Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Eight Sufferings Part 2(八苦二)
Every day we practice in the same place. I speak while you listen. Do you truly take to heart the words you hear? Once the words are in our minds, we can express them through our actions. Only by putting Dharma into action can we truly experience it and take it to heart.
We have been speaking about the mind latterly. Confusion can arise from a single thought. Defiled thoughts emerge when people, matters, and things taint our minds. We are discussing the Eight Sufferings. The first four are birth, aging, illness, death. Everyone should be familiar with them; they are part of the nature laws.
The Eight Sufferings: Birth, Aging, Illness, Death, Parting with What We Love, Meeting What We Hate, Unfulfilled Desire, the Five Skandhas.
We carried past karmic seeds that led to being born to our parents, with whom we have affinities. Suffering starts from birth. The first sign of our entry into the world was the sound of crying. This expresses our suffering. After birth, we grow up and our bodies change. Our physical development and our mental states have a large mutual influence. This is called karmic force.
Our bodies are influenced our karma. Some people practice in their past lives, so they brought good habitual tendencies to this life and have good temperaments. Others say these people are very well cultivated. Yes, they carry their past habitual tendencies, and are grateful toward everyone and everything. This appreciative karmic consciousness is brought from past lives. So in this life, they are appreciative of their parents, and certainly have good affinities with their parents. Thought their family’s conditions may not be ideal, their karmic consciousness bears no grudge. There is no hate, only gratitude. The mind develops simultaneously with the body.
But the prosperity of this life depends on the presence of blessed conditions. If someone has no blessings, then they mature, age, and die in poverty and hardship. This is because in the past they only practiced patience and gratitude. They developed a good temperament, with no afflictions or discrimination. But they did not create blessings, and thus will not attain good causes and conditions to improve their lives. To sum up, we practice Buddhism not only in this life. We also need to reflect on our past lives to understand the retributions in this one. What our future life holds is dependent on what we do in this life.
We say that in the past, present and future, we are always travelers in this world, like guests. We come and go after several decades. But during these decades, what did we experience? Are we aware which people, matters or things we clung to, causing confusion and defilement in our minds? We attached to these things and created impure causes. And where did we create blessed affinities? In the past, present and future, all of these are closely related. So in our lifetime, we must be very attentive.
Learning Buddhism is not limited to this lifetime. To know what you did in your past lives, look at what you receive now. To know what you will become in your next life, look at what you do now. We must be attentive in this period between life and death.
In the process of birth, aging, illness and death, we cannot actually grasp how we age.
Although aging is suffering, illness is even greater suffering. There are two tapes of Suffering of Illness. One is physical illness. The body takes in various kinds of sustenance. Who never gets sick? Most people get sick, regardless of age. Some even fall ill at a young age. Just take a look at the hospital, there are many patients in the pediatric ward. There are many types of sicknesses that are not limited to any particular age. Illness comes from imbalance of the Four Elements. This is physical illness.
Suffering of Illness: Physical Illness is a result of imbalance of the Four Elements.
Imbalance of Earth: Heaviness in the body.
Imbalance of Water: Fat and swelling in the body.
Imbalance of Fire: Heat in the body.
Imbalance of Wind: Stiffness in the body.
What are the Four Elements? Earth, Water, Fire and Wind. Sickness is an imbalance in these four. If the Earth Element is not in balance, people say, “I feel heavy today. I don’t know why my whole body feels heavy.” They have an imbalance in the Earth Element. When the Water Element is imbalanced, they say, “I don’t know why I keep gaining weight. It’s like my whole body just keeps swelling.” This is an imbalance of the Water Element. People with bad kidneys sometimes suffer irregular urination and bowel movements. With the imbalance of water, they gain weight and bloat. If the Fire Element is out of balance, the body becomes feverish like a burning fire. This creates tremendous suffering. If the Wind Element is out of balance, breathing is irregular. Sometimes people cannot catch their breath.
