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Good morning everyone, this is today's Dharma Espresso, on the last day of 2024. Today, I will discuss the topic of "Seeing Comprehensively."
To lead into this topic, let us recall a Vietnamese tradition on the 23rd day of the last lunar month (a week before the Lunar New Year), which is the day to send the Kitchen God back to heaven. This is a special and meaningful custom. What does the Kitchen God go to heaven for? To report to the Jade Emperor all the daily activities of our household throughout the year. Since the Kitchen God resides in the kitchen, where we cook, eat, and often share private conversations, he hears and keeps a record of everything.
This tradition, carried on for thousands of years in both Vietnam and China, constantly reminds us to live righteously so that at the year's end, the Kitchen God will give an honest and favorable report. Every year, I feel deeply moved when our Compassionate Service Society has members who write a ceremonial Kitchen God’s letter to present to heaven, summarizing the organization's achievements. I always enjoy listening to this ceremonial recitation, accompanied by drums, whistles and chants. Sometimes I even replaying it in the car and reflecting on what our organization has done.
However, this reporting tradition occurs only before Lunar New Year. This aspect gives me much to ponder and inspires me. Do we truly understand what the Kitchen God reports to the Jade Emperor? Is the report accurate and comprehensive?
Many years ago, the late Master Hsuan Hua had a disciple named Genieve, who lived in Hong Kong and invited me to visit her. I accepted her invitation and went to Hong Kong, where she stayed at the ultra-luxurious Mandarin Hotel. This hotel was essentially seven stars in quality, with opulent furnishings and incredible views of Hong Kong from its high floors. During our conversation, I complimented her living situation and assumed she must be very happy. To my surprise, she confided in me, saying, “You only see the exterior of my life, but inside, I have been suffering immensely for years.” Her internal reality was completely different from the outward appearance of wealth and luxury.
This encounter made me reflect deeply. Could the Kitchen God accurately report such hidden sufferings to the Jade Emperor? If the Kitchen God did so, what would the Jade Emperor do with this information?
When I visited Greece with the Compassionate Service Society delegation, we explored Meteora and the Acropolis of Athens, particularly the temple of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. Observing the grand architecture and cultural richness, we felt immersed in the ancient Greek world. These experiences gave us glimpses into a vanished consciousness left behind in the form of monasteries and ruins like the Parthenon. We discovered highlights, traces of a once-brilliant civilization that had since crumbled. If the Kitchen God were to report on such a civilization, what would he say? Would he capture the entirety of its rise and fall? Likely not.
On the last day of our Greece trip, our delegation meditated in a natural open space. Suddenly, a policeman arrived and ordered us to stop and leave, claiming that meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi were prohibited by law in that area. Clearly, this was not an actual law but a case of prejudice. Nevertheless, we calmly complied, walking back to our bus to find another spot.
This incident made me wonder: Should we judge Greek culture and its people based on this one negative encounter? Would it be fair to generalize? Certainly not. It is a reminder to avoid making sweeping judgments based on isolated incidents.
Similarly, before his enlightenment, the Buddha spent six years on a mountain practicing extreme asceticism, letting go of all worldly habits. After receiving energy from a bowl of fresh milk offered by a woman, he meditated for 49 days and achieved enlightenment. On the night before his awakening, he comprehensively saw his entire life, from birth to the present, not from his own perspective but from an overarching view. He understood his thoughts, actions, motivations, and those of the people involved as well as the interconnectedness of everyone involved. He can see how the life condition of the person(s) involved influenced their thouhgts and actions. It was as though his life was sliced into countless pieces, and he could see every detail within each piece and the larger network they formed.
This was a truly comprehensive perspective, unlike the fragmented view the Kitchen God might provide. The Buddha's enlightenment was a total and thorough understanding of cause, effect, attractions and interdependence, a perspective outlined in the Flower Garland Sutra's chapter 37 on the appearance of the Tathagata.
Historical figures like Kumārajīva, the great Buddhist translator, also experienced such fragmented judgments. While some criticized his forced cohabitation with royal consorts, his monumental contributions to Mahayana Buddhism far outweighed these isolated incidents. His legacy reminds us to look at the broader picture rather than fixating on small details. At the time, he declared that when he died, his tongue will be destroyed if his translation is not accurate and his conduct is not virtuous. Indeed, his tongue was not burned after his body was cremated!
When I was in Taiwan, there was a young man who made a mistake when he was a teenager. He was sentenced and labeled gang member. He tried hard to change himself and his life but his family still think he is the same person as before. It is very pathetic.
In our daily lives, we often get trapped by highlights or slices of reality.
For example, if a friend hurts us once, we may label them as a bad person forever, ignoring the complexity of their character. Similarly, we might form opinions about someone based on hearsay or a single fact, never considering the entirety of their life.
As human, our temperament is sometimes consistent, but there are times when we get angry or lose control, and other times when we are gentle. Although there are good and bad moments, we need to recognize our own true nature. For those who cultivate the Bodhi Mind (the aspiration for enlightenment), we see that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature, have potential and are capable of change. If we do not focus on the goodness and potential for change, we will be influenced by the "color" of that particular moment, preventing us from altering our perception and trapping us in prejudice, unless we go on a seclusion. What does it mean to enter a seclusion? It means stepping away from old influences and to begin cultivating a new perspective.
Sometimes, we ourselves experienced prejudice and rejection and even if we try to change people's perception, they are not capable of change causing us pain. Or we might harbor grudges due to a one-off event. This narrow perspective traps us in prejudice and hinders our spiritual growth. True liberation comes from seeing the whole, forgiving, and letting go of these fragmented views. To forgive does not need any reason, but just let go of the emotions and perceptions.
Your lives are beautiful. Each person has so many beautiful qualities, not just that one bad thing. When someone scolds you, it doesn’t mean they always scold or are always bad — there are hundreds or thousands of good things about them too. Therefore, we need to see the whole picture, not get stuck in a narrow perspective, but instead learn to forgive. The key point of this message is to see comprehensively — how to view things as a whole.
Don’t focus on fragmented details; instead, learn to step outside of prejudice so you’re not trapped in those small fragments.
The difficulty of forgiveness lies in the mind.
It's angry, angry, angry! Sometimes it’s not anger, but doubt, doubt, doubt! Or we may feel too hurt, too hurt, too hurt!
These things make it impossible to forgive. But forgiveness is nothing more than a complete letting go. If we don’t let go, we cannot find freedom within ourselves!
Therefore, on the last day of the year, don’t think that the Kitchen God will report every single detail, one by one. Instead, think that we need the Jade Emperor, Buddha, and Bodhisattvas to understand and empathize with our suffering. Let the Kitchen God report whatever he wishes, but ask him to remember that our lives are incredibly complex. A single year-end report cannot fully reflect the entirety of our nature. It can only capture the events that occurred during that year.
With that said, I hope all of you can develop a more comprehensive perspective and gradually free yourselves from the prejudices that trap you in a very narrow and painful universe. We should step out of those prejudices and sufferings and learn to forgive.
Thank you for listening and I wish you a peaceful day ahead.
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