Dharma Talks by The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Sowing Seeds in the West
Perpetuating the Proper Dharma in
the World
A Good and Wise Advisor
The Proper Way to Take A
Vegetarian Meal--The Three Recollections and Five Contemplations
The Bodhi Resolve
The
Horror of Taking Lives and Eating Meat
The Importance of Cultivation
What
Are We Living for?
Can Catastrophes Be Averted?
Recognizing Our Inherent Treasures
Confused Debts
The
Lord of All Things
Flipping
on the Switch in Our Mind
Sowing Seeds in the West
What
does having self-mastery mean ? It means not being deluded and not cheating
oneself. It means possessing the virtues of precepts, samadhi, and wisdom.
The Dharma Realm Buddhist
Association was established in 1959, and Gold Mountain Monastery in 1970, with
the purpose of bringing Buddhism from the East to the West so that it can
blossom and bear fruit here. Although Western society is advanced in terms of
industry and material comforts, its competitive consumerism creates insatiable
desires in people. This leads to an unwholesome outcome.
Buddhism emphasizes the
importance of spiritual concerns over material ones. It teaches us not to be
selfish or concerned with personal benefit, but to learn to be like
Bodhisattvas. The Flower Adornment Sutra tells us to practice the
Bodhisattva path, while the Brahma Net Sutra speaks of the Bodhisattva
precepts. Every precept is aimed at saving and benefiting living beings; none
are for a selfish purpose. In modern times when our desires for material things
are so overpowering, Buddhism is the wonder drug that can save our spiritual
natures. The seeds of Bodhi have already been sown in the West, and now it is
time for them to sprout and grow. In the near future they will blossom and bear
Bodhi fruit, and then lost and confused living beings will be rescued, so that
they can escape suffering and attain bliss.
At Gold Mountain Monastery,
everyone should cultivate precepts, samadhi, and wisdom, which are as precious
as real gold. With these three kinds of power, we will be able to spread the
Buddha's teachings throughout the entire world. Otherwise, if we cannot shoulder
the task, the future of Buddhism will be bleak indeed! Left-home people and
laypeople alike should pay attention to this. Gold Mountain Monastery
specializes in training people to propagate the Dharma. It is the best place for
choosing a successor. Anyone who truly upholds the precepts, genuinely
cultivates samadhi, and perfects his wisdom is qualified to be the chairperson
of Dharma Realm Buddhist Association and the abbot of Gold Mountain Monastery. I
have long since wanted to pass these two positions on to someone else, but after
all these years I have yet to find a suitable person. Today, we must choose a
virtuous and learned good advisor to be the abbot of Gold Mountain Monastery.
Shakyamuni Buddha transmitted
the Dharma-door of "sealing the mind with the mind" to the First
Patriarch Mahakashyapa, who in turn transmitted it to Venerable Ananda. The
Dharma was transmitted from generation to generation in India until it reached
the twenty-eighth Patriarch Bodhidharma, who took the Mind Dharma to China. In
China, the Dharma was also transmitted from patriarch to patriarch. The Fifth
Patriarch of China, Great Master Hongren, transmitted the Mind Dharma, plus the
robe and bowl, to Great Master Huineng, the illiterate Sixth Patriarch. The robe
and bowl symbolized that the recipient of the Dharma was a Dharma Master who was
able to teach and transform living beings. Actually, whether or not he had the
robe and bowl was not important; what mattered was that he had attained
self-mastery.
What does having self-mastery
mean? It means not being deluded and not cheating oneself. It means possessing
the virtue of precepts that comes from truly holding precepts, the virtue of
samadhi gained through genuine cultivation of samadhi, and the virtue of wisdom
derived from real wisdom. Being replete with the three virtues, one offers up
everything to Buddhism and propagates the Dharma to benefit living beings. One
is neither selfish nor greedy for personal gain. One never schemes, "How
can I become more famous in Buddhism? How can I reach a higher position and gain
more benefits?" Nor does one think, "I want to build the biggest
temple. I want to make the best vegetarian food so all the laypeople will come
to my temple and the donations will roll in." Here at Gold Mountain, we
only want to make living Buddhas, living Bodhisattvas, and living Patriarchs to
continue the wisdom life of the Buddha and glorify Buddhism.
The Mind Dharma of Proper
Buddhism, after being transmitted to the Sixth Patriarch, split into the five
sects of Weiyang, Linji, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan, which have been transmitted
to the present time. [Note: The Venerable Master Hsu Yun, as the eighth
patriarch of the Weiyang Sect, transmitted the Dharma to the Venerable Master
Hsuan Hua, making him the ninth patriarch.] Observing the conditions, I saw that
it was time to bring the Mind Dharma to the West. Whether you are a left-home
person or a layperson, if you can resolve to devote your life to the propagation
of Buddhism, you may write a verse expressing your understanding within the next
seven days. I want to see if any one of you has seen your own nature. If so,
then you will be my successor. But don't be like Great Master Shenxiu, who was
so nervous [when the Fifth Patriarch gave a similar test to his disciples] that
he couldn't sit still, eat, or sleep.
A talk given on October 15, 1974
Perpetuating the Proper Dharma in
the World
Laypeople
make offerings to a single left-home person, thinking there is special merit and
virtue in doing so, but little do they know that it actually destroys the
harmony of the Sangha.
What does it take for the
Proper Dharma to exist in the world? If you honestly practice without coveting
fame, benefit, or offerings, then the Proper Dharma exists in the world. If
every left-home person can observe the precept of poverty (not holding money),
sit in meditation, eat only one meal a day, always wear the sash, and strictly
observe the precepts--then the Proper Dharma exists in the world. The Proper
Dharma exists in the world when we practice according to the Buddha's teaching
at all times.
Look at the left-home people
at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. They have little greed, cultivate quietly,
carefully observe the precepts, respectfully receive vegetarian meals, and bring
forth a great resolve for Bodhi. My vow is that, wherever I go, I will only
allow the Proper Dharma to exist; I will not permit the Dharma to come to an
end.
During the Dharma-ending Age,
the Dharma reaches its end, its leaves and branches; it is far removed from the
roots. In the Dharma-ending Age, it is difficult to distinguish the true from
the false, unless one has Dharma-selecting Vision. What is the Proper Dharma? It
means not being greedy for fame and benefits, not lusting after beautiful forms,
and not being selfish.
However, people in the
Dharma-ending Age have misguided views. They confuse right and wrong, mistaking
fish eyes for pearls. Even if the Proper Dharma were presented to them, they
would not recognize it. And so Great Master Xing An's essay, "Exhortation
to Resolve the Mind upon Bodhi" says, "There are teachings but no
adherents. No one can distinguish the deviant from the proper; no one can tell
right from wrong. We compete and struggle with each other. We pursue profit and
fame."
People in the Dharma-ending
Age are really good at competing. For instance, they compete with each other in
building temples. "Your temple is seventy feet high? I'm going to build one
that's seventy-one feet tall"; "Your temple is seventy-two feet high?
Then I'm going to build one that's seventy-three feet tall. Mine will always be
higher than yours." Instead of comparing themselves with others to see who
is a better cultivator, they compete to see who can build more temples. With
that kind of attitude, they are wasting donors' money and leading people into
the hells. If they are not true in their cultivation, they will get crooked
results. What's the point of competing to build temples if no one lives in them?
In the end there are many empty temples--what a pity! That's how the
Dharma-ending Age is.
Laypeople shouldn’t have
greedy thoughts when making offerings to left-home people. If you say, "You
support that Dharma Master, and I'll support this one," you are breaking up
the Sangha and preventing left-home people from living and cultivating together.
If everyone competes to make offerings to a single left-home person, he will
become really confused, living in his own little temple with nothing to do. In
the end, what merit is there in that?
I am speaking the truth.
Left-home people should live together in a large monastery so that they can
cultivate diligently and alert and urge each other on in their practice. If a
left-home person lives alone in a small temple, there’s no one watching if he
slacks off in his practice or indulges in good food. It won't hard for him to
eat a little meat and drink a little wine. Laypeople think they are creating
merit by making offerings to one left-home person. Actually, this is just
pushing that left-home person into the hells! What merit and virtue could the
donors possibly attain? These things I say are things that no one likes to hear.
You must understand, that if
you want to make offerings to the Triple Jewel, you should support a large
Way-place--a place of true cultivation. It shouldn’t be that you
"own" this left-home person and I "own" that left-home
person. That's not in accord with the Dharma.
I am sure many left-home
people are annoyed by what I say. Why? Because they can no longer be free and at
ease. In a large monastery, they cannot sleep or eat casually, nor can they eat
meat or break the precepts. Living alone by themselves, they can do whatever
they please. Of course there are true cultivators who live alone and work hard
at their practice. However, nowadays, such individuals are extremely rare.
Why would laypeople want to
make offerings to a single left-home person? They think there is special merit
and virtue in doing so, but little do they know that it actually destroys the
harmony of the Sangha. The Sangha is a "harmonious assembly"--everyone
lives together and cultivates. If you live alone, how can you call yourself a
"harmonious assembly"? With whom are you harmonized? If you are always
harmonizing with laypeople, you will end up a layperson yourself. I am saying
this out of deep concern. "Sincere criticism is hard to hear, but is good
for one's conduct. Good medicine is bitter, but heals the sickness." Dharma
Masters should not be privately "owned"; they should be accessible to
the public. Therefore, there are always many people living at Gold Mountain
Monastery, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and our other temples. They
encourage each other, exhort one another to reform, and correct each other's
faults. They do not compete against one another.
Why would left-home people
praise themselves and slight others? Because they are greedy for offerings. The
"Exhortation to Bring forth the Bodhi Resolve" says, "The world
is filled with people who don’t know who the Buddha is, what the Dharma means,
and what a Sangha is." A Sangha refers to a group of at least four
left-home people dwelling together in harmony, with no disputes. One left-home
person all by him or herself cannot be called a Sangha.
Another widespread problem is
that many people don't know what the Triple Jewel is. There are laypeople who
want to set themselves up as a fourth jewel. Nowadays, not only do laypeople
fail to make offerings to the Triple Jewel (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the
Sangha), they expect the Triple Jewel to provide for them. They may soon come up
with fifth, sixth, and seventh jewels. If this is not a sign of the
Dharma-ending Age, then what is?
A talk given in November 1979
A Good and Wise Advisor
Who
can be considered a wise teacher with clear vision? There are four criteria: the
person isn’t greedy for money, fame, or sex, and isn’t selfish.
If we want to practice the
Dharma for transcending the world, we must select a wise teacher with clear
vision. Who can be considered a wise teacher with clear vision? There are four
criteria: the person is not greedy for money, fame, or sex, and isn’t selfish.
We should use these four criteria to determine whether a teacher has wisdom and
clarity. We should see whether the person has ulterior motives--does he seeks to
make a profit or advance his own position, or is he plotting for his own
personal benefit?
"Drawing near" a
wise teacher does not mean hanging around him every day. It means following his
teaching. Of course, you can ask for guidance when you run into problems,
but you don't have to see your teacher all the time to be
"near" him. When you go to see your teacher, you should request
instructions in a very respectful manner--not laughing and joking and being
totally unserious. Don't give your teacher unnecessary trouble. First find out
if he is free. If he is, then you can ask for guidance. If he is busy, then you
should not persist and say, "I must see him. My business is very
important!"
A good teacher never thinks of
his own benefit. Some people have asked me, "The City of Ten Thousand
Buddhas is already very big. If someone built another temple for you, would you
accept it?" I most certainly would. "Well, then, aren't you being
greedy?" Yes. I am extremely greedy, but not for my own sake. I want to
establish a headquarters for world Buddhism which can propagate the Proper
Dharma. Everyone who comes to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, regardless of
what he or she thinks, is really coming to protect the City. Even if they
slander the City, they are in fact helping the City. I am not afraid of being
scolded or slandered. I wouldn't have come to America if I were. No matter how
much people may slander me, it's perfectly fine with me.
In studying Buddhism, we have
to learn to take losses. Great Master Yongjia said, "Contemplate vicious
words as merit and virtue; then vicious words become one's wise and good
advisors. Do not let abuse and slander arouse enmity. How else can the power of
compassion and patience with nonproduction be manifest?"
People who scold us are in
fact helping us in our cultivation. Therefore, we must advance vigorously in
favorable as well as adverse circumstances, and allow neither praise nor slander
to sway us. There is no need to feel resentful when we are slandered. We should
treat friends and enemies with equal kindness. Otherwise, how can we express the
compassionate strength that arises from patience with nonproduction?
A talk given on November 6, 1979
The Proper Way to Take A
Vegetarian Meal--The Three Recollections and Five Contemplations
We
shouldn't casually go through life in a muddled manner, not knowing why we eat,
wear clothes, and sleep.
A talk given on November 7, 1979
Left-home people make three
recollections before taking their meal. They begin the meal by drinking three
spoonfuls of soup, making one recollection with each spoonful.
The first recollection is,
"I vow to cut off all evil." This includes not discriminating whether
the food is good or not. Just eat whatever food there is. Don't be selective or
indulge in idle thoughts as you eat. Don't think, "This place is not nice
at all. Talking while eating isn’t allowed, and there's no freedom. It's like
being in jail. I only came to bow to the Buddha, and there are so many rules to
follow--it's no fun at all!"
If you have such thoughts, you
won't be able to digest your food. Don't always pick at other people's faults.
"If you always see the faults of others, then you haven't put an end to
your own suffering." Why don't you reflect upon and examine yourself?
The second recollection is,
"I vow to cultivate all good." We should vow to correct all bad habits
and faults. Cultivating the Way is nothing more than "doing no evil and
practicing all good."
The third recollection is,
"I vow to save all living beings." We vow to help all living beings
leave suffering, attain bliss, and end birth and death.
During the meal, we should
also make the five contemplations:
1. Consider the amount of
work involved in bringing the food to the table. Contemplate whether we have
the merit and virtue to accept this meal. Then consider how much toil the
farmers expended in planting and harvesting the crops. Think about all the
different stages of preparation the food went through before it reached our
plate. None of it came easily.
2. Reflect on whether or
not one's virtuous conduct is sufficient to entitle one to receive this
offering. Have we perfected our virtuous conduct? Do we deserve to accept
this meal?
3. Guard the mind from
transgressions, principally that of greed. We must watch over our own mind
and keep it from errors and greedy thoughts. We shouldn't help ourselves to more
of the good food while not touching food that is not as appetizing. In other
words, we shouldn't be picky about food. Whether it is good or not, it's food
all the same.
4. Regard the food as
medicine to prevent the body from collapsing. Why do we need to eat? We
should regard the food as medicine which provides energy for our bodies. Just as
cars cannot run without gasoline, people cannot survive without food. We eat not
for the taste of the food but to cure hunger.
5. This food is taken only
in order to accomplish the Way. We eat not because we want to enjoy good
food, but because we want to cultivate our Dharma body and wisdom life to
accomplish the Way.
These five contemplations are
guidelines to be observed when we eat. They should also be applied to our other
daily activities, such as dressing and sleeping. We shouldn't casually go
through life in a muddled manner, not knowing why we eat, wear clothes, and
sleep. These are all essential matters, and we should understand them very
clearly.
The Bodhi Resolve
Bringing
forth the Bodhi resolve is like adding yeast to the dough, so that it will rise
and expand over time.
What is the Bodhi resolve? I
have a very simple analogy: Before we bring forth the Bodhi resolve, we are like
flour before yeast is added. Bringing forth the Bodhi resolve is like adding
yeast to the dough, so that it will rise and expand over time. What is the Bodhi
resolve like? It is without any form or mark--it is only the enlightened Way. To
be enlightened means to understand; to understand the principles of the Way. Yet
we should not stop at understanding the principles; we must also cultivate the
Way. The Bodhi resolve can also be compared to a pagoda: no matter how tall a
pagoda you plan to build, you have start from the ground. The ground is
analogous to our "mind ground." Just as we have to build a pagoda
story by story from the ground up, the Bodhi resolve is similarly built up from
the mind ground. Starting very small, it gradually grows greater and higher. And
eventually, when we perfect our merit and virtue, we will become Buddhas. This
is only a very simple and rough analogy.
A talk given on November 12, 1979
The
Horror of Taking Lives and Eating Meat
The
mere use of such names as "vegetarian chicken" and "vegetarian
duck" plants seeds of defilement.
During the reign of Emperor Wu
of the Liang dynasty, when Buddhism flourished in China, people would always
invite monks to recite Sutras at weddings and funerals. Times have changed, and
now monks are invited to recite Sutras only at funerals. No one asks them to
recite Sutras at weddings or baby showers. Actually, this is wrong. Whether it
is an occasion for rejoicing or mourning, left-home people should be asked to
recite Sutras and transfer the merit, on the one hand to save the deceased, and
on the other to increase the blessings of the living.
