Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Eleven Universal Agents Part 2(十一遍使二)
When we study Buddha-Dharma, the first thing we must have is Right Faith. Yesterday we talked about Right Faith. We must not deviate from our faith. Everyone knows this. After I finish my talk, I always ask, “Understand?” meaning, “Do you understand what I said?” “Do you believe?” If you understand my teaching, and do not go astray, that is Right Faith. If you do not understand completely, a slight deviation can result in a huge divergence. Then it is easy to become deviant.
The Eleven Universal Agents are the Seven Views, the Two Doubts and the Twofold Ignorance. Seven Views: Deviant View, View of Self, View of Eternalism, View of Nihilism, View of Precepts, View of Shortcuts, View of Doubt. Two Doubts: Doubt of Things and Doubt of Principles. Twofold Ignorance: Root Ignorance and Branch Ignorance.
“The Eleven Universal Agents” All our troubles come from them. Every day they surround us and drive us to create afflictions. They drive us to create discursive thoughts. We just talked about faith. You must have Right Faith. Being just a little bit selfish is deviant. We must humble ourselves. We truly must be one with the universe. Only in this way can we avoid drawing afflictions and karma into our lives.
The third Agent is View of Eternalism. People do not understand the principle. They mistakenly believe in permanence. We do not realize our lives are impermanent. The Buddha taught us that time is always passing. It was the day before, now it is the day after; what day can we hold on to? We cannot hold on to one second, let alone one day. Since nothing can last, how can there be permanence?
In the past, none of us knew each other. Now we have relationships. This is our affinity. Before we did not have it. Now we do. But what about the future? Will we always have this affinity?
We do not know, because the world is impermanent. Not only is this moment impermanent, so are people’s feelings and relationships. There is no way for them to be permanent. Let us think about ourselves. We were very close to our parents, especially our mothers. Our bodies were born from our mother’s womb. When we were small, we depended on our parents, but when we grew up we had to part with them. Is familial love permanent? Even if you are always with your parents, nature dictates that one day you must part. This is the law of nature.
What is permanent in the world? There is no permanence. But in this impermanence, confused people still cling to permanence. They are always attached to existence, attached to the idea that things will last. So they become possessive. Temptation and ignorance grow and accumulate.
All things in the universe are impermanent. Taking what is impermanent as permanent, one will become attached, and start to accumulate desires. One will be easily tempted by worldly desires.
When we are confronted by the temptations of worldly desires, we should adjust our thinking and consider impermanence. What are we taking issue over? We do not even know how long we will exist. In the Sutras there is a short passage, “One does not know that one’s own body and everything outside of it is impermanent.”
We are attached to the idea of permanence, but we do not know how long our own bodies will last. We do not realize that external things will not always exist, will not always be ours. We do not realize everything is impermanent. Look at everything in the world, it is all constantly in decay. Whether mountains, rivers, or the very earth, all are in decay. So all things are impermanent, they decay and ultimately perish. If we can understand this, we will not have so many conflicts.
If we do not fully understand this, we are easily distracted by desire for worldly gain. We mistakenly think that what is ours will be ours forever. So we have conflicts in our relationships. The nations of the world have conflicts, as people have conflicts with each other, and conflicts with things. So many conflicts, so many shameless acts. Doing evil without any shame is a sickness of the mind.
I just said if we do not recognize impermanence, we will constantly struggle. There will be many conflicts, interpersonal conflicts and also conflicts with animals. In life, the strong eat the weak. People eat the meat of the weak. You see, this is terrifying. There are some very large animals. Although people do not want to eat them, they still fight with them.
You see, the biggest land animal today is the elephant. Elephants have a very large mass. They are normally very obedient and gentle. In Thailand, Africa, the Middle East, we see very obedient elephants. People stand on their backs. In India they are seen as important, and greatly respected.
In the Sutras there is the story of the Elephant King. But in the modern age their usefulness has declined. Before, they were needed for war or to transport heavy things. Entering the modern age, machines have replaced animals. Elephants are not used much anymore. So some live in mountain forests.
In the Bangladesh news, there was a recent story about the inhabitants of a small village called Kalircharra. They relied mostly on logging. The people earned wages to cut down trees, or they would cut down trees and sell them. Every day they would go up the mountain. This had been their way of life for about 40 years. Every day they cut down trees. There were many elephants in the mountain. As the people cut the trees, they drove the elephants out.
One herd of elephants was wandering in the mountain forest. When the villagers arrived, they drove them away by surrounding them and leading them off. Then the people started cutting down trees. A day passed. That night, around midnight, a herd of elephants suddenly trampled through the village. A villager who was there later described the event. He said he heard a clamor outside and wondered what was going on. As he opened his door, there was the herd, with three elephants rushing towards him. The people who lived there had very crude houses. They were made out of wood and built very simply. How could his house withstand three charging elephants? When he opened the door and looked out he saw three, large crazed elephants rushing towards him. Fortunately he slipped out, but the house was trampled flat in a wink. When his mind had settled, he looked around and did not recognize his own house. Dozens of houses had been flattened and the whole village was a mess. There was not a house left untouched. In an instant, the village was destroyed. When everyone settled down, they saw that the elephants had trampled the village flat, and three people had been killed. As the elephants destroyed the houses, three people were also trampled to death, and 20 more were injured.
After everyone calmed down, they took some time to reflect. They had been surrounding the elephants, driving them off, and taking their land for forty years already. So they looked inward. They had been violent toward the elephants. They did not have any love for them. Not only did they drive them off, they destroyed much of their habitat. They even killed many because ivory is valuable. If they killed an elephant, each tusk was worth around US$1,000, which was a lot of money for them. The humans mistreated the elephants for several decades. Elephants no longer served people, but their habitat was occupied and destroyed by humans over many years. This kind of resentment between people and elephants was profound.
After research and analysis, it was determined that elephants have very high intelligence, good memory and sense of direction. They are also wise. They can recognize humans and tell them apart. This person is their master, that person is not their master. This is someone they know, and that is a stranger. This one cared for them, that one mistreated them. Their memory is very deep. People were so brutal to them, so heartless, yet the elephants were very patient.
However, times were changing. In the past, animals endured labor and hardship. They upheld their duty and never rebelled. These days, animals, even domesticated ones, may rebel. Therefore, the elephants looked for the families of those who abused them. This whole village occupying their land, capturing them, wounding them and becoming increasingly violent to them. These people killed and hurt them, so vengeance was wrought. Not only are there conflicts among people, there are conflicts between people and animals. They all arise because of ignorance. Humans carry on their way of life, damage the environment, cut down trees, damage the environment, cut down trees, destroy water and land preserves, and destroy the ecosystem. Those elephants who lived in mountain forests were driven off and killed.
The conflicts between people and between things all arise from a thought of ignorance. In order to gain personal benefit, one engages in endless evil karma.
You see, the human heart is very fearsome. We practice Buddha-Dharma so we should practice treating the earth well. We must be able to truly be one with the earth and everything in it. Human have their living environment, animals have theirs. We must be in harmony with each other. When dealing with animals and their environment, we must treasure and love them. People are prejudicial, arrogant, and mistakenly believe that whoever has power should have everything and that they can have it forever. If we are like this, we do wrong and create severe karma. We should treasure all things. If we do not love animals and do not respect our elders, we can only struggle and fight. That is being shameless.
Everyone, usually when we do wrong we feel ashamed! We should know our fundamental duty. If we do not uphold our responsibility, if we overstep our bounds, then we become shameless. Please everyone always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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