Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Five Views (五見)
Life is impermanent. When is it called “life”? When our body is healthy; when we have contact with the outside world; when we have thoughts actions, and mutual interactions; these moments are called “life.”
In life, there is both happiness and suffering. Life is experienced through daily living. In learning Buddhism, we must learn to understand the meaning of life and how to live. Our life is inseparable from our views. There are five types of views. They are called the Five Views.
The Five views are also called the Five Evil Views and they prevent us from attaining Buddhahood. The Five Views: The View of Self, Extreme view, Perverse View, Stubborn View, View of Deviant Precepts.
The Five Views, also called the Five Evil Views, are types of negative views. When they appear in our daily life, bitter fruition or evil follows. So now let us discuss these five types of views. First is View of Self. It is the attachment to the body. Without a body, there is no life.
There is an old saying, “The Body is our biggest liability in life.” Since we have a body, we have feelings. I love this and hate that I like this and dislike that. This makes me really happy. That makes me really sad. These feelings all come from having a body. In addition to senses and feelings, when the Four Elements are out of balance, we will get sick. A mild flu, a runny nose, a cough, etc., all make us feel bad, while other illnesses can bring even more pain. Headaches, stomachaches, and foot pains are all sensations of our body.
The View of Self is inseparable from the Five Aggregates: from, sensation, perception, action, consciousness. We cling to the View of Self because of this body. When we have a body, which has form, it creates afflictions and discrimination.
Take the disaster in New Orleans as an example. New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Although it is part of such a wealthy nation, it could not withstand the hurricane, which destroyed businesses and homes built over decades by hundreds of thousands of people. Everything was destroyed by the power of wind. There were hundreds of thousands of victims. Each of them has a different story related to form, things that are tangible. The victims’ homes, precious possessions, and even family members were lost because of the hurricane. All of these losses have to do with the body.
Because we have a body, we feel, “I have a lot of possessions.” And when they are destroyed, we say, “my heart aches, for I have lost everything. I have lost decades of hard work.” There is a lot of “I’, ”me”, and “mine”. Because of this body, we are subject to the influence of external forms, objects of people, from which we suffer immensely.
When we are attached to the Five Aggregated-form, sensation, perception, action, consciousness- and see the physical body as real, afflictions and sufferings arise. This is called the View of Self.
The second view is Extreme View. Extreme View is being attached to one side. Some adhere to Eternalism, others to Nihilism. Holding either view is incorrect. Those adhering to Nihilism say, “Why do good? Being born human, I can do whatever I want. What’s cause and effect? I don’t see it. So I can do whatever I want.” These types of people easily do wrong, not believing in cause and effect. They never think or care about consequences. “As long as I am happy, I can do whatever I want to do.” This is adhering to Nihilism.
They do not know that cause and effect exist. Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam and Taoism, each alludes to heaven and hell. People who do good, go to heaven. People who believe and follow he doctrine go to heaven. Those who have no faith and disobey the rules end up in hell. These religions subscribe to the concept of cause and effect. With the right view of cause and effect, we will not do evil.
The aim of religion is to educate everyone about life and life’s purpose. Thus, adhering to Nihilism is incorrect. We must believe in cause and effect. We often say, “Nothing follows us after death except karma.” Karma is a seed. When we create a cause, we have planted a seed. Even when we leave this place, the seed is still in our minds. In another place, another condition will allow the seed to sprout again. Therefore, we reap what we sow. This is a fact that we cannot obliterate. So do not adhere to Nihilism.
Within our present life, there exists a future life. The future life coexists with the present life. For example, after today, there is a tomorrow. When we treat others well today, others speak well of us later. When we do good and speak kind words, we leave a very good impression on others. This is also cause and effect.
To establish trustworthiness, our actions should correspond with our words. When we do this, we create a cause. It causes others to trust us, and that is the effect. So, cause and effect definitely exist. In our daily life, every action has a cause, condition, effect and retribution. Therefore we cannot adhere to Nihilism.
Also, do not adhere to Eternalism. Some people think that “I am rich. I am a human and good-looking. My next life will be the same. I will be reborn as human again to enjoy the same blessings, life after life.” This is not right either. The Buddha spoke of the Five Realms; Heaven, Human, Animal, Hunger Ghost, and Hell. We often talk about the 6 Realms of Reincarnation. Among these is one called the Asura Realm.