During Emperor Wu's time,
there was a high monk called the Venerable Zhi. He had attained the Five Eyes
and the Six Spiritual Penetrations, and thus he could clearly discern causes and
effects. One time, a rich man asked him to recite Sutras at a wedding. As soon
as he stepped in the door, he sighed and said,
How strange! How very strange indeed!
The grandson marries the grandmother.
The daughter is eating her mother's flesh,
And the son is beating on a drum made of his father's skin.
Pigs and sheep are sitting on the couch,
And the six kinds of relatives are cooking in the pots.
People have come to offer congratulations,
But I see that it is truly suffering!
What does this mean? The
grandson marries the grandmother. Would you say this is strange or not?
Right before she died, the grandmother of the family had held her grandson's
hand, not being able to part with him. She said, "You all have your own
families, but this little grandson of mine has no one to take care of him. Ah!
What is there to be done?" Then she died.
When she arrived at King Yama's
court, King Yama gave her the following verdict, "Since you love your
grandson so much, you might as well go back to be his wife and take care of
him." And so the grandmother was reborn as her grandson's future wife. The
workings of the law of cause and effect in this world can be quite frightening.
The daughter is eating her
mother's flesh. Outside the house, a
girl was eating a pig's foot with great relish, not realizing that the pig had
been her mother in its previous life. And the son is beating on a drum made
of his father's skin. Venerable Zhi then took a look at the musicians who
were beating drums and blowing on their trumpets and flutes. What excitement!
One man was banging away vigorously on a drum stretched with mulehide, not
knowing that the mule had been his father in a previous life.
Venerable
Zhi looked at the people sitting on the couch and said: Pigs and sheep are
sitting on the couch. Then he looked in the pots and said: And the six
kinds of relatives are cooking in the pots. All the former pigs and sheep
that had been slaughtered before were now getting even and eating the people who
had eaten them before! The six kinds of relatives who had eaten those pigs and
sheep were now being chopped up and cooked in the pots to pay off their debts.
People have come to offer
congratulations, / But I see that it is truly suffering!
Everyone thought it was a
happy occasion, but the Venerable Zhi only sighed and said, "This is really
suffering!" People take suffering to be joy!
After hearing this story you
should understand the horror of killing and eating meat. Let us look at the
Chinese character for meat ().
There are two people ()
inside the character for meat.
The person inside is linked
to the one outside.
Living beings eat the flesh
of living beings.
If you really think about
it, it is people eating people.
Thus it is best to be
vegetarian. However, we shouldn't use names such as "vegetarian
chicken," "vegetarian duck," and "vegetarian abalone"
for vegetarian dishes. Since we are vegetarians, why can't we forget about meat?
The mere use of such names plants seeds of defilement. Vegetarian dishes shouldn't
be called by non-vegetarian names.
Some people who came to the
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas this time have vowed to become lifelong
vegetarians. This is a very good thing, because this way one severs unwholesome
affinities with living beings in the six paths. If you don't eat them, they won't
eat you; if you don't kill them, they won't kill you. The cycle of karmic
retribution will thus be purified.
"What benefits are there
in being vegetarian?" someone asked.
I said, "There aren't
any. You’re being cheated while you’re alive." Because vegetarian food
isn’t as tasty as meat, you take a loss by being vegetarian during your life.
However, if you don't keep a vegetarian diet, then you will be cheated after
death. It's like a scale. You have to figure out for yourself which side is
heavier and which is lighter.
Why will you be cheated after
death if you eat meat? Well, your body is composed of the foods you eat. If you
eat vegetables, you will smell like vegetables; if you eat onions, you'll smell
like onions; drink milk, and you'll smell like milk; eat cheese, and you'll
smell like cheese. If you eat some garlic, your breath will smell of garlic. The
things you eat become part of your body. If you eat a lot of a certain thing,
your body will become very similar to it. Therefore, if you eat a lot of pork,
you will become a pig. Eat a lot of beef, and you will become a cow. This
accords with science and logic. The meat you eat incorporates with your body,
and after you die you turn into that kind of animal. If you smell like a pig,
for instance, after you die King Yama takes a sniff and says, "You smelly
thing, you should be reborn as a pig." The same goes for sheep, cows,
chicken, and dogs. That's what I mean by being cheated after death.
You can investigate this
carefully. Why does a butcher of pigs have eyes resembling those of a pig? It's
because he had been slaughtered as a pig many times in the past, and now he has
come to seek revenge. Although he is human, his eyes are those of a pig. Cattle
butchers have the eyes of a cow. The law of cause and effect is never off. There
is a verse:
For
hundreds of thousands of years, the stew in the pot
Has
boiled up a resentment very hard to level.
If
you want to know why there are wars in the world,
Just
listen to the haunting cries that come from a slaughterhouse at midnight.
The grief and hatred brewed up
in a pot of meat stew is as deep as the ocean. It could never be fully
described. The wars and massacres in the world are brought about by the
convergence of the evil karma of living beings, causing beings to undergo
retribution at the same time. If you listen carefully to the cries of misery
coming from a slaughterhouse in the middle of the night, you will realize the
horror of the ceaseless killing that goes on in there.
Scientists have discovered
that people who eat a great deal of meat tend to get cancer. This is because the
resentful energy in the bodies of slaughtered animals accumulates in the bodies
of those who eat meat and eventually turns into a harmful toxin. We should cut
off this relationship of causes and effects with animals and stop the vicious
cycle of creating offenses against cows, sheep, chickens, and other animals.
Then we will gradually be able to decrease the evil energy in the world.
At the City of Ten Thousand
Buddhas, we want to uphold the Proper Dharma and avert the crisis of killing in
the world. We want to slowly and invisibly extinguish this disaster. Therefore
we advocate: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, no
drinking, and no drugs. At the very least, we should observe these five precepts
and maintain our purity in that regard. Since you have come to this treasure
mountain, don't leave empty-handed!
A talk given on November 20, 1979
The Importance of Cultivation
Instead
of thinking about how hard the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas work, we only know how
to work hard for our children.
The true mind of living beings
is no different from that of the Buddha's. How come the Buddha has accomplished
proper enlightenment, while we are still transmigrating in the six paths? Why
are we still muddled and confused, obsessed with love all day long, unable to
relinquish our attachments to our spouse and children? Why are we always caught
up in the six kinds of sense perception?
Some people regard their
families as far more important than studying Buddhism, and they always say,
"I have my responsibilities." Well, when you die, who is going to take
care of your responsibilities? Your attitude shows a confusion of priorities. If
you realize that you should cultivate, just cultivate. Why get involved with so
many unnecessary concerns?
A Sutra says: "The
Buddha, the World Honored One, has infinite spiritual power and wisdom."
Spiritual power is itself wisdom. Wisdom guides spiritual power. Spiritual power
and wisdom are two, and yet not two. If you lack wisdom, you will not have
spiritual power either. These come from the adornment of merit and virtue.
"Living beings have only
infinite karmic bonds and afflictions." With careful reflection, we'll see
that our various relationships with people are actually karmic entanglements.
Having recklessly created karmic affinities in the past, we are now dragged
about by our karma. We may want to escape the Triple Realm, but our karma will
not let us. Our karma, which is a mixture of good and evil, of purity and
defilement, of self and others, and of right and wrong, has come forth. Hindered
by our afflictions and caught up in birth and death, we pass our days in
confusion.
Do you want to cultivate?
"The time isn’t right.”
Would you like to cultivate?
"I'll wait a little while."
You keep procrastinating:
"I'll wait a few more years until the children have grown up."
"I'll wait a few more
years until the children are married."
"I'll wait until I see my
grandchildren."
"I'll wait until the
grandchildren are married."
"I haven't seen my great
grandchildren yet."
When will it ever end? Don't
be taken in by the false happiness of the world. It is said,
Fame
and benefit are trivial things, but everybody likes them.
Birth
and death are serious matters, but no one guards against them.
Many people worry that their
children won’t have money to spend, so they struggle to build an empire for
them. The result:
When
one has great wealth and property,
One's
descendants will have great nerve:
Not
afraid of anything under the sky,
They
won’t stop until they have destroyed themselves and their families.
When
one has little wealth and property,
One's
descendants will not be so bold.
Petty
problems are easily solved;
With
modest assets, they will suffer few calamities.
The more money we leave to our
children, the easier it will be for them to bring great misfortunes upon
themselves. The less money, the fewer the problems. It is also said,
If
the son is more capable than the father, what need is there to leave him wealth?
If
the son is weaker than the father, what's the use of leaving him money?
If your child is capable, why
should you leave him money? If your child is weak, leaving him money only harms
him, for he will use your money to eat, drink, become promiscuous, and gamble,
generally leading a dissipated life.
"Although the nature of
the mind is basically the same, delusion and enlightenment are as far apart as
the sky and a deep abyss." Our minds are essentially the same as that of
the Buddha. However, our delusion is worlds apart from the Buddha's
enlightenment. "Quietly reflecting upon this, shouldn’t we feel
ashamed?" We are mindful of our sons and daughters, but not of the Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas. Instead of thinking about how hard the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas work, we only know how to work hard for our children, sending them
to universities so that they can earn doctorates and become super-achievers and
high executives in the future. Then we will have chauffeured cars, gourmet
food, fancy houses, and all the luxury we could wish for.
"When you accomplish the
cultivation of virtue, the virtue of your nature will manifest." When you
have virtue in your cultivation, your inherent wisdom and spiritual power will
spontaneously manifest. There is a saying:
Intelligence
is aided by hidden virtue.
Hidden
virtue brings about intelligence.
People
who do not believe in hidden virtue
Will
be hindered by their own intelligence.
Hidden virtue refers to acts
of merit and virtue done without other people knowing--invisible good deeds.
This means secretly helping others without taking credit for it. It is said,
The
goodness which we make known is not true goodness.
The
evil which we fear will leak out is great evil.
You don’t have to advertise,
"Did you know that I built a temple in Thailand, repaired a bridge in
Singapore, and built a pagoda in Hong Kong?"
How do I know where you got
your money? Is it clean money? Did you perhaps get it through stealing or
cheating? If so, your merit and virtue won’t be sufficient to wash off the
offenses you committed. The Buddha is not someone you can cheat. You cannot go
to the temple and say, "Lord Buddha, I will give you some money. Can you
eradicate my offenses?" The Buddha doesn't take bribes. Therefore, a Sutra
says, "Don’t disappoint the Buddha, and don’t let yourself down."
A talk given on December 8, 1979
What
Are We Living for?
We
should take benefiting others as our top priority. The first step in benefiting
others is not to obstruct others.
What are we living for? Who
are we? What are we here for?
Someone says we're here to
collect garbage. Is that so? Nowadays, people pick through things that others
throw away, finding treasures in others' garbage. People also plagiarize and
copy others' styles, while neglecting their own inherent talents. They
rationalize, "If copying isn't allowed, then where did other people get
their styles from?" They renounce the essence and grasp at trivialities,
making things worse by clumsily trying to imitate others. As a result, their own
true wisdom remains concealed and undeveloped. The more they direct their
attention outwards, the further away they drift! This is truly a great
mistake.
But why are we born here? To
pan gold and seek profit? No! To make fortunes? No! Money and material things
are not truly useful. When the time comes to die, what use are they?
What have we come into this
world for? Since we have been born here, we should help the world and the people
in it. Benefiting living beings is our duty. We shouldn't degrade the value of
our life by directing it towards selfish ends. We should take benefiting others
as our top priority and always be concerned about humanity as a whole. The first
step in benefiting others is not to obstruct others. To benefit ourselves at the
expense of others, thus bringing harm and affliction to others, is not a proper
thing to do.
Being born in this world, our
first task is to establish merit and virtue; writing literature is secondary.
Merit and virtue are invisible, while words are visible. It is said, "When
words are cut off, the mind's activity ceases." If we arrive at this state,
we are not far from enlightenment.
A talk given on the evening of
March 21, 1980
Can Catastrophes Be Averted?
Although
it's said that fixed karma cannot be altered, with the power of samadhi even
limitless offenses can be dispelled.
Cultivators should not be
selfish, nor should they act only to protect themselves. They should do things
to benefit the whole world, putting personal interests aside. Instead of
thinking, "I'm really great!" they should consider the entire picture.
Mr. Dachuan Hu's "Fantasy
Poem" says it well:
Bobbing
up and down in the world,
We
lack a strong resolve for the Way.
Caught
up in worldly entanglements,
We
can only feel sorry for ourselves.
There
is no Land of Ultimate Bliss
within the four seas;
How
could there be a place to set our sorrows aside
in the nine heavens?
Bobbing up and down / We
lack a strong resolve for the Way. People
move up and down in the world; rising when they do good deeds of merit and
virtue, and falling when they create evil karma. In life after life, they drift
and flounder in the sea of karma; being rocked by the waves of worldly affairs,
it is hard to stand firm.
Caught up in worldly
entanglements, / We can only feel sorry for ourselves.
Worldly affairs are like a huge net that binds people up. People who covet fame
are bound by the net of fame; those who crave wealth become entangled in the net
of wealth; and those who indulge in lust are trapped in the net of lust. In
general, the net of the five desires--for wealth, sex, fame, food, and
sleep--confuses people and binds them so tightly that they can hardly breathe.
Most people aren't even aware of being entangled in the net. Those who are aware
still have no way to extricate themselves from it, and so they can only sigh in
self-pity.
There is no Land of
Ultimate Bliss within the four seas. Look
around: you won't find a peaceful place anywhere. The entire human race lives in
fear from dawn to dusk. There are refugees everywhere. In many places people
lack adequate food and clothing. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, and
other natural and manmade disasters happen one after another. How could one not
feel scared?
You have all heard of the
recent eruption of Mount St. Helen in Washington State. If the lava were piled
up, it could reach as high as twelve miles. The ashes are strewn everywhere.
From this eruption we can see how unsafe the world is. Living in these dangerous
times, we should quickly bring forth the Bodhi resolve and seek the supreme Way.
Why haven't there been any
volcanic eruptions in California? One reason is that there are more Buddhists
and more temples here. Disasters are imperceptibly transformed into
auspiciousness. In 1968, astrologists, historians, prophets, and scientists in
the United States all predicted that a major earthquake would occur in San
Francisco that year. They said the earthquake would be so great that the entire
city of San Francisco would fall into the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, no
earthquake occurred despite their predictions. There have been earthquake
predictions every year since then. However, the great one hasn't happened yet.
Recently, I have been worrying
that the earthquake is really going to happen. That's why the fourfold assembly
of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas,
Gold Mountain Monastery, Tathagata Monastery, and Dharma Realm Buddhist
University has gathered together to recite the Shurangama Mantra on Saturdays.
With the power of the mantra we hope to avert the earthquake, dispel danger,
transform big disasters into small ones, and make small ones disappear
altogether.
Someone is asking, "Can
catastrophes be averted?" Of course! Although it's said that fixed karma
cannot be altered, with the power of samadhi even limitless offenses can be
dispelled.
A talk given in June 1980
Recognizing Our Inherent Treasures
Ordinary
people seek after the false and forget about the real.
Mr. Dachuan Hu has a few more
lines in his "Fantasy Poem," which state things quite well:
I
don't wish to be a prime minister in life,
Nor
do I wish to be King Yama after I die.
King
Yama is cruel in sentencing the ghosts,
And
a prime minister is too busy worrying about his people.
He said, "While I am
alive, I have no ambition to be a prime minister, and after I die I don't want
to be King Yama. Why? King Yama is very cruel. When he gets angry, he dumps this
little ghost into the pot of boiling oil and throws that little ghost onto the
mountain of knives. I wouldn't want the job of a prime minister either, for he
has to worry constantly about national affairs and has no time to rest. It's
more practical for me to spend my time cultivating the inner nature and
fostering its inherent virtues.” The poem also says,
I
hope to be free from illness for a hundred years,
And
not to be troubled by grief for even one moment.
Mr. Dachuan Hu vividly
portrayed those who are fond of wine, beauty, wealth, and fame in his poem.
He said that those who like
beauty may wish: "Beautiful flowers should stay abloom every day.
Flowers should bloom all year round and never wither." This also refers to
a man wishing his wife would stay young forever, or a woman wishing her husband
would stay handsome and never get gray hair or wrinkles.
People who like fame may
indulge in this wish: "Why can't the moon be full every night? It's
so nice to sit outside and gaze at the full moon on a night when there is a
gentle breeze and the stars are shining. Why can't the moon be full every night,
just as the sun is full every day?"
