Dharma Sharing's Consciousness

Translated from a Dharma Espresso Talk given in Vietnamese

Good morning dear elders, sisters and brothers. This is today's Dharma Espresso. May the morning light welcome you to a peaceful new day.

Dear friends, in the previous talks, we discussed whether Buddhism is a belief system or a religion. Today, I would like to speak about the true nature of Buddhism.

During the Sui Dynasty in China, there was a venerable master named Zhiyi or Zhizhe (Trí Giả Đại Sư). He studied the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and divided them into the "Five Periods and Eight Teachings." This is an analytical approach from the perspective of the Dharma Flower school (Tiantai school) regarding the Buddha's teachings. The logic behind this classification is very precise.

The Five Periods are:

1. The Avataṃsaka or Hua Yen Period.

   The Buddha taught the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Hua Yen Sutra) for 21 days. In this period, the Buddha expressed the philosophy of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, or more precisely, he conveyed the realization and inner enlightenment he had attained.

   
   

2. The Āgama Period (thời A Hàm).

   After that, the Buddha engaged with the society and began teaching the Four Noble Truths — Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation, and the Path. This period of teaching is called the Āgama phase, which lasted 12 years.

   
   

This means that the spiritual capacities of sentient beings at that time were not sufficient to understand the Avatamsaka Sutra, or perhaps the teachings of the Avatamsaka were only suitable for bodhisattvas and great bodhisattvas of a higher level. After 21 days of the Avatamsaka period, the Buddha descended back into the human realm and realized that, first and foremost, he needed to teach people the nature of life. Life in this worldly realm is always full of entanglements, and he named it Suffering (Dukkha). We call them "entanglements" because we are viewing them from the Avatamsaka perspective. Otherwise, they are simply called Suffering—things that happen contrary to our wishes. “Origin” refers to the cause of suffering. “Cessation” is the realm in which suffering ends, or Nirvana. And the “Path” is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering. The Buddha spent 12 years teaching about Suffering, Origin, Cessation, and the Path. 

3. After that, many people began to evolve spiritually, and naturally, the Buddha's teachings also evolved. He then taught the Vaipulya (Phương Đẳng) teachings for eight years.

Vaipulya, or "expanded teachings," is about opening the heart. It’s not just about recognizing one’s own suffering, but beginning to see the suffering of  sentient beings — and understanding how to help them lessen their suffering and live more peacefully.

These teachings expanded the scope of the Dharma, showing that beyond renouncing the world, it is often necessary to open our hearts wider in order to be more compassionate and inclusive toward others. That’s why this phase is called Phương Đẳng.

Phương means broad or expansive, and Đẳng refers to changing the view on  sentient beings, and that no one should be left behind. Therefore, Phương Đẳng represents a crucial transitional phase in Buddhism, when practitioners come to realize that they cannot simply retreat into the mountains to cultivate alone. Instead, they must open their hearts so that when someone knocks on their door seeking help, they are ready to respond. When one sees people suffering around them, one must offer comfort, take time to listen deeply to that suffering, and find ways to help others break free from it.

That is why the Phương Đẳng period was a time of great transformation. Although it may not always be recognized as such, it is in fact deeply significant.

During the eight years that the Buddha taught the Phương Đẳng teachings, he emphasized how to expand the heart, avoid to withdraw into isolation, but instead, remain in the world. And if we choose to stay in the world, then we must be willing to help others.

During this Phương Đẳng period, many laypeople began to follow the Buddha and practice his teachings. In the earlier Āgama period, many people renounced the world and became monastics. But in the Phương Đẳng period, there were people who could not leave worldly life behind, yet they opened their hearts and went out to help others. They carried on the work of the Dharma in their own way.

4. The Prajñā Period (Thời Bát Nhã).

During this time, the Buddha taught about the intrinsic nature within every being. That nature is enlightenment itself, the Buddha-nature. Prajñā (Bát Nhã) refers to the wisdom or insight that allows one to recognize and realize this Buddha-nature.

Do you know that the Buddha taught the Prajñā teachings for as long as 22 years? This was the longest phase of his entire teaching career. Prajñā is extremely profound and difficult to grasp.

It only took 8 years to teach about opening the heart. To teach about the nature of suffering, the Four Noble Truths, took 12 years. But to teach about the nature of enlightenment, the essence of our Buddha-nature, the Buddha spent 22 years, nearly double the time he devoted to teaching the Āgamas and the truth of suffering, its causes, cessation, and the path.

This was the period in which the Buddha delved deeply into the essence of the Mahāyāna path: Developing Prajñā (transcendent wisdom), cultivating supreme insight. The Prajñā period spanned the time when the Buddha was in his fifties to his seventies — a stage in life when he was deeply mature, often referred to as a seasoned practitioner: Someone with a solid, unwavering spiritual foundation, rich in both worldly and spiritual experience.

