Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Indulging in the Five Desires Leads to Evil Realms (放逸五欲 墮於惡道)
Date: February.27.2019
“If we are undisciplined and self-indulgent, cling to objects of desire and fail to reflect upon or restrain ourselves, we will be deluded and afflicted. Indulgence begets afflictions. With undisciplined thinking and demeanor, we will take reckless and unscrupulous actions. When we fail to abide by the rules, we will deviate from virtuous skillful means. This is the meaning of indulgence.”
Please be mindful. We must seek to understand this better. How should we engage in spiritual practice? We must make it part of our everyday lives. In our everyday lives, our bodily conduct, our behavior and demeanor is all part of spiritual cultivation. We must be careful to maintain a dignified demeanor in our actions. We often say that “cultivation” is about our inner minds, and “practice” is about our external actions. We must cultivate inwardly and practice outwardly. This is spiritual cultivation and practice. Spiritual practitioners must constantly maintain the demeanor of a spiritual practitioner. “If we are undisciplined and self-indulgent” in regards to our demeanor, if we are very undisciplined and indulgent, in a constant state of craving and infatuation, clinging to objects of desire, doing whatever we want, unable to reign in our minds, how can this be called spiritual practice? By indulging ourselves and failing to reflect upon our conduct and thoughts, we are not engaging in spiritual practice. Unable to reflect upon ourselves, unable to restrain ourselves, we cannot say that we are engaging in spiritual practice.
Spiritual practitioners must have the dignified demeanor of spiritual practitioners. So, if we are undisciplined like this, this shows that we are afflicted due to our delusions. We afflict ourselves. We have not at all eliminated our afflictions or ignorance. We bring ignorance and afflictions upon ourselves, unable to dispel the many layers of ignorance from our minds. We clearly know we must engage in spiritual practice, yet we fail to control our own body and mind. Our ignorance and afflictions continue to disturb our minds, and our demeanor becomes undisciplined. This really is a great pity.
Our afflictions will breed more afflictions. We always regret [our actions] afterward. We clearly know we should engage in spiritual practice, yet our body and mind will not stay on track. We cannot control ourselves, and these afflictions keep following us. This is truly distressing. So, our undisciplined thinking keeps throwing our demeanor in disarray. It keeps throwing our demeanor out of order. This is true suffering; it is very distressing. This leads us to “take reckless and unscrupulous actions.” When spiritual practitioners act like this, they will suffer unbearably. We do not intend to act this way, it is just that our afflictions give us these habitual tendencies. I often say that as spiritual practitioners, what we must cultivate is our minds. When it comes to our demeanor, we must fix our habitual tendencies. Unfortunately, our habitual tendencies cause us to be undisciplined, so, for our entire lives, we fail to change our habitual tendencies. This causes us to lose our dignified demeanor and the disposition of a spiritual practitioner, this mental and physical disposition. So, we fail to follow the rules; we are unable to abide by them. We clearly know them in our hearts, but we follow these habitual tendencies instead. We are habitually undisciplined, and this truly brings us much anguish.
So, “We will deviate from virtuous skillful means. This is the meaning of indulgence.” We are always saying that in spiritual practice, cultivating our mind is most important. Some people say, “Cultivating my mind is good enough. This has nothing to do with my behavior.” This is what they tell themselves. I have even heard people say, “When we change a single thought, we can change everything. Everything can [be changed]; by changing a single thought, we can attain Buddhahood.” Is this possible? Can changing a single thought really lead to Buddhahood? This is actually what is called “immediate awakening.” Is this really possible, to realize and comprehend this all at once? It is possible! The Buddha-mind lies within our own storehouse consciousness. We have found out that our nature of True Suchness is equal to the Buddha’s enlightened nature. But just because we have found this out, this does not mean we are truly awakened. This is just what the Buddha taught, and so this is what we understand. We understand, but our habitual tendencies remain. Understanding is one thing, but we have yet to eliminate our habitual tendencies, and we have yet to eliminate our afflictions. The line that separates the Buddha from unenlightened beings lies right here. Unenlightened beings have numerous afflictions; this is why we are called “unenlightened beings.” Everything that happens is beyond our control. We come and go, all without any control of our own. This is how it is for unenlightened beings. The Buddha has clear understanding and has attained enlightenment, so He is called “the Enlightened One.” This is the difference between the Enlightened One and unenlightened beings. But with such a gap between us, we are very far away from Him. Since