Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Twelve Entrances Part 3(十二入三)
“Dharma as water.” Water is a good metaphor for the Dharma. Everything that is dirty in the world must be cleansed. We must use water to wash away the dirt. The same is true for ordinary people’s minds. All the Sutras and discourses discuss the mind. The mind creates our attitude toward people, matters and things. How we handle our affairs, how we see people, how we attain good character all depends on the mind.
The mind is Dharmakaya, the body of the Dharma. We always say the Dharma-body is pure. The Dharma-body is the Buddha’s intrinsic nature. The Dharma-body is not lesser in ordinary people. Everyone has this Dharma-body. However, the Dharma-body of ordinary people is polluted. That is the reason they are “ordinary.”
But everyone’s Mind-nature is the Dharma-body. Where is the Dharma-body of ordinary people? In the nature of their mind. Yet this Dharma-body is obscured by pollution, so it is called Tathagata in Bonds. The mind of the Tathagata is pure and undefiled, though it is bound and obscured. So its name is “Dharma-body of the mind,” instead of just “Dharma-body.” Because our mind wants to discriminate and differentiate everything in the world, pollution is always seeping in. So scattered thoughts cause the mind of illusion to arise. These are all Bonds. But our pure nature has not disappeared. It still exists, so it is called Tathagata in Bonds. The Dharma-nature of the Tathagata exists in each of us.
Ordinary people are bound by afflictions. Their pure Mind-nature is thus obscured, but their pure Tathagata-nature does not disappear. Therefore, they are Tathagatas in Bonds.
Because of this, the Lotus-Samadhi Sutra says that we all have an existing, innate self-nature. The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the Three Treasures, are innate in everyone. So when we take refuge, where should we take refuge? We take refuge in our innate Three Treasures.
In the Lotus-Samadhi Sutras it says to take refuge in the innate awareness of Dharma-body. “Abide in the Wonderful Lotus Throne of the mind.” From this we understand that everyone has innate enlightenment, the Dharma-body of the mind, yet we are still always seeking outwardly. So we must observe our nature and take refuge in our own innate awareness, in the Dharma-body of our minds. The Dharma-body is eternal. It is the Wonderful Lotus Throne of the mind. It exists in everyone’s mind, even if the mind is bound in knots. But if we can truly enter into and experience it, we may realize that the Wonderful Lotus Throne is the Dharma-body of the mind. It still has not been polluted by the outside. All the pollution has only obscured it; it has not been polluted. It is still our pure intrinsic nature.
We must believe that everyone has this nature. The pure, innate awareness exists; everyone possesses the mind’s abiding Wonderful Lotus Throne. In the midst of the mud is the undefiled Lotus of the mind in which we should take refuge. We should earnestly believe that our innate Tathagata-nature does not disappear. This is called the Dharma of the mind.
Does everyone understand?
Everyone has the innate awareness, the Dharma-body of the mind. Yet we all seek outwardly. If we can observe our innate nature and take refuge in the Dharma-body of our innate awareness, we can abide in the Wonderful Lotus Throne of the mind.
One day in Jing Si Hall I saw an exhibit of some neurosurgical equipment. There were a few pictures displayed there. A professor came over and said to me. “Master can you set aside some time to come look at our exhibition? Please come look.”
I went with him and saw actual brain specimens arranged there. They showed me a dissected brain, arranged piece by piece. I asked about them and said they all look similar.
He said, “They are not the same. See, these brains have a lot of wrinkles. This type of person would be rather intelligent.” If the brain is smooth, it may indicate mental retardation. It was as if the brain’s reflexes and discernment of the world were less used, so that it appeared very smooth. If it is like this, with wrinkles, then the brain was used regularly, and the mind’s reflexes were probably very good.
This is how medical science analyzes the use of brains. The professor also took me to see some pictures.
He told me, “These are called neurons.”
“What do the neurons do?”
“When people see something” he said, “Whatever it is, they can quickly analyze it. How they react to it depends on this area. If the neurons are damaged, we have poor responses.”
How many cells of this kind do we have, anyway?
He took me to see another picture, so I asked, “How many neurons of we have?”
“We have several hundred billion neurons constantly relaying messages.”
I said, “Why are there so many?”
He said, “There are not only those, there are also neuralgia.”
“So how many neurons and neuroglial cells are there?”
He said, “There are more than ten times as many?”
Think about it, one brain has ten times one hundred billion; how much is that? The brain’s cells have many synapses, and not only that, the glial cell supplies the neuron with nutrients. So do these things relay messages to the nerves? According to theory they do not, but they do supply the ability to relay messages outside. Sometimes we say, if you use the brain too much, the nerves will be damaged.
Ten or twenty years ago, I heard a professor say this was false. Actually, the nerves in the brain can be used for three or four lifetimes. After hundreds of years they won’t be used up.
I asked, “Why can’t they be used up?”