These are all examples of imbalance in the Four Elements that make us feel uncomfortable. Actually, Buddhist Sutras mention 404 types of physical sickness, but according to modern science, there are more than that. We keep discovering rare diseases. Everyone is blessed to volunteer at the hospital every day, caring for and comforting the sick. Doctors treat patient bodies, eliminating the source of their illnesses. Volunteers counsel them help them open their hearts, help them become happy and joyful. This helps them recover quickly. But if one’s mind is ill, the doctors are sometimes helpless.
Suffering of Illness: Mental Illness is when one is burdened with afflictions, extremely worried and sad.
Many people today suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. All of these are mental illnesses, which are like ticking time bombs. They are very distressing. There is no real cause to their unhappiness, yet they are constantly unhappy. This gives rise to suicidal thoughts or uncontrollable impulses to hurt oneself or others. This is mental illness.
Some people have both mental illnesses and physical illnesses; this is suffering beyond words. We need good doctors and a group of wise volunteers to treat both the physical and mental illnesses. I am always grateful to them. It is not just the old who get sick. There is no age limit. Both mental and physical illnesses are prevalent now. As I just mentioned, our minds carry thoughts from the past, so afflictions come easily without provocation. These are our habits from past lives. Some people talk about ending their lives once and for all, and committing suicide. I often say, karma from suicide is heavier than killing someone. Both are killing, but beside destroying one’s own body, there is the additional offense of being unfilial to one’s parents. Those are all thoughts of self-harm. Next are depressive thoughts. Being continually dissatisfied and resentful causes people to lack understanding. They carry these mental illnesses even in rebirth. Even if they commit suicide, karmic forces cause them to bring their vexations, mood disorders or schizophrenia into the next life. With such karmic consciousness, whether someone is born into a rich family with intellectual parents, or into a place of adversity, they still possess the same depressing thoughts. The karmic causes or seeds of unhappiness are carried to any realm.
Some say, “Destiny is carved in our bones, no knife can cut it out.” This means that you bring karmic seeds with you. They follow you like your shadow. You cannot stop your shadow from following you. If you run faster, your shadow also moves faster. So karma is like a shadow, always by your side. If you harm or kill yourself, you will suffer even more in your nest life. Such karma multiplies, bringing unspeakable pain.
There are many wise, kind people in the world. If they appear before us, they are our benefactors. We should accept their help. We meet those with whom we have affinities. If we meet someone with a closed heart, we must use our wisdom to help them open their heart. We can be their benefactor. If our own hearts are closed, and we meet someone who is willing to guide us toward the proper path, we should quickly seize the opportunity. After we understand, we think it through, and open our hearts. If we use the right medicine for the heart, we are saved. By opening our minds, we can change our direction, and turn suffering into happiness through our joyous actions to help others.
Many Tzu Chi volunteers are mutual benefactors in each other’s lives. One individual had been depressed in the past and contemplated suicide, but he met his benefactor and was saved. After his heart was transformed, he became involved in recycling and charity work at Tzu Chi. He used his own personal experiences to help others resolve issues in their hearts. Many people are like this. It is not only their hearts their karma must also be resolved. If you have past affinities with another, that person will be able to open your heart.
We must constantly cherish our affinities and create good relationships with people. We should always remind ourselves not to confuse or taint our own minds. If our thinking becomes distorted and someone sets us right, we need to quickly adjust and walk the right path. This way, even if we falter, we can find the right path. If our minds are defiled and someone’s righteous words enter our hearts, we should be grateful and eliminate the defilement. In this way, we can correct our bad habits from past lives in this lifetime. If we can change in this life, our next life will be happy, peaceful and at ease. We will be grateful toward everything and everyone. We can bring a good temperament into our next life and be recognized for our character. Character is accumulated through many lifetimes. If we cultivate well in this life and increase our wisdom, we can become the benefactors of others. This is cultivation.
One’s character is accumulated through many lifetimes of practice. We should strive to practice more and work hard to develop our wisdom, so we can become benefactor for others in our next life. This is called cultivation.
Everyone, spiritual practice pertains to our minds. Dharma must enter our minds, then, we need to put it into action. We need to diligently seek the Dharma. After hearing teachings, we need to carry them out. Only then can the seed truly enter the ground of our minds. Cultivation is tending our Fields of Blessings. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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