By this time, the Buddha had lived through countless phases of life and had encountered all kinds of beings across the cosmos. As a result, he could see through appearances and perceive the pure essence of the true mind. He understood how to articulate that purity in a way that could help others recognize and connect with it themselves.

That is why this 22-year Prajñā period marked a time of great maturity in the Buddha’s teaching. The Dharma he offered during this phase was the Dharma of a fully ripened, spiritually mature master, and the teachings meant for those ready to understand the profound nature of inner purity and ultimate reality.

5. The Lotus and Nirvāṇa Period (Thời Pháp Hoa – Niết Bàn), lasting 8 years, occurred when the Buddha was in his seventies. During this time, he gathered and unified all his previous teachings.

   
   

For those who needed to understand suffering, he spoke about suffering. For those needing to open their hearts and help others, he taught the Vaipulya (Phương Đẳng) teachings. For those who could perceive their true nature, he taught Prajñā (Bát Nhã). And for those who could realize that even within suffering and the defiled world, there still exists Permanence, Bliss, Self, and Purity, the characteristics of Nirvāṇa, he spoke of the nature of Nirvāṇa. He taught that the jewel, the radiant, awakened essence, already exists within each of us. But we have forgotten it. The Buddha opened that jewel, revealed it to us, enabling sudden realization. That is the characteristics of Nirvāṇa that exists right here in this very samsaric world, this very Saha world, not somewhere far away.

The Five Periods - Avataṃsaka (Hoa Nghiêm), Āgama (A Hàm), Vaipulya (Phương Đẳng), Prajñā (Bát Nhã), and Lotus–Nirvāṇa (Pháp Hoa – Niết Bàn)  - summarize the spiritual evolution of the Buddha.

Under the Bodhi tree, at around age 29 or 30, the Buddha attained enlightenment. But the question was: what to do after enlightenment? This is called Post-Enlightenment Practice (Ngộ Hậu) or how to bring the awakened realization into living expression and teaching.

So the Buddha began to teach, starting from the most basic level so that beings of all capacities could understand the nature of suffering. Then gradually, he led them through Phương Đẳng, into Prajñā, and eventually to Nirvāṇa. This reflects not just his enlightenment, but his spiritual evolution as a teacher, guiding his students to attain his level of evolution, and through such process of adapting and deepening his expression according to the readiness of sentient beings, he become more experienced and mature. While his inner realization — the awakened mind — was complete and unchanging from the very beginning, his teaching consciousness and empathetic heart matured over time. As sentient beings evolved spiritually through his guidance, his capacity to teach and respond to their needs also became more refined, seasoned, and skillful.

In essence, the Five Periods reflect both the unfolding of the Buddha’s teachings and the deepening maturity in his role as a compassionate guide.

Therefore, we should understand that Enlightenment belongs to what I often refers to as the “transcend worldliness” (Xuất Tục) — when one sits in meditation with eyes closed, turning inward in deep realization.

But the “Engage with the World” (Nhập Thế) — the part where one enters life to express and share the Dharma with all beings — requires a systematic educational approach, so that people from the lowest to the highest levels of understanding can gradually comprehend the teachings. One cannot simply speak of one’s enlightenment to those who are not yet ready.

That’s why the intellectual scope and insight of the Buddha was so vast and inclusive. It is clear that his Dharma showed a progressive development — from the Āgama teachings, through Vaipulya, into Prajñā, and ultimately to the Lotus–Nirvāṇa teachings. This reflects the evolution of consciousness in an enlightened being — not in the realization itself, which is timeless and unchanging, but in the skillful means of conveying it to the world.

What’s important is that we often only speak of the Buddha’s enlightenment, without considering his experience as a teacher. The enlightened mind of the Buddha is one with the awakened minds of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout the universe. But his teaching consciousness was unique, different from that of other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas — because in every location, in every realm, the beings are different.

The mind that teaches and guides beings evolves over time cannot remain static. The Buddha’s inner enlightenment was the same 40 years before and 40 years after — unchanged and constant. But his methods of teaching varied over those 40 years. When he had just attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, his life experience was different from what it would be decades later, so naturally, his way of teaching, his speech, and his language evolved as well.

The language he used during the Āgama period would not be mixed with the language of the Prajñā period. And when he taught Prajñā, it was clearly distinct from the language of the earlier Āgama stage.

Enlightenment — the realization of the true mind — is one and unchanging. But life experience evolves, and through that experience, worldly wisdom also deepens. The wisdom he had 40 years earlier could not be as mature as what he had 40 years later.

That is why the Buddha’s Dharma is a teaching that continuously evolves and progresses, always adapting to the needs and capacities of sentient beings.

Any monk or nun — when they first enter the monastic path, shave their head, and receive full ordination as a bhikṣu or bhikṣuṇī — their life experience at that point cannot be compared to what it will be 40 years later. Over time, they become more mature, they gain deeper understanding of the Dharma, and they learn how to present the teachings to sentient beings with greater clarity and effectiveness.

That’s why, dear friends, the evolution of one’s understanding of life and the ability to convey the Dharma to others is what is called Skillful Means or Skillful Intelligence.