He said, “There are so many cells in the brain. If you used several million per day, in three lifetimes you still couldn’t use them all.”
I still wasn’t convinced. That was ten or twenty years ago. Now, from what I hear, it turns out there are a lot more than one hundred billion. If you use your brain a lot in life, you will forge many neural connections. In addition to the neurons, there are also the cells next to them, which provide nutrients and energy. How many of those do we have? And there are others as well.
The professor then said, “Master, I will take you to see a very interesting picture. Where is the area in our brains, that controls our mood?” he asked, as I walked with him. “This part of the brain is the reason why some people get so angry.” Some people get really angry. When they see something, their emotions flare up. Some people tend to swear, some tend to lose their temper, some are rude, and so on. These are all moods. When they don’t have control of their moods, and their eyes come in contact with the outside world, the nerves in the brain activate, and this area lights up. This means that when the brain makes contact with the world, the nerves react, and this brain area activates. This shows that upon contact with the world, when our sense organs connect with objects, emotions flare up in this part of the brain. This area lights up. The nerves in this area of the brain are particularly active.
This is something we should know. I often talk about habits. What are we practicing when we practice? How can we train the nerves of our brain, so that when they make contact with the world, they won’t become so excited? This depends on practice. Practice is learning how to control our habits.
When the Roots and the Dusts come into contact, every movement of the body and every word uttered is a habitual reflex action. These are habitual tendencies. These reflex actions can be corrected through practice. The purpose of practice is to correct our habits and cultivate our character.
People’s original nature is fundamentally good. It was originally pure and simple. How is it that when the Roots and Dusts connect, the reactions of the nerves are so intense? Since we normally use them in that way, the activity will be very intense. This is the force of habit. This is what I have said. If the nerves and the environment all activate different areas, why is the area that controls our mood particularly dynamic, particularly active? This is because we always use it. It is the same as lifting our hand, or foot, or opening our mouth; all these are habitual. If you always have this habit, then naturally the way you speak, etc., will come out unwittingly. This is the neuronal activity. This can also be summed up as mental phenomena. All things can be divided into physical phenomena and mental phenomena.
After the eyes see physical form, the mind becomes active. Actually, the activity of the mind is through the brain; the brains nerves and the optic nerves make contact with outside world. Also the aural nerves are stimulated. For example, right now a bird’s song hasn’t yet reached me, but when I hear it, when my aural nerves connect with it, it is quite beautiful. This is our world, which always fosters beauty. Naturally, when the sounds and the forms of the world combine, we feel it is very beautiful and harmonious. This is another activity involving our mood.
It can all be summed up with two kinds of phenomena: one is physical phenomena, another is mental phenomena. Physical phenomena refer to external forms. Mental phenomena refer to the invisible, to all our mental concepts. Therein lies ignorance. You cannot see my mental concepts. Unless I have already acted on them; only then can you see. These conditions may be suitable for this person but may not be for another.
Physical phenomena refer to all external material that has tangible form.
Mental phenomena refer to all the invisible ignorant functions of the mind, which are the thoughts and emotions created by information traveling through the nerves to the brain.
We have seen people who are very cultivated. If anyone scolds or swears at them, they are still always smiling and won’t react won’t contradict them. People like this have already trained their mood to be gentle. They won’t have any kind of very intense or violent mood. This is habitual tendency. We should earnestly make more use of our mental capabilities to deeply contemplate ourselves as Tathagatas in Bonds. Our Root Afflictions are what we brought from previous lives. Our Branch Afflictions are reactions to our current condition are reactions to our current condition. If we see tree, we see the trunk, branches and leaves. These are like our Branch Afflictions.
But they come from the Root Afflictions. These are habits that affect us life after life. These habits affect our reactions to people and things; so these reactions keep accumulating. In short everything originates from the Root Afflictions.
Everyone I spoke before of the Eleven Universal Agents. The Eleven Universal in our daily life constantly incite us to connect with the world. When we connect, we react. This prompts our minds to act intensely, thus they are called the Eleven Universal Agents. Eleven terms, eleven kinds of phenomena drive us in our daily lives.
Now we must practice; we shouldn’t let ourselves be driven. We should return to our innate nature. We should go deep into the Tathagata in Bonds. How can we remove these Bonds these entanglements, and layer by layer free ourselves? If we can do this, we can use our pure nature. Then naturally, all the days will pass smoothly and we will accumulate good conditions.
So everyone as we review the Eleven Universal Agents, everything I have said about the path is none other than asking everyone to be mindful. Know there are two kinds of phenomena; physical phenomena and mental phenomena. Physical phenomena include everything you see and hear. You cannot hear or see mental phenomena. But these things are all in our brains; they are our changing mental concepts. We must condition them so that we can be more benevolent. Do no evil, practice all good. In our affairs we should treat people mindfully. If we can do this we will practice the ultimate method. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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