Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Eliminate Mental Defilements with Reverence. (虔誠心 除心垢)
Every day I talk about taking care of the mind. Have we really done that? This is what we must ask ourselves. A momentary deviant thought and lead to the mistake of a lifetime. This mistake may cause us to be reborn continuously without end. This is all caused by one thought. In our society today, many teenagers, as well as middle-aged and older individuals, are not worried about making a living. They simply have no love or empathy. All they have is malice. When directed toward others, this scares people. Others will avoid them on sight. Does this result in happy lives?
A policewoman shared her experience. She said, “I met a patient who seemed ill-tempered.” When she greeted him, she could tell that he had a bad temper. When she lifted his shire and saw his tattoos, her first thought was, “This is a bad person.” Since he is in the hospital, her next thought was, “Serves him right.”
However, another thought arose in her mind, “The Master just said that all afflictions arise from the mind. Our minds discriminate and judge people good or bad. Bad people can change too. Moreover, he is ill now. I should not think of him as a bad person. Actually, I am the bad person.” This was her thought.
Yes, he might have made mistakes and behaved very poorly. The tattoos on his body, of a dragon, phoenix tiger or leopard inspire fright and dread in others. This is how he tried to appear heroic and macho. Because of some misguided notions, he became “malicious, stubborn.” His life was probably filled with suffering. He was “ignorant and deluded,” without wisdom. That was how he lost his way and went down the wrong path. This was also a result of his innate tendencies. These innate tendencies, combined with his social background, became the convergence of causes and conditions. So in this lifetime, he lacked tenderness and consideration for others. His maliciousness and cruelty frightened them. This is the retribution of affliction.
In his past lives, perhaps he did not repent or correct the mistakes he made and the habits he accumulated before he fell into the Three Lower Realms. While he was there, he did not repent or reform, and the remnants of those habits remained. That is why when he was reborn as a human, he still had those habits. Those tendencies are very frightening. So I often remind everyone that we all have a mind equal to the Buddha’s. We possess a pure and good mind like His. Therefore “human nature is innately good.” This is an absolute truth. But we are influenced by these bad tendencies. If we encounter Dharma and good affinities, someone will guide us, will gradually elicit joy or compassion from where there was none. Therefore, a loving and kind nature is innate in all of us. However, it takes time to continuously remind ourselves of our habitual tendencies. We also need helpful conditions that accompany us as we move forward.
We all have a pure, intrinsic nature. Yet ignorance and afflictions continuously cover our minds, so we become trapped in a deluded life. If we can encounter good affinities, we can transform ignorance into joy and evoke our innate compassion and wisdom.
Learning Buddhism really comes down to the mind. Once we develop a habit, it is indeed difficult to change. So our will must be strong, we face a lot of karmic forces, which are the retributions of afflictions. Because there are afflictions, there will be these results.
Since mental karma results in such evil effects, today we disciples sincerely take refuge with all Buddhas. We plead and repent.
The next verse states “Since mental karma result in such evil effects.” This all comes from the mind. The mind is actually one of the Six Sense Organs, they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and then mind. The mind refers to consciousness, which makes contact with external phenomena and discriminates between sounds, objects, etc. When we encounter external conditions, we use our eyes to see and consciousness of sight to discern that this is a tree, this is grass, this is green or this is red. The eyes work with the consciousness of sight, which comes in contact with external phenomena. In summation, consciousness refers to a mind that discriminates between what we like and dislike.
When we hear a sound, we may think: “I am grateful for his words. He is teaching me. Even though he may be criticizing me, I will accept it gratefully and correct my mistake because I was wrong.” People like this can quickly accept others’ suggestions. They can easily change their habits. Sometimes others are giving us gentle reminders. But if we are deluded, we may think, “So what? This makes me happy. You say it is wrong, I know, but I am happy to do it. I do it intentionally.” If we intentionally commit wrongdoings, we create karma of the mind. So as we encounter external phenomena, our minds discriminate between the good and bad. If we cannot do good, we can never change. If we cannot reform, we will continuously produce bad karma. Therefore, we must really self-reflect.
Breaking and eliminating bad habits requires constant self-reflection. If we can gratefully accept others’ kind and gentle reminders, and truly change, we can easily eliminate our bad habits. If our minds cannot be inclined to do good or to change, we will continuously produce bad karma.
