Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Cleanse the Mind and Cultivate Virtue (勤拂心鏡 進德修身)
The mind is like a mirror. Under calm conditions, it can reflect external states. But when we cover this mirror, we will not be able to see clearly. If there is dust on the mirror, it still remains dusty. Even if the mirror directly faces the external environment, the image is still hazy; it doesn’t show a true likeness.
In order to reveal beautiful environments, we must cleanse our minds until they are spotless. Only then can the world be seen clearly. This is the way to practice Buddha’s teachings. The minds mirror reflects external conditions. When the condition passes, its image disappears from the mirror. But mirrors in the minds of ordinary people are covered with dust. Although the condition is constant, the mind’s mirror still reflects a hazy, unclear image.
Isn’t this the way of ordinary people? We have heard many Sutras and much Dharma, but do we deeply and clearly understand the teachings? If we only have an ambiguous, approximate understanding, the Dharma will still be unclear and vague in our minds. How is this different from listening to Dharma with an ignorant mind?
Thus cultivation is about working hard to polish our inner mirror. If we do not polish it diligently, not only will the dust remain, more layers will from. To emulate the Buddha’s, we must prevent external conditions from entering our minds and diligently wipe off the existing filth. This is that we need to work on.
Cultivation means to diligently polish the mind’s mirror. The cleaner the mirror is, the clearer it can reflect external conditions.
Yesterday we spoke about greed; it sounds like a simple concept. People say, “Yes, we know, it’s about craving. You have spoken a lot about craving for food, craving for taste, and even craving for clothing. We should dress more simply, just pick clothes that cover our bodies. We know that. Simple clothes and food are the way to practice.” I believe everyone understands this concept, but there is more to it.
There is a story in the Sutra of Parables. There is a passage about a poor man who lived an impoverished life. One day, a friend invited him to wedding. He said, “Come to my house, we’re going to have a wedding so join us.” He was very happy since there would be food. It was also rare for him to be invited to a wedding. For a while he worked very hard and was finally able to buy some simple fabric to make a new garment. When he put it on, he looked very handsome. He was very satisfied and happily headed to the wedding. The wedding was full of excitement and fun, with many friends and relatives. During the banquet the person sitting next to him said, “You look handsome, but it’s a pity you’re wearing this outfit. If you had something more elegant, you would look like a nobleman. If you changed into clothing made of the finest material, you would look like a nobleman.”
The poor man replied, “I can’t. I had to work for a very long time, just to buy the fabric for these clothes.” The friend then told him, “If you follow my instructions, I believe you can turn your simple clothes into an elegant outfit.” That made the poor man happy. So he followed his friend to a place, and his friend said, “You must do what I tell you, then you will surely get it.”
“Alright, as long as I can get it, I will be happy.” So the friend built a fire. When it got going, he said, “Take off your clothes and throw them into the fire, the simple clothes will become a beautiful, elegant outfit.” The poor man obeyed, took off all of his clothes, and threw them into the fire. The fire was strong, so the clothes burned up. As they burned, he kept hoping that once this fire burnt up his clothes, it would reveal an elegant outfit. So he prayed sincerely while he waited. However, when the fire went out, there was only a heap of ashes, and nothing else. So the poor man asked his friend, “Where are my clothes? Where are my fine clothes?” The friend replied, “I’m sorry, you weren’t sincere enough” and he left. The poor man was left there, naked and weeping. Buddha used this story in the Sutra or Parables to illustrate how ordinary people are like this man.
It is a parable about how we born as human as because we created good karma in our past lives. After being reborn as human, we should improve ourselves and diligently cultivate virtues. We often say it is rare to be born human and rare to hear Buddha’s teachings. So if we are human, we know we did good deeds in the past; thus we retained human form in this life. So we should cherish this opportunity to continue improving ourselves, to diligently foster virtues, and to refine our conduct.
But that does not happen because of some bad affinities. There are heretics and deviants who lead others off their path of spiritual practice. If our beliefs become skewed, we may lose minds.
During Buddha’s lifetime, religious dogma was very convoluted, because most people were uneducated. This was particularly true in India. There were over 90 types of unorthodox sects alone. Some practices involved fire, immersion water, fasting, even consuming feces and other unimaginable rituals. Those who were not careful could easily be enticed into false religions and beliefs, and risked losing control of their minds.
Before I become a monastic, I heard a story about a man who had certain religious beliefs. On day he was upstairs, doing his rituals. When he was done, he suddenly turned around and jumped out the window. Fortunately, it was not that high up. When he hit the ground, someone quickly came to his rescue. He only broke his leg. People asked him, “Why did you jump?”
He said, “I distinctly saw a ladder to heaven. While I was worshipping, a voice told me I could go to heaven. Then I saw the ladder, so I tried to climb it. I didn’t know I’d fall down.” This is a true story; it really happened. In pursuing some beliefs, people hallucinate and lose their minds.
Many people live in illusions. If you visit a mental health facility, you will find patients who often hear voices and see things. It is their state of mind. Some people are depressed or manic, because they worry or think too much, and no longer see things clearly. It is as if a layer of dust obscures the external conditions that are right in from of them. With this kind of ignorance, they cannot clearly see the external conditions.
They live in an illusory state. So when we talk to them, they cannot hear us. Instead, they hear voices that urge them to do certain things. They may say they see someone in front of them. We see nothing. We just see and hear the person who is actually in front of us. For them, it is different. Their thoughts are abnormal and deviant. Anything off the correct path is deviant. Most people would say, "Possessed? You need to have a ritual." This is also incorrect. People who have visual or auditory hallucinations should seek help from a psychiatrist or a psychologist. It is a real illness, which cannot be cured by ritual or prayer.
Thus, we must practice with mindfulness. With the slightest deviation, the mind's mirror becomes blurry, and we may not accept external conditions or advice from good people. Maybe the bustling phenomenal world always obscures our minds. If so, we will suffer unspeakably.
It is rare to obtain human form and rare to hear Buddha's teachings. We should treasure our human form and diligently cultivate virtues. If we do not use this body properly, if we go astray, it may be eons before we regain human form.
We have a Craving for clothing. But with the clothes we wear, there is no need to crave refined clothing. Simple cotton clothing can be neat and clean. Focus on spiritual cultivation. We wear clothes to demonstrate our modesty and show propriety.
That is all we need to do. So based on what we wear, we should notice what is in our minds. Craving for delicate clothing means that we crave temporary pleasures. So we must not let a brief indulgence lead our bodies to (destroy) the good karma we created in our past lives which enabled us to be born as humans. This is just like that poor man who worked hard for his simple clothes and looked fine in them. They were perfectly appropriate.
As we all learn Buddhism, no matter how we look, we should cherish our body and not deviate in how we use it.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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