Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Ninety-eight Tempters Part 2(九十八使二)
All the Dharma that I share with you every day is related to our minds. No matter how many numbers there are, at its simplest, the Dharma is all about the mind. We started discussing the Eighty-eight Tempters. We first explained the Ten Tempters, including the Five Wrong Views of View of Self, Extreme View, Attachment to Views, Attachment to Precepts, and Deviant Views. These are different kinds of perspectives. More troublesome are Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance and Doubt.
Nobody is free of these. Think about it, just greed alone is sufficient to ruin one’s life. In this world, what is really worth craving? What benefits do we gain from it? Only enjoyment, and how long does one’s enjoyment really last? People who cannot think clearly are greedy and unaware of impermanence in the world. Due to greed, they crave fame and fortune, which only provide short-lived enjoyment. If they cannot get what they desire, they create afflictions and bad karma. This karma ruins their present lives. Greed prevents ordinary people from escaping the Three Realms.
In the Desire Realm, besides greed, there is also anger, which makes us irritable. With a “hot temper” we cause a lot of trouble for other people, and also “burn” our own minds. So anger is like a fire that causes suffering beyond words. Worse is when greed or anger turns into ignorance. Ignorance is a delusion. Delusions leave people incapable of differentiating right from wrong, so they become greedy and angry. Ignorance causes us the most suffering.
Ordinary beings are driven by biased views. With greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt, more afflictions arise creating much evil karma. The suffering is indescribable.
This is called being driven by the Ten Tempters. It leaves us with no control. Besides greed, anger and ignorance, humans are also often arrogant and doubtful. The worst is when people doubt True Dharma. Some are doubtful of everything, even True Dharma. This is a type of mental illness. When the Ten Tempters are multiplied by the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, Causation, Cessation, and the Way, they turn into the Eighty-eight Tempters.
Why? Shouldn’t it be 40? Why does it become 88? You must listen carefully, as there are additions and subtractions involved. There are the Three Realms and the Four Noble Truths. With Ten Tempters in each of the Four Truths, it is 40. Ten Tempters times Four Truths is 40. When you multiply that by the Three Realms, it should be 120?
So why is it 88? We should be clear about these numbers. For example, in the Realm of Desire, the Truth of Suffering contains the Ten Tempters of View of Self, Extreme View, etc., plus Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance and Doubt. This reminds us that the Ten Tempters cause us to suffer. It is because of these sufferings that it is called the Truth of Suffering. Sentient beings in the Desire Realm are driven by these ten afflictions. For the Truth of Causation and Cessation, the View of Self, Extreme View, and Attachment to Precepts are excluded.
Nest is the Truth of the Way, which contains only eight, because View of Self and Extreme View are excluded. All these delusions add up to 32. The Truth of Suffering has 10, Truths of Causation and Cessation add another 14 and the Truth of the Way adds 8. So it adds up to 32.
In the Form and Formless Realms, we exclude anger from each of the four Truths. Anger is excluded from the four Noble Truths in the Form and Formless Realms. So in these two Realms, each has only 28. The Afflictions from these two Realms add up to a total of 56. 56 plus 32 makes 88.
Originally I did not know numbers very well, especially these complex Dharma numbers. But there is always truth within the complexity. So everyone, learning Buddhism is actually simple. But we make it complicated with differentiation. If we revert to simplicity, we will be pure. When the mind is pure, our life can be simple. When life is simple, we are pure. But the Eighty-eight Tempters are very complicated; they exist in our daily life.
We are closest to and live in the Desire Realm, which contains the Ten Tempters that entangle us. We should also pay attention to the Form and Formless Realms. We learn the Buddha-Dharma in the hope of being liberated from the Three Realm. If our minds are still entangled in these Realms, we cannot depart from suffering. Since the Form and Formless Realms are within the Four Noble Truths, there are still afflictions there that drive us. We wish to be liberated from the Three Realms, that is the goal of learning Buddhism.
How do we achieve this? By eliminating delusion. Where is delusion? In our daily activities. Delusion has a wide scope, and includes greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. While the analyses of these concepts are deep, they are actually all about the mind. Many afflictions keep us forever drifting in the sea of desires. This is life. Desires are like a great ocean. A very small disturbance can give rise to, strong winds and waves. This is what our minds attach to in this world.
