Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Near the Tathagata and Far from Confusion (近如來 離顛倒)
Apply the Four Methods of Contemplation as skillful means to eliminate transgressions. What are the Four Methods?
First, contemplate causes and conditions.
Second, contemplate effects and retributions.
Third, contemplate one’s body.
Fourth, contemplate the Tathagata-body.
In learning Buddhism, nothing is separate from the law of cause and effect. So we must be very careful in all of our daily interactions with people and matters. All of our feelings in life are the results of our daily actions. So when we are happy and joyful, we must be grateful for the good affinities in the past that resulted in our happiness and satisfaction today. This shows that the law of cause and effect is inseparable from our daily lives.
It begins with having this human body. Every thought and action turns the wheel of karmic cause and effect. We must reflect on ourselves, starting with our bodies. Contemplate the body as impure. Contemplate all sensations as suffering. Contemplate the mind as impermanent. Contemplate all things as having no self. We must always keep these views in mind.
Our actions in the past are the causes for the retributions we face in this lifetime. And we will bring into the future whatever seeds we sow right now. So we have to reflect on ourselves. In our daily life we must ask ourselves, what is the goad of our practice? To realize the Tathagata-body. We learn Buddhism to attain Buddhahood. Since we are learning the Buddha’s way, we act according to the teachings and precepts. The Dharma is like water that we must use to wash away our defilements.
Whatever bad habits we have, we must quickly eliminate them. Do not allow these delusional tendencies to tempt you into transmigrating in the Six Destinies. The Six Destinies are the same as the Six Realms. We learn Buddhism to transcend the Six Destinies, because even Heaven is not eternal. To transcend these Realms, we must recognize our wrongs and repent. If we do not constantly self-reflect, we will make mistakes. What do we do after we have erred? We must change immediately. Without a repentant mind, we will not change for the better.
So “Dharma is like water” means that we must repent to wash away our wrongs. We must use the Dharma in our daily lives as a reminder for self-reflection. If we are deluded in our treatment of people and matters, then we must recognize our mistakes and repent immediately. Then we can be free of suffering and be happy.
Everyone, the world is full of pain. So we must seek to transcend suffering in the Six Destinies . We must contemplate the Tathagata-body, which is the Dharma-body. Then we will always realize that mind, Buddha and sentient beings are no different. We have the same innate Buddha-nature as Buddha. As we look at everything in this world, we should see all things with clarity.
But delusional thoughts hinder us and block our radiant wisdom. So we must always be repentant. The next passage says, “We disciples, from Beginningless Time until now, have long developed afflictions. Day by day, the afflictions grow heavier and thicker, covering our Wisdom-eyes so we cannot see anything.”
This passage appears simple. We should understand it at once. “From Beginningless Time until now.” When is this Beginningless Time we always refer to? We do not know. It is far in the past. Beginningless means we do not know when that moment began. “Until now” means we have fed our afflictions over a very long period of time. “Day by day, the afflictions grow heavier” means we have kept feeding afflictions, so every day we accumulate more and they become heavier and thicker. “Day by day, the afflictions grow.”
This is like planting seeds. The more bad seeds we plant, the more unwanted plants will flourish. So “day by day, the afflictions grow.” This bad karma flourishes, “covering our Wisdom-eyes.” As I just said, we have wisdom equal to the Buddha’s, the same clear wisdom and sight. The Buddha viewed everything with His Buddha-eyes, so He saw everything very clearly. When sentient begins accumulate heavy afflictions, they obscure the bright and clear wisdom that is equal to the Buddha’s. This is “covering our Wisdom-eyes.” We had Wisdom-eyes, but ignorance and afflictions obscured them. So “we cannot see anything.”
The Pure Dharma clearly exists in our lives, but we cannot see it. That is very sad. Clearly we have Wisdom-eyes, but we have not begun to use them. That is very pitiable. That is very pitiable. Ever since humans developed consciousness, they have constantly nurtured ignorance, so it increases every day. Which one of us isn’t creating afflictions on a daily basis? We do this, more or less; if there are no major afflictions, there may still be minor ones.
