Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Deposit Kindness in the Storehouse Consciousness (預約善念藏識中)
Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. Deposit kindness in the Storehouse Consciousness. Let sincerity and integrity be the field; Let faith and steadfastness be the seeds.
Everyone, in learning Buddhism, we learn wisdom and faith. We must develop our wisdom, while our faith should remain firm. We must have faith in ourselves and be faithful to our word.
This word “faith” is very important in human relationships. Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. Wisdom and firm faith will give rise to many merits. If we want to create merits, we must earnestly cultivate them. We often hear about the Storehouse Consciousness. It is our Eighth Consciousness. Our everyday actions are all stored within it. Our past actions are concealed in this Consciousness.
If we can develop good thoughts, if we let them constantly arise in us and nurture them well, they will grow from one to an infinite number. When we have good thoughts, we will be able to give to humanity. There are infinite, countless ways to do so. Whether we have good thoughts and wisdom or act out of kindness to help others, all is collected in the Storehouse Consciousness. If cause and conditions bring negative effects, we should understand why.
So, we must also have faith that these effects are karmic retributions. After we receive retributions, we need to repent. We can turn bad retributions into good conditions, then plant good seeds under those good conditions. Ultimately, there is nothing we cannot change. The cycle of enmity does not have to last forever. Our sincerity and integrity must be the field where we grow thoughts of kindness. How do we nurture good thoughts?
Of course we need good seeds, and a good field. Sincerity and integrity are the best fields. We cannot lack sincerity when we learn Buddhism. In everything we do, we need to use wisdom to choose the right thing. Trust yourselves and then go do it. Do it with reverence and for the sake of all sentient beings. There are no other thoughts. We are whole-heartedly focused on this one mission. When we can do that with sincerity, integrity and unselfishness, then we plant the best seeds. If these seeds are planted in our Storehouse Consciousness, then life after life we will not need to worry.
So, the text says, “From Beginningless Time until now.” Think about it. From Beginningless Time until now, what has been accumulated in our Storehouse Consciousness? A mix of good and bad. From now on, we must eliminate evil and continuously nurture good. We do not know if we committed evil deeds in the past deliberately, by accident, or to make a living. Everything we have done, since Beginningless Time, remains as habits.
We bring those habits with us to the Six Realms. With these habitual tendencies, all the karma we create is negative. It has accumulated since Beginningless Time. Now we need to know what we have actually done.
The repentance text says, “We may have aborted fetuses, destroyed eggs, and created poison from venom, hurting and killing sentient beings. We may have razed land for fields and orchards or raised silkworms to boil the cocoons, causing many deaths.”
This section is also very simple. It should be easily understood. It says we “aborted fetuses, destroyed eggs.” Some young people have children out of wedlock. Some get abortions. Since they abort life that has taken form, they are cutting this life short.
In the Earth Treasury Sutra, we read about the Brahmin girl’s mother, who loved to eat all kinds of fish. She particularly loved to eat fish roe. She bought a live fish and slit it open to eat the eggs. This kind of killing is very damaging. She especially loved to eat tiny fish. Some were unborn; some were just born. We knows how many she consumed?
Since her mother killed and consumed so many lives and did not believe in the Three Treasures, the girl knew her mother would descend into Hell. This Brahmin was a kind girl who believed in the principle of cause and effect. So, after her mother died, she asked the Buddha where her mother had gone.
The Enlightenment-Flower Samadhi King Tathagata directed her to calm her mind and meditate. The mind must be calm. When she sat down to meditate, her mind became serene. She felt like she arrived at a vast sea. The succession of huge waves was very scary. On the shore, many people were pushing and shoving. Some were pushed into the turbulent sea. They rose and sank without hope of rescue, suffering immensely. Yaksas used pitchforks to spear and lift up the dead. When they came back alive, they would be pushed back in.
