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College and Department of Buddhist Studies, FGU
Threefold Purification of the World
Dean's 113-1 Beginning-of-Semester Address to the Entire College
In the Tiantai school’s meditation practice, there is the concept of "one thought contains three thousand worlds." "One thought" refers to the single moment of awareness in every being, while "three thousand" is formed by the ideas of the three worlds, the ten realms, and the ten suchnesses, among others.
This concept suggests that beings in any of the ten realms, whether saintly or ordinary, can reveal the characteristics of the ten realms based on the rise or fall of their single thought. Just as the Buddha attained enlightenment as a human being, there are also humans who exhibit the suffering of beings in hell, and similar examples can be observed.Today, I would like to specifically discuss the "three worlds," which refer to the world of the five aggregates, the world of sentient beings, and the world of the environment. The term "world" refers to a space where life exists, constantly flowing with time. It encompasses three levels: individual body and mind, all sentient beings, and the environment in which they live. These are interconnected, and cannot be seen as separate or unrelated.
For instance, within our College, each of us possesses a body and mind composed of the five aggregates, and this is one world. In the College, we also have teachers and students, including both local and international students, which forms the diverse world of sentient beings. Meanwhile, the buildings we reside in, such as Haijing Building, Yunshui Building, and Fo Guang University campus, represent the world of the environment.
In practicing the concept of "one thought containing three thousand worlds," if each individual begins by purifying their body and mind, this will extend to purify the diverse groups of beings around us, and even the classrooms, dormitories, and campus itself will become pure. Only then can the true meaning of "when the mind is pure, the environment is pure" be realized. On the other hand, if the classrooms, dormitories, and campus are disquiet, dirty, and disorganized, leading to mutual blame and resentment among students, this would create unrest in the world of sentient beings, which in turn would negatively impact the individual world of the body and mind.
The Tiantai school's teachings emphasize the equality of body and mind, and the interpenetration of all phenomena. This is a wise teaching, as it shows that whether it is body and mind, community, or the internal and external world, each aspect can serve as an entry point for practice, and they all influence each other positively or negatively. I hope that in every moment of study, none of us forget that if we each purify our own minds and cultivate compassion, we can together create beautiful human relationships and learning experiences, and also make the world a better place.