The Immutability Of Cause And Effect

By Venerable Wu Ling

Respected Dharma Masters, respected practitioners and guests. Over the past few hundred years, the face of Buddhism has undergone several changes. First, it began to be regarded by some as a religion. Then, it was looked upon as a philosophy. Some even twisted it almost beyond recognition until it became more of a cult. And recently it has come to be portrayed by some as a show.

Some of these misunderstandings have been honest ones, often occurring as people have tried to understand and respect the teachings. Some of these misunderstandings occurred as people strove to benefit themselves at the expense of others. If we want to really understand and benefit from Buddhism, we need to go back to its original form.

Approximately two thousand years ago, in 67 AD, Buddhism officially came to China and since then, has spread and flourished throughout the country. The Emperor had sent special envoys to India to invite Buddhist monks to come to China to teach Buddhism, which at that time was understood to be an education.

The sutras, recorded teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni, address him as our "Original Teacher". Those who listened to him were called students, which is what we call ourselves today. This teacher-student relationship is only found in education. Another reason that Buddhism is an education is also to be found in the sutras, where we learn that the students would ask questions of the Buddha, who would then answer them. If the students did not thoroughly understand, or thought that we would not thoroughly understand, they would ask for further clarification, which the Buddha would provide. This is essentially a classroom discussion. Please understand that Buddha Shakyamuni simply taught. He conducted neither ceremonies nor rites.

Buddhism is Buddha Shakyamuni’s educational system, which is similar to that of Confucius for both presented similar viewpoints and methods. The goal of Buddhist education is to attain wisdom. In Sanskrit, the language of ancient India, this wisdom was called "Anuttara-Samyak-Sambhodi" meaning the perfect complete wisdom. The Buddha taught us that the main objective of our learning and cultivation is to achieve this ultimate wisdom.

He further taught us that everyone has the potential to realize this state of ultimate wisdom, because it is an intrinsic part of our nature. It is not something we can obtain externally. However, most of us have become confused through general misconceptions and therefore, are unable to realize this potential. However, if we can break through this confusion, we will realize this intrinsic part of our nature. Thus, Buddhism is an educational system aimed at regaining our own original, intrinsic self-nature.

It also teaches absolute equality, which stemmed from the Buddha's recognition that all sentient beings possess this innate wisdom and nature. Therefore, there really is no inherent difference among beings. Everyone is different now because we have lost our true nature and have become confused. The degree of wisdom exhibited by individuals depends on the degree of delusion and has nothing to do with the original true nature of the individual. The Buddha’s teachings help us to realize this innate, perfect, ultimate wisdom. With this wisdom, we can solve all of our problems and turn our suffering into happiness.

Due to our lack of wisdom, we perceive and behave foolishly, and thus suffer the consequences evoked by our incorrect thoughts, speech and behavior. If we have wisdom, our thoughts, speech and behavior will be correct; how then can we suffer when there are no ill consequences to suffer from? Of course, we will be happy. From here, we can see that suffering is caused by our delusion and the source of happiness is our own realization of wisdom.