Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Transform the Three Poisons, Cultivate the Three Wisdom (轉三毒 修三慧)
When it is quite and conditions are favorable, ask yourself, “Where am I now? How are my surrounding conditions? Am I content with my life?” When I have a quiet moment, I always ask myself this; and my answer is always, “I am content and blessed. What else could I ask for? I am very content.”
Since we are content, we should know where our blessings come from. We have so much to be grateful for including our lives and living conditions. We receive so much from this world, but are we giving back to our environment? There is so much suffering in the world. What causes it?
And how do we receive blessings? First, we must be grateful to others. Second, we must develop love and compassion. Third, we must always be repentant. True repentance is realizing that our present suffering is created when we harmed others in our past lives. In harming others, we harm ourselves as well. We did not even realize this, and thus remained in the cyclic existence of the Six Paths. These are the causes of the suffering in the world. Just because we are blessed in this life does not mean we will be blessed in our next lives. When blessings are depleted, karmic effects arise.
In the Six Paths, there is both good and evil. When positively is accumulated and positive conditions are created, we will enjoy blessings. However, when the blessings are depleted, negative karmic retribution will arrive. This all occurs within the Six Paths. We see how others suffer; will we encounter similar suffering in the future? Even though we are blessed now, we should repent without delay in order to eliminate transgressions and creates blessings.
Beings in the Six Paths live with good and evil. When good accumulates, blessings arise. When they are depleted, karmic retributions arise. Repent and nurture good thoughts and acts so that transgressions are eliminated, blessings bestowed.
When we receive blessings, we should always self-reflect. Do not wait until they are gone. When karmic effects appear, it will be too late. Therefore, since we have blessings, we should recognize and cherish them and at the same time create more. We should not create more negative karma. This means that we must always self-reflect and repent. Repenting is being vigilant of ourselves, always self-reflecting. Correct your mistakes immediately. By vigilant about transgressions. This is called repentance, which eliminates transgressions and nurtures blessings.
If evil is eliminated, goodness increases and evil thoughts will not arise. With no evil thoughts arising, thoughts of goodness will always arise in our minds. With good thoughts, there will be acts of goodness. Thus, blessings arise. We should be vigilant always. The consequent arising merits will allow us to always encounter good affinities and conditions life after life, not only in this life. If we make a lot of good connections in this life, we will have good affinities in the next. Good affinities in this life bring blessed conditions in our future life. So, we should always guard our minds and take good care of our hearts. Ordinary people are born with greed, anger and ignorance. That is what makes them ordinary. As spiritual practitioners, we should transform the Three Poisons into the Three Wisdoms of Listening, Contemplating and Practicing.
The Three Poisons are always present in ordinary beings. As spiritual practitioners, we should transcend our ordinary mind by transforming the Three Poisons into Three Wisdoms.
Those with good roots like to hear the teachings from the Sutras. In addition to Sutras, they listen to others speaking good words or sharing their personal experiences of how they have corrected their misdeeds and what they are doing now to benefit society. When we “listen” to how others have changed from evil to good, joy arises. This is rejoicing upon seeing and listening. This creates merits. In this way, to eliminate the Three Poisons from our minds, we must immerse ourselves in a good environment. When we listen to how others have corrected their mistakes and reformed, we feel joy for them.
Do we only listen and feel joyful? No, we should contemplate how this person, who had such negativity, could still change. In the past, he made negative connections. Now he dedicates himself to doing good, joining a good organization with many good people. Have we done the same? In the past, we made many negative connections, were bitter, and complained that others mistreated us. As we listen to others, we should contemplate whether or not it was we who mistreated them, rather than they who mistreated us. After contemplating, we realize there is nothing to take issue over. We should just quickly change ourselves. This is “contemplating” on changing oneself and putting the teachings into practice. Learn from others who have changed. We should “practice” in this way. These are the Three Wisdoms.
Those with the innate root of goodness, when hearing Buddha-Dharma, good words, and stories of those who changed from evil to good, will give rise to a heart of joy. This is rejoicing upon seeing and listening. After listening, one engages in self-reflection. So one is “contemplating”. When one learns from others’ goodness and changes for the better, one is “practicing”.
