The Red Motorcycle and Love of the Dharma

The evening breeze drifted gently through the windows of the lecture hall, carrying the faint fragrance of agarwood incense. Outside, the late afternoon sun spread its golden light across the leaves of the bodhi trees. Inside, Thích Chân Quang was leading an extracurricular class for monastic students. He posed a question: Why do we love the Buddha's teachings (Dharma)? Why is it that some people, who have never even known what a Buddha is, feel a strange delight upon hearing the teaching of cause and effect (karmic law)?

The teacher turned toward the senior monastics seated below. "Senior Venerable Đức Hoài, suppose someone introduces you to a motorcycle. After hearing about its features, you take it for a test ride. Now you like the bike and want to buy it. Try to analyze this: why do you like it?"

Senior Venerable Đức Hoài pressed his palms together and replied, "Homage to the Buddha, Venerable Teacher. Truly, I do need a motorcycle. My current one breaks down often, and once it stalled on the road with no repair shop nearby. Before choosing, I asked many acquaintances and was referred to a good shop. This bike is well engineered, durable, rarely breaks down, and meets my needs exactly."

Thầy Chân Quang nodded with satisfaction. "Exactly. You like it because it is good, because of its engineering, its reliability. That is the rational side. And what about the color? What color did you choose?"

"I chose red," answered Senior Venerable Đức Hoài. "Red looks more beautiful, and it feels solid and dependable."

"And red is a romantic color," Thầy Chân Quang smiled. "You like it for its beauty, its aesthetic quality. So there are two things: first, reason; second, beauty. Now, Venerable Lễ Ngôn, let us hear your analysis: why do you like the bike?"

Another senior monastic pressed his palms together. "Homage to the Buddha, Venerable Teacher. Đức Hoài likes it so much that I no longer know what I like. I only know that when we need something that suits our needs, we come to like it that way."

Thầy Chân Quang smiled. "Both of you are dharma teachers, and your analysis is very precise. When we like something, it is usually for two reasons: first, its rational quality—its goodness, durability, and how well it meets our needs. Second, its aesthetic quality—its beauty, its color, its romance. Our heart feels balanced when something is both reasonable and beautiful."

He continued slowly, in a warm, deep voice. "Now let us return to the Buddha's teachings (Dharma). Why do we love them? For the same two reasons. First, because of conditions (dependent origination) from past lives—perhaps we were once disciples of the Buddha, once ordained and practicing, having planted seeds in the Dharma in previous lifetimes. Meeting it again in this life, our love of the Dharma arises very naturally, very naturally indeed. Second, because of present reasons—just as Senior Venerable Đức Hoài just said: we love the rational quality of the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), and we love their beauty."

The lecture hall fell silent; only the wind could be heard passing through the cracks of the door. The monastics listened attentively, their eyes turned toward the teacher.

"Where does the rational quality of the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) lie?" the teacher asked. "It lies in the teaching of cause and effect (karmic law)—as you sow, so shall you reap, precise as a mathematical system. It explains every fluctuation of life. And it is precisely this lofty rationality that has won over the intellectuals of the world today. Those who love reason, upon encountering the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), fall for them immediately, because they find a spirituality of such high rationality."

The teacher turned toward a young nun seated nearby. "Sister, the first time you came to the temple and heard the teaching on cause and effect (karmic law), how did you feel?"

The nun replied, "Venerable Teacher, I remember the first time I came to the temple and heard you teach about cause and effect (karmic law), I liked it very much. Even though before that I knew nothing of the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), nothing of temples at all. It seemed so reasonable to me. I thought life must be like this: if we do evil, we must be punished by the law of cause and effect (karmic law); only then do we dare not do evil."

"Thank you, Sister," said Thầy Chân Quang. "You liked it because of its high rationality—cause and effect (karmic law) so precise and detailed, like a mathematical system. Deep in human nature, there is something we love: reason. That is why many people love mathematics—though math hardly speaks of beauty at all, being nothing but dry numbers, its rationality is supremely high."

The teacher paused for a moment, his voice deepening. "And this is precisely the strength of our era. Dear teachers, when you return to the temples to teach, please bring out the rationality within the Buddha's teachings (Dharma). Do not keep developing blind faith—that is a thing of the past. When we ask for faith without reason, sentient beings cannot come to us."

He recounted a memory. "When I first ordained at the Pure Land temple, the sutra-chanting schedule was very demanding. There was the Śūraṅgama Sutra, extremely difficult to memorize. I skipped the chanting, using the excuse of cooking rice for the teachers. One senior monastic found out and ordered: 'If that one cannot memorize the Śūraṅgama, expel him from the temple.' Only then did I ask for five days, learning one passage every afternoon. I memorized it, but I did not enjoy it, because it lacked rationality."

"I was someone who loved mathematics as a child; only what is rational can convince me. Faith alone is not enough. Later I met many foreigners, and they all shared the same thought: they love the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) because of their high rationality. Ask them to believe without explaining the reason, and they walk away."

The teacher looked across the lecture hall. "So of the two things that make us love the Dharma, one is reason, the other is beauty. Just as Senior Venerable Đức Hoài loves his motorcycle: its quality is the rational side, its beautiful red color is the aesthetic side. Dear teachers, when you sow love of the Dharma in sentient beings, use these same two things: first, present the rationality so people can see it; second, wrap that rationality in a very beautiful form."

"We speak of cause and effect (karmic law), but we must speak of it beautifully. We speak of non-self (anatta), but we must introduce it beautifully. Do not say, 'As you sow, so shall you reap—you will die and be reborn as a dog.' Speak that way and people will leave you at once. You must speak skillfully and reasonably."

The teacher offered an example. "Say it this way: 'Dear children, do not curse, do not hate one another; guard your speech karma. Why? Because whatever you assign to others, you will become. Assign someone a beautiful image, and later you will have a beautiful image. Assign someone a lowly identity, and you will become that lowly identity. Call someone an animal, and with just one word you may be reborn as an animal. But if you always seek out the good in others to praise, later you will have a noble and beautiful rebirth.' Then, having said this, recite a poem or sing a song—that is aesthetics in the service of spreading the Dharma, reason wrapped in beauty."

"And that is your responsibility: to create constantly, to renew constantly, so that our Dharma grows ever stronger. Do not simply repeat what the ancients did, chanting the old sutras exactly as before without change—the Buddha's teachings (Dharma) will wither away, and no one will come to the temples anymore."

Gentle applause filled the lecture hall. Outside, the afternoon light had grown faint, yet in the heart of everyone seated there, it seemed a new light was beginning to glow—the light of understanding, of love for the Dharma kindled by reason and beauty.

## The Meaning of the Story

Love of the Buddha's teachings (Dharma), or the heart of devotion, arises from two elements: rationality and aesthetics. Rationality lies in the precise, logical nature of the teaching on cause and effect (karmic law)—it explains every fluctuation of life in a convincing way. Aesthetics lies in the beauty of the Buddha's teachings (Dharma): from the serene atmosphere of the temples and the gentle smiles of the monastics, to sutras and verses that are both profound and melodious. When spreading the Dharma, we must cultivate both elements: presenting the lofty rationality of the teachings, while wrapping it in the beauty of art, language, and ritual, so that love of the Dharma may be easily kindled in the hearts of sentient beings.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Senior Venerable Thích Chân Quang