Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Build Character as Spiritual Practice (成就自我的人格)
I often say we should take good care of our minds. If we do not, in a moment of confusion we will be led by external conditions and unconsciously follow karmic forces to do wrong.
People often interact in this way. If I like someone at first sight, my happiness becomes linked to that person. This creates many unsolvable problems and afflictions. Why do you resent a certain person? Why does seeing him make you angry? Once ignorance and afflictions arise, we start to look unpleasant. When others notice our antagonism, they think and feel that we are unreasonable and ignore us. Thus we isolate ourselves and we only have ourselves to blame for this retribution.
If we do not take good care of our minds, in a moment of confusion, we will be led by external conditions. When ignorance and afflictions emerge, we must bear the karmic retribution.
Do not think it is a simple case of dislike. If we have a bad attitude toward another person on sight, others will see us as undisciplined, and it will be a blow to our character. Think about it: it is not a serious matter, but it can be damaging to us. So is it serious or not? Once the seed of this karma is sown in our minds, external conditions will bring it to fruition. Then in the future it will be difficult to live happily with others in the community and we will encounter many obstacles.
Why do things go smoothly for some people? Because they have cultivated good affinities. Many people help make our ideals a reality and give us the strength to achieve them. So if we want to accomplish anything, we need to make good connections. Where do we start? Here and now, when facing others, evoke a joyful heart.
Wasn’t this what Sakyamuni Buddha taught us? In the Lotus Sutra in the chapter of Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva, the Buddha taught us how to create good affinities with others and build our character. We should never disparage others. We must treat them with courtesy, respect, and a joyful heart. This was the way of Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva, and this is how the Buddha taught us to build character. So if we want to truly learn Buddhism, we cannot leave the Saha world, we must live among people, and the primary method is to create good affinities.
For things to proceed smoothly, we need to create good affinities with others. Treating others with respect and a joyful heart helps us build character.
Good affinities develop from our minds. Our minds must remain bright and clear, without ignorance. Ignorance is delusion, and it causes confusion. Spiritual practice is about being mindful of our thoughts, not allowing ignorance and delusion to manifest.
If we do so and create bad karma, we suffer the consequences. No one else can bear that for us. We planted the fruit of suffering ourselves. Therefore, retribution manifests.
Once we create the cause, it results in the condition. Retribution comes as bad karma grows over time, as antagonism intensifies and deepens. This is the cycle of hatred and enmity. It begins with hatred, baseless resentment, and as it deepens over time, it creates hostility. When it translates into action, then it truly becomes enmity. Once we make an enemy, misfortunes keep coming. Things start small, but may become major problems in the future.
In learning Buddhism, as I have repeatedly reminded you, you all should have certain understanding. You should know who I am addressing these teachings to. Some may think that I am speaking directly to someone else. But if they think that way, then they lose out, because their minds did not accept this Dharma. Dharma is as water. If our minds cannot absorb Dharma-water, thinking it belongs to someone else, then we do not have vigilant, reflective, guarded minds. In that case, karma and afflictions will have many opportunities to manifest. So in our minds, we must always recognize. Dharma as water and keep it always in our minds. I am not speaking to someone else, I am speaking to you. Everyone must know “she is speaking to me, and know that Branch Ignorance is part of our ignorance.”
Branch Ignorance is classified as a coarser type of ignorance. In the Six Realms of cyclic existence, when the sense organs and objects interact, all the afflictions that arise are called Branch Ignorance.
Branch Ignorance is about the mind. It is all about our thoughts. Look at the mind and all its functions. Dharma originally had no form in these functions. But we know that when many things connect, they begin to correspond. Among the 100 elemental functions, 51 are functions possessed by the mind. Greed, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and false views alone pervade the 51 functions.
Mind and consciousness correspond and give rise to 51 mental functions. They are functions possessed by the mind.
The functions manifest through the meeting of sense organs, sense objects, and our minds. They result in greed, anger, ignorance, pride and doubt. We should ask ourselves every day, “We there any greed in my mind today?” Do monastic practitioners still have many desires? Yes, a lot. Food alone elicits thoughts like. “I do not like that. I crave this. Why aren’t there more left over?” Although these are petty things, there is an element of greed.
Accommodations elicit thoughts of “I live here? I wanted to live with that person. Why am I assigned here? Why couldn’t I get a larger unit? Ideally, I’d like a suite.” Our minds differentiate between different living environments, and we have specific desires.
If we have greed in our minds, a discriminating mind arises toward people, matters and things, which causes afflictions and suffering.