From this moment on, we must sincerely “take refuge with all Buddhas.” Only the Buddha’s teachings can wash away the defilements in our minds. The Buddha is the Enlightened One. He has already thoroughly realized the Truths of the universe. Only with the Buddha’s wisdom can we reach a thorough understanding. So right now we need a mind of utmost reverence as we take refuge. Taking refuge should permeate our whole being.
We may have misused this life and our past lives. Now that we have taken refuge with the Buddha, we absolutely must not do wrong in the future. Thus we devote our whole life, and all our future lives in taking refuge and following the Buddha. This is how we “plead and repent.” Our past misguided lives were truly sorrowful. So we must start anew. We must seek to repent.
Repentance means to cleanse and purify. Thus, I often say that Dharma is like water. If we know to repent, we can use Dharma to purify our minds. The greatest punishment in life is regret. If we wait until everything goes wrong, it is too late for regrets. Since we know we have been wrong in the past, if we quickly cleanse our minds now, we will have no regrets in the future. Hence, we should constantly use Dharma. We must apply the Buddha’s teachings to our minds. If this stream of pure water is constantly by our side, our mind will always be pure. Thus, we must “plead and repent”.
Repentance means to cleanse. If we know to repent, we can use the Dharma well and cleanse our misguided lives. The next verse states, “All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and sages denounce these afflictions.
The afflictions mentioned here are the afflictions we spoke about earlier, ignorance, greed, anger, etc. They can be split into countless categories. There are 84,000 types of afflictions, in other words, many types of afflictions which we act upon and thus create karma. Thus, “all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and sages, those who comprehended the source of the Truth, “denounce these afflictions.” They continue to use various methods to show us what is erroneous and wrong so we can change.
Sentient beings have limited capabilities. Earlier we talked about people who are “stubborn and foolish.” Therefore it is very difficult to tell them, “You must quickly change. You are wrong.” In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha said that He taught only Skillful Means for the first 42 years. The Buddha expounded Dharma for 49 years in this world. In the first 42 of those 49 years, He mostly taught Skillful Means, which catered to people’s specific capabilities. Sentient beings have 84,000 kinds of afflictions so the Buddha had to present 84,000 methods to suit their various capabilities.
Teaching according to capability requires Skillful Means. But in the 42nd year, during the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, He said, “Starting from today I will forsake the skillful for direct means.” The path to enlightenment is straight. There is only one path, it is a broad and spacious path. It is the Bodhisattva-path. We may have once sought to be an Arhat, to attain the Fourth, Third, Second or the First Fruition. This is just a skillful mean to entice us. Perhaps we sought to be reborn in a Pure Land. Actually, the field in our minds is the Pure Land.
So where do we seek Dharma? We embody Buddha, Dharma, (Sangha). We have the Three Treasures within us. It is very important to clearly understand the Truths of life. For that, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. You see, Tzu Chi volunteers are a group of living Bodhisattvas. On top of studying sutras, they actualize them through actions and observe birth, aging, sickness and death. The Buddha told us to begin our practice with the Four Noble Truths. When explained, the Four Noble Truths encompass many subtle methods. However, if it is only explained with words, how much can we truly understand and comprehend? Why not observe these Truths ourselves?
In a hospital, we see that the body is impure, that sensation leads to suffering. Truly, life and mind are impermanent. So is there really a “self”? If we are mindful, in one day we can comprehend the Four Noble Truths. We can also see birth, aging, illness, and death. These are the Four Stages of Existence. So what is the value of our body? What should we value in our perspective and thinking? In the psychiatric ward, we wonder how people’s thinking can go so off-track, how their lives can get so confused. How can we take control of and maintain our physical and mental health? It is difficult!
Therefore, the Buddha’s teachings analyzed the many problems of sentient beings. He did so solely to heal our bodies and minds. The main source of our illnesses is ignorance, which arises from affliction. Hence, ignorance and affliction are the source of our mental and physical illnesses. In the Three Evil Realms and the Human Realms, we experience so much torment and unending karmic retributions. Thus, the Buddha employed all kinds of methods to explain the Truth to us.
So everyone, we must repent. The Dharma is like water. If this stream of pure water is always in our minds as we face all kinds of worldly phenomena, we can always increase our vigilance. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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