Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Countless Bad Karma Brings Ceaseless Suffering (纏綿感情眾生迷)
Endlessly cycling through the Four Forms of Birth, we continue to create countless bad karma, and suffer ceaseless painful retributions. This is all due to afflictions.
As I said yesterday, our ignorance traps us in the Six Realms of cyclic Existence. We “cycle endlessly through Four Forms of Birth.” We all know the Four Forms of Birth: egg- womb-, moisture- and transformation-born.
Some animals, such as birds and chickens, are encased by a shell at birth. All birds are egg-born. Some animals are womb-born. Humans, cows, horses, cats, dogs, etc are womb-born. They have already taken form at birth, whereas eggs need to be incubated.
Moisture-born refers to water-dwelling creatures such as fish, bugs, and countless species of smaller life forms. They are moisture-born because they breed wherever there id moisture.
The last is transformation-born. As an example, some say by chanting Buddha’s name, we will be born in a lotus in Western Pure Land. Achieving this requires a lot of work. Some say that practicing the Ten Good Deeds will allow us to go straight to Heaven when we die. That is transformation-born. Or, if we commit the Ten Evil Deeds, which are acts of unpardonable evil, we will promptly fall into hell. That is also transformation-born. Of course, there are many other examples. Take viruses for example. On its own, a virus cannot grow or reproduce. But once it enters a host cell, it begins to cause problems. This is an invisible process. When specific conditions are met, certain karma is created and certain forms are manifested.
Thus, all life forms go through the Four Forms of Birth. Though we are womb-born as humans, we still may not be free of physical defects. The volunteers that return from Indonesia report that many people have cleft lips. Because they are poor, those in their 20s, 30s, or 40s have still not had reconstructive surgery. As a result, they have low self-esteem. Even young children feel the same way.
There was a child old enough to go to school but was afraid to go and did not want to leave her house. Her parents heard about our free clinic. They did not know that we came from Taiwan. They just heard about a loving charitable organization that provides free medical care. So they brought her o our free clinic. When the child heard that she was getting reconstructive surgery, she was very happy. They said that she could not sleep at night. They asked her, “Were you afraid? Or worried? No, I am very happy.” When she compared her face to that of other children, her cleft lip made her feel very inferior. Though she was so young, she already had low self-esteem and was afraid to go to school. Now that someone could help her, of course she was very happy. She will no longer feel inferior. This is human nature. But why was she born with such a deformity? This was beyond her control.
I also saw some heartwarming photos from the free clinic. The first photo showed the operating tables. At each table, there were more than five or six medical personnel. At one table, the chief surgeon stood by the patient’s head. We could tell from his eyes that this was Asst. Supt. Chien of our Dalin Hospital. The next photo showed Dr. Chien holding a small child in his arms. He gaze was that of a kind father holding his child. It was heartwarming.
Then we heard the story from a staffer. He said, “Dr. Chien was very meticulous in performing the surgery. After the operation, he carried the child to the recovery room and gently laid him down. Then Dr. Chien stood there, looking at the child with a smile of contentment and satisfaction. He praised him, ‘What a beautiful child.’” It was very heartwarming to hear this story. All human beings are one family. When someone in our family is born with a birth defect, how can we not extend our love and care to mend that physical defect? Moreover this was a very young child.
So, Dr. Chien treated him like his own child. He was also like an artist who carved something beautiful and was very satisfied with the successful results. His care for the child and his contentment with his artistry was apparent from the child’s face. This feeling of contentment reminds me of bone marrow donors who share their stories here. When I tell them: “Thank you.” “You have a very kind heart.” The response that I always receive is, “I am the one who should be grateful, because it feels great to save someone’s life.” It seems that every one of them felt great after saving someone’s life. So it is understandable that when Dr. Chien carried the child and laid him on the bed, he said, “What a beautiful child.” Fortunately, he has the medical expertise and dexterous hands to perform such a surgery. As a result of his skill, children will be more open and can now go to school. The child’s future is limitless.
We also heard residents of the Great Love Village in Indonesia joyously talk about their new home. One said, “I never dreamed that I could live in such a nice home. And now so many of us can live here, all because of the love of many people. Now we have a secure living situation. We can lead a stable life. Our children can also receive and education. Look at how well this school is built and how the students are taught with so much love. Since these children are given such a wonderful education, surely this Great Love Village will produce a future president.” They hope that with this education, a future president will surely emerge. These are their expectations. We also heard from the very young children.