incalculable asankyas of kalpas ago, ever since His awakening dust-inked kalpas ago, the Buddha has understood the spirit of the Lotus Sutra. He listened to the teachings of Great Unhindered Wisdom Superior Buddha and attained immediate awakening and understanding. All 16 princes came to this realization, and they all began to form aspirations. As soon as they formed aspirations, they each went to their own area to transform sentient beings. Each of the 16 princes taught the Lotus Sutra to the people who had affinities with them. In this way, throughout endless kalpas, throughout lifetime after lifetime, they are always in the world. Sakyamuni Buddha has remained in the Saha World for lifetime after lifetime. For such a long time, He has continuously come to this world to teach the Dharma, engage in spiritual practice, seek the Dharma and transform others. We have spent a long time talking about how the Buddha also went through this journey of spiritual cultivation and seeking the way. The Buddha also frequently spoke about the causes and conditions of His past spiritual practice under different Buddhas beginningless kalpas ago. [He spoke of] how many Buddhas He encountered and how He attended infinite Dharma-assemblies where. He listened to and taught the Dharma and engaged in spiritual practice. This is called “seeking the Dharma and transforming others.” The Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, for such a long time upheld this aspiration to broadly transform sentient beings, vowing to attain Buddhahood. “I vow to deliver countless sentient beings. I vow to eliminate endless afflictions.” These are the vows that all Buddhas share.
Sakyamuni Buddha is no difference. He widely transforms sentient beings and has vowed to learn infinite Dharma-doors. “I vow to eliminate endless afflictions.” He kept eliminating afflictions and learning the Buddha-Dharma all the way until He attained Buddhahood. His power of vows has lasted such a long time. Now, we hear the Buddha-Dharma say, “All Buddhas of the Three Periods [teach that] all things are created by the mind.” Is this really the case? If we listen to the Dharma with this mindset, will we attain Buddhahood just like that? It is not that simple. We are merely listening to the Buddha’s teachings; when we understand and realize that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, the nature of True Suchness, we need to truly engage in spiritual practice and seek enlightenment. When we give rise to the aspiration to engage in spiritual practice, we must be determined to take action. We are determined to take action, yet we still remain “undisciplined and self-indulgent.” We are still undisciplined. We indulge in whatever our hearts desire. We are still addicted to the objects of desire. How are we to form aspirations like this? Every day, you say, “I will form aspirations and make vows. I understand that the capacity to awaken and attain Buddhahood is intrinsic to me as well.” Even though you know and understand this fully, you have the knowledge but do not take action. If you only know and understand but do not take action, what good does this do? So, in our everyday lives, we must pay close attention to every small detail. This is to say nothing of the obvious things in life. We must pay close attention even to the details, not to mention our actions and physical conduct. So, we must be very mindful at all times. We must genuinely seek to know and experience [these things]. If all we have is knowledge but we lack experience and never put the Dharma into practice, our efforts will all be futile. We have listened to so many chapters by now.
The 16th chapter, the Chapter on [the Tathagata’s] Lifespan, will soon come to an end. All this time, just like it says in the previous Chapter on the Practice of Bringing Peace and Joy, the Buddha has patiently guided us along. Manjusri Bodhisattva, in particular, was also very compassionate and wise. He requested the Buddha to [teach] how sentient beings can safely overcome their ignorance. When interaction among people, how can we do this safely while holding fast to their spiritual aspirations and engaging in spiritual practice with peace and joy? Manjusri Bodhisattva wanted to help us further understand the Buddha’s teachings. So, he began a dialogue with the Buddha and asked about how we can maintain our spiritual aspirations. Just imagine this Bodhisattva’s compassion. This is something that we ourselves must put in effort to deeply comprehend.
In this Chapter on the Tathagata’s Lifespan, it is Maitreya Bodhisattva who wanted to help us have a better understanding of how long it had been since the Buddha came to this world, how He engaged in spiritual practice and how He transformed sentient beings. Time and time again, Maitreya Bodhisattva asked the Buddha for teachings. [The Buddha] used the methods of parables and stories to help us understand. But if we still lack clear understanding, stubbornly persisting in our same old ways, we are “undisciplined and self-indulgent” and cling to objects of desire. We still do whatever we desire without any self-reflection or self-restraint. If we continue on like this, even if the Buddha were to remain in the world forever, He would be unable to help us. Sentient beings are stubborn and are truly difficult to tame.
