Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Discerning Wisdom, Impartial Wisdom (分別智 平等慧)
In our bodies, the sense organs interact with sense objects. Our body is the greatest liability in life. Our eyes, ears, nose and tongue are all part of this body. Each sense organ of the body interacts with the external sense objects, and as a result, triggers many afflictions.
Sometimes, when we are suffering from afflictions, we may wonder about the purpose of life. If everyone could live in harmony, wouldn’t we have a world without disasters?
But now we often worry about society and humanity as people cann’t discipline their own bodies and minds, especially the actions of their bodies. The body can be used to do good or evil. Using it for good repays the Four Graces. Using it for evil leads to the Five Offenses. This is all done with the same body.
Thus, the Buddha came to this world to teach and guide sentient beings. This begins with disciplining the mind. Since our mind-consciousness is in our body, it easily comes in contact with external objects. So, using our body, we can reach an understanding of the principles. In our spiritual practice, we also need to use our body. The body is a vessel for spiritual cultivation. If we had no body, we could not study the Dharma.
In order to learn the Buddha’s principles, we need to have physical form. So, the body can be used for good deeds. To be born human is precious. Because we have it, we are able to listen to the Buddha-Dharma and train our minds according to what the Buddha taught. Then we will naturally use our body for good. What kind of person does good? Someone who knows gratitude and repays grace.
We need to repay the Four Graces, the grace of our parents, of our teachers, of sentient beings, and of Heaven and Earth.
The Buddha taught us about the Four Graces to kindle our love and ignite our compassion. We need to repay all of the Four Graces. We must be vigilant and reverent. We must be vigilant of our own minds, because sentient beings are stubborn. This is not about [being vigilant of] others, but rather of ourselves. Our own habits are very strong and unyielding, we cling tightly to our own views, thinking “I am right, others are wrong.” Everyone naturally comes to believe that they are correct, and others are incorrect. Once there is conflict, returning to our self-discipline is truly not easy.
So, in our normal daily living, we need to thoroughly discipline our minds. None of us want to remain ordinary beings forever. We all want to gradually draw near to the realm of the sages, to transcend the ordinary and become a sage. We hope to unlock the Root of Wisdom.
If our wisdom can develop, we will be able to repay the Four Graces. Then we will not commit any of the Five Offenses. Only in this way can everyone be harmonious in their relationships. Then we can put an end to man-made disasters and reduce catastrophes of all kinds.
Our great difficulty in life is due to the body. The body can be used for good and also for evil. Thoroughly discipline your mind and allow your wisdom to develop. Only then can you repay the Four Graces.
To summarize, if you do not have a body, you cannot practice. Without a healthy body, we will be unable to do good deeds and repay grace. So, we do need this body. But we do not actually own this body, we just have the right to use it. How do we use it? We need to use it appropriately. In this way, our body can benefit others.
Life is about how we use our body. The Six Roots are influenced by the Six Dusts. Are your Six Sense Organs driven by the Six Sense Objects? It depends on your heart. Everyone loves wealth, but how do we use it? Do we take it selfishly, or give it generously? How do we listen to others? In any group of three, I will find my teacher. With the things that everyone says, whether it is good or bad speech, if we really listen to it, we can learn from it. If they say something bad, we can reflect. Perhaps we have the same kind of temper.
This is a lesson. We should be courteous and receptive. Then we are able to always keep it in mind. We record all the good things in our hearts, and take the bad things as lessons. It is not only that our eyes see form and give rise to our consciousness, we can also use sense objects to discipline our minds.
This is also true for ears, which hear external conditions. We use the good and the bad to improve ourselves. We need to be disciplined and careful, not impulsively angry whenever we hear something. Like I said before, the sense organ of hearing is part of our body, and it can drive the body’s behavior. So, now the repentance text talks about the ears. “Our ears are greedy for pleasant sounds the strings and woodwinds of courts and markets, or the singing and playing of female musicians. We may have been attached to the sounds of men and women, language, weeping or laughter, which give rise to unwholesome thoughts.”
This passage is what I was just talking about. When our ears hear sounds, we may be easily tempted. It could be words of gossip or conflict that enter our ears; it could even be music. Court music was of course very beautiful. In the past, in the emperor’s court, there were many maids who played music, sang and danced. There were many different instruments played, with women dancing or singing. Rich merchants who went out to do business would trade and socialize with other people.
In the markets, there were “strings and woodwinds.” There were also instruments played, also people singing and dancing. Since ancient times, humans’ intellect has led them to enjoy these pleasures. They are “attached to the sounds of men and women.”
People these days follow pop starts. These people are called fans. Some leave the country to follow their idols; they follow them all over the globe. This is not uncommon.