Listening, contemplating and practicing are the Three Wisdoms which allow us to develop. If we can transform the Three Poisons, we naturally gain wisdom from listening, contemplating and practicing. How do we develop the Three Wisdoms? What are the Three Poisons? Poison is harmful. The Three Poisons of greed, anger and ignorance will destroy the word-transcending goodness in us. Some would say, “I am happy to do good because I want to cultivate merits. I did it, I am the one who gave I’d like to be able to make more money, then I’ll make donations.” Making money so that one can donate is good; however, one should not do it only to gain merits.
If we can help others, just seeing them resolve their problems should give us joy. This is how we should be. Do not give for blessings. Otherwise you will not be freed from the Six Paths. When we give, we must not think of gaining blessings at all. We give to create blessings for humanity. Creating blessings is our responsibility; we should not seek a reward. This is what infinite merits are about. Never think about what you could gain from your contribution. That is still expecting a return. When we give as much as we can, without asking anything in return, that is called infinite merit.
If we have desire when giving, those greedy thoughts destroy the world-transcending goodness in us. In our spiritual cultivation, we practice without seeking to gain anything. We only seek purity of thought, so that we can return to our pure nature. This is learning the Buddha-Dharma. When we do not ask for anything in return, not even merits, the world-transcending infinite merits will arise.
Do your best to benefit others. Give without seeking anything in return. Seek only a mind of pure thoughts. This is the true world-transcending infinite merit. This is what practicing Buddhism is all about.
Right now we need to know that greed binds and confines us. We will be confined to the Heaven, Human, Hell, Hungry Ghost, Animal Paths. If we still have desires, even if create blessings we will be confined to the Heaven and Human Realms. If we are not careful, we will fall into the Asura, Hungry Ghost and Animal Paths.
If we have the Poison of Greed, it will entice and tempt us. If we have greed, we will be enticed to grasp at things. What is there to grasp? Fame, wealth, status etc. Greed, whether for fame, wealth or status, causes us to become deluded. With a greedy thought, delusion arises.
The sutra of Infinite Meanings teaches us how to gain ten merits. In the Chapter of Ten Merits, there is a passage about transforming our mindset, which says that those who are stingy and greedy will become generous. This is Buddha-Dharma. There is greed and stinginess in everyone. How do we change our heart from greedy to generous, from being arrogant to upholding precepts? If humans are not greedy, angry or ignorant, they are arrogant and doubtful.
The benefit of practicing Buddha-Dharma is that it lets us see clearly, so we can turn greed into generosity, and go from being arrogant to upholding precepts. This is the benefit of practicing Buddha-Dharma. Otherwise, when a greedy thought arises, we will lose ourselves in pursuit of fame, wealth, status or leisure. If we seek pleasure, do daily necessities suffice? No.
Now there is space travel. It costs US$20 million. I have often wondered how one can spend so much money for a journey into space. Imagine being confined inside a space capsule without being able to stand, just floating in a little space. Is it worth it? In this world, so many people are in poverty, many without food. Even if we just look at the children, not the adults, we see that every four seconds a child on Earth dies of hunger. There was an international news report on this. The drought in East Africa was so severe that more than 11 million people were at the brink of dying from hunger.
The pictures were truly agonizing to see. The relief organization said that in three months, if food did not arrive, these people would not survive. How much money did it need? About US$20 million. The organization felt helpless. They wanted to help, but there were so many difficulties. Concerted efforts by all the relief organizations did not raise the needed amount. Just imagine if those who went on the space trip had donated the cost to the relief agency. I believe with combined effort, the people who suffer from hunger can be saved.
As we compare these two news reports, we see that one is about saving minds, the other is about saving lives. If we can use the money spent on space travel, many people will be saved. Let’s see, at over US$20 million per person, with everyone who registered up to 2009, all combined that should be enough to feed the hungry. If we can turn their greed into a wealth of goodness by convincing them to donate to a good cause, many of those who suffer from hunger and disasters can be saved.
In summary, it is all about our thoughts. If we take good care of our own minds, subdue our thoughts of greed, and reach out to those who are suffering with our combined effort, we can benefit even more people.
Everyone, we should always ask ourselves if we are blessed. If so, we should recognize our blessings, cherish our blessings and create more blessings. Because we are blessed now does not mean we will be blessed life after life. No, if we do not take care of our minds, when we deplete the blessings, karmic retributions will manifest. Therefore, we should always be repentant and vigilant. We must truly be alert and eliminate our past negative karma so that blessings will always arise. With thoughts of goodness always arising, so too, will acts of goodness. People have the natural desire to care for one another with gratitude. So we should always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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