They were even more frightened and scared, especially because in the endless sea giant, dark waves crashed down on them. They were drowned and then were brought back up. They would come back to life, only to be drowned again. That is truly terrifying. Hearing the frightened wails of these wrongdoers was truly scary.
At this time, a Ghost King came. He saw the girl and brought his palms together, “Bodhisattva, you have come.” She asked this Ghost King, named No-Poison, “And my mother? Where is my mother? What is this place?” No-Poison replied, “This is the first sea around the Great Ring of Iron Mountains.”
“What is that?”
“It is Hell” This is the first, there are also a second, third and fourth, one after another. The torture faced by the wrongdoers gets worse and worse with each sea.
“If so, then why am I here? Is my mother in Hell?”
The Ghost King asked, “What is your mother’s name? What did she do when she was alive? And why did you come here?”
She told him her story and told him of her mother’s behavior. She said she prayed to the Enlightenment-Flower Samadhi King Tathagata. Under His guidance, after her mother died, she liquidated their wealth and created many merits on her mother’s behalf. She was generous and saved many people. She explained all this.
No-Poison thought a while and said, “Bodhisattva, do not worry. Your mother went to Heaven three days ago. Because you, her filial daughter, donated to so many people on her behalf and sincerely revered the Three Treasures, with those merits, she ascended to Heaven. Even many of those who suffered with her have ascended to good paths, due to that positive karmic force.”
Hearing that, she felt at peace. She finished meditating and bowed in gratitude to a statue of this Tathagata. Because she believed in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and understood the principle of cause and effect, she knew her mother created a lot of bad karma. So, after her mother died, she sold everything to help others on her mother’s behalf. Her mother then ascended, so she felt at peace.
Think about those who “abort fetuses and destroy eggs.” Those actions create the same kind of karma.
Those actions create the same kind of karma. Won’t these actions lead one to Hell? There are four great seas in Hell. There, people die and are reborn, spending every second in fright. They wail but cannot be rescued. How do they live through such painful days? This is Hell. Once they enter, it is difficult to exit. Without strong merits, it is very difficult.
Next is “creating poison from venom.” The Medicine Buddha Sutra explains this method of producing poison. Many poisonous bugs are raised together. The bugs bite and eat each other until there is only one left. This one will then contain the poison of all bugs. Then people extract and manufacture poison with this last surviving poisonous bug. So, we know how poisonous it is. People use this method to produce poison from venom.
They raise many poisonous bugs to create a tremendously venomous poison. This harms sentient beings and also creates tremendous karma. Another way we create karma is to “raze land for fields and orchards.” Some read this and wonder whether farming is a form of transgression.
This example reveals the Buddha’s great wisdom. Right now, people use pesticides on their farms. They use many chemicals. Think about it. Why are there many cases now of young people contraction rare illnesses? This comes from food. Nowadays, many contagious diseases that spread among people are transmitted through food. The seeds of these illnesses spread endlessly, so more and more people become infected, and we see more cases. There is another obvious example of something even more harmful than pesticides.
Some people grow drug-producing plants. Those poisonous substances not only affect the physical body, they slowly poison people’s minds. They cause people who use them to lose their will. Drugs cause tremendous damage to body and mind.
Some “raise silkworms to boil the cocoons” and cause greater damage. Some people wear silk, which comes from silkworms. Consider how many lives were lost for this. When they wove in the old days, they used sisal and other materials. They did not have to take so many lives. For silk, people raise silkworms until they spin cocoons. When the cocoons are formed, people boil them to unravel the silk. This also causes great harm. This is our delusion as sentient beings.
Everyone, as we learn Buddhism, we must earnestly nurture ourselves. First, we have to believe in cause and effect. We must be firm in our faith. It is the mother of merits. Our Storehouse Consciousness has to nurture good thoughts. Sincerity, integrity, faith and steadfastness are the fields and seeds; we will be great farmers. Then the world can be at peace and we will truly be blesses. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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