Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Eliminate Wrongdoings to Create Blessings (減罪生福)
Repent all afflictions caused by the Three Poisons. In so doing, one gains merits life after life, realizing the Three Wisdoms and the Three Insights.
We often say, “Repentance brings purity.” Indeed, the Sutras teach the same, as does the Water Repentance. It is called the Water Repentance because Dharma cleanses and purifies our sullied minds.
The Dharma came from the Buddha. The virtuous monks and patriarchs who succeeded Him taught His Dharma to monastics. When the Sangha understood it, they then taught more people. This is called passing down the teachings. When Venerable Wu-Da created the Water Repentance he used the Dharma that he received from other eminent monks. His desire to benefit all people prompted him to walk among the people and put love into action. With this love, came kind thoughts. When his karmic retribution surfaced, though he suffered from the human-faced boil, because of his past benevolence he had a good connection with the Venerable Kanaka, who used the Samadhi-water to resolve his problem.
Was it actually the water that saved his body and healed the human-faced boil? Actually, it was karmic affinity. When the water touched the carbuncle, Wu-Da felt indescribable pain and was awakened completely at that moment. Prior to this awakening, the pain from the human-faced boil was as if the boil was telling Wu-Da that it had a negative karmic relationship with him. It allowed him to understand what had happened in the past. Once karma is created, it cannot be eliminated by mere cultivation. He still had to receive this karmic retribution. This is the Karmic Law of Cause and Effect.
Though an accomplished monk for ten lifetimes, he was still unable to eliminate bad karma. Trying to circumvent karmic retribution by practicing good deeds is not enough. We must learn to accept it. With acceptance, we feel at ease and blissful. When we face the retribution of karma, we need to invoke the power of wisdom. So those with wisdom can resolve karmic retributions.
There is no escaping karmic retribution. When karmic retribution occurs, use the power of wisdom to courageously accept it. Then one can use wisdom to resolve karmic retributions.
Suffering is already miserable. When we suffer, what else can we do? We should just accept it willingly. Willing acceptance can eliminate suffering. How can one accept suffering willingly? When one has the Dharma in his heart, one can acknowledge and understand suffering. So Dharma is like cleansing water.
Some might wonder, “Why did this happen to me?” “I haven’t done anything bad.” “How could this happen?” “Why do I keep receiving these negative karmic retributions?” Karmic retribution comes from seeds that were sown in the past. If we know these are the fruits of past seeds, we realize that we created these conditions, so we should accept the retributions willingly. It takes just one single thought to resolve past karmic retribution. Although the body suffers, the mind does not.
If one can cultivate blessings while suffering, one transcends the suffering and can create more good karmic connections. This is like Master Wu-Da, who, as Yuan-Ang, had Chao-Cuo wrongfully executed. This created a karmic seed. The effects of this unresolved negative karma continued to follow him. There was no escape. However, Wu-Da established a good karmic connection when he met the Venerable Kanaka, who was going through much hardship. Wu-Da made a vow to save him. After Wu-Da helped him, the two shared a blessed affinity.
With good affinities, when one is suffering a benefactor will come to one’s rescue. So in this world, we must cultivate blessings even while suffering. We should help others unconditionally so that even while suffering, we can open our hearts, and not create more negative karma. This is distinguishing between good and evil. If we do evil, we suffer from negative karmic retributions. We have seen suffering, so we want to cultivate blessings. Doing so, we are clear about what is good or evil. We must always cultivate a heart of repentance. No matter what types of people or what types of conditions we encounter, if we create negative affinities, we must repent immediately to turn negative conditions into positive ones. To do this, we must have a heart of repentance.
Always cultivate a heart of repentance. When we encounter negative conditions, if afflictions do not arise in the mind, we can transform negative conditions into positive ones.
Therefore, a repentant heart is very important. For all our past karmic connections and causes, we must repent now to eliminate negative karma. We should avoid repeating the cycle. Then evil conditions will cease to exist. If we can do this, transgressions are eliminated and blessings arise. If evil is eliminated, goodness arises. When ignorance is eliminated, wisdom arises.
This principle is certain. Hence, we should have faith in the Buddha-Dharma. If we follow and practice the Buddha-Dharma, our hearts and actions are never far from the Dharma. Thus, no matter what circumstances manifest, they will naturally vanish with time. Over time, if we apply positive Dharma in our daily lives to slowly accumulate positive affinities, then blessings will flourish. This is why we should repent. Constant repentance will result in “merits and virtues for life after life.”
