His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III Imparts Dharma
In Response to A Westerner’s Questions
Translated by the True Dharma Translation Group
Translators’ Notes
All of us in the True Dharma Translation Group express our profound gratitude to His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III for giving us the opportunity to translate this Dharma Discourse from Chinese into English. However, His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III has neither read nor acknowledged the correctness of the current translation.
This translation is based on a transcription of the audio recording of this Dharma Discourse. Since the Buddhist disciples, who transcribed the audio recording into Chinese text are from different countries and regions, might not have been familiar with colloquial words or dialects used in the Dharma Discourse, there might be errors in the transcript. The footnotes were not in the original Chinese transcript and were added by us as supplementary information to the translation.
Due to the limited abilities of the translation group, despite our having made the best effort, there are bound to be errors in this English translation. We beseech His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III and all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to absolve us of the sins of making any mistakes in this translation.
Therefore, this English translation is only intended to be used as a reference while you are respectfully listening to the audio recording of the Dharma Discourse. If anyone has any suggestions for the current translation to be improved, you are very welcome to let us know.
Only the audio recordings of the Dharma imparted by His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III and the Buddhist books authored by His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III that are published by authorized publishing houses can be considered official.
True Dharma Translation Group May 22, 2022
His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III Imparts Dharma
In Response to A Westerner’s Questions
First of all, you have to be clear about a fundamental concept before you can understand where you will go after you die if you will not be returning to this world.
I have just now said that within the universe, this Planet Earth on which we live is a minuscule world that can be likened to a tiny dust particle. In the universe, there are countless worlds like this on which there are living beings. There is an uncountable and unknown number of such worlds. When I say “this world,” I am referring to this human world. There are also countless living beings in this human world. It is stated in Buddhist Sutras that there are six realms of living beings: heavenly beings, asuras, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings. That is in fact only a rough idea. In truth, living beings are not limited to these six realms. Some living beings cannot be classified into any of these six realms. They do not fit into any categories in the Sutras. The term “living being” means any being that is alive.
(Translator: He said he doesn’t understand why the human beings in this world are all evil.)
I will tell you, but first, I must make things clear, so you can understand what I say.
This has to do with causality. All living beings are inter-connected through causality. All the myriad phenomena are results of causality. “Causality” means that when a cause is planted, there will be an effect. Do you know what cause and effect are?
(Translator: He said it means what one plants is what one gets. But to him, this kind of reasoning does not make sense.)
I tell you this: Since beginningless time, the causality of these living beings has formed a kind of shared karma 共業. Hence, they are all living in this world. They share the same kind of karmic force, a collective karma. They have the same kinds of retributions: Living beings with good retributions, bad retributions, and equivalent retributions have converged here at the same time. There are, of course, good karma as well as bad karma.
(Translator: He asks if that means yin and yang.)
No. Causality works like this. For example: When some one has committed a certain kind of bad deed many times and other people also tend to commit the same kind of bad deed, then they have become more alike. People who have performed a certain kind of good deed become akin to those who have performed the same kind of good deed. They have accumulated the same karma and, due to their similarities, they become the same kind of people. Living beings have all developed their own characteristics and nature. They have formed their own kind of personalities and nature. Collectively, they all have the same kind of nature. What is meant by “nature” is their attitude, conduct, personality, and whether they are good or evil. They gravitate toward one another. This is meant by “People of the same kind come together” or “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Those of you who understand English should help with the translating. If the translation is incorrect, other people must speak up. Otherwise, this is not the conduct of a Buddhist disciple.
For example, not every one on Planet Earth is evil. Whether someone is good, or evil, is their own making. It is their own mentality and conduct that cause other people to perceive them as good or evil. People may have very bad qualities, but they may also have very good qualities. Why? They are living beings. As I just said, different living beings have different nature.
For example, if one becomes a pig, pigs like to mingle with pigs. Dogs like to mingle with dogs. Wolves like to mingle with wolves. Cats innately only mingle with cats. They like to catch mice and that is their nature. Dogs are born to protect their masters. That is why whenever dogs see strangers approaching, they like to bark and want to attack them. By nature, wolves, tigers, and leopards are carnivorous, and so are coyotes, they also like to eat kittens or puppies.
(Translator: He said that animals are not evil.)
No. Animals are just like human beings. You cannot say all human beings are evil either. There are many people who are very good, but there are also evil people.
(Translator: He said he believes that. But he thinks that in the present era, there are relatively more evil people.)
I will talk about that. Listen to me.
Why are human beings more formidable than other animals? I cannot say that they are evil, they are formidable. Why are human beings more terrifying than other animals? Because human beings have higher intelligence, they can develop many ideas that animals cannot. For example, human beings can easily build houses and