People who like wine
fantasize: "What if all the springs on earth turned into wine? If
all the water in the rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes became wine, I could just
reach out and scoop up wine to drink whenever I felt thirsty--wouldn't that be
convenient?"
People who are fond of wealth
think: "What if money grew on every tree in the forests? Whenever I needed
money, I could just shake the trees and money would fall. That would save me a
lot of trouble."
These thoughts are the
fantasies of foolish people. Ordinary people seek after the false and forget
about the real. They forget that their inherent true nature is an inexhaustible
treasure trove. What is the inherent true nature? It’s the Buddha nature
within each one of us. The Buddha nature is neither created nor destroyed; it is
neither defiled nor pure; and it neither increases nor diminishes. It is perfect
and bright; the Buddha has no more of it, and living beings have no less of it.
It is unmoving and constantly clear.
Blinded by selfishness, greed
for personal gain, jealousy, and obstructiveness, our minds have become smaller
than a speck of dust. We see only what is immediately in front of us and fail to
understand more far-reaching principles. That's why we cannot return to the
origin. As the [classical Chinese] poet Tao Yuanming said, "We should
realize that while the past has gone by, we can work on the future. If we
recognize past errors and know that we are right today, then we have not strayed
too far." If we realize our past mistakes, we can turn around and reform.
To reform and become a new person means getting rid of selfishness, greed for
personal gain, jealousy, obstructiveness, and arrogance.
The goal of a cultivator is
understanding the mind and seeing the nature. That doesn't mean simply saying
that you understand your mind, see your nature, and are enlightened. You should
have genuine achievement in your practice; don’t just pay lip service. Once
you understand the mind, nothing will present any difficulties. You won't fear
any hardships. Why not? Because you have understood the reality of all things.
You have penetrated to the source of the Dharma. You are free and at ease in
everything you do. Once you see the nature, you won't have any worries. Your
mind will be like a clear mirror or like calm water--reflecting states when they
come and becoming still when they pass. This is the most genuine proof of skill.
Once ignorance and afflictions are gone, Prajna wisdom will manifest and the
brightness of the inherent nature will shine forth.
What is the brightness of the
inherent nature? It’s the absence of attachment to the appearances of self,
others, living beings, and life span. And yet these appearances still exist.
Despite the lack of attachment to them, they are not destroyed. Appearances do
not obstruct non-appearances, and non-appearances do not hinder appearances. One
is free and at ease between existence and non-existence. In this state, there is
no difference between mind, Buddha, and living beings.
Students of Buddhism should
ask themselves, "Am I practicing giving just to make myself look good? Am I
holding precepts and practicing patience, vigor, samadhi, and wisdom just to
show off? Or am I really sincere about cultivating?" Cultivation doesn't
mean putting on a show for others. It requires genuine effort. For every bit of
effort we put in, we gain a corresponding bit of skill. For every bit of
sincerity we muster, we obtain a bit of response. We must be completely true in
all we do. We shouldn't cheat ourselves or others. Instead, we should
mutually encourage one another.
A talk given on June 15, 1980
Confused Debts
Everything
in the present is an effect resulting from causes planted in the past. So what
is there to feel resentful about?
Just as each person has unique
features, he or she also has unique causes and effects and an individual set of
debts incurred in past lives. Some people have such heavy debts that they cannot
repay them in one lifetime. Their debts (their karmic hindrances) keep getting
higher and deeper with each passing day. Debts are slapped on top of debts until
they can never extricate themselves. Why is this? In previous lives they were
loansharks--they lent money to people at a exorbitant interest rates. In their
insatiable greed, they thought they were getting a bargain, but in fact they
were taking a loss--their karmic hindrances became heavier and heavier until
they finally became stuck.
Some owe the debt of being a
father or a mother; others owe the debt of being a husband or a wife; others owe
the debt of being a son or a daughter. This is what is referred to as, “the
debt of being parents, the account-book of human relations.” Our fate in this
lifetime is determined by various causes and conditions. Ordinary people do not
realize that everything is a result of cause and effect and that there is no
escape from fixed karma. Sometimes they refuse to acknowledge their debts and
pay up. Such unreasonable behavior leads to all sorts of problems in this
world--you have your problems, and I have mine. Each person has his or her own
set of causes and effects involving a mixture of good and evil deeds.
Once in a while, we may
encounter Buddhism and understand a little bit of its principles. One day we may
understand, but the next day we become muddled again. The day after that we try
to understand again, but the following day we are confused again. There is an
equal balance of wisdom and stupidity. On wise days, we want to cultivate; on
confused days, we don't. Most of the time we are confused, and we spend very
little time cultivating. The fruits of our cultivation are far too few to make
up for the merit we lose. Our wisdom diminishes and our stupidity increases day
by day. Driven by ignorance, we do many foolish things. Our confused thoughts
lead to confused actions. The greed, anger, and delusion in our minds causes us
to commit acts of killing, stealing, and lust--these confused accounts can never
be straightened out.
As a result there is
disharmony within families: fathers can't get along with their sons, mothers can't
get along with their daughters, husbands and wives don't get along, and brothers
and sisters are in disharmony. However, instead of acknowledging the problems
and accepting responsibility, each person feels wronged. Actually, all of this
is the law of cause and effect at work. Everything in the present is an effect
resulting from causes planted in the past. So what is there to feel resentful
about? There is a proverb:
One
who understands fate will not stand beside a crumbling wall.
He
neither complains to heaven nor blames other people.
His
subordinates learn from him,
And
his superiors know him.
First of all, we should
understand cause and effect. We should plant pure causes and stop planting
confused ones. We should advance upon the Way and retreat from what is not the
Way. We should not confuse good and evil, right and wrong. If we can distinguish
black from white and false from true, then we have the chance to return to the
source and recover the pure, bright essence of our wonderful, true, and inherent
nature.
A talk given on June 16, 1980
The
Lord of All Things
If
we were ruled by a god, he should keep us from doing evil and cause us to do
good.
Everything is formed from the
"one." The "many" is formed from the accumulation of many
"ones." Earlier I mentioned that the zero is beyond
numbers--"beyond the Three Realms and outside of the five
elements." The Three Realms are the realm of desire, the realm of form, and
the formless realm. The five elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
All people are included within the scope of the five elements. Our features are
characterized by the five elements. For example, tall people with thin faces are
predominantly of the wood element. Those with pointed heads and wide chins
belong to the fire element. People with squarish faces and yellow complexion are
earthy; those with whitish or pale complexions are metal, and those with plump
and dark-complexioned faces are of the water element.
Some people are a combination
of wood, fire, and earth; others may be wood, fire, and metal. People who are a
combination of the mutually destructive elements of metal and wood often fight
with themselves. If water-type people are put together with fire-type people, or
wood-type people meet earth-type people, many quarrels and arguments may ensue.
However, the zero transcends all these kinds of fate.
Most people think destiny is
fixed. There is a saying, "If something is fated to be eight feet, it's
hard to ask for ten feet." This is true, but only for ordinary people.
Genuine cultivators aren’t bound by fate. Cultivators don't need to consult The
Book of Changes; that's for ordinary people. Cultivators are able to end
birth and death; how much the more can they alter other aspects of their fate.
Thus, we should transcend fate and not pay attention to it. We have discussed
the five elements to understand their principles, but in fact, if we earnestly
cultivate, we will spontaneously understand all principles. The zero is
essential. If we work on it and investigate it, we will certainly find a way.
The zero transcends all numbers. The numbers begin with one, but the zero is
beyond even the one.
When there are many
"ones," it becomes a multitude. The "many" is formed from
"one."
One
root spreads into ten thousand branches,
Yet
the ten thousand branches return to the one root.
The
one is limitless; the limitless are one.
How can there be the
limitless? Because of the one. How can the one exist? Because of the limitless.
Once the "one" is born, there are many troubles. From the one comes
two, three, four,...eight, nine, ten, and all the numbers up to infinity.
Without the "one," the other numbers cannot exist either. When all
dust motes are gone, then not even one dust mote exists.
All dharmas (phenomena) have
no intrinsic substance, nothing to depend on. They arise expediently through a
false process of combination.
Some people say that
everything in the universe is invisibly controlled by a Lord. Most religions say
that there is a Creator who creates the myriad things, and that everything in
the world is created by him. In reality, no one can be the lord of the myriad
things. There is no creator and nothing which is created.
How do we explain things,
then? We can explain everything in terms of becoming deluded, committing
offenses, and undergoing retribution. Where does karma come from? It comes from
deluded thinking. Initially there is non-enlightenment, or ignorance. Ignorance
gives rise to confusion. Without ignorance, confusion would not arise. When
there is confusion, we engage in deluded thinking, and then create all kinds of
karma.
If we create good karma, we
receive a pleasant retribution. With evil karma, we undergo an unpleasant
retribution. If the karma is neither good nor evil, the retribution will also be
neutral. Everything that happens to us is a result of the karma we created
ourselves; we are not controlled or created by anyone else. We go round and
round on the wheel of rebirth, receiving retributions according to our karma,
never managing to escape from birth and death. This is also our own doing. How
do we know? There is no other logical explanation of the matter.
Some religions say that
everything in this world is controlled by God. If that were true, it wouldn't
matter whether we did good or evil. But the reality is that, when the time
comes, we ourselves have to undergo the retribution for our own deeds, and God
cannot help us. Therefore it’s not sensible to say that God controls
everything. Rather, we bring the reward or retribution upon ourselves through
what we do. "As one sows, so shall one reap."
If a person tells someone else
to commit murder, the first person is also guilty. By the same principle, if we
are controlled by God, then it is only reasonable that God share half of our
karmic retribution. We simply did what God told us to do, so we shouldn't have
to suffer the consequences alone--it wouldn't be fair!
Actually, the offenses we
commit have nothing to do with anyone else. If we do good deeds, we receive good
results; evil deeds reap bad results. This principle of cause and effect is very
reasonable. We are not controlled by any person or any god in what we do. If we
were ruled by a god, he should keep us from doing evil and cause us to do good.
Gods and spirits like to see people do good and refrain from evil. But since
they don’t have the power to control us, we must still take the retribution
for our evil deeds. They take the credit for our meritorious acts, while we bear
the consequences for our evil deeds. That's totally illogical!
A talk given on June 20, 1980
Flipping
on the Switch in Our Mind
When
the light of your wisdom appears, just that is the Buddha's light shining
everywhere.
The Buddha's light shines
everywhere. The light of the Buddha's wisdom illumines all living beings' minds,
purging them of greed, hatred, and stupidity. That light dispels the darkness
and eradicates 84,000 bad habits and faults. We are studying Buddhism because we
want to get rid of greed, hatred, and stupidity, and cast off our attachments.
"Why haven't I seen the
Buddha's light?" you ask.
Isn't studying the Buddha's
teachings and opening our wisdom seeing the Buddha's light? If you don't
understand the teachings and studying them only makes you more confused, it's
because you haven't renounced your bad habits and faults. You can't say that the
Buddha's light doesn't shine everywhere. If you don't develop your wisdom and
keep clinging to your greed, hatred, and stupidity, then even though the Buddha's
light shines everywhere, it can't shine on you. It neither shines nor doesn't
shine; it shines without shining. When the light of your wisdom appears, just
that is the Buddha's light shining everywhere. Before your own wisdom light has
come forth, for you the Buddha's light doesn't shine everywhere.
The Buddha's light is like the
electricity from the power company. The cables and switches may be installed in
the house, but if we don't switch on the lights, the house will remain dark.
Why? Because the power isn't connected. As soon as we flip on the switch, the
lights go on and the darkness is gone. Our mind can be compared to a light
switch. If we turn on the switch in our mind, the Buddha's light will shine
forth. If we can't flip the switch, then even though the Buddha's light is
there, it can't connect. This is a simple analogy, but it conveys the principle.
Everyone should quickly turn on the switch in his or her mind and receive the
guidance of the Buddha's wisdom light. That's what it means to be illumined by
the Buddha's pervasive light.
A talk given on July 4, 1980
The
Key to Enlightenment
There
is a locked door in your mind, and you have to use a key to unlock it.
How can we become enlightened?
Enlightenment can be compared to unlocking a door. When the door is locked, you
can't go in or out through it. You have use a key to unlock the door. If you don't
have the key, then you'll be locked inside the house forever. Where is the key?
It's right where you are; it's very easy to find. How can you find it? As you
sit in Chan medidation, recite the Buddha's name, and recite mantras, you are
looking for the key. When will you find it? It depends on the level of your
cultivation. If you are vigorous, you will find the key very quickly. If you are
lax, you'll never find it, not in this life or in lives to come. This is a very
simple principle.
In the analogy, the lock in
your mind is the ignorance which causes your pure and bright mind to become dark
and defiled. When you encounter states, if you lack the wisdom to distinguish
good from evil, you will act in deluded ways. After you have gained skill in
your practice, you will be able to smash through ignorance and unlock the door
of your mind to reveal bright wisdom. Then no matter what happens, you won't get
afflicted.
What is ignorance? To put it
simply, it is darkness--lack of understanding. Because one doesn't understand
the truth, one’s mind is locked up and one cannot attain enlightenment. During
the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty, there was a eunuch named Yu
Chao’en. Yu Chao’en asked the National Master [the Dharma Master to whom the
emperor bowed as teacher], "What is ignorance?" The National Master
said, "You look like a slave. What makes you think you're qualified to ask
about the Buddhadharma?" The eunuch was furious. The National Master smiled
and said, "That is ignorance." A proverb says: "The fire of
ignorance can burn up a forest of merit and virtue."
People who become enlightened
are able to do so only because they cultivated many good deeds in their past
lives. If they hadn't cultivated those good deeds, they wouldn't attain
enlightenment in this life. Do you want to become enlightened? Then you must
first cultivate. Only then will there be hope for enlightenment.
How did Shakyamuni Buddha
achieve Buddhahood?
He
cultivated blessings and wisdom for three asamkhyeyas
And
planted the causes for the fine hallmarks for a hundred eons.
For three great asamkhyeya
kalpas (limitless eons), he cultivated blessings and wisdom. For a hundred
great kalpas, he performed merit that led to his being adorned with the
thirty-two hallmarks and eighty subsidiary characteristics. That's why he was
able to become enlightened upon seeing a bright star one night while sitting
under the Bodhi tree. If he hadn't cultivated in the past, he couldn't have
achieved Buddhahood when he did.
A talk given on July 12,1980
Who
Is Mindful of the Buddha?
It
is human nature to be attached. Freedom from attachments is the Way.
Now is the time for questions
and answers. Whoever has questions can bring them up, and we can all investigate
them together. Someone raised the question of "Who is mindful of the
Buddha?" The Vajra Sutra says, "One should produce the mind
which dwells nowhere." If there is a place, there is still dwelling.
Dwelling nowhere means thinking of neither good nor evil--this is where we
should focus our effort. If we pay attention to the place, thinking of it as
good or bad, these are all attachments. We practice in order to be free from
attachments. We want to get rid of all attachments and forget even our bodies.
Without a body, how could we still have attachments?
When we sit in meditation, we
shouldn’t think of anything but the question: "Who is mindful of the
Buddha?" Who is the one being mindful of the Buddha? Look for the
"who." When you find out "who" it is, you will be
enlightened. If you can't find it, then you have to keep searching for one day,
ten days, a hundred, a thousand days, ten thousand days! You continue searching
for one year, ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, not stopping
until you find it.
You can't speed up the
process. It's not like taking drugs and getting an immediate high. It's not that
easy. Any "easy" Dharma-door is just a gimmick. A real method of
practice requires hard work. Don't be like the farmer who tried to help his
crops grow faster by pulling the shoots upwards. That's a mistake.
Contemplating "Who is
mindful of Buddha?" can cut through all random thoughts and desires. This
one thought destroys ten great demon armies. The word "who" is like a
jeweled vajra sword that slashes through everything until there are no further
attachments. "All appearances are false and illusory. If one sees all
appearances as non-appearances, one sees the Thus Come One." It is human
nature to be attached. Freedom from attachments is the Way. If we don't look
into the topic of "who" as we sit in meditation, random thoughts will
arise and hinder our enlightenment. Investigating the topic is a way of fighting
fire with fire, focusing on one thought to subdue other random thoughts. When we
pursue the investigation to the point where there is no way either to move
forward or to turn back, right then is when we'll become enlightened.
A talk given on September 9, 1980
Put
Down Everything and Gain True Freedom!
If
we awaken to both the good and the bad, there is no problem.
