Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Practice the Bodhisattva-Path Together (菩薩道上勤互勉)
You often hear me say, “Refrain from all evil, and do all good.” People think,” I do no evil, I cultivate goodness and I do good deeds.” It is easy because we are in a good environment, where there are many good people who encourage one another. We practice the Bodhisattva-path together, and outwardly we seem to do quite well, but what about in our minds? Yes, we do good deeds, but we still have our interests and hobbies. So, after we have finished our good deeds, we still do as we please.
Many years ago, a group of Buddhists in southern Taiwan enjoyed releasing living creatures for merit. Twice a month, and on Buddha’s Birthday, they would purchase live fish and shrimp at the market and then drive to far-away Shi-men Reservoir to release them. Afterwards, they would say to each other, “Let’s go have a Transcendence Service for them.” Where did they go? To a seafood restaurant to eat seafood. Someone asked, “We just set fish and shrimp free. Why are we going to eat them at a restaurant?” The leader said, “We just released the live ones. To help the dead, we will perform a Transcendence Service by eating them. When we’re full, they have transcended.” At first that sounded reasonable.
Aside from eating seafood, he also suggested having a drink or two. Another person asked, “As Buddhists, shouldn’t we not drink?” He said, “Who says? Rice wine is made from rice, distilled from grain. It can increase our wisdom, it is the soup of Prajna.” To some, this sounded reasonable, like Dharma.
When the leader smoked, others said, “Smoking is bad form for a Buddhist.” He said, “Who says? In temples they light incense before, they pay respect to the Buddha and it creates a canopy of incense cloud. And when we smoke, so do we.”
When people from this group told me this story about how they released the fish, held the Transcendence Service, drank “soup of Prajna,” and created a “canopy of incense cloud”, I marveled at their cleverness in interpreting their actions. In truth, they were clever, but lacked wisdom. At the restaurant, they could have chosen to eat live fish. But they picked the already dead ones, and claimed to help them transcend. But the dead ones had been alive once as well. If they did not eat them, no one would try to catch them. More absurd is when they decided on how much fish to release. Although the vendors normally stocked 20kg, they told them they wanted 50kg. The vendors needed an extra 30kg. To fulfill their good intentions, the vendors had to tell the fishermen to catch more fish. Doesn’t this make others create more bad karma?
Also, the fish were free and happy in the streams, rivers and sea. Once caught, they are placed in small containers. Although they have water, imagine how crowded it is. They have to struggle to survive. Until they are released, they suffer tremendously. Then they are dumped from buckets high above the water. Before being released, they are exposed to the hot sun, while these people chant Sutras and mantras as part of the ceremony of release. So the fish simmer under the sun. In crowded buckets, waiting for the ceremony to end, so they can be dumped into the water. How torturous that must be; I wonder how many actually survive.
Such is the way of people who claim to do good deeds, but afterwards do whatever they please. Let us think about this. Although they did good deeds, they did not refrain from bad deeds. Did they truly “do all good and refrain from all evil”? Releasing living beings out of compassion is good, but it created a cycle of evil deeds. Merchants increased their purchases, and fishermen caught more fish. So this caused others to create more negative karma. This shows how foolish people can be. Even Buddhists who sincerely want to do good end up doing half good half evil. They believe in Buddhism, but do not practice the Buddha’s teachings.
They listen to the Dharma, and learn terms like soup of Prajna, canopy of incense cloud, and transcendence. With their cleverness, they interpret the terms to rationalize their activities. They do not care if they are correct, they only care about having fun. What they advocate may sound good, but it is based on falsehoods.
So we often talk about how to take care of our minds. To learn Buddha’s way is to practice His teachings. We must refrain from all evil, cherish the lives of all sentient beings, pull them out of their misery and keep them away from pain and suffering. Only then do we truly refrain from all evil.
Constantly abide by Buddha’s teachings, treasure the lives of all sentient beings, and pull all sentient beings out of their misery to attain the state of refraining from all evil.
These past few days we spoke about “greed”, various attachments to greed. Previously, we spoke about food. Next is Craving for clothing. When it really comes down to it, how much clothing can we wear? Clothing serves two functions. One, it shield us from the cold, so we do not get sick. In the winter, clothes keep us warm. And two, clothes make us human. No other animals wear clothes, only humans. Humans are the most intelligent of all animals. We have civilization and culture. To be civilized, we must wear clothes.
Covering ourselves shows modesty. If we do not wear any clothing, then we are shameless. So we cover ourselves. We should have this sense of shame so that embarrassment rises up if our bodies are not covered.
