Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Leak is Another Name for Affliction (漏是煩惱的別名)
“The 3 Poisonous Roots may cause all wrongdoings. The Three Leaks may cause all wrongdoings.”
The first of the 3 Leaks is the Leak of Desire. Desire is affliction. We live in the Desire Realm. Who is born without desire? Babies cry the moment they are born. As soon as the newborns are bathed, they are wrapped up, and begin to have desires. When we feed them milk, they will begin to suckle. This desire for food is innate. Our desires grow over time, as our needs continuously increase. After several decades of living, we accumulate more desires and have stronger cravings for material things. This is called desire.
We crave not just material objects, but relationships as well. Because of their desires, people crave objects, fame, wealth, etc. These desires all arise from a thought of greed. Even more troublesome is romantic desire. It can be very problematic. Once people have romantic desire, they lose much of their wisdom, and even their morality and ethics.
Originally, we all had the same compassion and wisdom as the Buddha. However, as our feelings of deluded love and greed grow, we lose a bit of clarity in our pure, intrinsic nature. We lose a bit of the compassion which is equal to the Buddha’s. With every bit of deluded love, we lose a bit of compassion and wisdom. So afflictions and our pure, intrinsic nature are mutually exclusive. When one increases the other decreases.
When our afflictions increase, our wisdom decreases. The decrease is called a Leak.
Leak is another name for affliction. It indicates a lack of wisdom and an obscuration of our pure, intrinsic nature. When the mind produces a bit of affliction, a bit of pure wisdom leaks out.
Many people in this society have become deluded and disregard their families as they pursue romantic love. These emotions are truly incredible. It seems like it is karmic affinities drawing them to the object of their affection.
Parents love and cherish their children from birth. Mothers hold them in their bosoms and nurse them. Mothers tirelessly wake up in the middle of the night to prepare bottles. Parents soothe their fevers and comfort them while they are ill. Parents also provide for all their daily needs, until they can live independently. Then karmic affinities draw them toward someone they like. They wish to spend every day with that person. The parents may disapprove of their choice of partner, and think that they are making a mistake. But the children would rather choose this burgeoning relationship, and sacrifice decades of love and kindness from their parents. For romance, they willingly turn their backs on their parents. Wouldn’t you agree that they are deluded?
When they are entangled by romantic love, they do not realize that the feeling will pass. In the Philippines, there was a young woman with three children. The children were all very young. Of course, she had them after she married. Before marriage, she and her husband must have been deeply in love. So they eventually married and had children. Over the course of their marriage, they probably also had a period of happiness.
However, life is difficult. One day, this woman was in a car accident, and severely injured her leg. But the burden of making a living was tremendous. As a responsible woman who loved her children, she disregarded her own injuries and pain, and continued to work as a vendor, selling popsicles etc., to make a living. It allowed them to barely scrape by. So her leg injury remained untreated for a long time. Eventually it developed into a severe case of bone marrow infection. She went to the National Orthopedic Hospital and was admitted as an inpatient. The doctor said her leg needed to be amputated. Without amputation, she would lose her life.
During this period of time, her husband could no longer deal with their poverty and suffering. So he left, abandoning her and the kids. For the sake of her children, the woman agreed to the operation. Meanwhile, she was really worried. How could she manage to keep the children with her while she was at the hospital? What could she do? She went to an orphanage to ask for help. She told the director of the orphanage, “Please take care of my children. Do not let people adopt them. I will surely come back for them. I absolutely will. No matter what don’t put my children up for adoption.” After she obtained the director’s assurances, her mind was at ease. Then she checked into the hospital to have her leg amputated.
Many months passed; perhaps due to the infection, her treatment took a very long time. Every day, this young mother wept profusely because she missed her children. Around this time, TIMA members in the Philippines began working with hospitals. When they first met this woman, she was suffering every day. She was very miserable. When Tzu Chi took over her case, aside from assisting her with medical costs, we also brought her food to make sure she received enough nutrition. More importantly, we focused on comforting her and cheering her up, so she could calmly receive treatment. Once she became happier, she began to have hope. She realized that she must be strong and live for the sake of her three children. With a change in mindset, more nutrients and aggressive treatment, her condition began to improve.