The Asura Realm exists within the Five Realms. Asuras are those who have bad temperaments, are always irritable and often lose their temper. Even if they have created a lot of good karma, are giving and do good deeds, if they cannot change their bad temper, and are arrogant and rude when doing charity work, then no matter how much good karma they have, even if they are reborn in the Heaven Realm, they are still Asuras.
The Asuras in heaven are always getting angry. They often quarrel and fight. Such things happen in heaven as well. They possess heavenly bliss bur lack virtue. When one does good deeds and is rewarded in heaven it is called Worldly Blessings, but it lacks virtue. We often talk about Worldly Blessings and Virtuous Blessings. When one has both blessings and inner cultivation, it is called Virtuous Blessings. If one has blessings but is ill- tempered it is called Worldly Blessings.
Worldly Blessings refer to something external, such as our good surroundings and wealth. Virtuous Blessings encompass not only external blessings, but also inner cultivation.
When we say, “You have a lot of blessings, these “blessings” refer to tangible conditions, such as being wealthy, living in a good environment, and having wonderful children. But virtue is still lacking. So we must cultivate both blessings and virtues. Then we will be born in Heaven to enjoy heavenly bliss physically and mentally. But this enjoyment only lasts for a short while. Lifespans and time itself are longer in heaven. 50 years in the human Realm is one day in the Heavens of the Four Deva-Kings. 100 years in the Human Realm is just one day in the Trayastrimsas Heaven. Beings there have long life spans. So heaven is a place of longevity and pleasure. So heaven is a place of longevity and pleasure. But with bad tempers, Asuras, though in heaven, still suffer from afflictions. There are also Asuras in the human world.
Those who constantly fight and get into trouble are called Asuras of Human Realm. They continually fight with each other. These people are Asuras in human form. Are there Asuras in the Animal Realm? Yes, there are. As we can see, some dogs or chickens are always fighting, such as gamecocks. Whether animals, insects or others, there are always Asuras among them. They like to offend, argue and fight with others. Sometimes we see a gentle bug being bullied by an aggressive one with pushing and biting.
One backs off while the other keeps pushing. In the world of sentient beings, there are beings that are well-cultivated, and others who are not. The Jakata Sutras tell stories of the Buddha's previous incarnations in the Five Realms. To save sentient beings, the Buddha appeared in all Six Realms.
He has been born in Hell. He lived in Hell just like the other people that were suffering there. He saw a very old man whose muscles had withered. The poor old man's body was as dry as firewood and he was dragging a cart flaring with burning flames; he was enduring unspeakable hardship. As a man also suffering in Hell, the Buddha began to pull the cart for the old man. The guard told him, "Your own negative karma has not been exhausted, why assume others' karma?" He answered, "I am willing to accept my own karmic retribution. But I cannot bear to see the old man suffer. So I am willing to pull the cart for him."
The guard picked up a stick and hit him. This caused the man to leave the Hell Realm. The Buddha continued, "The man who wanted to help pull the cart was me." So, Shakyamuni Buddha had been to Hell. The Deer King Sutra and the Peacock Sutra also speak of the Buddha's past lives. In the Five Realms, some are good and engage in spiritual practice, and some are evil. They are not necessarily in the Animal Realm.
Evil in the Human Realm is more wicked than in the Animal Realm. For example, there are those who kill and eat all types of animals. They deny the law of cause and effect. This is adhering to the concept of Eternalism. "Born as human, I like how I live now. I enjoy this life. And in the coming decades, my life will stay the same." In a few decades, will we still be in human form? It is hard to say. Even so, can we still live a good life now? It is also hard to say. So we cannot adhere to Nihilism or Eternalism.
Thus, Extreme View is also a type of evil view.
Adhering to the extreme view of Eternalism or Nihilism, and denying the laws of cause and effect is called Extreme View.
Since we are practicing and have a body, when we interact with the external world, whether it be with people or things, we will always have feelings. They cause us to view and judge things as right or wrong. Therefore, we must be very careful. As long as our body exists, we will continue to be subject to various conditions, which involve the 5 Aggregates and the 5 Views. They are all part of our daily life.
Everyone, we must use a very careful mind to view the external world. We must always be vigilant in using the right mindset to examine our conditions and daily living. So please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
首頁 
