Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Dreaming of Wondrous Things (修四安樂 夢感妙相)
Date: October.11.2018
“All sentient beings, once they have listened to the extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma, can also give rise to right faith, contemplate its meanings and practice according to its teachings. This is extremely rare. This is a treasure rarely encountered in the world, so we must always be able to remember and uphold the Dharma that we hear.”
This is to tell everyone that “All sentient beings, once they have listened to the extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma, can also give rise to right faith.” We all listen to the Dharma. Once we listen to it, we must take it to heart. At the same time, we must also give rise to right faith. When the Buddha taught the Dharma, what He hoped for most was for sentient beings to draw near to the Buddha-Dharma, listen to it mindfully, take it to heart and give rise to right faith. If we listen to the Dharma without faith, it will be useless for us to listen to it. So, faith is very important. However, if our faith is incorrect, our thoughts will go astray, and a slight deviation will take us far off course. So, the Buddha-Dharma is rare to encounter. The Dharma is truly subtle and wondrous. We must begin from a foundation of faith and right views to accept the Buddha-Dharma. Right faith is very important.
With right faith, we can engage in contemplation, contemplate the content of the Dharma. If we lack right faith, we will listen to the Dharma and forget it. If we only listen and let it leak away, won’t it be the same whether we listen to it or not? So, when we listen to the Dharma, we must take it to heart. We must contemplate it with a calm mind and analyze and contemplate the principles behind the Dharma we hear. If we can do this, we will be able to “practice according to the teachings.” Only when we put it into practice will we be able to truly comprehend the principles of the Buddha-Dharma. We must apply these principles amidst the people, matters and objects in our daily lives. Thus, we must comprehend them so that we can unite the principles with matters and appearances. So, spiritual practice is “extremely rare.” Applying the Dharma in life is a very joyful and wondrous experience. If we do not put it into practice, we will not be able to comprehend or experience the Dharma. If we want to experience the Dharma, we must apply it in our daily life. In daily life, we must engage in contemplation. We must truly contemplate the Dharma mindfully. Only then will we be able to connect the matters and principles in our daily lives and perfectly reconcile them. This is a very joyful thing.
So, “This is a treasure rarely encountered in the world.” This shows how extremely rare the Dharma is. For people to be able to have this kind of life, to experience and apply the Dharma in life, is truly something very rare. Such people are “true spiritual practitioners.” Their hearts have attained the Dharma, so they are very joyful every day. “We must always remember and uphold the Dharma that we hear.” Because of this, we must work hard to remember the Dharma we hear and make sure to apply it in our lives. This is called “remembering and upholding.” We must remember it and apply it in daily life.
So, as for the Lotus Sutra’s Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy, the chapter we are on, this entire chapter calls upon us to engage in spiritual practice with peace and joy. This way, we can comprehend the Dharma and avoid many coarse afflictions. We must seek to comprehend [the Dharma] so that we can apply its intricate principles. The Dharma is very intricate. The extremely subtle and profound Dharma is very intricate. Our daily lives are full of so many coarse, heavy afflictions. These afflictions pressure us, causing us so much suffering. These coarse, heavy afflictions will suffocate us. We often experience feelings like these. Truly, these afflictions are very coarse and heavy. The Buddha-Dharma is extremely profound, subtle and wondrous. If we can experience what is extremely profound, subtle and wondrous and bring it into our lives, those coarse afflictions will naturally dissolve. This is what the Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy teaches us.
So, we must apply the Dharma. As for “those who accomplish the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy,” if we want to practice the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy in our daily lives, we must use our body, speech, mind and vows. Our bodies are essential to our daily living; we live our lives in this body. In everything that we do in life, in all our interpersonal interactions and in all matters, we must put the Dharma into practice. When we interact with people, we need our mouths to speak with them. If we always take the Dharma to heart, our speech will naturally accord with the Dharma. Our words will be able to inspire people instead of creating [negative] karma of speech. Because what comes from our mouths as unenlightened begins is mostly lies, flattery, gossip and harsh speech, this all creates [negative] karma. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must use our speech to transform people, speak good words, recite the sutras and so on. This is all to benefit ourselves and others. This is why we must work hard to do “the four good deeds of speech”. We must put effort into moderating [our speech]. We must control our bodily actions and especially our discursive thoughts that arise.
