Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Sixty-two Views (六十二見)
Our daily lives encompass all the principles of the universe. Likewise, all our actions are part of many phenomena and events. But we have become lost amid all the principles, matters and events in our daily lives. So we have to inquire into our situation and find a way to regain all the principles that we formerly understood.
Is it very difficult? Yes, it truly is. We sentient beings all have a physical body, a mind, and consciousness. Our daily physical activities, such as speaking, walking and moving, cannot be done without our heart and mind. This is why I often tell everyone to “take care of your heart.”
Where is our heart? Is it our physical heart? What can the heart do for us? Besides keeping blood circulating in our bodies, it helps our respiration. According to the Buddha-Dharma, there is also Consciousness. We always talk about form, sensation, perception, action, consciousness. Whether the Five Aggregates or the Four Noble Truths, they are inseparable from Consciousness. They are inseparable from our Roots, Dusts, and our Consciousness. But people’s consciousness and spirit are extremely subtle and enigmatic. Many people are so busy with daily routines that they are oblivious of consciousness and spirit. They keep working without ever having considered whether their actions are good or bad. Actions are executed without forethought and afterwards are stored in the consciousness. That is why the Alaya, or the Eight Consciousness, is called Store-house Consciousness.
Everyone knows this term; they just do not pay attention to what actions are good or bad. They do not mindfully analyze what constitutes a good or bad seed, or how these actions are stored. How they are stored is very wondrous, and difficult to predict. Consciousness and spirit obviously dwell within us. But we are unaware and do not understand them.
So what exactly are they? “They are neither visible, nor audible.” Neither consciousness nor spirit can be seen. One may wish to see what consciousness and spirit look like. Consciousness exists when we are live. When it leaves the body, it is called “spirit.” Where is it? What does it look like? We cannot take it out and look at it. It truly is invisible and inaudible. We cannot see it and we cannot hear it. Spirit and Consciousness are really wondrous. Because of this, the Buddha-Dharma is meant to allow us to fully comprehend all things and matters. Such knowledge is very profound.
How profound? “As profound and boundless as the universe.” Indeed, it is boundless and has no end. Some say the universe is boundless and immeasurable. Yet principles are truly profound and encompass all the truths of the cosmos. With so many things, matters and principles, how can we understand them all? We only need to understand that no matter how much we know, in the end, everything is empty. If we know this, we will not become attached. All attachments are ultimately empty.
Is the “existence” that you see now eternal? Will it exist forever? Even if it did last forever, we will all have been dead for thousands of years. Modern archeologists have uncovered pyramids and buried palaces. But these artifacts are very old and worn, like the mummies of kings and queens that are on display at the Palace Museum. How do they look after thousands of years? Nothing lasts forever. So “whatever exists will vanish.”
Emptiness is like two trees rubbing against each other. Such friction leads to fire. We know that people in the past started fires by using a bow drill and a block of wood. “Fire burns wood.” The fire that is created burns the block of wood. When “Fire and wood burn off, both are empty.” There is fire because of wood. Drilling generates heat, which intensifies to create fire. Fire burns the wood until both are consumed and extinguished.
Isn’t life just like that? There are many matters, but all are impermanent. Simple matters that converge give rise to complexity. Convergence is the end of simplicity. Where is the truth? As we said, it is invisible and inaudible. It is always concealed. This is like the inaudible and invisible Consciousness we all have. All our actions arise from Consciousness and end up returning to Consciousness. When you take action, it is because the Roots, Dusts and Consciousnesses converge.
The Six Consciousnesses direct your actions. Before or after the action, the Seventh Consciousness considers whether you will be happy or upset with such action. Once an action is taken, everything is stored in the Eighth Consciousness. Do you understand? “I understand,” you say. But, what is your level of understanding? That’s why we have to learn Buddha-Dharma. When we come across a problem that is very difficult, why don’t we simplify it? If we keep analyzing, we often encounter endless complexities.
We have previously analyzed the Eleven Universal Agents, Twelve Entrances, Eighteen Realms and 25-Fold Self. After analyzing all these, which ones will we put to use? I will tell you, you have to use all of them each day. Can you sense them? You are not sure. We are immersed in such wondrously complex phenomena that we have no way to be clear every day. If we continue with the Dharma’s explanations, we see that there are also the Sixty-two Views.