Tzu Chi volunteers knew she missed her children so they arranged for leave from the hospital for her. This mother was so happy and bragged, “I am going to see my children.” She was so happy that everyone else at the hospital envied her. “How do you have such a great affinity that you met this organization? Tzu Chi volunteers take such great care of you.”
“Yes, I know I am blessed. My life isn’t that bad after all. I deeply appreciate my blessings.”
Because Tzu Chi volunteers spent a very long time interacting with her, they were able to help open her heart. She appreciated her blessings and was content. Tzu Chi volunteers prepared a wheelchair for her, pushed her to the car and helped her in. She was anxious and wanted to see her children right away. But they got stuck in traffic. She started crying in the car. She was very anxious. Every minute felt like a year. Finally, they reached the orphanage. She wheeled herself quickly to the front door and kept calling her children’s names. Her three adorable children ran toward her and hugged her. The scene of the mother embracing her children moved everyone to tears, including volunteers and the orphanage staff. Everyone in the orphanage wept. We can envision this reunion between mother and children. The mother looked closely and touched them from head to toe. Then she talked to them for a long time. She asked them, “If one day your father came to see you, would you hate him?”
They gave her a definite answer, “Yes, we really hate our father.”
Then, as a loving mother, she told them, “You cannot hate you father. He is your father. We must be tolerant and forgive many people, especially your father.” She repeated many Jing Si Aphorisms and good sayings to carefully teach and guide her children. Our Tzu Chi volunteers were joyful to hear this. It seemed that the time they spent with her helped heal her heart and recover her ability to love. She learned to be content, tolerant and forgiving. So she taught her children to be the same. Although they were young, they heard their mother’s teachings of love and knew to forgive their father and be happy when he visited.
In the past seven months, she had missed them. During that time, her resentment disappeared. Now she was very optimistic. It was clear that she took the Tzu Chi volunteers’ words to heart. So when she was reunited with her children she put what she had learned into practice. Seeing this, we can imagine what her life was like. This woman’s children were so young. We can imagine that she and her husband must have built this family with love. Although the family was not wealthy, they must have once lived a happy life.
But life is impermanent. After her injury, her husband could not endure the burden of supporting the family. So he abandoned them. This young mother had to care for three children on her own. Faced with the realities of life and the pain of her injury, how could she not be resentful and bitter? But resentment doesn’t help. She tried to delay treatment as long as possible. While she was being treated, she met Tzu Chi volunteers. Then her life began to turn around as she learned to recognize and cherish blessings. By doing this she was able to open her heart and truly accept love and care. Therefore, she has recovered from her afflictions and her losses. A leak is a loss, it is the afflictions that arise from discontent and loss. So our afflictions can arise from “desire” or “existence.” When we have desires and are pursuing them, we feel happy. Then suffering manifests when we face the effect, the painful consequence.
This is “existence” of affliction. Last is the affliction of ignorance, known as the Leak of Ignorance. First is the Leak of Desire. Second, the Leak of Existence. Third, the Leak of Ignorance. Leak is another term for affliction and loss. We began by creating affinities out of desire, which then lead to retributions of suffering and affliction. Affliction leads to endless entanglement in causes and conditions. After we suffer, we create more bad karma. So ignorance is another layer of affliction.
The Three Leaks :
Leak of Desire, Leak of Existence, Leak of Ignorance.
If we are discontent, there is no end to our desires. Many afflictions will arise. This is called the Leak of Desire. If we are not wise enough, we will pursue our desires, and thus create karma and suffer. This is called the Leak of Existence. When our minds are obscured by layers of ignorance we will continuously produce afflictions. This is called the Leak of Ignorance.
Therefore, Leak is a Buddhist term that applies to the Desire Realm, Form Realm and Formless Realm. Actually, I feel we just need to know that ignorance is the cause of afflictions and loss. When conditions are ripe, the result is suffering. When we are in pain, we create karma out of ignorance and afflictions. If we can understand this, we will know to be content in our living. So I often tell everyone to be grateful and content. Contentment helps us avoid affliction. Gratitude helps free us from ignorance. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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