As ordinary begins, when our minds encounter external conditions, we will inevitably become afflicted and exhausted in body and mind. There are so many of them. We must mindfully seek to comprehend the Dharma. Even if we are very upset, we must mindfully resolve [our afflictions]. This all comes from the thoughts in our minds. When we have the Dharma in our thoughts whether it is our speech or bodily actions we will naturally be able to make subtle adjustments to them on our own. No matter how much pressure we are under or how coarse our afflictions are, we will always be able to adjust our mindset and these coarse afflictions will quickly pass. We will bring the Dharma into our thoughts again. We will be able to recall it and remember it again. To resolve [our afflictions] with the Dharma we must double our efforts. No matter how coarse and heavy our afflictions. We must continue to take action and make vows. These afflictions will not affect our great vows, impede our aspirations or hinder our thoughts. So, every [situation] we encounter creates coarse afflictions. But once they pass, everything will be fine. Life is full of hardships, so we must be more diligent. For the sake of sentient begins, we must double our efforts. This is the “vows” [part of] the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy. Through our body, speech, mind and vows, we enact the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy. We are ought to remember this.
When we face this world, it is hard to avoid feeling heavy-hearted. However, if we can take the Dharma to heart, we will naturally feel peaceful and free. This requires us to make great vows. If we can do this, we will “experience five kinds of virtuous phenomena in our dreams as a result”.
The Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy says that people who accomplish the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy will experience five kinds of virtuous phenomena in their dreams as a result: 1.Seeing all Buddhas teach the Dharma for the assembly. 2.Seeing themselves teach the Dharma for the assembly. 3.Seeing themselves receive predictions from a Buddha. 4.Seeing the practice of the Bodhisattva-path. 5.Seeing themselves manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment.
Earlier, we talked about the mind. During the day, if we constantly keep the Dharma in mind, at night, we will also naturally have beautiful dreams like these. First, we will “see all Buddhas teach the Dharma for the assembly”. Although the time of the Buddha was over 2,000 years ago and we cannot see the Buddha now, we can see the Buddha in our dreams teaching the Dharma to people. It will be as if we were in the Dharma-assembly listening to the Buddha teach the Dharma. Second, we will “see [ourselves] teach the Dharma for the assembly”. We mentioned this earlier; let us think back. Those Buddhas taught the Dharma for all spiritual practitioners, for the Hearers, Solitary Realizers, Bodhisattvas and all members of the assembly. We will also dream about heavenly beings and asuras coming to hear us teach the Dharma. We will also get to revive their reverence. This can all be seen in these dreams. Thirdly, we will “see [ourselves] receive predictions from a Buddha”. It will seem as if a Buddha is bestowing predictions upon us. Reading the Chapter on Bestowing Predictions makes us envy those who lived during the Buddha’s time for being able to receive His teachings directly. In the end, the Buddha personally bestowed predictions upon them. We envy them for this as well! Can we also receive predictions from the Buddha?
In reality, we over 2,000 years apart from the Buddha, but in our dreams we will be able to dream about Buddhas bestowing predictions upon us who are dreaming. Fourthly, we will dream of “seeing the practice of the Bodhisattva-path”. We will dream of being among Bodhisattvas or among people in a quiet place, diligently engaging in spiritual practice there. When our every thought is on the Bodhisattva-path we will have the same thoughts in our dreams. Because of our diligence during the day, we will have dreams like these at night. Fifthly, we will “see [ourselves] manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment”. We will see ourselves practice and manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment. We will explain these Eight Aspects below. The realm [of the Buddha-Dharma] is truly wondrous. During the day, we keep the Buddha-Dharma in our memories. At night, through the Buddha-Dharma, we will be able to see the beauty of this realm. Although this is not reality, it will permeate our consciousness. In our consciousness, when we think [about the Dharma] during the day and hold on to our memories of it, not only will we take the Dharma to heart, we will also put it into action in our lives. Our mind will be engaged in deep contemplation. Whatever we contemplate during the day, we will dream of at night. If we keep the Dharma in mind during the day, at night, our mind will naturally remain. In our place of spiritual practice. This is very simple, and also shows us that this world is like an illusory dream. This world really is full of afflictions.
At night, if we bring what we experience during the day into our dreams, we will also encounter many afflictions. These afflictions will disturb us and make us suffer. We will bring our afflictions and suffering from the day into our dreams, where they will become nightmares. If we just relax and take the Dharma to heart, [we realize] all conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows. They are non-existent. What exists is unconditioned Dharma, the true Dharma, the wondrous existence amidst the emptiness. With a relaxed state of mind, we can apply the Dharma in our lives. [We must keep] a relaxed state of mind. Though conditioned phenomena are very disturbing, we can relax in the unconditioned Dharma.