Everything in the world--both
good and bad--is telling us to wake up. Good things help us wake up to the good
side of things; bad things make us aware of the rotten side of things. If we
awaken to both the good and the bad, there is no problem. If we don't wake up to
the good, we'll be attached to good things. Likewise, if we aren't aware of the
bad, we'll be attached to bad things. Either way, we have attachments, and we
won't be able to accomplish the Way. We must see through both good and bad, and
be at ease in both favorable and adverse situations. We shouldn’t be affected
by external states. The Vajra Sutra says:
All
worldly phenomena
Are
like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows;
Like
dew and like lightning.
We
should contemplate them thus.
The things of this world are
no more real than a dream; they are as ephemeral as bubbles, as intangible as
shadows. They are as fleeting as the morning dew and flashes of lighting, which
disappear in the blink of an eye. Regarding them in this way, we will be able to
see through them and put them down. If we continue clinging to them, we won’t
be truly free. We should relinquish our attachments to pleasant as well as
unpleasant events. We can be truly free only when every last bit of attachment
is gone.
A talk given on September 10, 1980
Science--a Blessing or a Bane?
"Progress"
amounts to self-poisoning.
Science can never bring
genuine or ultimate happiness to human beings at either a material or a
spiritual level. Most people, however, reject this idea. Why? Because they are
too deeply deluded. Just about everyone will disagree with you if you try to
advocate this idea. The possibilities of science and technology are just too
alluring. Many people know that science has its problems, yet they still support
and praise it.
In this world, every benefit
brings corresponding harm; the greater the benefit, the greater the harm. For
example, consider the global spread of cancer. The widespread use of toxic
chemicals produced by modern science has seriously polluted the atmosphere. As a
result of inhaling polluted air, people develop cancer. Scientists are very much
aware of this, and yet they refuse to think about the implications. And so today
the world is critically ill. Even though it's almost hopeless, we still want to
try our best to save the world. We're not against the scientists, but we should
understand the principle that whatever is beneficial is bound to be harmful as
well. For instance, people have landed on the moon. What comes next? Maybe the
government will decide to store atomic bombs on the moon, in preparation to
annihilate the human race. What if those bombs explode and destroy the moon one
day? What kind of world will this be without a moon? This is only an analogy,
but you should get the point.
In any case, the more advanced
science becomes, the more it endangers the human race. "Progress"
amounts to self-poisoning. In the past, when science was not so advanced, people
were quite happy. They rose and went to work at sunrise and went home to rest at
sunset, fulfilling their duties and living in contentment. Nowadays science is
highly advanced, but people suffer from all sorts of strange and incurable
diseases. This is the bane of science. Everything in this world is relative:
with the good there is bad; with benefits there is harm; with success there is
failure.
A talk given on October 6, 1980
Is Money Really A Good Thing?
The
only way to be free of defilement is to overcome the temptations of wealth and
lust.
Today I'm going to talk about
a special dharma. What is it? It is the "money" dharma. Why is money
so impure? Money is the filthiest thing in the world! Most people lick their
fingers when they count bills. With so many people counting bills with their
germ-filled saliva, who knows how many germs have been passed around? The more
those bills are counted, the filthier they become. And yet there are still
people who love money more than life itself. They know it's dirty, but they love
it. They're so greedy for it that they would even give up their lives to obtain
it. That's how powerful the attraction of money is.
Chinese people put a lot of
careful thought into the creation of their written language. In general there
are six classes of Chinese characters:
1. Those that resemble the
objects they refer to (pictographs),
2. Those that indicate meaning
through their form,
3. Those that suggest the
meaning through a combination of simpler elements,
4. Those that have elements
indicating both form and sound,
5. Those that have meanings
that change with the sound, and
6. Those that are
"borrowed" only for their sound.
Every character falls within
one of these six classes. The character qian
meaning "money," for instance, belongs to the third class,
being composed of the character jin "gold"
and two characters ge "sword."
There is a verse which goes:
Two swords fighting over
gold--the killing energy is high.
People are always getting into
trouble because of it.
Using it well, one can
transcend the three realms.
Using it badly, one will have
a hard time escaping one's offenses.
Money (in the form of coins)
is minted with metal. Two swords are fighting over the metal, generating a
killing energy that fills the heavens. How much trouble do people go to trying
to obtain money? Those who use their money to create merit and virtue and to
benefit others as well as themselves can escape the three realms and end birth
and death. However, those who use money to commit offenses will fall into the
three paths of suffering forever. We should realize how harmful money can be,
and not be greedy for it.
Why do we leave home-life to
cultivate? We want to renounce our desires for wealth and lust. We shouldn't be
attached to either. We should reflect upon our own conduct at all times, and
restrain our mind from seeking externally. After a period of practicing in this
way, our mind will be as clear as a mirror and it will be easy to distinguish
good from evil. Then it will be possible to transcend the Three Realms
and end birth and death. That's our basic aim in leaving the home-life. If we
cannot renounce wealth and lust, then we have fallen short of our initial aim in
leaving home.
People in the world wear
themselves out making money for their children. They don't realize that leaving
money to their children causes a lot of problems. If they didn't do that, there
would be no problem. There is a saying:
If
the son is more capable than the father, what need is there to leave him wealth?
If
the son is weaker than the father, what's the use of leaving him money?
If one leaves money to
children who are incapable, they will turn into useless playboys who indulge in
eating, drinking, and fooling around with women. Isn't that just harming one's
descendants? Therefore, I advise rich people to spend their wealth doing more
meritorious deeds to help the world and its people. That way they can create
infinite merit and virtue!
Left-home people should not be
greedy for money or lust, nor even entertain idle thoughts about them. We should
keep our random thoughts under control at all times, whether we are moving or
still, awake or asleep. How can we do this? The only way is to recite the Buddha's
name or recite a mantra. We should talk less and recite more. When our
recitation evokes a response in the Way, we will become enlightened and attain
wisdom.
Beat
your thoughts to death--
So
your Dharma body can come to life!
Cultivators must watch over
themselves at all times.
Be
mindful of impermanence, and
Be
careful not to be lax.
Remember these two lines and
always reflect within. I hope everyone will hold the precepts well.
There is a saying that makes a
lot of sense:
Cooped
up chickens never lack food,
But
the pot of boiling water is close at hand.
Wild
cranes may not have enough to eat,
But
their world is as vast as the sky.
Chickens kept in cages are
always well fed, but when they grow big and plump, they are killed and made into
a meal for people. Wild cranes are not fed grain by people, but on the other
hand, they are free to soar through the boundless skies--unrestricted,
unfettered, free and easy!
We left-home people should
take the sky and earth as our hut, and the four seas as our home. We should not
own a dwelling. If we have a temple, then we might become attached to it, which
is not in accord with the Buddhadharma. If we are off by a tiny bit in the
beginning, we may be a thousand miles off in the end.
A Dhyana Master once remarked,
"Last year I was poor, but at least I still had enough ground on which to
set the point of an awl. This year I am poorer, and I don't even have the
awl!" How carefree his spirit was! It's unspeakably wonderful. We should
learn from that Dhyana Master, who possessed nothing beyond his three robes and
didn’t seek anything more either. Money is external, not something we were
born with, and not something we can bring with us when we die. If we have money,
we should use it to do meritorious work. Simply printing a small booklet to
propagate Buddhism creates infinite merit--much more than if we were to build a
temple or pagoda for ourselves.
People who are filled with
light do not engage in defiled conduct. Defilement comes from greed for wealth
and lust. If one cannot renounce wealth and lust, then one cannot purify oneself
of defilements. The only way to be free of defilement is to overcome the
temptations of wealth and lust. Then we will be able to live anywhere throughout
the Dharma Realm and empty space.
Cultivators should never
forget that the essential hurdles to overcome are wealth and lust. Once we
overcome them, we will be free from attachments. Sometimes worldly people
sarcastically say, "Left-home people don’t like money--the more the
better!" We left-home people should reflect to see if we have this
attitude. If so, we should change it; and if not, we should take care to avoid
it.
We should be especially alert
and live by our own efforts, following Dhyana Master Baizhang's example:
"If I do not work on any given day, I will not eat that day." If every
left-home person can be this way, then laypeople won’t sarcastically call us
"rice worms."
The monks and nuns at Gold
Mountain Monastery know that money is unclean, and some of them hold the precept
of not touching money. They want to have nothing to do with money. Let me tell
you a true story. I have a disciple who is the only son of a millionaire. He
renounced his father's wealth, declined the girlfriend introduced by his father,
and came to Gold Mountain to leave home and cultivate. And so I gave him the
Dharma-name Heng Kong ("always empty").
One day his father called and
asked, "Do you need any money? I can send you some." Heng Kung
declined the offer. He's truly the world's biggest fool. He's really serious
about keeping the "no money" precept--he doesn't own a dime. With no
craving for wealth or lust, one is free from attachment and defilement.
Practicing in this way, one will surely succeed.
A talk given on October 10, 1980
Prajna--the Buddha Nature
If
one always wants to benefit living beings, one is a Bodhisattva. If one always
wants to benefit oneself, one is a demon.
Prajna is just the Buddha
nature, and the Buddha nature is just Prajna. When we talk about great Prajna,
we are talking about great Buddha nature, and vice versa. Though the names are
different, the meaning is the same. Prajna means wisdom, and wisdom is simply
great enlightenment. If you attain great enlightenment, you have wisdom. Before
you attain great enlightenment, you lack wisdom. Great enlightenment is the
great Buddha nature. "Buddha" is a Sanskrit word meaning
enlightenment. There is self-enlightenment, the enlightenment of others, and the
perfection of enlightenment and conduct. Thus the Buddha nature is said to be
Prajna. There are three kinds of Prajna: Literary Prajna, Contemplative Prajna,
and the Prajna of Reality. I shall explain them briefly.
1. Literary Prajna: This
refers not to the literary knowledge taught in worldly schools, but to a
transcendental Prajna which makes one resolve the mind on Bodhi, cultivate the
Bodhi path, and attain the Bodhi fruition. This is the Literary Prajna found in
the Sutras.
2. Contemplative Prajna:
Literary Prajna gives rise to Contemplative Prajna. For instance, when you read
the four words "Thus I have heard" in a Sutra, you might wonder,
"What does 'Thus' mean? What does 'I have heard' mean?" And so you
start to ponder the meaning of these words. That's Contemplative Prajna.
3. Prajna of Reality: Through
Contemplative Prajna, one knows that "Thus" refers to the essence of
the Dharma and "I have heard" means "I have heard the principle
of the essence of the Dharma." Arriving at the Prajna of Reality through
contemplation, one realizes that the essence of Dharma is thus--originally
empty. That original emptiness is the Prajna of Reality.
If one understands the three
kinds of Prajna, one will understand the Three Causes of the Buddha nature:
1. The Conditioning Cause
2. The Understanding Cause
3. The Proper Cause
1. Literary Prajna is the
Conditioning Cause of the Buddha nature. Words help one to understand the three
kinds of Buddha nature, and to understand that the Buddha nature is Prajna and
Prajna is just the Buddha nature. With this understanding, one develops the
merit and virtue and the good roots to attain Real Mark Prajna.
2. Contemplative Prajna is the
Understanding Cause of the Buddha nature. When one turns on a lamp inside a
house, one can see the objects that are there. For example, one might see a copy
of the Avatamsaka Sutra, Buddha images, an altar, and a list of the names
of eighty-eight Buddhas. One sees everything very clearly because of the lamp's
light. Just as the lamp illumines the house, one should illumine the house
inside one's mind. Through the power of contemplation, the Understanding Cause
of the Buddha nature begins to function.
Without contemplative Prajna,
one would not recognize the Understanding Cause. One would not realize that
inside the house of one's mind there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas teaching
living beings, Pratyekabuddhas contemplating the twelve causal conditions,
Hearers cultivating the Four Noble Truths, limitless gods enjoying sublime
pleasures, infinite living beings dwelling in delusion, countless asuras fighting
without cease, limitless animals undergoing endless rounds of birth and death,
boundless hungry ghosts stealing things to eat, and innumerable beings being
tortured on mountains of knives and in pots of boiling oil in the hells. None of
these states go beyond the mind. One's mind can perceive them all.
There are eighteen great hells
and five hundred small ones. It's up to us where we want to go. With
contemplative Prajna, we can understand the causes and conditions of the Ten
Dharma-realms. Once we understand, we should do only good deeds and renounce all
bad conduct. Then we can avoid falling into the hells.
3. Real Mark Prajna is the
Proper Cause of the Buddha nature. It is the Buddha nature of the foremost
principle of emptiness. Through contemplation, one understands the Proper Cause
and attains to the ultimate reality.
How can one be born in the
Buddha realm? 'Buddha' means enlightenment. Enlightened, one is a Buddha;
unenlightened, one is a living being.
One
thought enlightened: one thought a Buddha;
Every
thought enlightened: every thought a Buddha.
One
thought confused: one thought a living being;
Every
thought confused: every thought a living being.
If one wakes up to the deluded
things one has done, one is a Buddha. If one doesn't wake up, one is still a
living being. The difference between a Buddha and a living being is the
difference between enlightenment and confusion. It's up to you whether you want
to be a Buddha or a living being.
How can one be born in the
Bodhisattva realm? In general, if one always wants to benefit living beings, one
is a Bodhisattva. If one always wants to benefit oneself, one is a demon.
Bodhisattvas think only of others and forget themselves, while demons think only
of themselves and never think about others. They are exact opposites.
Bodhisattvas know there are living beings to be saved. They haven't reached the
stage at which there are no living beings left to save. At the stage of a
Buddha, there are no beings left to save, because they have all been saved
already. Even if there were, Buddhas have no attachment to the appearance of
living beings. They have swept away all dharmas and left all appearances behind.
It's like they have swept out the dust of dharmas with a broom and done away
with all appearances. If you cultivate the six perfections and the myriad
practices, you will be born in the Bodhisattva realm.
How can one be born in the
realm of Those Enlightened to Conditions (Pratyekabuddhas)? One contemplates the
Twelve Causal Conditions: ignorance leads to activity, activity brings about
consciousness,...birth brings on old age and death. The cycle begins with
ignorance. Where does ignorance come from? The three poisons of greed, anger,
and stupidity. Ignorance brings on activity, which in turn brings on
consciousness, and so on. If we can find and cut through the root of ignorance,
birth and death will come to an end. How can we cut through it? We diligently
cultivate the three non-outflow studies of precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. That
allows us to eradicate the three poisons and turn ignorance into wisdom. With
wisdom, we can distinguish good and evil. Then our minds will be bright and
pure. Once ignorance is destroyed, the Dharma body manifests. Such is the
cultivation of the Pratyekabuddha.
How can one be born in the
realm of Hearers? By cultivating the Four Noble Truths and searching for the
source of suffering. Suffering originates in delusions in views and in thoughts.
We use the Thirty-seven Limbs of Enlightenment to extinguish these delusions.
There are eighty-eight grades of delusion in views, and eight-one grades of
delusion in thoughts. When one has destroyed delusions in views and in thoughts
within the three realms, one attains the fourth stage of Arhatship and ends
birth and death.
The above has been a
discussion of the four Dharma-realms of sages.
How can one be born in the
realm of gods? One must cultivate the five precepts and the ten good deeds to
purify one's physical, verbal, and mental karma. Among the ten good deeds, there
are three associated with the body:
1. no killing,
2. no stealing, and
3. no sexual misconduct;
four associated with the
mouth:
1. no lying,
2. no frivolous speech,
3. no harsh speech, and
4. no divisive speech;
and three of the mind:
1. no greed,
2. no hatred, and
3. no stupidity.
With these kinds of merit, one
gains rebirth in the heavens located on earth [on Mount Sumeru], namely, the
Heaven of the Four Kings (Chaturmaharajika) and the Heaven of the Thirty-three (Trayastrimsha).
One cannot be born in the heavens located in space, which are the Suyama Heaven,
the Tushita Heaven, the Heaven of Bliss from Transformations (Nirmanarati), and
the Heaven of Comfort from Others' Transformations (Paranirmitavashavartin).
Through the development of
skill in Chan meditation, one can ascend through the eighteen heavens of the
Form Realm all the way to the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Nonperception,
the twenty-eighth and highest heaven in the Three Realms. If one
continues to vigorously cultivate Chan samadhi, one can leap out of the Three
Realms, end physical birth and death, and attain Arhatship.
How can one be born in the
human realm? If one refrains from evil and practices goodness, one will never
lose a human body. If one cultivated blessings and wisdom in past lives, one
will be reborn in a wealthy and noble family, enjoy a smooth life, and be
blessed with health, longevity, and a handsome appearance. But if one didn’t
cultivate blessings and wisdom in previous lives, one will be reborn in a poor
family, have an unattractive appearance, suffer many hardships and sicknesses,
and die at a young age. This is the invariable law of cause and effect. Good
deeds reap good rewards; evil deeds bring unpleasant retributions. If one
neglected to cultivate in previous lives, one must suffer in the present life.
