Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Eight Inverted Views Part 3 (八倒三)
The Four Inverted Views of ordinary people: clinging to impermanence as permanence, not-joy as joy, no self as “self”, impurity as purity.
We have already discussed ordinary people’s fourth inverted view. They see the impure body as pure. This applies both to their own bodies and the bodies of others. They believe bodies are pure, so they develop desires. Sexual desires often exist when people believe in permanence, joy, self, and purity. We actually possess Five Impurities, but ordinary people still do not understand how the body is impure.
The Five Impurities of Ordinary People: Impurity of Seed, Impurity of Dwelling Place, Impurity of Body, Impurity of Appearance, Ultimate Impurity.
Ordinary people have Five Impurities, starting with Impurity of Seed. What kind of seed? The seed of karma that we carry. We spoke before about how we take nothing with us when we die, except for karma. All the things we have created in the past are karmic seeds. If we created impure seeds, then we brought them with us into this life. These seeds create a karmic force that determines which couple’s sperm and egg combine with our karmic Consciousness. So the seeds are impure.
Next is “Impurity of Body.” Let us reflect on ourselves and our bodies. Everyday we take in food and excrete it. So what is pure? The body is not pure at all. The day we held the Year-End Blessing Ceremony with our commissioners in eastern Taiwan, someone in a wheelchair greeted me as I entered. He said respectfully, “Master, I am grateful and I want to repent.”
“Why are you grateful?”
“Because you saved me.” He said, “My last name is Kuo.”
I was confused, so volunteers next to me told me that he had fallen into a gully and was trapped for four days and five nights before being rescued.
I said, “So that was you! It is incredible that you recovered so well. You should share your experience.”
So he got on the stage. After the verse on contemplating the body as impure in the “37 Practices to Enlightenment”, he shared his story. He was working in the mountains, and when he returned at dusk, he accidentally flipped his car into the gully. He injured his head and fractured bones all over his body. He yelled for help, but no one heard his cries. The night passed, and it was daylight again. He kept yelling, but still no one heard him. It became dark, then the night passed and it was day again. The continued until the fifth day, when he suddenly thought, “Please Master, you must come rescue me！ You must come rescue me！”
Incredibly, at that moment, someone heard his calls for help and found him.They called an ambulance right away. It was difficult to pull him out. When they got down there, they discovered that he was very weak, and his head was covered in little white things. When they looked closely, they realized they were maggots. He had fractured his skull, and since it was not treated for days, maggots nested in there. They brought him to our hospital right away. Doctors, nurses and other medical staff were mobilized to treat his head first, and used tweezers to remove the maggots. Besides that, there was also pus, and the maggots had also nested around his eyes. We cannot imagine how he survived for four days and five nights.
I heard the place he fell into had tall Chinese silvergrass. So with rain and dew, drops of water fell from the grass into his mouth. That is how he survived. He was injured very badly. After more than a year, he was still in rehab. He had to use a four-legged cane and wheelchair. Later I asked him, “Why do you need to repent?” He said that he joined the Faith Corps in 1994, and was in training. But he left for some reason, and was never certified. So that day he said, “I bought the outfit I’m wearing now, when I was preparing to be certified.” So he was wearing the suit and shoes of the Faith Corps uniform. So he was prepared to be certified. Why did he leave back then? We did not have enough time that day for him to go into details. But we learn that when it is not someone’s time to die, they have a lot of fortitude and luck. He was ejected from the car, fell into the gully, fractured his head, and broke his bones. He held on for four days and five nights, while maggots nested in his head. He managed to survive. Someone heard his weak cries for help. On the first day he would have been much louder, so why didn’t anyone hear him? He had no strength five days later, and could not even make a sound at the hospital. So it is incredible that someone heard his cries at that moment.
After going through all that, he recovered. The doctors, nurses and volunteers all said it was incredible. His karma was not exhausted, so he could not die. The script of his life had been written, and his part was not yet done. So he could not bow out and leave the stage. He has to continue playing his part for a while longer. Spending more than a year in recovery was arduous. His bones were broken in so many places. He still needs people to help him move, but he can use the cane to slowly stand up. After his sharing on stage, he came before me and said, “Master, I’m very grateful, I will repent. I’ve been repenting all this time”
I said, “Recover first, and then come back.”