This is the nature of human life; it is like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow. Among these bubbles and shadows, the true and wondrous Dharma exists within. So, within emptiness, there is wondrous existence. True emptiness and wondrous existence can all be experienced through the Dharma. Then, we will bring it into our dreams. This is all an illusion; we should not form attachments to it. However, this will enable us to spend our days and nights in peace. This means that we must let go of our afflictions from a minute ago, and everything else will come easily. Even in our sleep, we will be free and at ease. This is all that it means. We must not be attached.
The previous sutra passage states, “Your lands will be dignified, pure and vast beyond compare. You will also have fourfold assemblies who will listen to the Dharma with palms joined”.
This is still talking about dreams. We will dream about engaging in spiritual practice like this and the Buddha bestowing predictions upon us. We will also dream that “[our] lands will be dignified, pure and vast beyond compare”. There will also be people who come to hear the Dharma.
Also, we may see ourselves engaging in spiritual practice in the mountain forest, cultivating the virtuous Dharma, realizing ultimate reality, deeply entering Samadhi and seeing the Buddhas of the ten directions.
This world will be in our dreams. We will encounter this beautiful world as we engage in spiritual practice in our dreams. The following sutra passage continues, “Those Buddhas’ bodies will be golden in color, with dignified marks from 100 blessings. They will listen to the Dharma and teach it to others. So, they will always have these good dreams”.
Here, the sutra verses are praising [those Buddhas]. Our body and mind must be “pure, clean and undefiled”. We must engage in spiritual practice until our body and mind becomes pure and undefiled. We must “contemplate the body as impure”.
Every day, we must always maintain the perspective that our body is truly very unclean. So, we must engage in spiritual practice and abide by the precepts to guard ourselves from defilement. As for physical uncleanliness, we must simply deal with it. But when it comes to our bodily actions, we must earnestly cultivate them to guard against wrongs and stop evil. This is “abiding by the precepts”. We must never commit wrongful behavior or engage in unclean actions with our body. Then, naturally, our body will be pure.
Physically, our body might be unclean, but our bodily conduct must be pure. We must keep our mind pure as well, free of afflictions and defilements. This is what it means to have a “pure [and] clean body and mind”. Pure means without defilements. Clean refers to cleanliness, to being free of filth. In this way, the state of our mind will naturally become “tranquil and clear”.
This describes their pure, clean and undefiled bodies and minds. They are tranquil and clear. They engage in spiritual practice and see Buddhas. From seeing all Tathagatas and Buddhas throughout the ten directions to tranquilly contemplating the many wondrous matters of the Dharma, this now concludes and reveals the 50 stages that they dream of.
This is the state we hope to attain, this “tranquility and clarity”. But our “body and mind” must first be “pure, clean and undefiled”. In this way, our state of mind will naturally become tranquil and clear. This is how we should engage in spiritual practice. We “engage in spiritual practice and see Buddhas”. Naturally, when our body and mind become pure, we will have the opportunity to see the Buddha. Although the Buddha is no longer in this world, it will be natural for us to see Him in our dreams. This means that when it comes to our mind, whether actively engaged or in a quiet state, our body and mind are inseparable from the Buddha. So, “From seeing all Tathagatas and Buddhas throughout the ten directions to tranquilly contemplating the many wondrous matters of the Dharma…”.
This sutra passage begins with “seeing all Tathagatas”. It states broadly that [those who read this sutra] see many Tathagatas in their dreams as well as all the Buddhas throughout the ten directions. They dream of nothing but Buddhas and all Tathagatas. “All” means that there are very many of them. And the “Buddhas throughout the ten directions”? There are Buddhas everywhere, all around us. The Buddhas and spiritual practitioners present are all “tranquilly contemplating the many wondrous matters of the Dharma”. Everyone is pure at heart, with “pure, clean and undefiled bodies and minds”. Everyone engages in spiritual practice in this state of tranquility and clarity. “They see all Tathagatas and Buddhas throughout the ten directions”. They see nothing but Buddhas. This is a very subtle and wondrous state. As we discussed earlier, dreams like these mean that in our regular spiritual practice, we are approaching the 52and stage, going from the 50the stage toward the 52nd stage. What are the 52 stages? We have discussed this before. Bodhisattvas have already formed Great Vehicle aspirations. For unenlightened beings to attain Buddhahood, they must go though a total of 52 stages.