If one still fails to cultivate, the next life will be even worse. If one
resolves to cultivate now, the next life will be better. If one cultivated in
past lives, then one's present life should be very smooth. If one continues to
cultivate, the next life will be even better. But if one doesn't cultivate now,
the next life will certainly be worse than this one. This is a very simple
principle which everyone can understand. Whether our next life is smooth or
adverse is up to ourselves. Even the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot help us in
this matter.
How can one avoid being born
in the four realms of suffering? If we have no thoughts of fighting, we won't
enter the realm of asuras. If we aren't greedy, we cut off relations with
the animal realm. If we aren't hateful, we won't be drawn into the realm of
hungry ghosts. If we aren’t stupid, we close the path to the hells. These
(gods, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings) are the
six common Dharma-realms.
The Ten Dharma-realms are ten
paths, and we take the path of our choice. As we sow, so shall we reap. The
question is whether or not we have Prajna wisdom. People with Prajna wisdom
create many kinds of good karma and diminish their bad karma; those without it
create all sorts of bad karma and diminish their good karma. Everyone has Prajna
wisdom, but not everyone can make use of it. If used well, the Prajna light can
illumine the entire Dharma-realm. But if we don't know how to use it, we won’t
understand the ten Dharma-realms inherent in our own mind.
A talk given on October 17, 1980
The Wonderful Way
What
is the wonderful Way? It’s simply the Way that we practice every day.
The Buddha can perceive the
amount of goodness and evil in each living being's disposition. He also knows
whether a living being's desires are many or few. Knowing this, the Buddha
taught living beings a variety of wonderful ways to practice.
What is the wonderful Way?
It’s simply the Way that we practice every day. The Way that we practice, use,
and experience every day is wonderful. If we don’t look into it carefully, we
won’t perceive its wonder. But careful scrutiny will reveal how everything is
wonderful beyond words. For instance, where do the things we use every day come
from? Their origin is wonderful. Where do they go? That is wonderful too. In
either case, it's the wonderful Way.
The events of our daily life
are also the wonderful Way. For instance, when we go without food, we feel
hungry. Why? That is wonderful. After we eat, we get full. That is wonderful
too. Even getting dressed and drinking tea are wonderful. Otherwise, why would
we do them? Even though we engage in these activities, they don't last long.
They are only temporary. Wouldn't you say that's wonderful?
"Anyone could understand
this principle!" someone is thinking.
But your understanding is
quite superficial, not ultimate. You haven't seen the wonder of it. Why do
people like good food? That's wonderful. Why do they want to wear nice clothes?
That's also wonderful. Why do they like to live in fine houses? That's wonderful
as well.
Their wonder lies in the fact
that we don't understand them. If we understood, it would be wonderful. Since we
don't understand, it's un-wonderful. For example when one of the "three
steps one bow" cultivators was bowing on the highway, his pants ripped open
and left his body exposed. Just then a pair of pants appeared on the side of the
highway. That was wonderful. When some people threw bottles at them and missed,
that was also wonderful. There is too much to say about the wonderful.
A talk given on November 5, 1980
Why
Can't We See the Buddha?
Because
we have too much lust and ignorance.
The Buddha's body is not
composed of the five skandhas. It does not come from the twelve places or
the eighteen realms. The Buddha has no form or appearance. Why do living beings
see the Buddha's thirty-two hallmarks and eighty subsidiary characteristics? The
Buddha manifests these in order to accord with the discriminatory minds of
living beings. Since living beings distinguish between good and bad, the Buddha
manifests various appearances to help them grow in joy and faith and to inspire
them to seek Bodhi. It’s an expedient skill-in-means.
Men want to find beautiful
wives, and women look for handsome husbands. This proves that people like beauty
and dislike ugliness. People's minds work the same way and share the same
principles. It's perfectly normal and natural for people to wish for a pretty
wife or a handsome husband.
Someone is saying,
"Dharma Master, you're supposed to be lecturing on the Sutra. Why are you
talking about this?" If I don't talk about this, what should I talk about?
The ancients said, "The Way of a superior person begins with the
relationship between man and wife." There is only a man and a woman in the
world. With a man and a woman, the world comes into being. However, I must make
clear that I'm not talking about Adam and Eve, nor am I talking about the man
and woman that God created from mud. What I'm saying is that the world is formed
of couples--husbands and wives.
Once there is the relationship
between husband and wife, the relationships between father and son, siblings,
and self and others are established. Man and woman are yang and yin,
respectively.
An
equal balance of yin and yang is known as the Way;
A
preponderance of yin or yang is known as sickness.
Yin
alone cannot bring about birth;
Yang
alone cannot foster growth.
These are principles found in
Nature.
In cultivation, we must return
to the source. Men who cultivate should go from the trigram Li, which has a
broken line in the middle, back to the trigram Qian, which has three unbroken
lines. Women who cultivate should go from the trigram Kan, which has an unbroken
line in the middle, back to the trigram Ku, which has three broken lines (six
half lines). The trigram Qian represents the male, while Kun represents the
female. Men should return to the state of virgin boyhood, and women should
return to maidenhood. Men should be like the Youth Good Wealth (in the Avatamsaka
Sutra), and women should emulate the Dragon Girl (in the Lotus Sutra).
Both were virgins who returned to the source. We who cultivate the Way should
remain chaste, for then it is easier to certify to the pure Dharma body.
Since living beings engage in
discriminating between good and evil, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong, and
black and white, the Buddha manifests in various forms in accord with their
minds.
In
the water of a thousand rivers,
one sees a thousand reflections of the moon.
With
no clouds for ten thousand miles,
one sees ten thousand miles of sky.
The Buddha transforms into
different forms to accord with living beings' minds. If living beings' minds are
like clear water, then the Buddha's reflection appears in them. Why can't we see
the Buddha's body? Because we have too much lust and ignorance, and so our
wisdom cannot come forth. Our mind is like a pool of muddy water that cannot
reflect the Buddha.
Ignorance is darkness, and
wisdom is light. Ignorance leads to afflictions. Afflictions make one stupid and
dark. Being dark and without light, one lacks wisdom. Without wisdom, one cannot
see the Buddha. These are all interrelated. If we want to see the Buddha, we
must diligently cultivate precepts, samadhi, and wisdom and extinguish greed,
hatred, and stupidity. Then the Buddha will spontaneously manifest and speak
Dharma for us.
A talk given on November 8, 1980
The True, Wordless Sutra
Knowing
how to read wordless Sutras is truly understanding the Buddhadharma. The ability
to read wordless Sutras is genuine skill.
The first chapter
"Mindfulness of the Buddha" of the Great Treasury Sutra [Tripitaka]
says,
The
Buddha told Shariputra, "Those who fail to understand all dharmas are
obstructed by words. Therefore the Thus Come One knows that words are evil. Even
with very little words, one cannot attain the truth."
The Buddha was telling the
Venerable Shariputra that people cannot understand all dharmas because they are
hindered by language. They haven’t emptied their attachment to dharmas. Thus
the Buddha knew that all forms of speech are wrong. As long as there are words,
they cover up and block our inherent wisdom. Not a single sentence or word is
real. While speaking even a word, we still have attachments. "Not one
Dharma is established" means there’s not a single word.
People who really know how to
recite Sutras can recite not only written Sutras, but also wordless Sutras.
Knowing how to read wordless Sutras is truly understanding the Buddhadharma.
Reciting written Sutras is just something to keep you busy. The ability
to read wordless Sutras is genuine skill. But can you do this? If not,
then you have to read written Sutras first before you can understand wordless
Sutras. After you understand the wordless Sutras, you need not read written
Sutras.
Doing
what you know how to do is not difficult.
What's
difficult is doing what you don't know how to do.
That's what studying the
Buddhadharma is like.
What is a wordless Sutra
anyway? It's the state in which "not a single thought arises." If you
can be without a single thought, you naturally return to empty stillness. That's
what the Buddhadharma is all about; there's nothing else to it. If you can’t
be without a single thought, you still need to do meritorious deeds, nurture the
good roots of Bodhi, and practice the Bodhi Way. When you have perfected the six
perfections and the ten thousand practices, then you will naturally be without a
single thought and the state of empty stillness will manifest.
Why did the Buddha deny that
he spoke Dharma? Many Sutras and commentaries say this. Did the Buddha speak the
Dharma or not? If we say he didn't, then where did the Avatamsaka Sutra,
which we are now lecturing, come from? If we say he did, then why did the Buddha
himself deny having spoken Dharma? If we say the Buddha did speak, we are
slandering the Buddha. However, if we deviate from the Sutras by even one word
when we explain them, we are engaging in demonic speech. How is this to be
explained?
Why did the Buddha deny having
spoken the Dharma? Because anything spoken cannot express the true meaning. True
Dharma cannot be spoken. The Buddha spoke only expedient Dharmas. Although they
were used to help reveal the real truth, if the truth could be revealed, it
wouldn't be real.
A talk given on November 22, 1980
The Practice of Patience
Remember,
the first step in studying Buddhism is to practice patience. Even if someone
wants to kill you, you shouldn’t get angry.
You know this teacher of yours
is very "acerbic," not sweet. I am so acerbic that sometimes I bring
tears to my disciples' eyes. Let me tell you how I came to be so acerbic.
I lectured on the Vajra
Sutra when I was sixteen years old. That Sutra talks about the Patient
Immortal, who endured being dismembered by King Kali without giving rise to
anger. When I read that story, I vowed to emulate the Patient Immortal and
wholeheartedly devote myself to the practice of patience. I had always had a
harsh and stubborn character, and the practice of patience was just what I
needed. Once I made up my mind, challenges came from all directions to test my
resolve. I was scolded by people who had never scolded me before, beaten by
others who had never struck me before, and assaulted by friends who previously
had treated me well. I thought to myself, "I explained the Vajra Sutra
to people, and that Sutra says that the Patient Immortal didn’t feel hatred
even when his limbs were chopped off. I have only been scolded and assaulted,
but no one has chopped my limbs off. If I cannot endure this, how can I be
qualified to explain the Vajra Sutra to others?"
Thus, I resolved to be
patient. No matter who bullied me or tried to harm me, I endured it. I learned
to remain unaffected by external states. Instead of harming me, these people
were teaching me by testing me out. I bowed to those who scolded me and lay down
when I was beaten. I encountered frequent tests like this as a layman, and I was
never short of "good advisors" after I left the home-life either. All
the other monks looked down on me and bullied me, considering me a thorn in
their flesh. One monk saw me light incense and railed, "What kind of monk
are you that you don't even know how to light incense? What an idiot! How dare
you talk about leaving home!"
I said to myself, "Here
it comes again. The Patient Immortal didn’t feel anger even when King Kali cut
off his limbs. This isn't half as bad as that. Fine, I'll just bow to him."
Then I bowed to the monk and thanked him for his help. Both left-home and lay
"good advisors" constantly came to "help me," and I never
got angry at them. Each time I would reflect: "I must not have helped them
in past lives. Now they're coming to help me, so I ought to thank them."
Do you understand now? Your
teacher is one who specializes in practicing patience when he is bullied by
other people. I specialize in bearing what others cannot bear, and in yielding
where others cannot yield. What use is this kind of person? You all are pretty
unfortunate for having encountered such a useless and stupid teacher and
deciding to study with him. Nevertheless, since you came to study with me, I
have to tell you about my past. I travelled the path of patience.
When you study Buddhism, you
should not only listen to the teachings, but also put them into practice in your
own lives. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, to be especially kind to those
who mistreat us. Buddhist teaches us to regard loved ones and enemies equally.
We should treat everyone the same way, not regarding some as closer than others
or favoring certain people over others. If students of Buddhism cannot put the
teachings into practice, then their learning is superficial and they cannot gain
real benefit.
Remember, the first step in
studying Buddhism is to practice patience. Even if someone wants to kill you,
you shouldn’t get angry. We should go one step further than the Patient
Immortal in practicing patience. However, that doesn't mean saying, "The
Patient Immortal didn't get angry when his four limbs were severed. Now you can
hack up my body and I won't get angry." That's still copying someone else;
it doesn't come from yourself, so it's already second-rate. Not only should we
feel no anger when people chop our limbs off, we shouldn’t resent it even if
they pulverize our body. That's why, when people slander me or treat me rudely,
I don't get angry.
A talk given on December 1, 1980
I'm Soliciting a Great Huge
Donation from You
If
you want to be a true disciple, you've got to give me all of your bad temper,
ignorance, afflictions, jealousy, and obstructiveness.
Today I’m issuing an order
to those of you who have taken refuge with me. It's an order to donate! I'm
soliciting donations from you. Someone is saying, "Master, in all these
years you've never asked for donations from us. Now you must be asking for a big
donation!"
That's right! I don't want
small donations. What use are they? Even three million or five million aren’t
of much use. Money is nothing but paper bills. Even if you gave me gold or
silver, I wouldn't be able to eat it or take it along when I die. These things
are all useless.
What donation am I soliciting
from you then? I'm asking for your bad temper, your ignorance, your afflictions,
and your anger. Hand them all over to me! I'm a "hot pepper" of a
teacher, and I can never have enough of these things. If you give them to me, I'll
put them in the furnace of ignorance and smelt them with the fire of ignorance.
I'll smelt them into pure gold and diamonds, and then we'll all become Buddhas
together! You have to give them up even if you can't bear to. If you want to be
a true disciple, you've got to give me all of your bad temper, ignorance,
afflictions, jealousy, and obstructiveness.
I'm a garbage collector. Why
don't we dump all that stuff into the trash? Then, let's go one step further to
purify the world. Let's dispel the violence and calamities, and transform
afflictions into auspiciousness. This is what I wanted to talk to you about
today. I'm not joking. It may sound like a joke to you, but what I've said is
completely true.
I do want to solicit this
donation from all of you. Those who can give it are my true disciples, and those
cannot aren’t my disciples. We should give what we don't want to give, yield
what we cannot bear to yield, and endure what we find unendurable. Understand?
This is fixed. Don't be sloppy and casual. No one is allowed to be jealous or
obstructive of others. We should all help one another to cultivate. This is what
I want to tell you today. If I say too much, I'm afraid it will be too "hot
and spicy" and you won't be able to breathe. I've given you enough spice
for today!
A talk given on December 25, 1980
Do You Want to Know What Ghosts
Are?
Don't
assume that all ghosts are invisible. You face them every day; you just don't
recognize them.
There are many kinds of
ghosts. [Chinese] people usually picture ghosts as grotesque beings with green
faces and long fangs, but this is not necessarily the case. Sometimes ghosts
take on human form. You may think they are people, but they are actually ghosts.
If you have opened the Five Eyes, ghosts won't be able to deceive you. Using
their spiritual powers, ghosts can also transform into animals, such as pigs,
cows, sheep, dogs, fish, and rabbits. They may also change into small creatures
such as ants, mosquitoes, flies, sparrows, and bees. When flowers bloom in the
spring, for instance, many of the bees gathering pollen are actually ghosts
manifesting as bees. There are real bees as well as phony ones. The real bees
are undergoing their retribution as bees in accord with their karma, while the
phony ones are ghosts in transformation who go around collecting pollen and
drinking nectar from the flowers. Don't assume that all ghosts are invisible.
You face them every day; you just don't recognize them. This is like
"facing Guanshiyin Bodhisattva and not recognizing him." You meet
ghosts without recognizing them.
Someone is saying,
"Dharma Master, I don't believe what you're saying." That's okay. I
don't demand that you believe it. I'm just letting you know the principle so you
won't encounter ghosts every day without being aware of it. Someone else is
thinking, "Dharma Master, I'm so scared by what you said that I won't be
able to sleep at night!" Well, if you can't sleep, you can cultivate the
the "Standing Buddha" Samadhi [developed through not sitting or lying
down for 90 days and constantly reciting Amitabha Buddha's name.]
If I tell you the truth, you
certainly won't believe me. That's why I hardly ever speak the truth. But that
doesn't mean I lie, because lying is not permissible. We shouldn’t say too
many true words, but we should never say false words. If we say too many true
things, people won't believe us.
Demons and spirits can also
change into various kinds of animals. When we first moved to the City of Ten
Thousand Buddhas in 1976, a layman brought a bunch of turtles to be set free.
One of the turtles was overturned and had its legs sticking up in the air. The
layman Feng Feng, who was there at the time, saw a person wearing green come to
ask him for help. When he went around to check it out, he came upon the turtle
on its back. So, you see, turtles also have a spiritual nature; that's why that
turtle went to Feng Feng for help. No one paid any attention to this matter for
many years. This incident shows that all living beings gather with their own
kind.
