Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Use the Environment to Train Your Mind (藉境修心)
Purity of body, speech, and mind is innate. Why seek elsewhere? Don’t we already have it? If the mind is pure, then we have virtues in body, speech and mind. But we still seek, hear and learn the Dharma daily. From where do we learn it? We inherently had these qualities, but we were obstructed by our own ignorance. The Three Insights, Six Spiritual Powers, and the 37 Practices to Enlightenment, all the things we want to learn, are already a part of our daily living. It is only due to ignorance that they are obscured.
Three Insights are Knowledge of Past Lives, Heavenly Eye, Exhaustion of Leaks.
The Six Spiritual Powers: the Power of Heavenly Eye, of Heavenly Ear, of Knowing Others’ Minds, of Knowing Past Lives, of Transporting Oneself, and of Ending All Leaks.
Now we have to relearn it all over. But our lifetime in this physical form is short. Habits are also difficult to control. Now we say we want to restart our practice from the beginning. But since Beginningless Time, we have brought layers of habitual tendencies and afflictions with us to form the habits of this life. We need to work hard to eliminate this build-up of habits and afflictions, but our lives are short. We only have so many decades. It is hard to live longer than a century. What have we been doing in the past few decades? We were like others, without purpose and direction.
After discovering Buddha-Dharma, we should walk the path toward enlightenment. But how much time do we have left? A human life is already short, and we have accumulated so many bad habits. Even Sariputra said, “Sentient beings are stubborn, difficult to reform.” We are those sentient beings. Sariputra said people are so stubborn in their habits that they are difficult to reform.
So how do we reform ourselves? We use the environment to train our minds through beneficial conduct, kind words, and working together. If we want to transform ourselves, we must also help others transform at the same time. To do so we need methods like kind words, beneficial conduct and giving. So how can we eliminate our accumulated habits, ignorance and afflictions? Only by being diligent and by using the environment to train our minds. So we must always be mindful.
We need to increase our vigilance in our daily living and pay close attention so we can use our environment to train our minds. The next section of the text talks about how we create our own obstacles. What are we obstructing? The text says, “We have obstacles to learning the Six Parameters, the Four Immeasurables, the Four Immeasurables, and the Four All-embracing Virtues. We have obstacles to learning the Mahayana Mind, and making the Four Great Vows.”
We are very familiar with these words. We cannot walk the Bodhisattva-path without the Six Paramitas. They are the foundation for spiritual cultivation. To reform the many afflictions of ordinary people, we must use these six methods. We cannot travel from the stage of ordinary people to that of the sages without the Six Paramitas. We have memorized them all Giving, Upholding Precepts, Patience, Diligence, Samadhi and Wisdom. We know them all.
The Four Immeasurables are the Four Infinite Minds. Everyone should know them as well, loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.
The Four Great Vows are the vows to deliver innumerable sentient beings, to eliminate endless afflictions, to learn infinite Dharma, and to complete the supreme Buddha-path. We must learn all this. If we do not, we will continue to be filled with afflictions. We must vow to eliminate endless afflictions, right? If we vow to help transform sentient beings, we must end afflictions. Everyone, we truly have many affliction.
Next are the Four All-embracing Virtues. Without them, we cannot truly work and live with sentient beings. If we practice the Six Paramitas, and make the Four Great Vows, we must deepen our understanding of the Four All-embracing Virtues.
The Four All-embracing Virtues are giving, loving words, beneficial conduct and working together.
Giving is also the first of the Six Paramitas. Giving is about giving willingly. To walk the Bodhisattva-path, we first must be willing to give. If we are unwilling, we cannot progress any farther on this path. Even if we vow to practice, if we make a Hinayana-vow, then we only seek to benefit ourselves, not others. That is not the Ultimate Dharma. People who benefit only themselves are selfish. It is very taxing to be selfish in society. Selfish people always take issue with others. In their daily living, they are always fighting for a little advantage over others and refusing to give any ground at all. Most people are like this. Their selfishness causes many afflictions. It is troubling for others, and for themselves. These afflictions are the source of bad affinities. People particularly dislike selfish people.
