Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Eight Suffering Part 8(八苦八)
Life is forever, but sentient beings live it in fragments. Each fragment of life has its own birth and death. With Fragmentary Samsara, ordinary people seem to have eternal life, or rather, eternal karmic energy. Bad karma is endless. We bring the seeds of karma with us to this life and to future lives. If we can become enlightened and create blessings, in time, we can transform the seeds. They undergo a gradual transformation. Then we accumulate seeds of blessing. These seeds are karma.
In the past we had no clear understanding of karmic seeds and karmic consciousness. Science is now studying this. I often hear about genetic mutations. Genes are like karma. The seed of karma is in our bodies, passed to us through our parents’ sperm and egg. Now we are discussing the Eight Sufferings and the Suffering of Birth. I have already said that if seeds are impure, then life will be impure. Our lives are a manifestation of impure seeds. The seeds mix with the affinity of our parents through their sperm and egg, and mature in an impure place. We are born into the place of our Circumstantial Retribution. We depend on this place to live, so our birthplace is impure.
The seeds of karma are with us in this life and in future lives. With good karma, blessed affinities accumulate. With continuous blessed conditions, our Wisdom-life can grow.
Right now we are in Taiwan. We all share the affinity of having the Circumstantial Retribution to be born here. Furthermore, we were all born on this vast world called Earth. No matter which country we were born in, we are all on Earth. If the Earth is healthy, we live our lives in safety. We pass seconds, minutes, hours and days in this world that we share.
But now we see the fragility of the land that the Buddha spoke of Why are mountains rivers, and lands so unstable? The Sutra speaks of formation, existence, decay, and disappearance. During the phase of decay, the world is continually damaged. We are all living in the phase of decay; this is our Circumstantial Retribution. While living in Circumstantial Retribution, we still have Direct Retribution. Direct Retribution refers to our bodies, how we came into being because of the affinities we have created with our parents. It refers the environment we grow up in, the conditions that surround us, and the affinities we create with others. At home, we have affinities with our parents and siblings. At school, we have affinities with schoolmates and teachers. When we grow up, we have affinities with coworkers, friends, etc.
Everyone, life and karma are entangled with our affinities. Our habitual tendencies extend from the past into the present, and cause us to be entangled with people around us. Good habits lead us to create good affinities, habits like saying kind words, making good vows, doing benevolent deeds, and accumulating blessed affinities. We create not only good affinities, but also blessed affinities. We continuously accumulate them. Starting from birth and continuing as we age, these seeds and affinities constantly accumulate.
The land is fragile; it is in a cycle where it forms, exists, decays, disappears. Only if we plant good seeds and accumulate blessed affinities can we be free from suffering.
The opposite of good, blessed affinities are bad, negative affinities that become bad seeds or negative karma. These seeds also continue to accumulate and become our Direct Retribution, thus we endure indescribable suffering. This complex process involves Birth, Aging, Illness, Death, Parting From Loved Ones, Meeting What We Hate, Unfulfilled Desires, and the eighth of the Eight Sufferings, the Suffering of the Five Skandhas.
We talked about the Five Aggregates. The Aggregates and the Skandhas are the same. They obscure our pure, innate nature. Our pure, innate nature is obscured by shadows, so we cannot radiate our pure and innocent nature like the Buddha. Thus, the Five Aggregates obscure our nature. They are all-encompassing. They obscure even the most subtle things, including our pure nature. Because we are impure, we cannot radiate the brightness of wisdom. Without illuminating wisdom, we continue to create afflictions and ignorance in this lifetime. This becomes the suffering of Birth, Aging, Illness, Death, etc. This constant accumulation is like a fire because afflictions produce more afflictions and burn like a raging fire so they are fiery, very hot.
When we live in this world, as our bodies go through each day, they burn calories to produce energy. But if they overheat, they do not work. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha told a parable that compared the lack of peace in the Three Realms to a burning house. This is the House on Fire chapter from the Lotus Sutra.
