Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Sixteen Views Part 2(十六知見二)
We live our lives the same way every day. Whatever your occupation, each day you do the same job, bear the same responsibilities, and go through the same motions. The cycle is the same every day.
Many people simply go to work and do their jobs according to schedule. As long as they work hard, they fulfill their duties. But they have no sense of mission. If they did, in addition to fulfilling their basic responsibilities, they would move forward diligently by devoting themselves to further develop projects in their field or trade. They would find ways to improve in their work for the benefit of their profession, the benefit of society, and the benefit of humanity. People who work for the benefit of humanity lead a positive life with a sense of mission.
One who fulfills one’s basic responsibilities follows the daily routine and works hard. One with a sense of mission goes beyond the call of duty and forges ahead diligently to perfect his or her work.
There is a doctor who works like this every day. He carefully diagnoses his patients. That is just his job. What is more important is that he shows his love and care. A great doctor strives to achieve his mission. It is his mission to treasure human life. A doctor with a true sense of mission cares not only for his ill patients, but also for their outlooks and feelings. When the doctor interacts with them, he fulfills his mission by taking care of his patients’ bodies and minds. This is a doctor with a sense of mission.
Spiritual practitioners are the same. Since we are born in this world, we each have a family and an occupation. No matter what our occupation is, we should really explore and investigate the truths of life. Besides just living, we should find out why we came to this world. Why are we here? We need to explore the origin of our life. What can we truly rely on now or in the future? So we develop altruistic intentions. We switch paths, from a worldly one to one that enters the Buddha-Dharma.
Once we enter, we must be mindful and diligent. Each day in our lives is similar. We enter the Buddha Hall in early morning, sincerely pay our respects to the Buddha, read and mindful study the Sutras. When we quiet down, we look within and question our mindsets. We often talk about the mind and the body. Still, we often forget to be mindful and let our minds run wild. So we spiritual practitioners do not just sit idly and allow our minds to run free and wild.
We constantly rein in our minds and examine each thought. Why did it go astray? Where did it go? Where did it come from? How do we guard our thoughts so that we can focus without distractions? That is the mission and basic responsibility of a spiritual practitioner. Spiritual cultivation is not just about walking into the monastery. Upon entering, we have to practice with a sense of mission. Our mission, besides helping ourselves, is helping others. We have to save our Wisdom-life. If we do not establish it soundly, how can we help other people develop it? This is why the Buddha came into the world. He came to sweep away our ignorance and delusions.
To calm the agitation of the mind so that it will remain focused without distraction is a spiritual practitioner’s basic responsibility. To help oneself and others is a spiritual practitioner’s mission. One needs to help oneself before one can help others. Only when one is liberated from the afflictions of ignorance and delusion can one help and transform sentient beings.
Learning Buddhism is learning how to sweep away ignorance and recognize delusions. Since they are false views, we need to correct them immediately. So I often say that we have Root Ignorance. Sentient beings carry their Root Ignorance life after life, and are continuously influenced by it. In this life, since we know this, we should find the origin of our ignorance, so that when we face external conditions, we will no longer be subject to Branch Ignorance. Branch Ignorance is like a tree whose branches keep spreading.
Look at a tree, it was originally a seedling. It grows because its roots absorb water and nutrients from the earth. When it grows, it absorbs oxygen from the air, and light from the sun and the moon. Whether sunlight or rain or the dew at night, the tree absorbs it all, from the top down, from the leaves to the branches to the trunk. So the trunk is nourished and grows branches. The branches come in contact with air, sun, dew, etc., and absorb and recycle them.
When the branches are cut off, the tree takes longer to absorb external nutrients, but the root still exists. As long as the roots is alive in the earth, the tree is still healthy. If we cut off the branches and leaves, they will slowly regrow. So as we practice, we must gradually cut away our afflictions, our Branch Ignorance. But Branch Ignorance is not the only thing we need to eliminate. Though our Root Ignorance does not grow as fast, we should find and eliminate it too, in order to completely uproot our afflictions.
Root Ignorance and Branch Ignorance are like the roots and branches of a tree. Even if all the branches and leaves are cut off, as long as the roots are still there, the branches and leaves will regrow.
The purpose of spiritual practice is to eliminate Root Ignorance and completely uproot afflictions.