Anger is similar I just mentioned, “I want to work with someone I like, always and forever. We can talk a lot, about anything and everything. I enjoy whatever we talk about.” But do these words comply with the Dharma? “I don’t care as long as I’m happy. Some people speak well; every sentence makes sense and reminds us to be vigilant. But others get angry at them “Don’t try to be smart! “You think you are so clever!” But they are the ones pretending to be smart. When someone else can say it but they cannot, their jealousy results in anger. An angry mind is truly frightening.
Some people are proud and very arrogant. “You know, you and I not very different, I actually knew things before you did. That arrogance and pride, that mindset, is a serious illness. If we are arrogant, we cannot gain wisdom, so we must be vigilant.
Pride and arrogance are also illnesses. An arrogant person finds it hard to gain wisdom.
Distrust in others is also very painful. Nowadays you can see that many people are unhealthy, physically and mentally, just because of doubt. They are suspicious everything. When we doubt someone, we mentally distance ourselves from them. We dare not mingle with others. Even when we are with others, we feel that they will never help us, but rather will hurt us. Thus we become isolated. So do not have doubts.
Being suspicious is distressing. There is a saying, “Use Buddha’s mind to see others, and everyone is a Buddha. Use a demon’s mind to see others and everyone is a demon.” If our minds are at ease every day will be peaceful. If our minds are always doubtful every day will be uneasy. Whether we feel doubt toward people, time, or place, etc., it troubles us, it afflicts us. So we should not be doubtful.
We must believe in ourselves, trust that we are selfless. If we construct a selfless mindset, we naturally believe that everyone is loving, and then there will be nothing to doubt. Do not doubt.
Doubt cause illness. It also leads to isolation. If our mind is open and without doubt, we can live each day with ease.
We all have our own views. Once we have opinions, afflictions constantly emerge. This falls under Branch Ignorance. Everyone, Branch ignorance arises when sense organs meet sense objects and create afflictions. So, we must take good care of our sense organs, regardless of the external conditions. We use our sense organs, our eyes, to see things. If we can strengthen our minds to avoid greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, we will eliminate mental afflictions. Then our sense organs will no longer connect with sense objects. So, we have to be very careful because there is also Root Ignorance.
Root Ignorance is a more subtle form of ignorance. Sentient beings lack awareness since they have not reached the Ultimate Dharma Realm. A tiny delusion can cause frequent disasters. This lack of awareness is Root Ignorance.
Why do Root and Branch Ignorance coexist within sentient beings? Because we have not understood or attained the truth of the Absolute Dharma Realm. What is the Absolute Dharma Realm? It is the Ultimate Reality. It is the non-dual absolute Dharma. What is the Ultimate Reality? It is our true nature, our purest nature. We have not truly realize or experienced it.
If we all believe that mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are not different, and recognize that this truest, most sincere love exists in every one of us, then we can be like Buddha. We will have no worries, no defilement. This clear and vast Buddha-nature exists not only in Buddha, but in all of us. If we attain the Absolute Dharma Realm, nothing will happen.
Since we have not attained it, when a tiny deluded thought stirs, however slightly, it leads to endless problems. So where do deluded thoughts come from? They come when thoughts arise unchecked. This can be very frightening. With a tiny deluded thought, emotions of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt are roused. On a small scale, this leads to conflicts among people, unhappy families and disrupted societies. On a larger scale, we see national disasters.
Let us think back to 2001, to the event on Sept. 11th. Terrorists with ignorant thoughts took reckless actions. They were deluded by ignorance, and could not understand what was "right" and what was "wrong", because so much anger and hatred had accumulated in their minds. But whom did they really hate? Did the people in the Twin Towers do anything to create that hatred? Where did this hatred come from? Why would they fly airplanes into the towers? They killed nearly 3000 people and destroyed their families. It was a huge shock to the international community.
See, this act arose from a deluded thought and caused so much devastation. Then came the Iraq War in 2003. These are all man-made disasters. Does anyone know why these disasters happened? It is because people do not understand. This Absolute Dharma Realm is the pure nature and the loving environment that everyone of us has, but we do not cherish this.
So, ignorance, sense organs and objects affect our minds. When our minds are clouded by ignorance, we lose our illuminating wisdom, and the darkness perpetually grows. Think about it. This is all caused by a single thought.
Everyone, whether you are a monastic or lay practitioner, you must take good care of your thoughts. Otherwise a deluded thought arises and Root Ignorance is continuously produced and accumulated as it interacts with external conditions. We will never see the end of this. The Six Realms, especially the Three Evil Realms, are always around us.
In conclusion, everyone, we must constantly take good care of our minds and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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