The Three Realms lack peace, like a burning house. Full of suffering, it is very frightening. The woes of birth, aging, illness, death are like fires, raging without end. Chapter Three, A Parable, Lotus Sutra.
This fire is like the suffering of sentient beings in the Evil World of Five Turbidities. The house on fire is the Three Realms. What are they? Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm and the Three Realms. Those living in the Three Realms are tortured by the Five Turbidities and Eight Sufferings, and are never at peace, as if living in a house on fire. Our world is the Earth, and if it is unbalanced, it truly causes indescribable suffering. We live in the Evil World of Five Turbidities.
What are the Five Turbidities? Turbidity of Kalpa, Turbidity of Views, Turbidity of Afflictions, Turbidity of Sentient Beings, Turbidity of Life. The Five Turbidities are impurities. Many afflictions, karmic forces, causes, and affinities combine to form turbidities. We develop them over time.
The Three Realms: Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm.
The Five Turbidities: Kalpa, Views, Afflictions, Sentient Beings, and Life.
A Kapla is a very long period of time. It is an incalculable length of time, not just thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years. So we use a general term, Kalpa. Kalpa is time. Time continuously passes. Since the Earth’s formation, it has been pure and natural. As time passed, the natural elements of the world kept changing. As conditions changed, life forms continued to multiply. After things have formed, they exist. All creatures exist here and continue to reproduce, and so more karma is created. This kind of impure karma is accumulated over a long period of time. This is the Turbidity of Kalpa. Where did it come from? The turbidity of time. How did karmic energy accumulate? From the Turbidity of people’s impure views. Your views, my views, your good affinities, my bad affinities. It is a tangled mess in our minds. This is the Turbidity of Views.
People’s perceptions and opinions create much karma. Differing views create disputes between people. This is how man-made disasters arise. With conflicts in families, societies or countries endless man-made disasters arise. This comes from mistaken views. Where did these views come from? From many afflictions like greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. When the afflictions of many people accumulate, what does it create? Turbidity of Sentient Beings. Afflictions arise from people. People, the land and all animals are interrelated. Animals also fight other animals. The strong eat the weak. The tiger chases the rabbit, etc. Animals also kill each other. The big fish eat the small fish. Regardless of conditions, sentient beings will kill and maim each other.
We have not even mentioned humans. Fish will not eat humans, but humans will eat fish. Among sentient beings, think about how mush karma humans have created. It is incalculable. This is the Turbidity of Sentient Beings. Sentient beings create karma and endure suffering. That is the Turbidity of Life. For sentient beings in this world, nothing is more precious than life. We come into this world, but without life we cannot create karma. So there are many contradictions. This is the Turbidity of life.
Sentient beings are deluded and lost, like children playing in a house that is on fire. They continue to create bad karma, sinking in the Evil Would of the Five Turbidity. They experience indescribable suffering.
Life is truly impermanent. Do we all know to treasure our lives? We should cherish the value of our lives, and use them as a vessel for spiritual practice. There are so many things in this world that we do not yet know. We are still unaware of many karmic forces that will arise in the future. Should we not make good use of the present to follow the Buddha’s teachings and positively shape our lives?
We can use this life to create more blessings in this Evil World of Five Turbidities. Whether or not we can create a single pure seed depends on us having a resilient heart. As I have said, we exist in the Three Realms. The Desire Realm is our desires. The Form Realm is everything that we see, all material objects. Then there are the immaterial things created by our minds. This is a simple explanation of the Three Realms. The desires in this world; all material objects in this world; and all inner afflictions in this world. These all exist in our Three Realms, and because of these things, we create the Eight Sufferings.
They are the Sufferings from Birth, Aging, Illness, Death, Parting From Loved Ones, Meeting What We Hate, Unfulfilled Desires, and the Five Skandhas.
These are the Eight Sufferings we have studied. Everyone, time continuously passage. Every day we must clean. We do not only clean the outside area, it is most important to clean our mind. So let the old pass, and let us make new vows. We have to be grateful for the past, and vow to walk the Bodhisattva-path in the future. Then we can cultivate both blessings and wisdom. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
首頁 
