Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: The Power of Cause and Effect (信因畏果)
Believe in and fear the cycle of cause and effect. Always be sincere and believe in the Buddha’s teachings. We must believe in and fear cause and effect.
Lately, we have been discussing the importance of believing in the cycle of cause and effect. Causes are seeds. The seeds we have planted in the past determined the form we took in this life. We reap what we sow. So, we should sincerely accept the law of cause and effect. If we can accept it with reverence, then we should resolve to discipline our minds so that we may always create good affinities with others. Regardless of how others treat us, we should accept it with joy.
We must understand karma and retribution. Those who are kind find joy, while wrongdoers receive suffering. Both suffering and joy come from cause and effect. As Buddhists, if we can understand this, our minds will always remain tranquil. We must repay what we owe others. People say, “We must owe each other a karmic debt.” When there is debt, one must repay it. If you abused someone in the past, you may be abused now. If you harmed someone in the past, someone may harm you now. With this logic, we can willingly accept everything.
The next passage indicates, “Since we have these countless, varied, negative retributions, we must sincerely repent.”
Everything is related to cause and effect. When we understand this, we should be reverent and “sincerely repent.”
Next, the passage reads, “We disciples, from Beginningless Time till now have always held cruel and unkind thoughts.”
This is what we should repent. As disciples of the Buddha, we should express our deep sincerity. “From Beginningless Time till now,” we do not know how much karma we have created. Though it has been such a long time, and we created so much karma, we were unaware of it. But since we now have the causes and conditions to be born human, to hear the Buddha-Dharma and to understand the principles, starting now, we should understand that our consciousness fluctuates between good and evil.
I often say that humans have Eight Consciousnesses. First are the Six Consciousnesses of the Six Roots. The Seventh Consciousness creates emotions. If you see something and become angry, but do not react right away and instead bury the resentment in your mind and plot how you will take action, it is like you are planting seeds in your mind. When bad seeds are planted and nurtured in our minds, they will eventually manifest.
So, after we think about something, we will take some kind of action, whether ourselves, or through someone else. Some people create trouble through words by setting people against each other. They say that the mouth is sharper than knives, and words can hurt others. Some engage in acts of killing, stealing or sexual misconduct. According to common law, there is a difference between premeditated assault, assault committed on impulse, and unintentional assault.
There are different kinds. A premeditated crime involves thoughts within the Seventh Consciousness, the part of the mind that generates actions. After coming in contact with external phenomena, we may keep them in our minds. Then we continue to think about them and plan until one day they will manifest as actions. Once action has been taken, it is stored in the Eighth Consciousness. So, the Seventh Consciousness is the worst. The Eighth Consciousness simply receives what the Seventh Consciousness creates. The first Six Consciousness interact with external states and bring them in. Then the Seventh Consciousness processes and the Eighth Consciousness stores. This is how it has always been. The Eighth Consciousness stores all bad causes, so we are led by these karmic forces.
That is why it says we hold these thoughts. After learning Buddhism, we should understand that each of us possesses these thoughts in our minds. Our Mind-consciousness is actually neither good nor evil. Since we all have Buddha-nature, which is pure and undefiled, we are all innately benevolent. However, the Mind-consciousness is influenced by external environments and conditions. So, our intrinsic Buddha-nature has been buried. We continue to carry around our karmic causes and effects. We continue to create karmic causes and effects life after life. We continue to create karma, suffer the retributions, and then create more karma.
This vicious cycle of karma continues on. The more karma we accumulate, the stronger the karma force. Thus, the mind becomes “cruel” and “unkind” due to the negative causes and conditions that often appear around us in our daily living. It is natural for our habits to lie just under the surface, and then quickly manifest. It is like having a chronic illness that always plagues us. So, our minds become cruel. Everyone’s mind has this cruelty. Sometimes we cannot control our “cruel, unkind” thoughts. Sometimes we cannot control our “cruel, unkind” thoughts. Some people are short-tempered, and when they get angry, they become violent and harm others. Why do people even have such a mindset? Afterwards, they are remorseful and claim they could not control themselves. These are habitual tendencies. They have been accumulated over many lifetimes and carried into this life.
