Question: To commemorate Master Yuanyin and better propagate the Buddhadharma, Yuanyin Ancient Temple in Boluo, Guangdong, has initiated the production of this video disc. You are a Dharma teacher designated by Master Yuanyin to transmit the Dharma. We would like to ask you to speak about the causes and conditions through which you came to study with the Master, your process and experience of practice, and some of your reflections on transmitting the Dharma.

Answer: These are three questions: the causes and conditions through which I received the Dharma, my experience of practice, and the circumstances of transmitting the Dharma. All three concern me personally, but I think that this video disc, Master Yuanyin and the Heart-of-Heart Dharma, should emphasize the Master and the Heart-of-Heart Dharma. So I will simply answer in a few words:

One concerns the Master: “It is not that I have not studied the Dharma with other spiritual friends. My experience of seeking and studying proves that my venerable teacher, Master Yuanyin, is a great spiritual friend, rarely encountered among all spiritual friends. To encounter Master Yuanyin in this lifetime, I firmly believe, means that I must have planted wholesome roots not merely in the presence of one, two, three, four, or five Buddhas, but in the presence of immeasurable millions of Buddhas.”

The other concerns the dharma gate: “It is not that I have not studied other dharma gates. My experience of practice proves that, in terms of the force with which the Heart-of-Heart Dharma works upon the mind, and its subtle, gradual, and continuous transformation—changing one’s character without one even being aware of it—its effects in these respects truly cannot be matched by other dharma gates.”

That is the actual situation; I will say no more. This is my personal experience. Of course, some may disagree with what I say; each person has their own causes and conditions. Yet because the Heart-of-Heart Dharma is suited to my capacity, this is how I myself experience it.”

These causes and conditions are a continuation of learning the Dharma life after life. Take you, for example: you have faith in Buddhism. If you had not studied Buddhism in a previous life, it would be unlikely that you would study Buddhism in this life. This too is a continuation. The power of vows extends throughout the future; this is originally a phrase from the bodhisattva precepts, which always speak of “upholding them to the end of the future.” Practicing life after life is a feature of the Buddhadharma of Śākyamuni Buddha. The causes and conditions for our learning the Dharma are that, in this life, we have an affinity with the Heart-of-Heart Dharma.

In fact, it is not simply a matter of being limited to an affinity with one particular dharma gate; rather, it is an affinity with the Buddhadharma. In this life, whichever dharma gate you need to use to cut off afflictions is the dharma gate with which you have an affinity. For example, many people now need to use the Heart-of-Heart Dharma to cut off afflictions. When there are many such people, it appears that heart esotericism is being propagated.

This brings us to your third question: carrying on its propagation. Suppose those who should be liberated have already been liberated, and the problem of cutting off afflictions has been resolved. Would it still matter whether heart esotericism were propagated? Would that still be an important question? The focus of the Buddhadharma is not worldly dharmas.

Worldly dharmas are like this: if you want to establish an enterprise, you must promote your enterprise so that it can flourish and prosper. If one treats propagating heart esotericism in this way—or even treats other dharma gates, or the Buddhadharma itself, in this way—that is not the Buddha’s intention. The Buddha responds to sentient beings’ minds according to their capacities for understanding; when sentient beings’ conditions for liberation are mature, the Buddha appears in the world. When sentient beings lack the conditions for liberation, even if the Buddha appears in the world, you will not study with him.