This cannot be helped; what can be done? So, we must awaken ourselves, cultivate ourselves and transform ourselves. If we do not awaken ourselves and fail to earnestly engage in self-reflection and spiritual practice, we will certainly fail to fully draw near to the Buddha’s enlightenment. This enlightenment will be very far away from us. The Buddha devises virtuous skillful means for sentient beings, but if we even deviate from these skillful means and continue to indulge ourselves, that will really be a pity.
So, we must be very mindful. Let us try to understand the previous sutra passage. “Those of you who have wisdom must never give rise to doubts about this; cast them off and end them forever. The Buddha’s words are true and never false, like the doctor who cleverly uses skillful means. In order to treat his delirious sons, he says he is dead even though he is alive, yet none can say he speaks falsely”.
The Buddha is one who speak the truth; He is a speaker of true words. He has no choice but to devise skillful means because sentient beings are lost in confusion. For such a long time, sentient beings’ minds have been infiltrated and poisoned by the Five Turbidities. So, the Buddha has no choice but to use skillful means. Isn’t this just like climate [change] today? It is! When things get this bad, what can be done? We also need to devise all kinds of methods and seek out the root cause as to how the pollution has gotten so severe. Besides the air beings full of turbidities, besides the turbidities and pollution in the air, we must also seek to understand how this all comes from the human mind and human actions. Compelled by our mind, we take certain actions that create such severe turbidities. By the same principle, the Buddha came to this world to transform sentient beings and teach the Dharma. He must teach about the origin and start from that root source to explain things to us in very subtle detail. If we fail to understand the mind’s source and continue to remain undisciplined and indulgent, we will always be stuck with these heavy turbidities, unable to eliminate them. What can we do to reduce carbon emissions? How can we eliminate them? The entire atmosphere that covers this planet is so polluted; how can we get rid of this pollution? This all depends on us to awaken ourselves. This sutra passage is all about how to eliminate the poison in our minds. We must use methods like taking medicine and so on.
So, there is the parable of the doctor. How does a doctor cure an illness when the doctor wants to treat it, but the patient refuses to take the medicine? If a patient visits a doctor but refuses to take the medicine, then it is impossible to cure his illness. So, this doctor is their father. If he cannot treat his own children, what can be done? He can only try to think of another method. So, he sends someone to inform the children, “Your father has died in a faraway land. He will never come back again. You are ill; the medicine is here. You need to take the medicine that will treat your illness”. The children wait until they are in great pain from their illness before they realize they must quickly take the medicine. “My father is not here, there is no one to protect me anymore. He left the medicine here. I should take it in earnest”.
By the same principle, that doctor-father is just like the Buddha, the Tathagata. The Buddha is the “kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings” and the “guiding teacher of the Three Realms”. He comes to this world as our teacher and father, always for the sake of saving and transforming sentient beings. it is the same.
In the next sutra passage, [the Buddha] says, “I too am like a father to the world. I save those who are suffering and afflicted. Since unenlightened beings have inverted views, I tell them that I will enter Parinirvana even though I actually remain here. This is because if they saw me constantly, they would become arrogant and unrestrained, Indulgent and attached to the Five Desires, they would fall into the evil realms”.
How sad! The Buddha Himself said, “I too am like a father to the world”. The kind father of the Four Kinds of Beings comes to “save those who are suffering and afflicted”. He comes for the sake of sentient beings, to save and transform them.
I too am like a father to the world. I save those who are suffering and afflicted: The Buddha said that He is also like a father to the world. This means He always benefits all sentient beings in the past, present and future. This is the nature of the Buddha’s compassion. He is like a father to the world, the guiding teacher of the Three Realms, who saves and protects the suffering and afflicted.
The Buddha comes to the world like a compassionate father. This means that “He always benefits all sentient beings in the past, present and future”. Why does He come here? He comes to be a “father to the world”. He comes to treat sentient beings as His own children. This is why He has spent such a long time coming and going form this place. He has done so throughout endless kalpas past, for endless, incalculable, dust-inked kalpas, all the way to the present. Even now, He continues to respond to the causes and conditions in this world. He has attained Buddhahood and has widely transformed sentient beings, and He will continue to do so in the future. This is because, in this life and in this world, He has yet to transform all sentient beings. When the Buddha was in the world, did He transform all sentient beings? He did not. However, the Buddha made a vow to deliver infinite sentient beings. He wants to transform infinite sentient beings. During the time the Buddha was alive, in that age, how many people were able to see the Buddha? How many were able to take refuge with the Buddha?