Do not commit small evils thinking them trivial. Do not assume small matters will not influence your spiritual cultivation. They will Perhaps a careless word or facial expression has already hurt other people. Sometimes we are unaware that we have already created bad affinities with others. So we must always polish the mirror of our mind. If we do not constantly clean it, when it fogs up, even a little, we cannot see. So we must always reflect on ourselves. Self-reflection is diligent cleansing. If we are careless, ignorance will manifest. Even if it is not expressed, should we keep it bottled up inside? That is not good, either.
Even if we do not look upset or say unpleasant words, if ignorance accumulates in our hearts, we are harming ourselves. Angry expressions and harsh words can hurt others. If we do not express it and hold it in, we hurt ourselves. Can that cause us to create bad affinities too? Yes. Even if the other people do not know, if we keep this bad seed in our hearts, as time passes, people will instinctively find us unpleasant. Although they do not know we do not like them, our minds are unpleasant, so our expressions and our interactions will be unfriendly. This similarly sows bad seeds and results in bad affinities with them.
Now some people may say, “I didn’t do anything to him. I treat him so well, why does he ignore me?” Well, perhaps you offended him in a previous life. You did not realize it and he did not say anything. But he never forgot it. So now, in this life, when he sees you, no matter how well you treat him, he will be unhappy. That is the same thing. This happens to us as well. When someone treats us well, we think he is trying to curry favor and has some hidden purpose. Instead of looking for the good, we see those actions in a bad light. These are also habits that we accumulated in our past lives.
So, in summary, whether afflictions manifest or not, they are harmful to us. So we must mindfully comprehend the law of cause and effect so we do not accumulate more afflictions. If so do this, when can we transcend the Six Destinies? When can we escape these six realms of existence? The repentance text says afflictions become behavior and thicker day by day. They multiply and grow heavier and thicker because we nourish and accumulate them. So we must always self-reflex.
So long as affliction arise, regardless of whether or not they are expressed, they will harm us. Only by truly realizing the law of cause and effect can we eliminate afflictions.
We all have cravings, so afflictions are a part of our daily lives. With the water of cravings, we irrigate the mud of desire, so afflictions grow day by day. The water of craving is a form of selfish love that we all have. This kind of love is an affliction. We all know this, yet the way we love is still limited and selfish. It is like water.
So every day this selfish craving-water, this polluted water, will accumulate and irrigate the mud of desire. Think about it. If we keep watering the soil, the ground gets stickier and we sink even deeper. So we call that mud or sludge. There is so much water that we sink even deeper into the earth and get more stuck. This is the mire of desire. It grows day by day and weeds flourish in it.
You cannot see the mud because of the weeds. You think the ground is flat, so you step on it and then keep sinking. This is truly dangerous. In this world there are traps everywhere, pools of mud everywhere. If our Wisdom-eyes are covered, we will not be able to see those muddy traps. We only see the weeds above so we step on it and start sinking. How far do we sink? Until it covers our heads and our Wisdom-eyes.
Then we cannot distinguish between right and wrong. Is it right or wrong? We cannot tell. So our daily lives are full of afflictions. We “cannot see anything” so our actions become distorted and misguided. Our Wisdom-eyes are covered so we pour Ignorance-water onto the mire of desire until it is a mud pit. We keep sinking and sinking until we can no longer see the Truth. Then we act erroneously in our daily lives. We are confused in our direction and our actions. If we think about it, it is worrisome.
Since we know there are so many traps in the worlds, we must always remind ourselves to self-reflect. If we do not, how can we grasp the law of cause and effect? Since we know about cause and effect, we must always contemplate our bodies in our practice. Why do we take issues for the sake of this body and create so much karma? Why do we keep distancing ourselves from the Tathagata-body? Why can’t we draw near to that Dharma-body? With this impure body, we keep creating karma out of confusion. So we should always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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