In studying the Shurangama
Mantra, we have learned that there are all sorts of ghosts of all shapes and
forms. Their appearances depend on the retribution they are undergoing. Many of
the phrases in the Shurangama Mantra are the names of kings of ghosts and
spirits, such as yakshas (speedy ghosts), rakshasas (fearsome
ghosts), soul-guarding ghosts, corpse-guarding ghosts, pisachas
(essence-eating ghosts), kumbhandas (paralysis ghosts), large-bodied
ghosts, insane ghosts, stinky ghosts, putanas (foul-smelling ghosts),
heat ghosts, chilly ghosts, shadowy ghosts, musical ghosts, flower-eating
ghosts, fetus-eating ghosts, grease-eating ghosts, lamplight-eating ghosts,
grain-eating ghosts, and so on. Their transformations are infinite and
inexhaustible.
Before hearing the Shurangama
Mantra explained, we didn't know there were so many ghosts. Ghosts are even more
numerous than people. When people create offenses, they fall into the realm of
ghosts and cannot escape by themselves. When the Buddha was in the world, he
once picked up a handful of dirt and asked his disciples, "Is there more
dirt in my hand or on the ground?"
"Of
course there's much more dirt on the ground," said the disciples.
"There's very little dirt in the World Honored One's hand."
"The number of beings who
have attained a human body can be compared to the dirt in my hand," said
the Buddha, "while those who have lost their human form are as numerous as
the particles of dirt on the ground." What do most people become after they
lose their human form? Ghosts, of course! And so there are more ghosts than
people. You could never calculate their number, even with the help of a
computer--unless you used the spiritual or heavenly computer.
"Since when did you
invent a 'heavenly computer'?" you ask.
I didn't invent it; it has
always existed. If you don't believe it, go to the heavens and see for yourself.
The heavenly computer doesn't need people to type commands into it to tell it
what to do. All you have to do is think about what you would like to know, and
the heavenly computer will calculate the answer without the slightest mistake.
It knows immediately what is on your mind. I call it 'spiritual' because it's so
mysteriously efficacious. However, given the incredible number of ghosts,
probably even the heavenly computer wouldn't be able to calculate their number
accurately. One second after it calculated an anwer, the ghost population would
already have increased by hundreds of billions. What's more, ghosts are always
unpredictably moving from the heavens to the earth and back. It's impossible to
get an accurate count of them.
Ghosts also have their ghost
retinues and ghost friends. If a ghost knows where food can be found, it will
invite some friends to go with him. For instance, there are flower-eating ghosts
that transform into bees or butterflies and go around eating pollen and drinking
nectar.
Hungry ghosts undergo the
retribution of constantly being scorched by fire. Both the inside and the
outside of their bodies are on fire. They are fried incessantly by internal and
external fires, suffering unspeakable pain. As retribution for having had
terrible tempers as people, they are burned day and night as ghosts, with no
hope of respite or escape. However, if they get a little bit of nectar to eat,
it will slightly relieve their burning agony. They are grateful for even one
second of coolness! And so we can see that the consequences of good and evil
follow us as unfailingly as a shadow follows its form. We had better be careful!
There is another variety of
ghost that eats only fruit. All living beings need food to survive, and there
are four ways in which beings can eat.
The Four Types of Eating
1. Eating in portions.
All sentient living beings--those possessed of blood, breath, and material
form--eat in portions, that is in distinct segments of time. For example, we eat
breakfast in the morning, lunch at noon, and dinner in the evening. We don’t
eat in the intervals between meals. Human beings and animals all eat in
portions.
2. Eating by contact.
These beings, which include ghosts, get full just by touching the food.
3. Eating by thought.
Heavenly beings get full just by thinking about food.
4. Eating by consciousness.
These beings don't even have to think about food. The function of eating takes
place in the eighth consciousness. Beings in the Heavens of the Four Stations of
Emptiness eat in this way.
Animals all stay with their
own kind. Birds of the same species live together in flocks, and those of other
species aren’t allowed to join as guests. If outsiders come, fighting occurs.
You may have seen the white cranes fighting with the eagles in the Forest of Ten
Thousand Sages at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Last year, one of the white
cranes was injured from fighting, or perhaps it fell from its nest. One of my
young disciples, Guo Tuo, had been friends with this crane in past lives.
Maybe Guo Tuo used to be a
crane in his past lives, but heard some Sutras and got to be born as a human in
this life. It's not for sure. He couldn't bear to see his crane friend
suffering, so he took it to the hospital. But the doctors couldn't do anything
to treat it, so he took it back and put it beneath the tree. Although the big
crane tried to protect it, in the end it was caught by the eagle. From this we
know that all living beings like to stay with their own kind and have their own
retinues.
Coming back to the topic, all
living beings need food to live. Take the fruits we eat for example. When they
are freshly plucked from the tree, they are actually "double." An
apple is not just one apple; superimposed on it is another apple. Someone says,
"How come I don't see it?" Well, if you saw it you would eat it! Of
the two apples, one is a shadow, or you might call it the "nature" of
the apple. By the same token, every person is not just one person. He or she has
a spiritual nature that goes along with the body. However, a person's spiritual
nature is hidden inside of the body and doesn't show up on the outside. If this
spiritual nature came out, it would be eaten up by ghosts and demons.
Whatever kind of being one has
transformed from, the shadow of that being still trails one. This shadow is also
called "ghost soul" (people have three souls and seven spiritual
faculties). For instance, if someone was a horse in his previous life, there
will be the shadow of a horse following him. Had he been a mule, ox, sheep,
chicken, dog, or pig in his previous life, the corresponding shadow would also
remain behind him. People who have opened the five eyes can tell at a glance:
"Oh! So this person was a dog in his previous life!" However, not
everyone is able to open the five eyes, or else they might reveal all the
problems of other people's previous lives. It is said, "Heavenly secrets
cannot be divulged!"
Fruits are not animals, for
they lack blood and energy. But they are living things as well. Anything with a
life has a nature. When fruit is offered to the ghosts and spirits, the ghosts
and spirits eat the nature of the fruit. Ghosts don't have to bite the fruit to
eat it. They simply touch the fruit and absorb its nature, and that's how they
eat. Therefore, the fruit that has been offered to the ghosts and spirits doesn't
have much flavor left.
In the mountains around my
hometown in Manchuria, there is a kind of big bear. When it eats, it doesn't
chew, but just swallows the food. There's a type of pear that grows in the
mountains called iron pellet pear, because it's very hard. The bear simply gulps
it down without chewing, and the funny thing is, it also comes out whole in
their excrement, looking exactly the same as before it was swallowed. Although
it is intact, it has lost its flavor, because when it passed through the
chemical factory (i.e. digestive system), its essence was absorbed. Only the
shape remains, not its nature. This can help us understand how the Buddhas,
ghosts, and spirits eat fruit. Fruit that has been offered to the Buddhas cannot
be kept very long, for it spoils quickly. The same is true of people; when they
are alive, their souls stay with them. Once they die, their souls leave and
their bodies decay rapidly. Fruit that has lost its essence rots quickly.
As to the four types of
eating, ghosts only need to sniff or touch the food and they will have eaten.
They are not like us people who have to go through the trouble of biting,
chewing, and swallowing our food. Someone is wondering, "How come you know
so much about these things?" I used to be a ghost, and I still remember.
Ghosts eat by touching, heavenly beings eat by thinking, and beings in the
Heavens of the Four Stations of Emptiness eat by consciousness.
The various karmic
retributions of ghosts and spirits come about from causes and conditions. Every
cause brings about a corresponding retribution. This is called, "becoming
deluded, creating karma, and undergoing retribution." And so we should know
that blessings will follow upon good deeds and calamities will follow upon evil
deeds, just as the echo follows the sound. Whether we experience suffering or
pleasure, it's all our own doing and not caused by anyone else. If you don't
want to become a ghost, don't create the karma of ghosts.
Today I'll tell you something
that happened in one of my previous lives when I was a ghost. If you are still
interested, then in the future I can tell you about when I used to be an ant, a
mosquito, a hell-being, an animal, and so on. I won't hold back anything.
All kings of ghosts and
spirits have great awesome virtue. They can slay demons, eradicate disasters,
and subdue externalists. They use Dharmas of Subduing to subdue all deviant
cults, ghosts, and spirits. They can subdue any being that has deviant knowledge
and views, or practices deviant crafts and methods. They can inspire virtue, get
rid of vice, overcome evil, and destroy demons. Evil demons are like unruly
people.
People who are unruly and
unreasonable are the reincarnations of evil demons. No matter how well you treat
them, they don't appreciate it. Even if you sacrifice your own blood and flesh
for them, they are ungrateful and insatiable. Why? Because they have been
steeped in bad habits for many eons. Their habits are deeply and firmly rooted,
and their bad characters are formed from being stubborn and unwilling to change.
The kings of ghosts and
spirits in the Shurangama Mantra lead their respective retinues such as heavenly
generals and soldiers, heavenly officials, and vajra spirits. All of them guard
the ten directions, protect cultivators and help Way-places to thrive. We
mentioned many different kinds of ghosts and spirits, and their respective
retinues. All living beings have their own "souls". Dogs have dog
souls; cats have cat souls. Large beings and small beings all have their souls.
Although people are afraid of ghosts, there isn't any real separation between
people and ghosts. Ghosts live in the yin realm, while people live in yang
realm. However, yin and yang are basically one entity. There’s no difference
and no line of demarcation. Ghosts have heavy greed, anger, and stupidity. In
comparison, people have more precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. Therefore, ghosts
are masses of yin energy, while the energy of people and animals allows them to
assume physical forms. Why do they have physical forms? They have all kinds of
attachments, so they crawl into into the cage of five skandhas and can't
escape from the realms of form, feeling, thinking, formations, and
consciousness. The net of the five skandhas covers up our own nature,
just as dark clouds cover up the sun. Yin
and yang are basically one substance, separated only by the "clouds"
of the five skandhas. People are trapped by the array of the five skandhas,
and ghosts are also entangled by the dense forest of the five skandhas,
so they bob up and down in the sea of karma, being born and dying over and over
again. They are born human, but at death they turn into ghosts. However, with
cultivation they need not become ghosts. If they are successful in cultivation,
they can become Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or attain the fruition of Arhatship.
If one upholds five precepts
and cultivates the ten good deeds, one can be reborn in the heavens and become a
god. The five precepts are no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no
lying, and no taking of toxicants. Not killing is compassion. Not stealing is
righteousness. One who doesn't commit sexual misconduct is a person of
propriety. One who never lies is trustworthy. One who abstains from intoxicants
will not be crazy and confused. People who kill receive the retribution of being
short-lived and suffering many misfortunes in their next life. People who steal
receive the retribution of a life of poverty and hardship. People who commit
sexual misconduct may be reborn as sparrows or pigeons.
Birds like to go off into wild
flights of fancy. This is the manifestation of the karmic retribution of people
who committed adultery and injured their virtue in their previous lives. I
always teach you about this, but some people still don’t pay attention. So,
I’m taking the trouble to repeat it once again: Don't kill! All living beings
from countless eons in the past have been my parents, friends, and relatives. My
parents from previous lives committed offenses and thus fell and were reborn as
pigs, horses, cows, and sheep. If you kill animals at will, you are just
indirectly killing your parents.
Stealing: It’s said,
"Don’t do to others what you don’t wish to have done to yourself."
If you don’t desire to have your wealth robbed or stolen, then first of all
you shouldn’t steal others’ property.
Sexual misconduct: In terms of
causes and effects, sexual misconduct is the most serious offense. It’s
punishment is the most severe. If a married couple gets divorced and each one
remarries, then according to the law of cause and effect, their bodies will be
cut in half after they die. This is because when they were alive, they had two
relationships. So after they die, their karmic retribution manifests. A huge saw
slices people in half from head to toe. Their bodies are sawed into as many
pieces as the number of offenses they committed. If they were married a hundred
times, they are sawed into a hundred pieces, so each of their former partners
can have a tiny share of them. What’s so bad about being divided into pieces?
If the soul becomes fragmented like that, it’s very difficult to make it whole
again. Probably those people won’t regain a human body again for billions of
eons. When their nature is split and their souls are incomplete, they become
dull and insentient, like plants. When their inherent nature is scattered,
it’s hard to become a sentient being again. Even if they became a sentient
being, they might be a mosquito. But one human body can transform into 84,000
mosquitoes, and it’s not easy to get all those mosquitoes back into one being.
Most of the time, mosquitoes are reborn as mosquitoes. So they bob up and down
in the cycle of birth and death, not understanding how to turn away from the
dust and unite with enlightenment, or how to renounce confusion and return to
the proper. It’s said, "Once the human body is lost, it cannot be
regained in ten thousand eons." If you truly understand this principle, how
could you not be afraid?
A talk given on February 5, 1981
Do
You Know How to Use Money?
Why
are left-home people unable to accomplish the Way? It’s because they can’t
leap over the two hurdles of money and sex.
The Chinese character for
"money" () consists of one "gold" () and two
"spears" (). There’s a verse that puts it very well:
Two
swords fighting over gold--the killing energy is high.
People
are always getting into trouble because of it.
Using
it well, one can transcend the Three Realms.
Using
it badly, one will have a hard time escaping one's offenses.
The sword is a weapon, and
money (in the form of coins) is minted with gold. When two people armed with
swords fight over money, all kinds of evil karma such as killing and arson is
committed.
You and I contend and fight,
and the killing energy reaches up to the sky. Money is unreal, yet people go
crazy about it. Not only do people love money, ghosts also love it. People think
up every possible scheme to get money. Ghosts don’t work, so they can’t earn
money. But they have their ways to generate wealth--by getting people to burn
paper money for them. In fact, ghosts don’t need money. Burning paper money is
a superstitious practice. It just wastes money, turning real money into ashes.
It’s extremely stupid.
In Asia, there’s a custom
where people burn a lot of paper money when they are still alive, thinking that
it goes into their bank account in the underworld, so that after they die, they
will become rich ghosts. Perhaps they want to use the money to bribe King Yama
into reducing their offenses. However, King Yama is a pitiless judge who metes
out fair sentences and doesn’t accept bribes. It would be fruitless to try to
bribe him.
If people think that money can
make the gods listen and can make everything happen, just like the saying,
"Money can make ghosts push the millstone,” they are totally mistaken.
After such people die, they will surely fall into the hells. Why? Because while
alive, they are surely doing many things that go against their conscience. So in
order to save themselves from suffering after death, they burn large amounts of
paper money. They are preparing to give red envelopes to the corrupt officials
so they will be let off easy. They are just cheating themselves by thinking this
way. How ridiculous!
Money makes people so muddled
that they do all sorts of foolish things; it causes relatives to become
estranged, to fight with each other, and to regard each other as strangers or
even as enemies. How terrible this is! That’s why cultivators should uphold
the precept of not handling money and thereby avoid these problems. This precept
prohibits touching money with one's hands. Then one is a true disciple of the
Buddha, one who is able to observe the Buddha's rules and uphold the pure
precepts. Not only do one’s hands not touch money, one’s mind doesn’t even
think about money. One regards money as unclean (there are germs on the bills)
and inauspicious, and casts out the very thought of it.
In order to serve as a field
in which living beings can plant blessings, cultivators in the Sangha accept
offerings. However, they may not exploit affinities or be greedy for the
offerings. They should expediently accord with the conditions and not seek
anything. Why are left-home people unable to accomplish the Way? It’s because
they can’t leap over the two hurdles of money and sex. Money deludes people
and sex makes them muddled. These two stumbling blocks hinder people in their
cultivation, causing them to flounder in confusion, unable to pull themselves
out, so that they drift along helplessly.
Anyone who upholds the precept
against handling money should watch out and be especially cautious. You should
not touch money with your hands or think about it in your mind. You shouldn’t
pretend to hold this precept, yet still be greedy for offerings. If you have
such thoughts, correct them immediately! Don’t deliberately commit offenses.
People who follow the “five improper kinds of livelihood” are not true
disciples of the Buddha; they are “parasites on the lion,” depending on the
Buddha for clothing and food. In general, as long as you have opportunistic
thoughts and are greedy for money, you don’t qualify as a disciple of the
Buddha.
