Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (III)

What are Brahmā-voice and Brahmā-conduct?

After sentient beings attain buddhahood, they possess the thirty-two marks and eighty secondary characteristics, one of which is the mark of "Brahmā-voice" — the Buddha's voice is wonderfully beautiful and crystal clear; when hundreds of thousands of billions of humans and devas come to listen to the Dharma, no amplifier is needed, and everyone can hear it. Moreover, not only can humans understand the language the Buddha speaks, but ghosts and spirits can also understand it, animals can also understand it, and all beings of the six realms can understand it; Chinese people can understand it, and people of other countries can also understand it; people of different languages and different races can all understand it, and bodhisattvas from other buddha-lands can all understand it, and all can hear the Buddha's voice clearly. This is one of the Buddha's virtues.

Brahmā-conduct is pure conduct: when body, speech, and mind attain purity, free from the defilement of desire, that is Brahmā-conduct. The perfection of pure conduct is the perfection of Brahmā-conduct — the mind has no mental activities defiled by greed, hatred, and delusion, and the mind attains purity. What the World-Honored One is now expounding is the dharma of the divisions and positions of the six elements, namely the six great elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness — questions concerning the divisions and positions, definitions, differences, boundaries, functions, and so forth of these six dharmas.