Of course, in advanced cultures, how one dresses is a matter of propriety. People wear clothes that suit them, and are work-appropriate. This reflects the culture of the civilization. If a farmer wears a suit to plant rice seedlings, that would be wrong. To plow the field, lead a bull, and plant seedlings in a suit is very inconvenient and inappropriate. But if he wears rugged clothes with pant legs rolled up to attend a formal event, that is also wrong. To be civilized and appropriate we must wear clothes.
When it comes to attire, being dignifies is most important. Our clothes should be neat and clean. That is what makes the best clothing. Many people want “splendid clothing” but what is that? What is considered “splendid clothing”? As we said earlier, it must be appropriate, civilized and most importantly, modest. Propriety is very important.
Some people think clothes can weigh them down, so they want pretty clothes that are light and soft. Silk and satin have long been considered the finest fabrics, but they are costly. Clothing made of cotton is less refined, but is the healthiest to wear. For many people nowadays, they don’t simply wear clothes for warmth and decency. They are beyond that. Some people spend over $1000, $10,000 on an outfit.
In the past, I often traveled to Taipei to fundraise for the hospital. I heard many women greet each other by asking how much the other’s outfit cost. They had not absorbed my teachings yet, because I had just started visiting Taipei. After listening to the Sutra, people chatted, “What a beautiful dress you have on today,” while touching the fabric. The woman said it cost over NT$10,000. Hearing this, I asked what kind of dress it was. She told me that it came from France. I thought it was sad that someone went through so much trouble to buy a dress from France. It was really sad.
Another time, a woman was there who traveled to America, England, and France to purchase clothing to sell in her boutique. She said, "I just got some new inventory. Come by sometime and take a look." So, I asked her, "What do you do?"
She said, "I run a business."
I said, "What business?"
"I own a boutique."
"What do you sell in your boutique?"
She replied, "I sell clothing like theirs."
"I heard that those are very expensive."
She said, "Oh, yes. So and so always buys her clothes from me."
I asked, "Are they really that expensive?"
She said, "I feel embarrassed telling you. They don't actually cost me much, but they won't sell unless they're expensive."
"Why is that?"
She gave me an example. She said, "The simplest, cheapest piece I sell costs NT$5,000."
I said, "Is it really worth NT$5,000?"
She said, "No, you can buy it for a few hundred. I initially charged NT$800 for it. Everyone noticed how pretty it was, toughed it, and checked the price. When they saw $800, they immediately let go and chose more expensive items."
It stayed on display for a while. Later she took it down and added an extra zero to make it $8,000, and put it back up. At that price, it was sold in two days.
It is all about vanity. "If someone asked me how much my clothed cost and I say $800, it'd be embarrassing. But if it cost at least $8,000, people would say it's beautiful and touch it." That was how rich women lived. Now, this same group of women wear Tzu Chi's "Eightfold Path dress." On formal occasions, they wear cheongsam, otherwise they wear the uniform. They are consistent in their dress.
After wearing the "Eightfold Path dress", a woman said, "Once we took a taxi but the driver refused my money."
"Why wouldn't he take your money?"
She said, "The driver said that today was his lucky day, he got to drive Bodhisattvas around, so he wanted to make an offering by giving us a free ride."
I asked, "Did you really not pay? Driving a taxi is tough work!"
She said, "I insisted on paying, so he asked me to donate the fare to Tzu Chi."
See, when they wear the uniform, the "Eightfold Path dress" or on formal occasions, the cheongsam, people respect them. Everyone wears clothes, so why are we only satisfied if others praise what we wear? Why do we not aim to be dignified? Being dignified is about being neat and clean. If we are neat and clean then we look dignified.
So, the body is a place for spiritual cultivation. We should transform our body into a dignified place for cultivation. Otherwise if we indulge in entertainment, and always wear party clothing, we will give people a different impression. So what image do we want to present with what we wear? As civilized human beings, we should display grace, propriety, and neatness. These, I think, are the most important.
The body is a place of cultivation. We should keep our clothing neat and clean, and make sure it is civilized, courteous, and proper. That is cultivation.
As we learn Buddhism, we must first learn to be proper, otherwise how can we become Buddhas? Please strive to be a proper person so you can become a Buddha.
With regard to clothing, even if it is unrefined, if it is respectable and clean that is good enough. Do not spend so much energy on fancy dress. That is not dignified, and demonstrates superficiality that others will not respect. So, everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水).
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