All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are deeply saddened by the ignorance of sentient beings who reject so much of the Dharma that is offered to them. People cannot eliminate their doubt, arrogance, anger, ignorance and greed. For the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, this is very sad. With his love, the Buddha was saddened to see ignorant sentient beings seeking happiness amid delusion. What could He do? He taught everyone to be humble, joyful, calm and without desires.
Be modest, joyful, and calm, without contrivances or desires. Be altruistic, generous, sincere; uphold precepts. Be humble patient, courageous and diligent; single-mindedly contemplate and learn the wisdom of sages. “The Sutra of Original Arising of Cultivation.”
How can we open the mind so it is as vast as the universe and without greed and desires? The world is so complicated because we have a narrow mind. We often speak of “a mind that embraces the universe.” The universe is boundless. To broaden the mind vast enough to encompass the universe requires humility. When we eliminate these 10 Tempters, we seek nothing and thus attain noble character. How can we stop seeking? By eliminating greed and desire. Without seeking, one does not get angry. Without anger, there is no ignorant thought. Without ignorant thought, arrogance does not arise. Without arrogance, one’s mind is clear. With clarity of mind, there is no doubt. Therefore, mindfulness is very important.
Without seeking, there will be no anger. Without anger, there will be no ignorant thought. Without ignorant thought, arrogance will not arise. Without arrogance, one’s mind will be clear and transparent. Then naturally, doubt will not arise.
How do we get rid of the afflictions that drive us? By maintaining “joy and calm.” Our minds must always be calm and peaceful. When the mind is “calm and clear”, our “vows are as vast as the universe.” If the mind is very calm, it becomes broad. We vow to learn Buddhism to attain Buddhahood. We must not abandon our resolve to practice before we achieve Buddhahood. Our aspiration must be great, thus we say “vows as vast as the universe.” We should be “without contrivance and desire.” “Without contrivance” is not seeking or obtaining. All worldly fame and fortune mean nothing to us. Therefore, all fame, fortune and material desires will not taint our minds, and we will naturally be “without contrivance and desire.”
Without desire, we deprive ourselves, in order to give and sincerely abide by precepts. The process is most important. We want be able to give joyously through our efforts or with our money. If we act with love to nurture and care for others, it is called “depriving oneself in order to give.” “Depriving” does not mean we take a loss when we help others. Depriving ourselves is part of giving. We have to be able to give our efforts and whatever we have in order to help the poor and the suffering.
In other words, “giving by sacrificing.” Whether we possess, tangible or intangible, if it will help someone, we should give it to them. Learning Buddha-Dharma is about developing great kindness, compassion, joy and giving.
Thus, we must “sincerely uphold precepts.” We must help others by giving. We must also abide by precepts. If we are generous, but also indulge in desires and decadence, it is still not right. It is not right to act only as we please. One may have a kind heart and enjoy helping others, but may still live indulgently. This undisciplined way of life is still wrong. So we must sincerely uphold precepts. We learn Buddha’s Way from being devout and adhering to the Buddha-Dharma. So we must be sincere and abide by precepts. People with moral standards who give to others beget infinite merits and virtue.
Learning Buddha-Dharma is learning to be kind, compassionate, joyful and giving. Do not surrender to desire and whatever you please. Instead, take the precepts to heart and practice generosity accordingly, then infinite merits will accumulate.
In addition, we have to be humble, patient, courageous and diligent. We have to be humble. Instead of boasting about doing a lot and strictly keeping the precepts, we must always be humble. Do not forget that you are among ordinary people in the Desire Realm. Those around us are all in the state of suffering, accumulating a lot of afflictions. When others’ afflictions arise, we should humble ourselves while we are with them. Thus, we can develop good affinities. Like them, we are ordinary people, so we should use patience. I often advise everyone to live a life as humble as dust, so we can shrink our ego to the Nano-level.
“Nano” is a modern scientific term for size. By shrinking ourselves, we can move forward with courage and diligence to contemplate and learn the wisdom of the sages. Everyone, we have to pay attention to details, the Buddha-Dharma is as deep as the ocean, and as broad as the cosmos. But within such vastness, there are minute details. I often say, do not overlook small things. We have to be cautious in safeguarding our cultivating minds. Otherwise, if there is even a slight deviation, we lose a lot of wisdom.
So we must constantly and single-mindedly contemplate, and learn the wisdom of the sages. The Eighty-eight Tempters plus a complete set of Ten Tempters makes Ninety-eight Tempters. If we add the Ten Fetters, that makes 108. All Buddha-Dharma originates from our little thoughts. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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