Sentient beings are confused. They do not take delight in the good Dharma or remember it firmly, engraving it on their hearts. Having the opportunity to hear the Buddha-dharma, is rare, but people are willing to give it up, or they hear it without really listening. This is truly a pity.
On the order hand, for this kind of enjoyment, people lead distorted lives. With so many people pursuing dreams of stardom it really makes me feel helpless. Because people’s lives are misguided in this way, “unwholesome thoughts arise.” Unwholesome thoughts are derailed thinking.
In life, we should follow a certain path and aim to accomplish certain things. But we have already been led astray by sounds. Thus, unwholesome thoughts arise.
If we really examine this, we know that this spring from our cravings. When you crave something, you begin to desire it. Craving beings in our consciousness. Because our conscious mind discriminates, because it is attracted by this music, the external sense objects of sound will disorient us and seduce us into pursuing them. This all comes from craving, which is generated in our consciousness.
There was a professor who came to talk to me. He studied the nervous system and was talking about pathologies. What kinds of diseases do we see in modern society? Which diseases are ranked foremost?
For example, someone suffering from a stroke feels very helpless. Not just the patients but their entire families will often feel helpless. This is very sad. This is what the professor was talking about.
As he talked, he also got to the topic of memory loss in older people. This memory loss is said to be a kind of Alzheimer’s disease. He said the people who lose memory remain happy, but their families suffer a lot. When an event is over, they completely forget it. They tend to act absent-mindedly, they cannot express human emotions. Once some event has passed, they forget it.
I told him, “I am also very worried about this.”
He replied, “In your situation, I think it is unlikely. You spend all day with the world’s problems on your mind without stopping to rest.”
This is to give you an example. The brain and nervous system is our consciousness. It controls our consciousness. It determines whether all the karma we create is transformed into wisdom or if we simply forget it. This is all controlled by the brain. Having a lot of knowledge is good, but if we lack wisdom, we will not be able to change our mindset. So, when we hear a lot of different things, as in our conversations with others, it will be very easy for conflicts to arise. It is hard for others to be understanding.
But if we can be understanding, we will see them as our spiritual friends and know that not everything we think is correct. Then we can transform our knowledge into wisdom. The character for wisdom is “knowing” with a “sun.” After we know about something, we need to be as clear as day.
We often talk about having Discerning Wisdom. Indeed, with this Discerning Wisdom we can thoroughly and clearly discern everything. One step above this is lmpartial Wisdom.
Everyone, as Buddhist practitioners, we must be very mindful. We need to always cultivate gratitude for others. This is reverence. We also must be vigilant and control ourselves. If we do not discipline ourselves well, our mind and consciousness will continue to create ignorance. Sense objects are the external environment. Without them, our minds would not be deluded. Without the external environment, our minds would have nothing to be deluded by.
That is why some practitioners leave their families and give up what they love? Some people want to be secluded to cultivate for consciousness. They do not want contact with the world. Although they have no contact with the world, if they cannot master self-control, no matter how many times they go on retreat, when they come back and come in contact with the world, they still will not have any control.
Thus the Buddha, after forty-two years, put aside the Dharma of skillful means so that His disciples would use the Dharma to go into the world and train alongside everyone else.
If you listen to many different people, you need to know how to control your mind. Then you will have radiant wisdom and will not be polluted or deluded by the sense of sound. This happens even if we are secluded. Just how long can we isolate ourselves from external sense objects?
“I am so hungry? Why haven’t they sent food to me yet?” This happens as well. Since we have a body, we will always engage with sense objects. If the weather is hot today, but I am in retreat and cannot go outside in the breeze, this will also create afflictions. Many afflictions are created by our own minds. To sum it up, this body is very contradictory. All the deluding external sense objects, which create karma, have their source in craving, which comes from within. It is because you have something you want to do, or something you have not finished yet or something you have not yet obtained. Craving in this case means desire. Desire can mean a wish. You have some wish that is not fulfilled, so it begins to delude you.
Sometimes even kindness can be obstacle, whether we can act on it or not. It is very troubling not to act, but very difficult to act. Either way, we are afflicted.
The sense objects are Connecting Conditions. They form a connection with our minds. It is through our sense organs that our
Consciousness connects with sense objects, leading our consciousness to run wild. Thus, they are called Connecting Conditions. When, sense organs meet the environment, consciousness is born. These three become one.
Everyone, we need to learn to make use of our sense organs, objects and consciousness. This depends on learning the Dharma. I hope the Dharma is absorbed into your hearts. Do not let yourselves be deluded. That is very painful. The body’s existence in this physical world is truly always afflicted.
So, we all need to master the skill of subduing the afflictions of the mind. So, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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