People get into all kinds of
trouble because of money. However, if people know how to use money to do
meritorious works--founding schools, building hospitals, or doing other things
that are beneficial to oneself as well as the society at large--they can
transcend the Three Realms, escape the suffering of the wheel of birth and
death, and attain the true bliss of Nirvana. For those who don’t know how to
use it well, money will only cause them to create offenses and do things that
harm heaven and destroy principles. They won’t be able to escape the Three
Realms, and will fall into the hells instead. It is said, "Money, sex,
fame, food, and sleep are the five roots of the hells." Take heed! Be very
careful not to make any mistakes in cause and effect. The law of cause and
effect never fails. It’s a timeless and invariable law. If you make mistakes
in cause and effect, you’re bound to receive the retribution.
A talk given on June 4, 1981
Where
Do Blessings and Wisdom Come from?
If we do a lot of
meritorious deeds, we’ll have blessings; if we listen to Sutra lectures and
speak the Dharma, we’ll have wisdom.
In the past, Shakyamuni Buddha
"cultivated blessings and wisdom for three asamkhyeyas of
eons, and planted the seeds for good appearance for a hundred kalpas."
And so he attained the thirty-two hallmarks and eighty subsidiary
characteristics as peerless physical adornments. Cultivators must cultivate
blessing and wisdom. How? By doing meritorious works. We should do our best to
do any and every deed that brings benefit to living beings. This is cultivating
blessings. When we study and recite Sutras and investigate the principles of the
Buddhadharma, "deeply entering the Sutra Treasury to attain wisdom like the
sea," we are cultivating wisdom. To put it simply, if we do a lot of
meritorious deeds, we’ll have blessings; if we listen to Sutra lectures and
speak the Dharma, we’ll have wisdom. It’s a very natural principle.
Blessings and wisdom come from
cultivation. If you don‘t cultivate, you’ll never have any blessings or
wisdom. Cultivators shouldn’t feel that they can get away with an evil deed,
however slight it may be; nor should they neglect doing a good deed even if it
is small. If you can cherish, cultivate, and plant blessings day after day,
you’ll certainly have great blessings in the future. If you don‘t do that,
where could blessings and wisdom come from? If you merely wish for blessings and
wisdom without doing anything, you’re just foolishly indulging in idle
fantasies that will never come true. It‘s like looking for fish in
trees--something that could never be.
A
talk given on June 4, 1981
Strictly
Uphold Precepts and Learn to Be Patient
Upholding precepts means
not having a temper.
Precepts are a cultivator's
life. If one transgresses them, this would be as grievous as having one’s life
cut off. Before the World Honored One entered Nirvana, he told the Venerable
Ananda, "Take the precepts as your teacher." This shows how important
the precepts are.
“Strictly” means with
certainty, cautiousness, and perceptiveness. Cultivators should not talk
carelessly. When you need to speak, do so in a discreet and appropriate way, and
don’t babble nonsense. In other words, there’s a definite way to act whether
you are walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. You can‘t just do whatever
you want; that wouldn’t be upholding the precepts.
To “uphold” means to
manage. It also means to carefully and cautiously hold something with your
hands, being constantly attentive and never lax. We should uphold the precepts
with full concentration.
“Precepts” serve to
prevent mistakes and to stop evildoing. “Do no evil; do all good."
Precepts serve to warn us before we commit offenses; they also stipulate the
penalties incurred by offenses. A snake normally slithers in curves, but when it
goes into a pipe, it straightens out by itself; this is the function of
precepts.
Precepts are laws. In
everything we do, we should abide by the rules. There‘s a saying:
"Without a compass and a T-square, you can’t draw circles and
squares." [Note: In Chinese the words for ‘compass’ and ‘T-square’
form a compound that means “rules”.] We should not act carelessly, hinder
other people‘s freedom, or usurp others’ benefits.
In a nutshell, upholding
precepts means not having a temper. When we cultivate patience to the utmost
degree, then we’ll be able to handle favorable as well as adverse states
without losing our calm; we’ll deal with everything naturally and easily. When
we reach that level, we won’t transgress the rules. People don’t abide by
rules because they don’t have enough patience; they can‘t keep the fire of
ignorance under control, and it burns up all the merit and virtue they have
cultivated.
A
talk given on June 6, 1981
Don't
Show Off Your Spiritual Powers
If you indiscreetly
manifest your spiritual powers, ordinary people will be amazed and infatuated by
them and will worship them.
The Venerable
Mahamaudgalyayana was foremost in spiritual powers, but the World Honored One
repeatedly warned him not to casually show off his spiritual powers. Why?
Because not everyone has spiritual powers. If you indiscreetly manifest your
spiritual powers, ordinary people will be amazed and infatuated by them and will
worship them. Consequently, people with spiritual powers will have many people
making offerings to them, while those who don’t have them might not receive
any offerings. Therefore, the Buddha forbade his disciples from casually
displaying their spiritual powers, so as to protect cultivators of the future.
Cultivators should not praise
their own virtue and say that they are enlightened, or claim to be Patriarchs or
Bodhisattvas. Those are serious lies that will cause one to fall into the Hell
of Pulling Tongues. This is no joke. Only people who don’t know anything would
behave in such a conceited way. Truly wealthy people never say to others,
"You know what? I have all these diamonds and precious gems. I have more
treasures than all the treasures in the world put together." If you
advertise yourself like this, bandits will definitely target you and find a way
to rob your treasures. The same thing happens in cultivation. You can’t tell
people, "I have spiritual powers. I hear the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
talking, and I see them appear before me.” If you say that, you are giving the
demon king an opportunity to come in and work with you, control your activities,
and make you part of his retinue.
Cultivators should clearly
recognize whatever states they encounter; they shouldn’t let those states
affect them, but should use samadhi power to influence states. Don’t make
reckless claims or tell lies about having attained certain spiritual powers or
seen certain states. You should know that such states are the mischief of
demons, who want to destroy your resolve for the Way and make you go insane.
These are signs of demonic possession; these states are not real. The section on
the Fifty Skandha-Demon States in the Shurangama Sutra explains this very
clearly. I hope you will investigate it thoroughly and not be fooled by such
states. Otherwise it will be too late for regret.
People who investigate Chan
should not get attached to states. It is said, "When Buddha comes, slay the
Buddha. When demon comes, slay the demon." Slay anyone who comes, no matter
who it is. This is not being attached to any conditioned dharmas or any marks
and appearances. Cultivators should apply effort single-mindedly. They have no
time to mind other people’s business. Don’t be arrogant, and don‘t be
greedy for fame or benefits. If you have such thoughts, you have entered a
demonic state.
No matter what the
circumstances, cultivators should never become self-satisfied and arrogant, and
think they are something special. They must be very careful not to make mistakes
in cause and effect. Otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.
Cultivators concentrate on
upholding pure precepts in order to purify the three karmas of body, mouth, and
mind. People with spiritual powers would certainly never admit that they have
them; how much the less should people without spiritual powers make reckless
claims. Wouldn‘t that just be creating the causes for falling into the hells?
It’s scary! If your mouth karma isn’t pure, you’ll undergo punishment in
the Hell of Pulling Tongues. Don’t be reckless. Always watch over yourself.
Don’t misbehave and talk a lot of nonsense. If you plant impure causes,
you’ll receive impure retributions.
A talk given on June 6, 1981
Turn
the Dharma-ending Age into the Proper Dharma Age
All the dharmas in the
world, if you know how to use them, are just the Buddhadharma.
We are living in the
Dharma-ending Age. Why is it called the Dharma-ending Age? Because no one
cultivates seriously. Everyone is lazy and lax, exerting himself only for the
sake of fame and profit. The Buddhadharma exists in name only; there’s no
substance behind it. We are now holding a Chan session, and we want to cultivate
the Buddhadharma in a down-to-earth manner so that we can reform the decadent
trends of the Dharma-Ending Age and turn it into the Proper Dharma Age.
All the dharmas in the world,
if you know how to use them, are just the Buddhadharma. Yet people always behave
in ways contrary to the Proper Dharma; they know only how to follow deviant
teachings. To cultivate, one must do things truthfully. But right now we wear
masks in everything we do. We aren‘t able to practice the teachings ourselves
and cultivate in earnest, so we end up harming others as well as ourselves. Our
work here can be likened to carving a piece of jade, “cutting and filing,
grinding and polishing,” to make a shiny and useful object out of it.
Every one of us can become a
Buddha, but it depends on how hard
we work. Whoever works hard can become a Buddha, and whoever doesn’t cannot.
Whoever cultivates can have attainment, and whoever doesn’t cannot. This
seven-day Chan session is almost over. The second session is about to start. We
should cherish the time and not let it pass in vain. Once it’s gone by, it’s
not easy to get it back.
A talk given on December 31, 1983
Investigating
Chan--Hard or Easy?
What we should do is speak
as little as possible and work hard at our practice.
"It’s hard! It’s
hard! It’s hard! It’s like spreading ten catties of sesame seed on a
tree." These are layman Mr. Pang's words. He felt that cultivation wasn’t
easy: either your legs hurt, or your back aches, or various other ailments
interfere with your practice. It’s not easy to attain a state of oneness. You
have to work very hard just to make a little progress, and if you relax even
slightly, you lose the results of the hard work you put in. Therefore, he said,
"It’s hard! It’s hard! It’s hard! It’s like spreading ten catties
of sesame seed on a tree." Ten catties is not a small amount, and placing
that many tiny seeds on a tree so that they don‘t fall off is no easy task. He
had a relative who heard his comment and said, “If it’s that hard, then we
can’t cultivate, can we?”
However, Mrs. Pang said,
"It’s easy! It’s easy! It’s easy! Every blade of grass carries the
intent of the one who came from the West." It’s very easy. All the
mountains, rivers, land, flowers, plants, and trees reveal the great meaning of
the Patriarch’s arrival from the West. So, it’s all very simple; what
difficulty is there?
Then the daughter of the
family said, “It’s not hard, and it’ not easy. I eat when I’m hungry,
and sleep when I’m tired.” The three of them said different things, but the
basic principle is the same: Don’t get defiled, and do a good job of
cultivating.
Mr. Pang, Mrs. Pang, and their
daughter were of the same family, but they each had their own views. Now people
from many different places have come for the session, and you each have your own
ideas and views. However, what we should do is speak as little as possible and
work hard at our practice.
A talk given on January 1, 1984
Cherish
Your Body’s Energy
If we eat too much, eat
food that is too rich, or eat something poisonous, it will make our body sick.
People have six kinds of
perceptive faculties: the eyes can see, the ears can hear, the nose can smell,
the tongue can taste, the body can feel, and the mind can think. Being the most
intelligent of creatures, human beings are endowed with these six faculties. The
physical make-up of other animals is not as complex as that of humans.
We need food, clothing, and
sleep, just as a car needs gasoline to run. After traveling many miles, the car
needs to be refueled. Likewise, when we people have used up our energy, we need
to replenish it. That’s why we need to eat--to help sustain the metabolism of
our body. Food generates heat and energy in our body, helping it to carry out
all its activities. However, because the part of the food that gives us energy
is actually a very small proportion, we have to constantly replenish ourselves.
For instance, we eat breakfast in the morning, but by noon we’re hungry again;
we eat lunch, but by evening we need to eat again. Even when we sleep, we’re
still using energy, so when we wake up, we’re ready for breakfast again.
How does our energy get used
up? When our eyes look at forms, that takes energy. When the ears listen to
sounds, it also uses energy. The nose smells scents, and that uses up energy as
well. The tongue tastes flavors, the body feels sensations, and the mind
cognizes and reflects--all these things exhaust our energy! Every movement we
make and every word we say uses energy. If we use our energy in moderation and
don’t drain it completely, our body will be healthy. If we use too much, our
body will malfunction. For instance, if we eat too much, eat food that is too
rich, or eat something poisonous, it will make our body sick. So, in everything
we do, whether we are moving or still, sleeping or awake, we should be very
careful. We shouldn’t waste our energy for no good reason, or we will hurt our
body and mind. This is very important.
Young friends! Now is your
golden age. It is also the spring of your life. In the springtime, everything
flourishes and is full of energy. However, we should accord with our body’s
natural physical development as we grow up. We should choose our food and drink
with care. We shouldn’t talk recklessly, consume alcoholic drinks, or take
drugs. We should not carelessly look at, listen to, taste, smell, touch, or
think about improper things, for that would hurt our body and spirit.
If you know how to use your
six faculties well, you’ll be healthy. If you don’t, your body may go on
strike and abandon you at any time. Then you won’t be able to eat, wear
clothes, or sleep anymore. So, everyone should take good care of their body.
Don’t live as if you are dreaming or drunk, and endanger yourself. The Classic
of Filial Piety says, "Our body, hair, and skin are given by our
parents. We should not injure them. This is the beginning of filial piety."
We should cherish our bodies, and not carelessly injure them. Otherwise, we
won’t be able to face our parents. Our parents gave birth to us and raised us;
if we fail to take care of our bodies, we are being most unfilial to our
parents.
A talk given on January 5, 1984
Cherish
Your Own Spiritual Nature
Some people think, "I’m
ugly." Or, "I’m short. No one likes the way I look anyway, so
there’s no point in my taking care of my body." Is that so?
Wrong! Liu Yuxi wrote a poem
called "Inscription for a Humble House," which goes like this:
A
mountain is famous not for its height, but for its immortals.
A
lake is magical not because of its depth, but because of its dragons.
This
house may be humble, but it is fragrant with my virtue.
The
steps are covered with green moss; the window screens reflect the verdant grass.
I
laugh and chat with learned gentlemen; there are no illiterates among my
visitors.
I
can play the harp and read the Vajra Sutra.
There
is no noise of string and wind instruments to disturb my ears,
nor any documents to tire me out.
Zhu
Geliang lived in a thatched hut in Nanyang;
Yang
Ziyun dwelt in a tiny shack in western Shu.
Confucius
said, "How can that be considered humble?"
A mountain is famous not
for its height, but for its immortals. / A lake is magical not because of its
depth, but because of its dragons. By
the same token, men don’t have to be tall and handsome. The most important
thing is to nurture and cultivate good character. Your have a Buddha nature,
which is what makes you “magical.”
This house may be humble,
but it is fragrant with my virtue. This
may be a simple house, small and plain. Although I may not be good-looking, I
have virtue, that is, I have the good conscience that is found in everyone. If
you can cherish it and use it well, then that is enough.
The steps are covered with
green moss; the window screens reflect the verdant grass.
This describes the small house, which is plain and unadorned, yet possesses an
uncommon and serene air. Green moss grows over the stone steps, and the lush
green color of the grass is reflected in the window screens. It’s a natural
scene.
I laugh and chat with
learned gentlemen; there are no illiterates among my visitors.
My friends are all educated and important people. I never associate with coarse
or illiterate fellows. Though my house is humble, my friends are not common
people. We all get together to exchange knowledge and look into the meaning of
life. Isn't this joyful?
I can play the harp and
read the Vajra Sutra. / There is no noise of string and wind instruments to
disturb my ears, nor any documents to tire me out. In
my leisure time, I play the harp to amuse myself; and when all is quiet, I read
the Vajra Sutra. How carefree and transcendent this state is; it’s not
the least bit worldly. In ancient times, some musical instruments were made of
strings or bamboo. The music those people listened to was very elegant and
lofty, not like the rock-n-roll music of today, which makes people dizzy and
confused. They didn’t have to rush to work, sit in the office, and get
bombarded with work every day. That‘s what’s meant by "being tired out
by documents.” He didn‘t lead that kind of hectic life, but one that was
very leisurely and comfortable.
Zhu Geliang lived in a
thatched hut in Nanyang; / Yang Ziyun dwelt in a tiny shack in western
Shu. / Confucius said, "How can that be considered humble?"
In Nanyang, Zhu Geliang lived in a thatched hut as a hermit; and in western Shu
[Sichuan Province], Yang Ziyun lived in a small and simple shack. These were a
lofty gentleman and a hermit of the past, who didn‘t admire the superficial
splendor of the world, but secluded themselves in humble dwellings. Confucius
commented, "How can that be considered humble?” What’s vulgar about
that? Isn’t it a fine thing?
From this poem, “Inscription
for a Humble House,” we should learn not to crave superficial beauty. Rather,
we should cherish our own energy and use our sense faculties in a good way. Then
we won’t be wasting the wisdom of our Buddha nature. Each of us should set our
goal and march straight ahead!
A talk given on January 6, 1984
To
Be or Not To Be a Vegetarian
Eating meat causes people
to be lustful and full of false thoughts. It's not easy for them to attain
samadhi. Not eating meat, on the other hand, causes people to be content and
have fewer desires and false thoughts.
When the Buddha was in the
world, he encouraged people to be vegetarian, but he didn’t force them. Why?