During the time the Buddha was alive, there were many non-Buddhists who vehemently rejected the Buddha’s teachings. They also schemed to oppress and hurt the Buddha. When the Buddha was alive; He also fully suffered the hardships of that age. Even in His own Sangha, “the evil-natured bhiksus” were very hard to tame. Devadatta was also part of the Sangha. Devadatta disrupted the Buddha’s Sangha and disrupted the society at that time. We all know the story of Devadatta. During the time the Buddha was alive, the Buddha also suffered endless hardships.
The Buddha seeks to transform all sentient beings. He comes to this world with the heart of a compassionate father. For a very long time in the past, He engaged in spiritual practice for the sake of sentient beings. He practiced for the sake of sentient beings and also manifested the attainment of Buddhahood for the sake of sentient beings. At that time, in that era, He attained Buddhahood. Was this the end of the Buddha’s vow to attain Buddhahood? Not yet! There is no end to sentient beings, thus “there is no end to the Buddha’s vows”. So, since sentient beings are limitless, the Buddha vowed that He will not feel at ease until they have all been transformed. So, He must do this in the past and the present as well as in the future. Hence we say, “The Buddha’s lifespan is long and distant”. This lifetime was merely one stage. In this era, the causes and conditions happened to be right, so He manifested this physical appearance and attained Buddhahood. Because He attained Buddhahood, the Dharma could be passed down. Lifetime after lifetime, the Buddha still remains in this world. So, in “the past, present and future, in His every lifetime in this world, He always seeks to benefit sentient beings”. He comes to save, transform and benefit sentient beings.
So long as sentient beings are in suffering, the Buddha must continue to save them. “Having relieved them from suffering, [Bodhisattvas] then expound the Dharma for them”. He saves them by bringing them to a safe place; [He is their] “source of relief and protection”. He can bring them to the safest refuge, where He then expounds the Dharma for them. This is benefiting sentient beings. So, this is how compassionate the Buddha is “This is the nature of the Buddha’s compassion”. This is how He comes to be a father to the world. He is so compassionate “He is like a father to the world, the guiding teacher of the Three Realms”.
So, He saves and protects sentient beings from all kinds of hardships. He saves and protects so many suffering people. This is the Buddha’s vow to come to this world lifetime after lifetime.
In this lifetime over 2000 years ago, Sakyamuni Buddha had just begun to clearly expound this Dharma. This is because a very long time had already passed without a Buddha in this world, and the Dharma had yet to [be taught in that era]. This lasted until causes and conditions were ripe for Sakyamuni Buddha to teach the Dharma in that era. After the Buddha passed away, after He had entered Parinirvana, people began to compile the sutra treasury. Thus, we now have the Dharma. If Sakyamuni never attained Buddhahood then, how would we have this Dharma to expound today? How would we have this Dharma to listen to, implement and practice? There must be a source for everything. The Buddha also has a source; there must be an origin for His causes and conditions in the world. In fact, the Buddha’s lifespan has endured for endless, dust-inked kalpas. We need to understand this very clearly. This is the origin of His manifestations.
The Buddha’s lifespan is infinite, beginningless and endless. It has always been this way. The principles intrinsic to the universe are the same. The Buddha’s enlightenment is the Dharma, and the Dharma will last forever in the world. “Since unenlightened beings have inverted views, I tell them that I will enter Parinirvana even though I actually remain here”.
Since unenlightened beings have inverted views, I tell them that I will enter Parinirvana even though I actually remain here: Inverted views and delusions refer to the skandha of consciousness. This means that sentient beings connect to a single thought; an ignorance thought creates the Three Subtleties. What their consciousness connects to is neither true nor clear.
Because sentient beings have inverted views, they do not understand that this Dharma is everlasting. The Buddha’s Dharmakaya, the principles He has awakened to, is everlasting. We unenlightened beings fall to comprehend this. So, when He said “I actually remain here, actually remain” refer to the everlasting Dharma. These are the everlasting, actual principles that remain here in the world. This has always been the everlasting, true Dharma. However, here in this place, sentient beings have inverted views and delusions, so He had to reveal this to them and tell them this. This is because sentient beings live within the Skadhas, the Five Skandhas. The Five Skandhas are the Five Aggregates. In the Five Aggregates, people give rise to inverted views.