For Bodhisattvas to go from the stage of unenlightened beings to the state of Buddhahood, theu must pass through a total of 52 stages. These are the Ten Stages of Faith, the ten Abiding Conducts, the Ten Practice, the Ten Dedications, the Ten Grounds, equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment.
The 52 stages [begin with] the Ten Stage of Faith. First, we must have faith and overcome these ten tests of faith. Once our faith is established, we must uphold the Ten Abiding Conducts. We must abide by these ten stages and establish our course [of spiritual practice]. Otherwise, even with faith, our irresolution will render it useless. So, once we establish our resolve, we still need to put our faith into action by going through these ten teats, putting our faith into action in this way. As we put our faith into practice, we must not practice solely for our own benefit. Hence the Ten Dedications. We dedicate [our practice] to sentient beings, returning the Dharma to its source. In this way, we return conditioned phenomena to the unconditioned Dharma. This is the Ten Dedications. Ascending through the Ten Grounds, we progress through the stages step by step. Step by step, we ascend upward. This is our course of spiritual practice. We start from the ground of unenlightened beings and ascend step by step, steadfast and sure-footed. Step by step, we progress through each stage. Only when we stand at high places can we see things clearly. This is what Bodhisattvas must go through in the 50 stages before they can transcend them to reach equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment and attain Buddhahood. We engage in spiritual practice stage by stage.
Have we fulfilled the Ten Stages of Faith? Have you fulfilled the Ten Stages of Faith? If we have not fulfilled the Ten Stages of Faith, it will be difficult for us to enter the Ten Abiding Conducts. In all thing, we must start from the beginning to [progress] steadily.
Next, we will discuss how “those Buddhas’ bodies will be golden in color, with dignified marks from 100 blessings. “Those Buddhas’ bodies will be golden in color, with dignified marks from 100 blessings: They will see that those Buddha’s bodies are marked by a purple-gold hue and dignified with marks and characteristics from hundreds of blessings.
Those Buddhas’ bodies will be golden in color, with dignified marks from 100 blessings. In our dreams, we will not only be able to see the Buddhas from afar, we will also get to be very close to the Buddhas and see the Buddhas’ bodies emitting light, purple and golden in hue, “with dignified marks from 100 blessings”. We have discussed the “100 blessings” before. We should mindfully commit it to memory.
They will listen to the Dharma and teach to others: From the Buddha, they will be to hear the subtle and wondrous Dharma. They will see themselves expound it for others.
“They will listen to the Dharma and teach it to others. Once we listen to the Dharma, we still need to teach it to others. We listen to the Dharma, teach the Dharma and spread the Dharma. We should earnestly listen, and then we must earnestly teach. The Dharma must be ceaselessly passed on like this. We must experience the Dharma in our lives and share it with others. “The Buddha-Dharna is inseparable from worldly phenomena”. So, we gain realizations from the Buddha-Dharma through our experiences in this world, through the insights we gain by serving others. This is another way to expound the Dharma. So “They will listen to the Dharma and teach it to others. We must start from the Buddha’s teachings. From the Buddha, we are able to hear [the Dharma]. It is only because of this that today we have this Dharma to spread in the world. In today’s world, our society is different than it was during the age of the Buddha-Dharma. The Dharma is the same, but people’s way to life is different. We should mindfully consider how to listen to it and how to apply it in our lives when [society] is so different from before. We must find a way to help everyone to mindfully accept [the Dharma] in the same way and nourish their wisdom-life in each of their lives. This is what we must constantly work toward. Then, we “will see [ourselves] expound it for others”. We will also see ourselves expounding the Dharma for others. We will see this in our dreams as well.
So, they will always have these good dreams: Those who cultivate this practice of bringing peace and joy will always have wonderful and beautiful dreams like these. Previously, the sutra said, “When they are dreaming, they will only see wondrous things.
So, “They will always have these good dreams. Those who cultivate this practice of bringing peace and joy. Will always have wonderful and beautiful dreams like these”. If we can constantly maintain [this practice]. Our mind will never deviate from the Dharma. Our mind will regard everyone as a Buddha. regardless of ethnicity, we will see everyone before us as a good person, as a future Buddha. we are all Bodhisattvas, and we must spread this Dharma in the world. Even in our dreams, we will think and feel this way. So, how do “those who cultivate this practice of bringing peace and joy transform sentient beings to bring them joy and happiness? People like these will always “have wonderful and beautiful dreams like these”. As long as we have this mindset, we will naturally see beautiful sights like these in our dreams, and our good dreams will surely come true. However, we must sustain our spiritual aspirations. Day and night, we must sustain our good thoughts. The principle is the same.