He said, “I will, I will go through training again.”
You see, life is inconceivable and full of contradictions. And it happened right in front of us. We ordinary people need to know that truly, “the body is impure.” So we all need to always consider the body as impure.
Next is “Impurity of Appearance.” It refers to physical illness, incomplete facial features, missing or damaged limbs, or being mentally or physically handicapped. These are Impurities of Appearance.
The fifth is “Ultimate Impurity.” After people die, it is truly “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The body decays and returns to the earth. Bodily fluids flow away as water. Fire returns to fire, as after death there is no warmth. Wind returns to wind, as there is also no breath. Because there is no breath, the warmth disappears, and causes putrefaction. This is truly and ultimately impure. So these are Five Impurities.
From the moment of birth, we carry the seeds of impurity. From when our Karmic Consciousness and parents’ sperm and egg mix together, all the way until the Ultimate Impurity of death, there are a total of Five Impurities. Ordinary people see the impure as pure. So they cannot understand, and thus become deluded and greedy. Then they follow the Five Desires, and create disputes regarding the body. They are attached to what they think is pure. This becomes the inverted view of purity.
These four are ordinary people’s Inverted Views, the latter four are the Inverted Views of Hinayana practitioners.
The Four Inverted Views of Hinayana practitioners: clinging to permanence as impermanence, joy as not-joy, the Greater Self as no-self, purity as impurity.
“Clinging to permanence as impermanence.” What is permanent? The eternal Dharma-body. On the other hand, impermanence means change. In the state of ordinary beings, everything change and is impermanent. We have talked about this. But some permanence is everlasting. We have explained this the past. The Buddha’s pure Dharma-body is eternal and inextinguishable. It is not just the Buddha, everyone has it. This is why the Buddha told us that mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are the same. Everyone has a pure and eternal basic nature. If we develop our wisdom, then our Dharma-body will be everlasting.
But Sravakas, Pretyekabuddhas, and Hinayana practitioners are blinded by ignorance. They only cling to impermanence, joylessness, no-self and impurity. They are attached to these ideas and cannot see through to what is permanent. Buddha-nature and Dharma-body are permanent, but they cannot comprehend that. They are just attached to impermanence, joylessness, no-self and impurity. They practice for their own benefit, and have a delusional belief in birth and extinction. They only believe that the world is constantly changing, impermanent. They are blinded by ignorance, so they cannot understand permanence, joy, Greater Self or Purity. This is seeing permanence as impermanence.
The sixth is joy, but they see it as not joyful. Hinayana practitioners are pessimistic, nothing is joyful to them in the world. So what was originally joyful, they say it is not joyful. What is joy? The pure joy of Nirvana. There is joy in Nirvana. Nirvana is stillness. I often say “pure and tranquil,” this is a very luminous state of mind. But they do not understand, so they see it as suffering, not joy. They have not experienced such clarity of mind.
In one story, Zhuangzi and his friend were walking over bridge. They saw the stream flowing; the water was clear, and the fish were swimming Zhuangzi said, “Truly happy! So happy!”
But his friend stood there and said, “There’s no happiness!”
Zhuangzi said, “Yes, there is. The fish are happy in the water.”
His friend said, “You are not a fish, how do you know they are happy?”
Zhuangzi turned around to look at his friend, “You’re not me either, how do you know I’m not happy?”
With different states of mind, how can. Hinayana practitioners understand the Dharma of the Mahayana? They cannot comprehend the bliss of permanence, joy, Greater Self, and purity. They see joy as not joyful. If we can attain the state of clear tranquility and illumination, or the state of Nirvana, then we have eternal joy. Most cannot achieve that, they falsely treat joy as suffering and see joy as not joyful.
Ordinary people and Hinayana practitioners have different worries. Ordinary people cling to permanence, joy, self and purity. Hinayana cultivators cling to impermanence, joylessness, no-self and impurity. Those attachments result in unhappiness and passivity. That is Hinayana.
Everyone, we must be mindful in learning Buddhism. Whether our body is pure or defiled, we have to thoroughly understand the Truth of people, matters, objects and principles. Principles are neutral. People, matters and objects create the unhappiness. If we can thoroughly understand the Truth, we can practice the Middle Way, and be very enthusiastic and happy. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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