What are the Five Aggregates? The Five Aggregates are form, feeling, perception action and consciousness. These are the Five Aggregates. We are all inseparable from these Five Aggregates and from material forms and appearances. Right now, everyone here has “form”; we all have an appearance here. Across from me, everyone has a different appearance; we are all sitting here in this place, and we all have a “form”. We have this form, this appearance and these conditions. Everyone has an image. You all have this image before you. This is “form”. This form has image as well as appearance.
So, everyone should clearly understand that we have this sense of “feeling” in our lives. There is form, feeling and perception; this is how we perceive things. We hear something, and our minds perceive it. These appearance will remain in our minds and become our “perceptions”. As for “action, based on our perceptions, we take action and create [karma]. Once we take action, every bit of karma is stored in our consciousness. Our eighth consciousness contains all the karma that we have created. Can anyone ever depart from the Five Aggregates? The Five Skandhas are inescapable. They are part of our everyday lives. These are ordinary beings’ inverted views and delusions. So, in the Heart Sutra, it says, “The Five Aggregates are all empty”. If we view all things as empty, we will see everything as illusory. Then we will be free of deluded and discursive thoughts. We must transcend these things. If not, as we said at the beginning, we will become undisciplined and so on. We will indulge ourselves within these Five Aggregates. This will make us indulgent, unable to reflect upon ourselves. We will indulge in “form, feeling, perception. Sentient beings connect to a single thought; an ignorant thought creates the Three Subtleties”. This is how we are, just “connecting” here, because we are within the Five Skandhas. We “connect” in this place and continue on to take action, [creating karma] for our karmic consciousness. All [the karma] we create is stored in our karmic consciousness. Everything we do originates with a single thought. I often talk about [the power of] a single thought. Our thoughts keep changing until we take our very last breath. This is beyond our control. All our lives, we keep having one thought after another, and each thought leads us to take action. Once we take action, [the karma we create] is stored in our consciousness. So, everything we create in life is inseparable from a single thought.
When we are undisciplined, this comes from a single, undisciplined thought. Aspiring to engage in spiritual practice also comes from a single thought. The thought to engage in spiritual practice is carried away by that undisciplined thought. Thus, we fail to uphold our aspiration toward spiritual practice, and allow ourselves to be undisciplined. Within that “consciousness,” we continue having feelings. Once we take action, what we create is stored in our eighth consciousness. So, “Sentient beings connect to a single thought”.
In the past, we have also discussed the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. With our final thought, we take our last breath and breathe no more. Yet this “consciousness” [remains]. We might stop breathing, but due to a single thought, we accumulate ignorance throughout lifetime after lifetime. A single ignorant thought “creates the Three Subtleties” that continue to follow us along the way.
So, until the end of our lives, they are stored in our eighth consciousness. Once we take our last breath, where will we go? It is this “consciousness” that entangles us. With deluded thoughts in our “consciousness,” these deluded thoughts will take us from this life to the next without control of our own. As external states appear before us, “what [our] consciousness connects to is neither true nor clear”. As external states appear, which are all false, we are lost in confusion, compelled by external states beyond our control. When someone passes away, they appear to be lying there so peacefully. But actually, when we pass away, our spirit will leave our corpse. The people around us will see our body lying there. In fact, at that time and that place, how is our consciousness being enticed by external states?
By way of analogy, fast-flowing water may seem calm and still, yet is actually flowing rapidly; such subtleties are invisible. Delusions are inverted and false. Though the Buddha actually abides here permanently, as skillful means, He claims to enter Parinirvana. “By way of analogy, fast-flowing water may seem calm and still”.
We may look very calm and still. In fact, our consciousness, our thoughts, are like fast-flowing water, rapidly flowing along according to external states. It may look like we have no feeling at all. In fact, this “consciousness” will have already left our body. In that instant, like “fast-flowing water,” we follow along with external states. This is how our usual delusions, ignorant thoughts and afflictions leave us lost in confusion. Once we depart from this body, our thoughts, our “consciousness,” will be lost in confusion. This is how we follow “inverted and false” external states.
So, the Buddha wants to tell us that we must earnestly seize the present. Since we have heard the Dharma, we must work hard to be mindful. We cannot allow external states to lure us away from our aspiration to engage in spiritual practice, nor let a single thought of ignorance change our mind about spiritual cultivation and turn us around; we cannot let this happen. So, I hope we will seize the present moment. The Buddha has no choice but to use skillful means by saying, “If you want to hear my Dharma, you must hurry. I will enter Parinirvana soon. So, you must seize the time; you must hurry up and listen mindfully. You must mindfully absorb the Dharma and cherish the time while I am in this world”. We must cherish the Dharma-medicine that can cure our delusions of the mind. It can cure us. Everyone must cherish their father while he is here and cherish the Dharma-medicine that can cure our bodies. So, He uses this kind of method to encourage everyone to be mindful and diligent. “This is because, if they saw me constantly, they would become arrogant and unrestrained”.