To make it simple and clear so that people will understand, the two basic elements are Nihilism and Eternalism. Nihilism is the view that death ends life. Eternalism is view that the spirit is eternal. “We are controlled by our views, whether the view of Nihillsim or Eternalism. Believers of Nihilism still make many mistakes. Since nothing exists in the end, they fear nothing and deny the law of cause and effect. They create much bad karma. Believers of Eternalism are very attached. Their attachment also causes them to create karma. We have discussed this before. So the Views of Nihilism and Eternalism are the root of our afflictions.
Moreover, “we are controlled by our views.” We are born into this world with bodies. With a body and life come the afflicting views of Nihilism and Eternalism. There is an old saying, “The biggest problem in life is the body.” With a body, one accumulates lots of ignorance and afflictions, which are associated with Views of Nihilism and Eternalism. In the process, our body and mind attach to the Five Skandhas.
We spoke before about the five Aggregates. The 16 views are also within the Five Aggregates. So, we “create attachment to the Five Skandhas.” Attachment can be grouped into four categories. Let’s go over the five Skandhas. Each Skandha has four verses to describe it.
The verses read, “Skandhas dominate; self is within the Skandhas.” Skandhas are Aggregates. Each of us within the Five Aggregates. Form, sensation, perception, action, etc. are all greater than the self. So the Skandhas dominate the self. The self is engulfed by the Five Aggregates of form, sensation, perception, action, consciousness. Whether it is the Aggregate of form or sensation, it is greater than the self. The self remains within the Aggregates. Some people become attached to permanence or to views. When they are attached, the self is often driven by form, as in the Eleven Universal Agents. Self can be driven by form because the Form Aggregate is greater than the self.
For example, why would a small matter upset us? Because we dwell on a particular sensation. So, “sensation is greater than self.” By analogy, the same is true to form. It is simple, just be mindful. “Self is greater than Skandhas, which are within.” Why is the self being driven by the Aggregates? The self should control and make use of them, instead of the other way around. All of these deal with the Five Aggregates. Ultimately, is the self within the Aggregates, or the Aggregates within the self? Are the Five Consciousnesses within the self or does the self incorporate them and control them? Or are the Five Aggregates driving the self? It all depends on how we react to the Aggregates, form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. Are we driven by them, or is our self so great that it drives them? We have to know this very clearly.
Next, “Aggregates are the self.” The self and the Five Aggregates exist in equal proportions. “When the Skandhas leave, self emerges. The self is the Five Skandhas, and the Five Aggregates are the self. They are fused together. Or more simply, the self is what is left after the Five Aggregates are gone. I hope everyone can understand how the Aggregates of from interacts with the self.
You can apply the same principle to the rest. So by knowing one, you should understand the other four parts. Therefore, each of the Five Aggregates has four parts, four by five is twenty. Because we have Aggregates, they give rise to the Twenty Views. Each Aggregates has Four selves. Four selves within the Five Aggregates comes to twenty. Right?
Then there are the three periods of the past, present and future. It‘s not just the past, present and future lives. Simply put, it’s past events, present events and future events. It covers the span of three periods. So how much is twenty times three? Sixty. It is sixty, right? Right.
Then there are Views of Nihilism and Eternalism, plus their Branches. We have discussed this before. So with afflictions of the two Views, that makes the Sixty-two Views.
The Dharma of Five Skandhas includes form, sensation, perception, action, and consciousness. With each Skandha, there are four Views. All together they add up to twenty Views. With past, present and future, there are sixty Views. Adding Views of Nihilism and Eternalism, there are Sixty-two Views.
Everyone, the Dharma “encompasses the universe.” It is just like a telescope. A telescope is only a tube. If we hold the telescope up to our eye and look through it, we can see very far. But if we retract it, its view is limited; we can only see a small circle. We should use an uncomplicated mind to treat all matters, and accommodate everything with our thought. We only need to control our minds well. We don’t need to dominate external matters or be driven by them. We don’t need to be attached to “existence” or “non-existence” or to be attached to controlling them or being controlled by them. We don’t need such attachments.
If the mind id disciplined and in control, it is not driven by external conditions. Otherwise, it is controlled by its attachment to the view of “existence”or “non-existence.”
We are like water. Dharma is as water. Water adopts a cylindrical form in a cylindrical container. Water becomes rectangular or square when it is inside such containers. The Buddha-Dharma reaches us to release the afflictions our minds and to not be disturbed by worldly matters. As we have said before, when water settle, its surface becomes clear and it reflects the scene around it. A foolish person confuses a golden statue on a tree with the image of it that appears on the surface of the water and doesn’t realize that the reflection is not real.
We ordinary beings are the same. We become attached to what ultimately is empty in nature. Everyone, please be very observant in experiencing every matter you come across in daily life. Naturally the principles will manifest. Please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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