So, living in society, it is fine if we do not understand the Buddha-Dharma, but we cannot be selfish. Selfishness engenders too much dislike from others and life will be difficult. Now, since we already understand Buddha-Dharma, we must practice it to seek enlightenment. We seek the Truth of Enlightenment, which is self-enlightenment, enlightening others, and perfect enlightened conduct. This is the truth we must seek. It is everything that we seek when we learn the Buddha’s way.
We learn it to enlighten ourselves and others, and to learn perfect enlightened conduct. That is our goal. If we are enlightened we can transform ourselves. In life we are lost in a sea of suffering. We often say, “10,000 waves surge in the sea of suffering.” The sea of suffering is so wide, so boundless and limitless. This broad sea exists because of cravings. Cravings create much ignorance. The sea of suffering is a metaphor for ignorance.
It is hard to cross because it is boundless. There are also 1000-foot high waves. “1000-foot swells rise in the river of desire, 10,000 waves surge in the sea of suffering.” How do we ride the wind and waves to cross this boundless sea of suffering? We need a method, which is what we speak of every day, to use Dharma as Water. We must first use it to wash away the afflictions and ignorance in our minds.
As part of these methods, the Buddha taught us first to let go. We must abandon all afflictions. What do we forsake? We are full of cravings and greed. On top of learning not to be greedy, we must learn to give. If we have enough for our own use, we should be content. We can give away the extras. Some workers of Da Ai TV traveled to Guizhou and Gansu with Tzu Chi volunteers. The lives of people in Guizhou are full of indescribable suffering. Then in Gansu, they saw how hard it was to get a drop of water. The influence of the desert was everywhere. Every house was made our of dirt. During the drought, finding a patch of green was difficult. That kind of dryness is extreme. Naturally the people there are very poor, because it is hard to plant grain and then harvest it. So the land is dry, and the people are poor. It is difficult for the impoverished children to study even if they have the chance to go to school. Have you seen the images of these places captured by Da Ai TV? They have broadcasted it over and over. It is truly difficult for the children to study. Originally there was no school. Then we built a school for them. The students lacked many supplies. With their finger nails, they clasped 1cm of pencil lead. They were unwilling to throw it away. So they grasped the lead with great effort as they struggled to write each word strenuously.
Then we reflect on our children in Taiwan. Look at how many pencils they have in their pencil box. They have many long and short pencils. Do they have only one pencil box? Some people have many pencil boxes with many pencils in each one of them. Every pencil is sharpened, all without using a knife. They can just stick it into a pencil sharpener, turn it a few times, and the tip will be sharp. It is so simple. The children in Taiwan are so fortunate.
So we began to call for this film to be shown in schools. When they saw how difficult it was for others, they were inspired to give. That is education. We want to foster kindness at a young age, and foster the feeling that they have enough. So everyone, please always be mindful, so they can give away the extras.
We asked for donations of 3,000 pencil boxes. We received two or three times that amount. We have received over 10,000 pencil boxes. We were going to send them to Guizhou and Gansu, but now we have enough for other countries, too.
See, if everyone gives a little, altogether we receive limitless goods to help others. You see how powerful that can be! So give is the first of the Six Paramitas. It is also the first of the Four-All-embracing Virtues. So we must give, speak kind words, act beneficially and work together. In working together, if we do not first understand others, then we cannot understand the suffering of life. Since we want to be Bodhisattvas, to emulate Bodhisattvas, how can we not enter the world of suffering sentient beings? After we enter and understand it, we can see and recognize suffering. If we recognize blessing, we will create more. So we must have the Four A-embracing Virtues, giving, kind speech and so on. We must counsel others so that their minds become calm and peaceful. We bring peace not only to their lives, but their minds as well.
Every morning I hear our volunteer Bodhisattvas share about the mindsets of the hospital patients. When they are ill, they greatly fear death. Parting with loved ones is very painful. How do we soothe their minds? With kind words. How do we benefit others? We help others by working together. We transform ourselves and help others transform. When we do this, we benefit ourselves and others, and enlighten ourselves and others. We must learn all this. If we are afflicted, we cannot learn any of this. We always create our obstacles. So everyone, be focused in practicing Buddhism. Always be mindful. Do not block your learning of the Six Paramitas and the Four Immeasurables, or you will be filled with afflictions. If you learn anything, learn the Mahayana-mind. We must also make the Four Great Vows and practice the Four All-embracing Virtues in our daily living. So everyone, Please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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