The wisdom that directly perceives the true mind — the realization of our Buddha-nature — is called inherent wisdom or fundamental wisdom.

There is a distinction between wisdom (trí huệ) and intelligence (trí tuệ). The development of skillful means — the ability to teach, to understand the Dharma deeply and to express it effectively, requires time, space, and interaction with sentient beings. It must evolve gradually through experience.

I have spoken at some length, but now I would like to return to a very important point:

We often think that Buddhism is superstitious, but that’s not true, dear friends. What happens is that within Buddhism, there are many people who have not yet deeply understood the Dharma. At that stage, their involvement may appear superstitious — it is a phase of spiritual infancy.

That phase includes practices like making offerings to avert misfortune, seeking fortune tellers, or performing rituals to dispel bad luck. But this is simply the beginning stage for many who are newly entering the path.

Dear friends, in the Buddha’s time, there were also many non-Buddhists — meaning people who had not yet understood the Dharma — and the Buddha gradually guided them in. He never looked down on them or criticized them.

So today, when we see Buddhist practitioners who perform rituals like making offering to avert misfortunes, drawing fortune sticks, seeking talismans, mantras, or charms, we should not consider them as outsiders to the Dharma. Rather, we should see them as people who have not yet deeply understood Buddhism. Our response should be to open our arms, to guide them gently and patiently — helping them gradually open their hearts, recognize the Four Noble Truths, and see the suffering in life. Sometimes, even just developing faith is already a first step. From there, we can gradually lead them into the Phương Đẳng phase, helping them expand their compassion, their love, and their concern for others.

For example, if your child is struggling in school, you shouldn't rush off to draw  fortune sticks or ask for divine help from some spirit or holy figure. No. Instead, sit down and truly listen to your child. That act of listening is the beginning of the Āgama stage. You begin to listen, just as you would listen to your own breath in meditation.

You listen to your child, and then you respond:"Oh, I heard what you said, but I feel like there's something bothering you — maybe this or that."Gently, you let your child open up. And as they begin to express themselves, that’s when you enter into the phase of identifying the cause of their suffering.

The suffering is the fact that they’re not doing well in school. But why is that happening?

Maybe they’re overly drawn to their friends.Maybe they’re addicted to TikTok.Maybe they’ve developed certain bad habits.

From there, we start to gently untangle the knots, patiently and lovingly. That is the real beginning of Dharma practice in everyday life, and how we bring even small family situations into the path of transformation.

Therefore, dear friends, we should not be quick to judge or criticize those who have not yet understood the Dharma. We should not hastily label them as superstitious or as people who do not belong to Buddhism. Instead, we should open our hearts and arms to them. We should recognize that these are simply the initial steps, the beginner’s phase — and that’s perfectly okay. The true path is right here: Suffering, Its Cause, Its Cessation, and the Path (the Four Noble Truths), and it is a journey everyone can all enter slowly, at their own pace. Our role is to listen, and to gently guide others toward it.

When we hold this mindset, we begin to see that every person, every sentient being around us, is a potential recipient of the Buddha’s teachings.

But if we think:“Oh, this lady is too superstitious — I won’t associate with her.”Or: “That group? Ah, they’re all superstitious Buddhists — I’ll stay away.”Then we are acting from a kind of extremism or elitism that is unnecessary and unhelpful.

Instead, let us remember that everyone needs the Dharma, and we can be a bridge, a connecting path that helps others discover it. We don’t need to lecture or preach. We simply need to point the way, to help others walk into the Dharma on their own, in alignment with Right View and True Faith. Dear friends, this is the attitude we should cultivate.

Imagine this, dear friends: if the Buddha had spent all 49 years of his teaching speaking only about the Four Noble Truths — Suffering, its Cause, its Cessation, and the Path — merely stating that the world is suffering, then he would never have been able to fully express the profound inner realization he attained under the Bodhi tree.

That deep inner realization required 49 years of gradual unfolding — starting from the most basic teachings and expanding step by step, growing broader and deeper — until finally, at the end of his life, he reached the teachings of the Lotus and Nirvāṇa period.

It was only during the final eight years of his life that the Buddha completely revealed what he had realized under the Bodhi tree 49 years earlier.

Therefore, the evolution in the Buddha’s way of teaching reminds us that we, as students and followers of the Buddhist path today, should also learn to open our hearts and minds. We should gradually reflect on the growth of our own understanding, rather than criticizing those who are still at the beginning of their search for the path.

If we judge or reject those still in their early stages, we are not living in accordance with the spirit of compassion, the true essence of the Dharma, dear friends.

Instead, we should open our hearts and minds so that they may find gentler, more accessible steps into the Buddha’s teachings. And this — cultivating a compassionate, skillful, and inclusive attitude — is precisely the state of mind we must always remember: we ourselves must also evolve in the way we share the Dharma.

Thank you all for listening, and may you have a peaceful and joyful day.