If we sincerely repent and work hard to create positive affinities with everyone, to only do good deeds, and to accumulate merits and virtues, we will have blessings life after life. We can turn the Three Poisons into the Three Wisdoms of Listening, Contemplating and practicing. This is something we must focus on. We worry a lot and are not free from the Three Poisons. We have accumulated countless lifetimes of greed, anger and ignorance, etc. For countless lifetimes we have accumulated them, until this moment and lifetime, when we still carry these same habits. Even while practicing Buddhism, we still have our habits.
Thanks to our spiritual practice, we can constantly be alert and vigilant, and always be repentant. Every thought is quickly followed by another. A greedy thought must be closely followed by one of repentance. We must develop the habit of repentance to eliminate the habits of greed, anger and delusion. No matter what the current situation is, thoughts of repentance must rise quickly and we must act right away. In doing so, our hearts of repentance can eliminate all evil. Positive thoughts will arise naturally. The Three Poisons are troublesome. They can destroy all good. Though repentance, we can eliminate all evil. Otherwise, the Three Poisons remain in our hearts and destroy all of our goodness. Benevolence is very important.
The Three Poisons destroy all goodness. Repentance eliminates all evil. If evil is eliminated, good thoughts arise. Spiritual practice is about cultivating a heart of repentance.
I saw a wonderful news story from the United States about a couple who were both 81. This couple lived together, in a house all by themselves. They were kind-hearted, not just towards human beings, but also towards animals. They often took care of them. With love they cared for injured animals, and tended to their health. About seven years earlier, they found a mixed breed dog. It was pretty big, weighing over 70 kilograms. What a big dog! The animal was adopted by the elderly couple seven years earlier. She became a part of the family and lived with the couple happily.
In October 2006, during a big snow storm, the couple went outside to see if any animals were hurt by the storm. They walked 50 meters from the house. Suddenly a strong wind hit a tree already heavy with too much snow, and toppled it. The couple happened to be under it when it fell. Fortunately, they were between the branches, so they were not hurt. However, even without injury the big tree with its snowy branches made it difficult for the old couple to free themselves. They were trapped and unable to get out. They were still there at 9pm, and the storm had gotten worse. More snow accumulated around them, making the situation very dangerous.
The dog set out to find the couple, and found them under the heavy pile of snow. But how would she save her owners? She was quite intelligent and used her intelligence to begin a rescue. She started to dig three meters from where her masters were. She used all her effort to dig a passage in the snow under the tree. She kept digging kept clearing this tunnel until it was about three meters long. She crawled through it and grabbed hold of her owner’s sleeve with her teeth. Her owners gathered all their strength to work with the dog. The old woman weighed just over 30 kilograms. The dog easily carried her on her back, while the old man grabbed onto her leg. It was too dark to see anything. Inside of the snow tunnel, the old man held onto the dog’s leg to follow her lead out of the tunnel, while the dog carried the old woman on her back. Slowly they made their way out of the snow tunnel, then back to the house that was 50 meters away. It was very taxing. They crawled back into their home.
Inside the house, there was no electricity. Nor was there water or a fireplace by which to keep warm. So the dog got close to the couple to keep them warm with body heat until the morning came. When they returned home, it was 3am. At around 6am, a firefighter stopped by the house, knowing the elderly couple lived by themselves, to see if they were okay without electricity. He looked into the house and saw the dog cuddling with the couple. The old man told him about how they were trapped by the snow and the tree. Soon, the story spread and became sensational news. People wanted to hear about this dog’s bravery. The dog’s name is Shana. Her courageous act of saving her masters earned her an award.
When the news became public, it caused a sensation, and many people wanted the dog’s autograph. The old man said that the dog couldn’t write, but she could stamp with her paws. So many people gathered around Shana to get her paw prints. Everyone was happy.
What a heartwarming story. Why were the couple saved? Because they had good hearts, and rescued the dog seven years earlier, and had treated her like family. This care and love were the positive causes they sowed. Through this positive affinity, they received this positive retribution.
Master Wu-Da had someone wrongly killed ten lifetimes earlier. The karmic entanglements continued to ensnare him and were not resolved. He tried to escape; for ten lifetimes, he practiced as an accomplished monk, but was still unable to exhaust the karma. However, he saved the Venerable Kanaka. Thus he had the positive affinity to heal the human-faced boil.
Therefore, we must know good deeds bring good rewards. Evil deeds bring evil retributions. One must cultivate good before eliminating evil. In other words, we must be repentant to uplift our hearts. Only with repentance can ignorance be eliminated. Thus we must repent. Repentance is cleansing. So we should always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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