period Strong in Dhyana Samadhi.” That period follows the Buddha’s extinction and is a time when many people gain certification through the cultivation of dhyana samadhi.
3. The third five hundred years is called “The Period Strong in Learning.” During that time many people investigate sutras.
4. The fourth five hundred years is “The Period Strong in Fighting.” That is the period referred to in the text, the present Dharma Ending Age.

Śākyamuni Buddha said, “There will be people in the last five hundred years who believe and maintain the precepts and who cultivate blessings. They will believe the Vajra Sutra and accept its principles as true, actual, and not false. Such people will have planted good roots for limitless kalpas by making offerings to, showing respect for, and believing in the Triple Jewel Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.”