One told us he was happy to live in their new home. We asked, “Are you happy about going to school?” “Very happy.” “What are you going to be when you grow up?” He thought and said, “I want to be the president.” Clearly the adults have such hopes and the children have such aspirations. Surrounded by this environment, the people in this Da Ai Village are clearly full of hope. In the past, these people illegally built their homes on the Angke River. It was smelly and filthy. The children did not have a chance to go to school. Since the adults could not make a living, how could their children get an education?
Then a group of loving people came along. See, love makes everything possible. They built comfortable homes for these people, gave them opportunities to work, and enable their children to receive an education. They have so much hope now, and so many opportunities, so of course they are very happy. So when I listen to these reports and see the free clinics, I am truly moved. This is how blessings work. The blessed can create blessings by helping others. Those who receive help are also blessed. These are the causes and conditions of blessings.
Living in this world, if we have blessed karmic causes and conditions, it does not matter in what condition we are born. The way we are born depends on the karma we bring. It is beyond our control. But if we have blessed seeds among our karma, when the time comes and blessed conditions manifest and converge with those seeds, we can attain blessings and have an opportunity for deliverance. This is also a result of karma.
In other words, we have a mix of both good and bad karma. If we inadvertently commit evil, we must face the results of bad karma. If we create blessings, we plant a good karmic cause that is stored away. When we have exhausted our bad karma, the blessed seeds will manifest and attract blessed conditions. If we create blessed causes, we will have good seeds, then, we will have opportunities. Without those good seeds, we have no chance, and our sufferings will continue.
We are born according to our karma, with blessed seeds among our many karmic causes. Once we exhaust our bad karma, blessed conditions will manifest. Thus we can transform suffering into happiness.
In our daily living, we have to be very careful. We need to create more blessings and plant more good seeds. If we commit fewer wrongdoings, we will experience less suffering. This is why every day I have been talking about eliminating afflictions and ignorance. Afflictions are like our enemies. Afflictions are like thieves and robbers. Afflictions are like shackles. This is how afflictions entangle us. They wrap around us tightly, cover us, and tie us up so we will forever go through 4 Forms of Birth in 6 Realms. When we die, we take nothing with us except karma. “Countless bad karma brings ceaseless suffering.”
The bad causes are countless, there are so many of them. Since we have so many evil seeds, countless karmic obstacles manifest there will be innumerable negative retributions. Karma exists because of causes. Once there is a cause, countless karma will follow. We will receive “endless painful retributions.” There is no break or end to suffering. It will last forever. When we face all these sufferings and endless painful retributions, we should know that this is all caused by our afflictions. Our ignorance and afflictions cause us to create bad karma, or to make unintentional mistakes. We do this out of ignorance and afflictions. We are often deluded by the people and things that we encounter. So our minds constantly react and give rise to unwholesome thoughts that cause us to have disputes and create karma. This is all caused by afflictions. This is why we commit so many wrongdoings and end up in the Three Lower Realms, the Six Realms, and go through 4 Forms of Birth. We create so much bad karma and so many painful retributions because of mistakes and wrongs committed out of ignorance and afflictions. Thus, starting today, we must know to truly and deeply self-reflect.
An ignorant thought will give rise to many afflictions. When we suffer from afflictions, we will create countless seeds of karma. If we do not know to self-reflect and repent, we will fall into the Three Evil Realms and be continuously reborn without an end in sight.
Fellow practitioners, we must be firm in our reverence. We must always be on guard and fear afflictions and ignorance. We must fear them, be cautious, and constantly increase our vigilance. But we should not be terrified; we just need to raise our awareness.
Fellow practitioners, we must take care of our minds and always be more vigilant. When we interact with others, we must take good care of our minds. Then we will not make a mistake when we speak. Instead we will encourage and help each other. These are merits and virtues, which are good seeds. If something we say causes others to feel bad, we have planted a bad seed. It is said, “Whenever we talk, we create karma.” Fellow practitioners, we talk to others every day. We should make a habit of speaking good words and eliminate our habit of speaking carelessly. Thus, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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