Because some people were very fond of good flavors. If the Buddha had insisted
that his disciples be vegetarian, those people wouldn’t have dared to leave
the home life. Therefore, some of the Buddha's gluttonous disciples ate meat,
and he didn’t say anything. Left-home people are supposed to make their
almsrounds to get food. Those who aren’t gluttonous say, "I eat whatever
people offer." The gluttons are more selective.
What's the difference between
eating and not eating meat anyway? Eating meat causes people to be lustful and
full of false thoughts. It's not easy for them to attain samadhi. Not eating
meat, on the other hand, causes people to be content and have fewer desires and
false thoughts. Vegetarians have purer blood and energy. Meat contains a turbid
energy because it comes from something filthy and turbid. Therefore, people who
eat meat find it difficult to uphold precepts, develop wisdom, and attain
samadhi. You want to uphold precepts, but your mind is filled with false
thoughts, so you cannot follow the rules and attain samadhi, and are restless
whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. Since you cannot attain
samadhi, you have no real wisdom. If you have true wisdom, nothing presents a
problem. Eating meat takes you down the path of stupidity, and not eating meat
takes you along the path of wisdom. That's the difference.
If you want to have true
wisdom, you must be content and reduce your desires. Don’t eat so much meat.
If you eat too much pork, your own flesh combines with that of pigs and you form
a corporation with them. It would really be surprising if you didn’t become a
pig yourself one day! If you eat too much beef, you form a corporation with cows
and develop affinities with them, and you’ll very likely be reborn as a cow.
Eating dog meat, you become a dog. Eating rat meat, you turn into a rat. Your
body retains affinities with whatever kind of meat you eat, and eventually
you’ll become that kind of animal. Your physical energy turns into the energy
of pigs, cows, or whatever animal you eat. Your blood becomes that kind of
blood; your energy becomes that kind of energy; and your meat becomes that kind
of meat. Wise people should give this deep thought!
A talk given on January 22, 1984
Destroy
Attachment to Self and Attachment to Dharmas
A talk given on February 15, 1984
What is the attachment to
self? It’s the attachment to an “I.” We say: “This is my body;
those things are mine.” In general, everything pertains to
"I"; we put the "I" out in front. Because there is a self
but no others, the three minds aren’t ended and the four appearances aren’t
empty. [The three minds are the minds of the past, present, and future; the four
appearances are those of self, others, living beings, and a life span.]
How do we know when the
attachment to self is destroyed? We can tell from our daily activities, whether
we are moving or still, awake or sleeping. In all our actions, are we thinking
of ourselves or others? Are we concerned about the Way-place? If we think only
of ourselves, then we only care about saving ourselves, which is the philosophy
of the Small Vehicle--to benefit oneself without benefiting others. The Buddha
compared such people to withered sprouts and spoiled seeds. Why? Because people
who think like this are very small-minded and egocentric. They are concerned
only with being good themselves, and don’t care whether other people are good
or bad. That’s called:
Mahasattvas don’t care about
others.
Amitabha, every man for
himself.
That’s the objective of the
Small Vehicle. Therefore, they perceive the Three Realms as a burning house, and
birth and death as an enemy. They end their own birth and death, but don’t
care about living beings' birth and death.
When you are concerned about
others, you think of benefiting them. Not only do you want to liberate yourself,
you want all living beings to be liberated. That’s the way a Bodhisattva
thinks. Benefiting others and forgetting about yourself is what the Bodhisattva
Way is all about. As it’s said, “the Buddha‘s light shines everywhere; the
Dharma rain sprinkles on everyone.” The practice of the Bodhisattva Way is
based upon the motto: “Show great kindness to those with whom you have no
affinities. Embody great compassion by regarding all beings as the same
substance.”
If we truly care about the
monastery, we should support and protect it in every respect, without any
ulterior motives or any wish for fame or profit. That is truly protecting the
monastery.
Every day, we should reflect
and see whether we spend more time thinking about ourselves, about other people,
or about the monastery. Through this kind of reflection, we will know whether
we’ve broken the attachment to self. This is a very simple explanation.
On a deeper level, we should
daily observe to see whether we are afraid of taking a loss, or afraid of not
gaining any advantages. If we have such thoughts, we should change them; if we
don't, we should avoid them. We should further ask ourselves whether we are able
to endure insults. If people scold me and beat me for no reason at all, can I
take it? Will I lose my temper or have thoughts of revenge? If so, then the
attachment to self has not been broken. If not, then self-attachment has been
destroyed. Think seriously for a moment: Where do all problems and afflictions
come from? They arise from the attachment to self acting up. If the attachment
to self is not destroyed, the attachment to dharmas won’t be destroyed either.
Small Vehicle cultivators have broken the attachment to self, but not the
attachment to dharmas. Only Bodhisattvas can extinguish both attachment to self
and attachment to dharmas.
After breaking the attachment
to self, we must work on breaking the attachment to dharmas. What is meant by
"attachment to dharmas"? It means not understanding that the dharmas
of the five skandhas (form, feeling, thinking, formations, and
consciousness) are brought into being by causes and conditions, and getting
attached to the idea that they are real. If we can end all attachment to dharmas,
we will experience perfect interpenetration without obstruction, and arrive at
the state of being at ease in all situations. When we have emptied both self and
dharmas, we can be considered true cultivators. True cultivators never calculate
on their own behalf, no matter what the situation. They are ever ready to give
themselves up for others, and would never hesitate to do what is right. Their
actions are public-spirited and unselfish, proper and unbiased.
The Buddha spoke the Three
Treasuries and Twelve Divisions all for the sake of teaching people to break
their attachments. However, we just don’t want to follow the Buddha’s
instructions. Instead, we want to be rebels in Buddhism, always attaching to our
ego. The marks of self, others, living beings, and a life span are not empty for
us. We cling to these four marks and can’t bear to part with them. We can’t
understand that the three minds are unattainable.
Actually, the mind of the past
cannot be attained, nor can the mind of the present or the mind of the future.
Why not? Well, the past has already gone by, so where are you going to find it
at? The “present” never stops changing. When you say, “This is the
present,” it has already become the past. So the present doesn’t exist, and
the mind of the present cannot be attained. The mind of the future is
unattainable as well, because the future hasn’t arrived yet. Since it isn’t
here yet, why talk about it?
The Vajra Sutra says,
"There is no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of living beings, and
no mark of a life span." It also says, "The mind of past cannot be
attained, the mind of present cannot be attained, and the mind of future cannot
be attained." Everyone can read these lines of the Sutra, but no one
remembers them. I hope all of you will apply some effort on these lines. When
you have emptied the four marks and ended the three minds, you’ll be true
cultivators.
A talk given on February 15, 1984
The
Interchangeable Functioning of the Six Sense Faculties--Wonderful and Ineffable
Anyone can attain the
interchangeable functioning of the six sense faculties, as long as he or she
cultivates.
Ordinary people know only that
the eyes can see forms, the ears can hear sounds, the nose can smell scents, the
tongue can taste flavors, the body can feel sensations of touch, and the mind
can understand dharmas. If you talked about how these six sense faculties can
function interchangeably, they would never believe you; they would think it was
plain nonsense. However, if one has truly arrived at this state and attained
this function, one will know that there really are such ineffably wondrous
states within the Buddhadharma, and that they are very inconceivable.
Someone is having a false
thought: "I wouldn’t want to have such states! It’d be too much
trouble. Whenever I looked up, I would see the heavenly beings and hear what
they were saying. That would disturb the purity of my own mind. When I looked
down, I’d see the hells and be afraid, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at
night. For those reasons, I wouldn’t want to have such states." Even if
you did want to have such states, it’s not for sure you’d be able to. Why
not? Because you aren’t serious about meditating and investigating Chan. You
just sit there on the meditation bench and your false thoughts are flying every
which way, or you let your mind gallop outside like a wild horse out of control.
Or else you get drowsy and have a chat with the Duke of Zhou as you sit there on
the bench [Note: “seeing the Duke of Zhou” is another expression for
dreaming], and your snores are louder than thunder. If that’s how you act, how
do you expect to get enlightened? How can you attain those wondrous functions?
You’re simply wasting time.
If you want to attain those
special states, you have to get rid of all false thinking. You have to be able
to look without seeing, listen without hearing, sniff without smelling, taste
without savoring, touch without feeling, and think without cognizing. To attain
these special states, you have to be unmoving. If you are affected by external
states, "Wow! I can see as far as the heavens! I wonder if I can still fall
asleep?" Let me tell you frankly, after you attain this state, you can
still sleep. When you feel like sleeping, you sleep; when you don’t feel like
it, you don’t. You are free to do as you please; you’re not compelled into
doing anything. That’s how wonderful it is!
The person who had that false
thought is now having another one after hearing what I said. He’s wondering,
"How did the Master know what I was thinking? Can he read people’s
minds?" Why did you have that false thought? If you could have that false
thought, how could I not know about it? If you’re afraid I’ll know what
you’re thinking, then don’t have those false thoughts. You should know that
anyone at all can attain the interchangeable functioning of the six sense
faculties, as long as he or she cultivates.
Without using his eyes, the
Venerable Aniruddha could see the three thousand great thousand worlds as
clearly as an amala fruit in the palm of his hand. That’s because, even
though he had lost his normal sight, he had attained the spiritual penetration
of the heavenly eye. The Dragon Upananda has no ears, but he can use his
heavenly eye to listen to and rescue those in distress. The goddess of the
Ganges River can smell fragrances with any of her six sense faculties; every one
of them has the ability to smell. The Venerable Gavampati could taste flavors
without using his tongue, because he used his nose instead. The Spirit of Shunyata
(emptiness) does not have a body. He uses the other sense faculties to perceive
sensations of touch, and thus knows that all dharmas are empty. Therefore he is
the spirit of nature.
The Venerable Mahakashyapa did
not use his mental faculties, and yet he was able to understand the real
appearance of all dharmas, which is no appearance, but which also means that
nothing lacks an appearance. The above are all examples of those who have
attained the interchangeable functioning of the six sense faculties.
A talk given on February 16, 1984
Great
Fortune in the Midst of Unfortunate Times
As you study at the City of
Ten Thousand Buddhas, you will understand the true spirit of being a person.
This is an excellent opportunity for you to turn over a new leaf. This is the
point at which you can turn your whole life around.
Fellow students! The most
important time in your life is before you reach the age of twenty. This period
is your “golden age.” During this period, your original Buddha nature has
not totally been lost, and your pure inherent nature is still present. At that
time, if you associate with good people, you will become a good person. If you
hang around with bad people, you’ll turn into a bad person. It’s very easy
to get influenced by your surroundings. There’s a saying, “Those who are
near rouge turn red; those who are around ink turn black.” That’s what I
mean.
If you meet good teachers and
wholesome friends, you will be able to acquire genuine knowledge and build a
good character. On the other hand, if you encounter teachers and friends who are
rather slack about the rules, under their influence you will also turn into an
unruly person. On a small scale, you might become the black sheep of your group;
on a larger scale you could become a rascal in the society. Remember, your own
nature is just like a piece of pure white cloth. If you dye it blue, it becomes
blue; dye it yellow, and it turns yellow. You are studying in such a superb
environment. In the future, you should certainly do something to benefit the
society, and change the trends of society for the better. You ought to sacrifice
your petty, selfish interests to work for the common good.
Fellow students! Most of you
come from abroad. [Note: There were students from Vietnam, Cambodia, and other
countries.] You have suffered the pain of leaving your own country and making a
rough journey to get here. In these turbulent times, to have the special
opportunity to come to study at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and build a
good foundation for your character, could be considered something very lucky in
the midst of misfortune.
The educational aim of
Instilling Goodness Elementary School at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is to
mold children into excellent students by teaching them to be filial to their
parents, respect their teachers, choose good friends, and serve their country.
The educational aim of Developing Virtue Secondary School is to develop the
students’ ethical values so that, understanding the four cardinal virtues of
propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame, they become upright
and good citizens. This is the basic purpose for which the schools were
established at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas.
In such a fine educational
environment, all of you should cherish your time, cherish your life, and cherish
all living beings and all things. Don’t let your “golden years” go by in
vain. You should study hard; don’t read novels or watch TV. “Recite (your
lessons) orally, reflect on them mentally. Be mindful of them morning and
evening.” Recite the book with your mouth, and contemplate its principles in
your mind. Be mindful of those principles in the morning as well as in the
evening. Never forget the books you have studied; always review your lessons.As
the Confucian Analects say, "Review the old and learn the new."
Go over your old lessons and learn new knowledge from them. That’s the
principle here.
Now is the time of your life
when you should concentrate on learning; aside from helping out with the family
chores, you should cherish your time and study hard. Don’t waste your time.
There’s an ancient saying, "An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, but
an inch of gold can hardly buy an inch of time." You see how precious time
is! It is said, "If you don’t work hard when you’re young and strong,
you’ll grieve in vain in your old age.” If you don’t study during these
golden years, you’ll regret it when you get old, but by then it will be too
late to do anything!
Fellow students! At your young
age, you have been through a lot of traumas, for you left your home and country
to flee to freedom. Homeless and wandering from place to place, you have
experienced suffering that’s beyond words. Only after having undergone all
kinds of distress and woe did you arrive at a safe place. This is because in
your past lives, you didn’t cultivate blessings and wisdom, or perhaps you
brought disasters down upon other people and caused them to suffer. And so now
you are undergoing the painful retribution. This is the power of karma from
previous causes bringing on subsequent effects. Though you are still young, you
have already had a full taste of disasters. If you still fail to bring forth the
resolve for Bodhi and fail to study hard, it’s pretty easy to see that your
future will be dark rather than bright. Do you understand?
As you now study at the City
of Ten Thousand Buddhas, you are learning the Six Guidelines of not fighting,
not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing personal
advantage, and not lying; and you understand the true spirit of being a person.
This is an excellent opportunity for you to turn over a new leaf and create a
bright future. Don’t let it pass you by. You must realize that this is
extremely important. This is the point at which you can turn your whole life
around.
In addition to studying hard
while you are here, if you can take advantage of the opportunities to always
cultivate by sincerely reciting the Buddha’s name, bowing to the Buddhas,
investigating Chan and sitting in meditation, then you will be able to attain
extraordinary abilities--namely, the penetration of the heavenly eye, the
penetration of the heavenly ear, the penetration of knowing others’ minds, the
penetration of knowing past lives, and even the penetration of the complete
spirit or the penetration of ending outflows. I will explain only four of the
six spiritual penetrations now, and leave the remaining two for another time.
What is the penetration of
heavenly eye? It means that from here on earth you can observe all the
movements, activities, and conversations of heavenly beings, very clearly and
without any obstruction. In mainland China now, there are many children who have
the ability to see the things outside the walls of the room they are in. They
can also know what someone is holding concealed in his hand. This is the
penetration of the heavenly ear???, which is just the ability to see
through things.
What is the penetration of the
heavenly ear? It means that you can hear what heavenly beings are saying. You
can also hear what the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are saying. You can also hear
very clearly what people are talking about several thousand miles away. At
present in China there are some children who can use their sense of hearing to
“read” what is written on a piece of paper. They take a piece of paper on
which something has been written beforehand (without their seeing it), place it
by their ear, and listen for a second, and then they know what’s written on
the paper. It works every single time, so they’re clearly not guessing. These
responses derive from good roots that they cultivated in previous lives.
However, if they aren’t guided by a Good and Wise Advisor, they will lose
these special abilities after their childhood years.
What is the penetration of
knowing others’ minds? It’s the ability to know clearly and without any
obstruction what other people are thinking about.
What is the penetration of
knowing past lives? It’s the power to know very clearly other people's past
causes and effects, such as the good and evil deeds they have done. If you
cultivate diligently, you can obtain this special skill; you can bring forth
great wisdom and achieve the spiritual power of unobstructed eloquence.
There are many children in
mainland China who are gifted with these extraordinary abilities. Unfortunately,
since no one understands these abilities, these spiritually gifted children are
neglected. This is truly a pity for Buddhism. If we could actively train these
child prodigies and help them develop their abilities, they would be living
examples of the Dharma who would cause the world’s people to see Buddhism in a
new light. People would awaken as if from a nightmare and see that Buddhism is
really a religion that can save people and save the world.
You are now attending school
at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. If you concentrate on studying the
Buddhadharma as well, I believe you have the chance to attain these special
abilities. These aren’t just superstition; they are genuine powers.
Instruments such as the
television, the radar, the radio, the telephone, and the telegraph also have the
functions of the penetrations of the heavenly eye and the heavenly ear, but
those are manmade spiritual penetrations, not natural ones. The spiritual
penetrations gained through Chan meditation are effortless and carefree in their
functioning. All you have to do is want to, and you can obtain such states
through cultivation.
A talk given on March 5, 1984