Dear Dharma friends, hello everyone! Today, we’re exploring how to stabilize body and mind with the Ten Good Deeds and achieve practice through right view and vows. This is the core of cultivation. We’ll draw from the Buddha’s Final Teaching Sutra, Ten Good Deeds Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, Upāsaka Precepts Sutra, and more, explaining it plainly to guide us toward the true path.
Unsteady Mind and Body vs. Ten Good Deeds
If body and mind are restless—chasing tasty food, fancy clothes, or scattered thoughts—you can’t practice, let alone succeed in worldly study or work. You need them controllable, following your will, as the Buddha’s Final Teaching Sutra says: “Anchor your mind in one place, and nothing’s undoable.” How? Strictly uphold the Ten Good Deeds—monastic precepts are even better, a pro version. Discipline isn’t for the spirit’s essence but its function—cutting off the fuel of bad karma and habits, steadying the chaos to enter concentration and awaken innate abilities and wisdom.
Verifying Spirit with Right View
What’s the spirit? Distinguish motion from stillness, guest from host—it’s formless yet ever-present. The spirit is beyond birth, death, increase, decrease, purity, or impurity—unchanging; just know it. Practice targets its function—all virtual phenomena arise from the spirit’s movement through body, speech, and mind, forming waves that collapse into forms, then decay and vanish, an illusory cycle of information. Spirit’s essence, form, and function need right view, built per scriptures and the Buddha’s teachings, securing every detail. Discipline, concentration, and wisdom are functions of the spirit—to reach Buddhahood, first establish the view of all as dreamlike: like dreams, bubbles, dew, or lightning—so observe it.
Ten Good Deeds: The Foundation of Sequential Practice
The Ten Good Deeds Sutra says: “Like towns stand on the earth, plants grow from it, the Ten Good Deeds are the same—humans, gods, hearers, solitary realizers, Bodhisattvas, and all Buddha-dharmas depend on this foundation to succeed.” Without it, body and mind falter—nothing works. Practice sequentially, like a tree growing—rushing ruins it—and any method can flourish once mastered.
Vows and Karma: Automated Success
Grasp karma’s rules to speed up with vows. The Upāsaka Precepts Sutra explains karma’s laws, rules, and root—vows are like programming, running automatically. Precise intent is key—want the five faculties and powers (faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom)? Vow to gain them, aiming for joyful faith, bold effort, focused mindfulness, steadfast concentration, and wisdom benefiting all. Repeated vows form waves, collapsing into these traits. That’s why Buddhism emphasizes vows and dedications—build waves of right view, and when strong, they lock in what’s needed. This governs good, evil, suffering, joy, freedom, or restraint.
Right View and Vows: Focus as the Root
The Avatamsaka Sutra says: “Drawing near wise teachers grows and ripens good roots.” A teacher’s guidance lights a dark room—no fumbling, just clarity. Everything needs a teacher first, or it’s like groping in darkness—risking harm, unsure of gains. Ask anything, and a teacher leads to truth; hearers connect easily. Every practice relies on stacking right-view waves—when potent, they solidify. Start one-by-one, not juggling many—master it, then aid other points. When vowing, clarify your wish aloud, focusing fully—intent is the root. Clarity matters—don’t chant with a wandering mind; that lacks the core for karma’s fruition.
Conclusion: Ten Good Deeds and Right View Awaken the Spirit
Dear friends, the spirit is eternal, unchanging, perceiving all. Ten Good Deeds steady body and mind, curbing evil for wisdom. Right view and vows plant seeds for automatic success. All is dreamlike—so view it. May we uphold the Ten Good Deeds, establish right view, awaken the spirit’s function, and walk the path to Buddhahood. Thank you all!