We should understand that everyone’s Mind-consciousness functions the same way; our habits become deeply ingrained. Our mind are often pulled towards evil, so when we encounter external states or conditions, we have no control. Our minds lie on the boundary of good and evil. When we encounter external states or conditions, we are unable to remain in control. Therefore, we are often led by external phenomena. Due to the poison of anger and hatred, our minds are often cruel and unkind. We are influenced by negative causes and negative conditions to create more karma. If we often hold hateful and resentful thoughts, and do not heighten our awareness, our true benevolence and compassion will not manifest.
If our minds are often immersed in negative thoughts, when influenced by external conditions, we easily create more karma through our physical actions. Then, compassion and benevolence cannot manifest.
Since we now understand these principles, we should heighten our vigilance. Once something is over, let it go. We should not hold grudges. We must take it a step further and keep our hearts open and our thoughts pure. Do not allow anger to grow. Accumulated anger turns into resentment and accumulated resentment turns into hatred, which leads to action. After actions are taken, we create a cycle of resentment and continue to create mutual enmity with others.
This is truly terrible. There is a passage in the Jataka Sutras about the Buddha’s past life as an elephant king. The Elephant King had two wives. One day, he picked a beautiful and fragrant flower from the lotus pond and gave it to his elder wife. The elder wife was very happy. At this time, it was the cold of winter, so she was very happy to see such a pretty flower. But the younger wife became angry when she saw the flower given to the elder wife. Her anger turned into hatred. Spitefully she vowed to take revenge on them in a future life. This hatred and resentment entangled her mind, and she died shortly after.
She was reborn in a prestigious family. She was very beautiful. Not only was she beautiful, she was very smart. She had knowledge of astronomy and geography. When the king heard of this young woman’s beauty, he brought her to the palace and married her. The king would discuss government affairs with her. He always listened to her opinions on matters. One day she told the king that she had dreamt of an elephant in the mountains. “This elephant had six tusks. I adore those tusks and would like to kame ornaments out of them.”
The king asked, “How can an elephant have six tusks? That’s impossible.”
She said, “If you can’t get them for me, I’ll kill myself.”
So, the king quickly summoned his four ministers. He told them about the dream. The king, described it as his own dream, and said “I had this dream. There was an elephant with six tusks. The tusks are quite beautiful. I want them. Can you obtain them for me?”
The first minister said it would be impossible.
The second minister said, “My king, this must not be your own dream.”
The third minister said, “Such an elephant may exist deep in the mountains.”
The fourth minister said, “I’ve heard that in a very faraway place there is such an elephant.”
So, they gather all the hunters in the country and asked them about this. One of the hunters said, “Yes, my grandfather told my father about this. I heard about it but it is far away. I don’t know where.”
The young queen said, “I know where it is. If you are determined, head south for 3,000 kilometers and climb up the mountain. Then go south. If you wish to get the elephant’s tusks, once you are deep in the mountains, dig a hole and pose as a monk. The elephant really respects the Three Treasures. So, you should shave your head and beard and put on a monk’s robe. Then you must hide inside the hole. Wait there for your chance to kill the Elephant king and take his tusks.”
So, the hunter followed all her directions and hid in the hole he dug. Soon the elephant appeared and the hunter attacked him. Although the elephant was in pain, he still bowed down to the monk and asked, “Since you are a practitioner, why do you harm me?”
The hunter answered, “I want your tusks.”
The Elephant king replied, “Fine, take them, I am in agony now. If you want them, take them quickly so I don’t give rise to hatred under this pain.” He quickly removed the elephant’s tusks. The Elephant King then said, “Quickly leave this place before my herd arrives. Don’t let them see your footprints. You must leave quickly.” After the hunter left, the Elephant King was in such immense pain that he rolled about and howled. Then he died. When the elephants arrived, they wondered how their king had died and why his tusks were missing, but they could not find any tracks. Back at the palace, the king was filled with fear when he saw the tusks. As the queen was examining the tusks, a sudden bolt of lightning struck and killed her. This story is in the Sutra.
The Buddha said that He was the Elephant King, Devadatta was the hunter, and Sundari was the queen. Her resentment had developed and grew so much that even when she was reborn as human, she was filled with hatred. Such hatred and resentment are terrible. She was fortunate to escape the Animal Realm. But as a human, her hatred still did not diminish. So, we should believe in cause and effect, and we should nurture our reverence. We must create good affinities and accept our retributions willingly. Joy and suffering arise from causes and conditions. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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