So, a precious sutra passage states, “When they are dreaming, they will only see wondrous things”. This means that even when they are dreaming, everything they see will be wondrous. They will see all Tathagatas and Buddhas throughout the ten directions, all Bodhisattvas and so on. If we also engage in spiritual practice, we will also be able to experience this. We will be teaching the Dharma to others even in our dreams. This dies not mean we should get attached to our dreams.
I often remind everyone that the Dharma teaches us to focus our every thought on the virtuous Dharma. Such practice is called “uninterrupted practice” and “practice with nothing further”. We must practice this way for a long time. We must practice with a reverent heart, treating everyone as a Buddha. So, we all need to be mindful.
The following sutra passage states, “They will also dream of being kings who abandon their palaces, families, followers and their supreme and wondrous Five Desires. They will go to the place of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree and sit upon the lion’s throne. After seeking enlightenment for seven days, they will attain the wisdom of all Buddhas.”
This is still about their dreams. Once again, it tells us about their dream-state. In their dreams, they will [manifest] “the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment. They will see and experience the journey of practicing and advancing to attain Buddhahood from beginning to end.” We are engaging in spiritual practice. Our spiritual practice begins from [our aspiration] to attain Buddhahood and enter Nirvana in the end. The fruit of all Buddhas, the fruit gained upon attaining Buddhahood, requires constant practice from the beginning. I have always said that we must actualize the Six Paramitas in all actions until we reach “perfect fruition,” which is attaining Buddhahood.
The fruit of all Buddhas is realized through practice. Those who engage in the practice of bringing peace and joy will first see these aspects and will certainly attain the fruit.
So, our practice will lead us to the state of Buddhahood. “Those who engage in the practice of bringing peace and joy will first see these aspects.” Those who engage in this practice will go among people with a joyful heart, serving others without expectations. People like these will first see these aspects [of fruition]. Naturally, when we keep practicing in this way, we will never distance ourselves from the Buddha, nor from goodness, nor from spiritual practice. “Never distancing” means being uninterrupted. We must engage in practicelike this for the long term. There should be no time when we are not practicing. This is how it is. When we practice with reverence for the teachings of the path, naturally, in the future, we will slowly draw near a life of truth, and we will attain Buddhahood. So, “They will also dream of being kings who abandon their palaces, families, followers and their supreme and wondrous Five Desires”.
They will also dream of being kings who abandon their palaces, families, followers and their supreme and wondrous Five Desires: Although they are kings, they will abandon everything and joyfully renounce the lay life.
Let us recall an earlier sutra passage from the Chapter on Devadatta, which also talks about a king who posted a proclamation about renouncing the throne in order to diligently seek the Dharma. We discussed this story before; it comes from a sutra passage. When we look back on this story now, we might dream of ourselves as kings. Due to his diligence, this king abandoned his palace, family, followers and his “supreme and wondrous Five Desires”.
They will also dream of being kings: This refers to the three aspects of descending from Tusita Heaven, entering their mothers’ womb and being born. Abandoning their palaces and the Five Desires, going to the Bodhi tree and so on are the aspects of renouncing lay life.
Although they are kings, they will abandon everything because they love and delight in the path. So, they will renounce the lay life. So, to “dream of being kings” refers to descending from Tusita Heaven, entering their mothers’ womb [and being born]”. Abandoning their palaces and the Five Desires, they will renounce the lay life to engage in spiritual cultivation. This is all part of the Eight Aspects. So, “They will go to the place of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree and sit upon the lion’s throne”.
They will go to the place of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree and sit upon the lion’s throne: They will go to the place of enlightenment, sit peacefully beneath the Bodhi tree and cultivate the noble path.
This is the journey of spiritual practice, to sit beneath the Bodhi tree and focus the mind. We all know the story of the Buddha. After abandoning the ascetic practice, He washed Himself clean in the Niranjan River. With firm resolve, He sat on the Vajra throne beneath the Bodhi tree and began his practice. During this process, He began to practice the noble path, so He renounced the lay life and began to calm His mind. Abandoning the ascetic practice, He calmly began to engage in spiritual practice. “After seeking enlightenment for seven days, they will attain the wisdom of all Buddhas”.