Everyone, when we learn Buddha-Dharma, we must treat spiritual practice as our mission. We must vow to walk on this broad path. If we do not train ourselves, the path will be rough and difficult. There is a saying: “The teacher leads us through the door but the practice is up to us.” Similarly, the Buddha led us through the door and cleared this path to help us move forward. He analyzed the paths for us so that we know the results of taking each path.
There are six Destinies, Heaven, Human, Hell, Hungry Ghost, Animal and Asura. The Six Destinies all exist in our minds. Our mindset determines where we go. You see, the Buddha was very wise and very clear in the way he explained the truth of the paths. We must be grateful and repay the Buddha’s grace. So we must carry out our mission to the utmost. Besides benefitting ourselves and transcending the suffering of ignorance and delusion, we must help all sentient beings. By benefitting sentient beings, we repay the Buddha’s grace.
Buddha came to this world because of our suffering. So we must carry out the Buddha’s mission and treat all sentient beings as our family. Earlier we talked about Sixteen Views. The first was “View of Self.” Everyone is motivated by a sense of self. There exist numerous, countless “selves” because there are countless sentient beings. Besides people, all whom cling to their “selves”, animals are also sentient beings that possess a sense of self.
In the Sutras, in addition to the human world, the Buddha also talked about the animal world. Animals also have the mindset to practice. They also have kings that lead them. We understand that humans have leaders, and animals have their leaders as well.
In the Sutra of the mother Deer, there is a story we all know. There are kings of elephants, deer, lions, etc. Aside from these animals, even tiny animals like ants or bugs have lives. When there is life, there is a sense of self. These “selves” desire to live. They have desire. When they desire to live, they crave the necessities of life. [For monastics,] craving the necessities of life is considered craving offerings. This exists in all animal worlds. So now we are at “view of Sentient Beings” which is the second View, it comes from the union of the Five Aggregates. We should already know the Five Aggregates. Form, sensation, perception, action, consciousness. In our lives, we are inseparable from them.
When the Five Aggregates come together, we are stubborn and attached. To be stubborn is to be ignorance because we cling to the delusions of sentient beings, thinking “you are you, I am me.” Among humans, there are those that cling to the caste system. The untouchables will forever remain in that caste, life after life. Similarly, nobles will forever remain nobles, life after life. Is this true? The Buddha said this View of sentient being this caste system, is wrong. This distinction is ignorant and wrong. This view is defiled by emotions.
If the untouchables practice spiritually, they can transcend poverty, class-distinction, and illness. We create our own lives. We must structure our lives so that we willingly accept and eliminate the past karma we carried into this lifetime. In this way, we can slowly eliminate afflictions and ignorance from our minds. No matter how others bully or mistreat us, or have a bias against us, if we can endure and dissolve it, we can stop Branch Ignorance from spreading. When emotions connect with external conditions, if we can exercise patience, then our Branch Ignorance will not grow.
If we can remove it from our minds, not think about how others treat us, not carry a grudge or enmity, and not think about revenge, then the issue will be dissolved and Root Ignorance will be eliminated.
When emotions and external conditions connect, if we can control our emotions, Branch Ignorance will not grow further. If we can remain forgiving, with no thought of revenge, we will not create more ignorance. Only then can we truly eliminate Root Ignorance.
So I hope you understand Root Ignorance. It is the discriminating views arising from ignorance and delusion. With such discriminating views, we naturally develop sentiments: favorable sentiment, contrary sentiment, loving ones, evil ones, etc. When these sentiment emerge, it is very tiring. If these emotions, which arise from our Root Ignorance, grow and strengthen, they will be difficult to control. This is one of the habits that we often talk about. We must patiently train and restrain ourselves. When our sense organs and objects connect, we must patiently suppress our reactions, we must stop and analyze them. We must stop generating ignorance. We must endure and dissolve it.
Otherwise, we will just continue to live our lives in the same way as we have before. As for spiritual practice, we should treat it as a mission. The same goes for any profession. Do not just fulfill your basic responsibilities. Strive to fulfill your mission, and be diligent. Every day and every moment, we must truly take good care of our minds. If your mind runs wild, bring it back, and understand why it did that, so you can control it. This is how you save yourselves. Does everyone understand? This is the “View of Sentient Beings.” It also started with the View of Self and is inseparable from the Five Aggregates. We must take care of our minds. We must take care of the source, so we do not err. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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