This is because if they saw me constantly, they would become arrogant and unrestrained: Because they are foolish and deluded, they do not cherish the Buddha when He abides in the world. If they were to constantly see the Buddha abiding in the world, they would become arrogant, unrestrained and indulgent.
“If I remained here always, no one would understand the importance of being mindful. If they saw me constantly,” they would depend on their advantages and thus become arrogant and unrestrained. [Just as the children] depend on their father being a doctor, they would depend on a Buddha being by their side. They would always depend on this and would never understand that they must quickly seek to be mindful and quickly seek to bring their conduct in line with their Buddha-nature until they can truly bring it into their thoughts and actions with ease. But they were still unable to do this, so the Buddha worried that sentient beings would persist in their undisciplined, arrogant and unrestrained state of mind. This was of great concern to Him. The Buddha seized the time He had in this world to encourage His disciples to earnestly seize their time and cherish it.
But “they are foolish and deluded.” Because sentient beings are foolish and deluded, “they do not cherish the Buddha when He abides in the world.” So, “If they constantly saw the Buddha abiding in the world, they would become arrogant, unrestrained and indulgent.” They would continue to remain lost in confusion. So, the Buddha wanted us sentient beings in the future world to cherish this Dharma-medicine. Since the Buddha has already entered Parinirvana, we must earnestly cherish the medicine that the Buddha left for us. So, we must no longer be undisciplined. “Indulgent and attached to the Five Desires, they would fall into the evil realms.”
Indulgent and attached to the Five Desires, they would fall into the evil realms: They would be reckless, wildly indulgent and cling to the Five Desires. They would follow their karma and fall into the Three Evil Destinies.
If we continue to be undisciplined, all of the karma we create, like “fast-flowing water,” will quickly converge with our consciousness. This “consciousness” stores all of our past deeds and karma, the karma we create through our actions. This is all stored in our storehouse consciousness. Our storehouse consciousness is actually our nature of True Suchness. However, we have yet to make use of our nature of True Suchness. All of our external actions, everything we create, all our ignorant thoughts, afflictions and karma are stored within this “storehouse consciousness.” So, our ignorance and afflictions eclipse our nature of True Suchness. In that storehouse, there is more trash and garbage than treasures stored. Our nature of True Suchness is stored deep within this place. However, within this consciousness, so much ignorance and so many afflictions keep squeezing in. So, during our final thought, during the very last breath we take, never to breathe again, we will truly be like “fast-flowing water.” Following external conditions, we will leave. We will leave, but where do we go? Whichever family and place we have affinities with, we will be conceived [in that family]. We will be conceived wherever our parents are, and in that place, we will gradually take shape. We will develop a human body and be born and come into contact with this world.
Due to the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, we will again continue to create karma. In cyclic existence, a single careless act in which we are “reckless, wildly indulgent and cling to the Five Desires” leads us to “follow our karma and fall into the Three Evil Destinies.” Endlessly transmigrating through cyclic existence, we create more and more evil, endlessly accumulating karma. This causes us to keep falling into the Three Evil Realms. This is very dangerous. So, we must work hard to be mindful.
In this sutra passage, [the Buddha] warns us about [the power of] a single thought. By changing a single thought, we can turn toward spiritual practice and the path to Buddhahood. However, whenever our ignorance and afflictions disturb this thought in the slightest, our thoughts of spiritual practice and diligence will turn back to “indulgence and attachment to the Five Desires.” Then, we will fall into the Evil Realms again, the human, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms, transmigrating through them without end. This truly is unbearable suffering. It is rare to be born human and hear the Dharma, but we have already attained the human form and heard the Dharma. How can we waste the time we have in this lifetime on creating ignorance and karma, piling them up in the same place as our nature of True Suchness? Our nature of True Suchness is our inexhaustible [source of] Dharma-treasures.
How can we allow our consciousness full of ignorance and the karmic forces we create from it to occupy the space our nature of True Suchness should fill? So, we must know this and then put what we know into practice so that our minds will no longer remain defiled and contaminated. Therefore, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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