After seeking enlightenment for seven days, they will attain the wisdom of all Buddhas: After seeking enlightenment for seven days, they will attain the wisdom of all Buddhas and realize the wondrous fruit.
Throughout this process, they will engage in careful, calm contemplation. They will constantly contemplate the principles of the universe. After seven days, “they will attain the wisdom of all Buddhas and realize the wondrous fruit”. This is what we must learn from the Buddha. During His course of practice, He abandoned the ascetic practice to engage in spiritual practice. After accepting the offering of the shepherdess, He recovered His strength. Then, over the course of the seven consecutive days He spent there, He went on a spiritual journey to subdue the maras and the surging afflictions in His mind. At that place, one after another, so many contradictions and dust-like delusions suddenly emerged in His mind. There are so many afflictions and so much ignorance. We call them maras.
Maras are afflictions that float upon the sea of our minds, causing many [deluded] states of mind to emerge. Some of these states will tempt our minds, and some will endanger our minds. Whatever their [degree of severity], these illusory states are emerging ceaselessly.
Whenever we are about to quiet these thoughts, all of these different delusions begin to emerge ceaselessly. This is why sometimes during meditation, if we are not careful, we will constantly give rise to illusory states. A bit of greed may cause us to lose our minds. When delusions like these arise [in our minds], sometimes this will bring about terrifying delusions. Other times, this will bring about a beautiful, dream-like state of mind, an illusory dream. People might get attached to delusions like these and think, “Wow! If I sit in mediation like this, I can experience so many states of mind. Does this mean I have attained the Way? Seeing such peaceful and pleasant scenery here brings my heart so much joy and peace. I am very happy, so I will keep sitting here.” If they sit for too long, they will experience illusory sounds and delusions. Even when they are no longer sitting there, they might still hear the sounds of someone speaking to them or calling for them. They will have no control over it. This will lead to a state of delirium. Their mind will be lost, their thinking gone astray.
So, we often say that our goal is to calm our minds by regulating our breathing. We have discussed this before. We should sit down and calm our minds by counting our breaths. As our breath comes from our dantian, we slowly exhale it out into the distance. Then, we inhale it back into our dantian. We breathe this way and count from one to ten or from one to a hundred, either is fine. All this is meant to regulate our minds so that they do not wander somewhere else. Sometimes our minds wander everywhere. Even when we just sit down and try to count to 10 or 30, our minds might wander. How can we get our mind to focus on our bodies and our breathing in order to adjust our breathing? We need to calm down and let go of all our discursive thoughts. We must not think about anything else except for counting our breaths. This is the breath-counting technique. We may count from one to ten or from one to a hundred. The number is up to us. When we do this, our thoughts will not go astray or wander elsewhere. We will just focus on counting. The breath-counting technique is much safer.
We must not think, “Wow! This part of the dream is good.” Should we calm ourselves to pursue this peaceful state of mind? Will this state of mind emerge? If it does, we should alert ourselves right away. This is not a dream during sleep. It is a state that emerges during meditation. It is not a real state, but rather a mara-state. It is an affliction, a state brought about by our discursive thoughts. So, [the Buddha] always warned us about these states of mind. When we meditate, we must not let ourselves get attached to any state. As we meditate, whatever states that emerge are all illusory. We must not become attached to them. That is how to truly engage in spiritual practice. So, as the Buddha engaged in spiritual practice during those seven days, He too encountered many afflictions. These illusions of ignorance kept emerging, so He had to subdue them. He did not react to these things or allow them to defile His mind. Through His wholehearted effort, these delusions disappeared. All was tranquil. At that point, in that moment, He became one with everything in the universe. This state of “tranquility and clarity” is pure and undefiled; it is a mind that is pure and clean. On our journey of spiritual practice, we must be vigilant [of our minds.] We must remain vigilant and avoid letting [our thoughts] become scattered or [our minds] become disturbed. This way, in our spiritual practice, we will not allow any coarse [afflictions] to disturb us. This way, in our course of spiritual practice, we will not become confused. We must cultivate the Four Practices of Bringing Peace and Joy with the body, speech, mind and great vows. This is a true spiritual practice in life; there is nothing illusory or intangible about it. Our practice should be well-grounded in the direction of our path, which we must pave. This is our practice in the world, a path we must not lose track of. So, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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