Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Mind Creates the Causes of the Fire (心造是因火起是果)
Date: April.15. 2015
“In the realm of physical existence, the fire that arises is the result. There are natural and manmade disasters, and the mind is the cause. Sentient beings whose minds are confused act improperly. With [physical] contact, feelings and cravings, the resulting suffering is not without cause.”
In this realm of physical existence, impermanence, suffering and emptiness have always been part of the workings of the world. However, we all continue to form attachments, which creates so much suffering in the world.
This is like the elder’s great house. It had been in a state of disrepair for many years. There had always been many people in the house, but they did not cherish that big space. They acted as they wished, and so their selfish actions resulted in a fire. This is an analogy, but it is also a truth of the world. Already, in the realm of physical existence there have begun to be signs of imbalance in the macrocosm and microcosm.
So, “There are natural and manmade disasters, and the mind is the cause.” These are all created by the mind, by the thoughts that arise in our minds. It may happen that people do not get along; they may fight openly or they may plot in secrecy. The causes of [these conflicts] all come from the mind. The reason that sentient beings are subject to so much emotional and physical suffering is because people’s minds are confused. In sentient beings’ minds and in everyone’s actions there is a lot of confusion over “permanence, joy, self and purity.” “Clinging to what is impermanent as permanent, clinging to what is not joyful as joyful, clinging to a non-existence self as self and clinging to what is impure as pure,” these are [the inverted views of] ordinary people.
Or, they could be considered attachments, “Permanence, joy, self and purity” are also things we may be attached to. Whether we cling to “emptiness” or “existence,” this is a state of confusion arising from not understanding the principles. This results in [the Twelve Links of] contact, feeling, craving and so on. These sufferings all have their causes. Where there is an effect, there must be a cause. [Once a cause exists,] karmic retributions will continuously manifest. Therefore, we must take good care of our minds.
The previous passage states, “The elder, seeing the fire arise from all four sides, was greatly shocked and afraid and had the following thought, ‘Although I can, through this burning doorway, escape to safety… ”
I have repeatedly explained the meaning of this passage. The elder is an analogy for the Tathagata. The Tathagata is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms. In the Three Realms, for a very long time now, sentient beings have been living as described in the burning house parable. [In the house,] there are many sentient beings, none of whom understand the principles. In the Three Realms, the guiding teacher is mindfully teaching them. However, they are in a state of confusion, so it is as if fire is arising from all four sides.
The next sutra passage then states, “All my sons are still inside the burning house, attached to their playing, unaware, unknowing, not shocked nor afraid. The fire is closing in on them and suffering and pain threaten them, yet they have no sense of aversion or peril, and they do not have any thought of escaping.”
This comes after the description of how the columns, beams and pillars of the house were all rotted and decayed. The house was indeed deteriorating, signifying that the situation in the Three Realms is truly worrisome.
In this great house, the columns, beams and bases of the pillars had rotted. The sons were foolish, unknowing and unaware. They kept playing games and remained stubbornly attached to their delusions. They were unable to accept teachings and remained deluded and unaware.
Nowadays, the world’s material goods are very tempting. Everyone’s desires, perspectives and afflictions are entangles in a complicated knot. It is if they are living in a great house where everyone, from the columns and beams to the bases of the pillars, had rotted away.
This happened because “The sons foolish, unknowing and unaware. The children living inside the house were deluded and very foolish, so they were unknowing and unaware. They did not know their behavior was wrong. They did not know that living in this great house, the Three Realms, is very treacherous. They “kept playing games” inside and “remained stubbornly attached to their delusions.These children had turned into people who were “unable to accept teachings.” There was no way to easily teach them, because they were deluded and unaware. When we think about this, we will think of how, in modern times, interpersonal relationships are very complicated. People’s mindsets are not very proper.
Every say, when I think of people and matters and see the way that people live, the state of their lives and their minds, I feel helpless. Doesn’t it seem that many people live this way? It is as if they are playing with fire. They do not think, “I need to quickly awaken, attain realizations and purify my mind. I need to abide by the rules and sincerely live in harmony with others, working together to help everyone in this world.”
The suffering that the Buddha spoke of is something we should all have experienced. Due to the imbalance of the four elements, there are frequent natural and manmade disasters, troubles in society and so on. How can we not awaken? How can we not have faith in what the Buddha says and not accept the teachings? We cannot continue to cling to our delusions.
So, this house has been on fore [for quite a while], and the elder has already left this burning house. This is analogy for how the Buddha has already awakened to His nature of True Suchness and realized the unconditioned Dharma.
The Buddha has awakened to His true nature and realized unconditioned Dharma. He is fundamentally free of afflictions, so there is no appearance of burning or of entering and exiting safety and stability that can be spoken of.
He is the Great Enlightened One of the Universe. With an ocean of enlightened wisdom and a broad mind and heart, the ignorance and affliction in the Three Realms have no control over Him.
So, He had already attained enlightenment, and His mind was fundamentally free of afflictions, so there is definitely no appearance of burning; there is simply no such thing [in His mind]. There is also no appearance of entering or exiting safety and stability, as He was already in a safe and stable state. Yet this “burning house” is an analogy used in the sutra. In the state of Buddhahood, He is fundamentally peaceful and at ease, outside [the house].
However, the sutra states, “The elder, seeing the fire arise from the four sides, was greatly shocked and afraid.”
He is already liberated, traveling freely beyond the Three Realms. Why would He be shocked and afraid? This is showing that the Buddha compassion for sentient beings.
He was worried because sentient beings had “lost the pure and wholesome thoughts of their true nature.” This is way the Buddha appeared shocked, because He was compassionate and could not bear to let sentient beings suffer. He had compassion for sentient beings’ suffering. He saw that the Three Realms in everyone’s minds were in chaos. Their “personal microcosms” were disrupted and filled with afflictions, evils and turbidity. Their cumulative actions became collective karma.This was what worried the Buddha most. When people come together, they exert a big influence in the world. The force of their collective karma can destabilize the world around them.This is what shocked the elder, and what worried the compassionate Buddha.
Therefore, He had worries. “He worried about sentient beings committing all evils; thus He was frightened”.
This was very frightening. This not only something to be afraid of; it is terrifying.Sentient beings have created so much karma that it is frightening. Not only does it scare people, it is actually very terrifying. The human mind is indeed very powerful. A single evil thought can cause a devastating disaster.
I often bring up examples of how the minds of people in the modern era are really worrying and frightening. Now there are people with psychological issues or who have been trained especially to sacrifice themselves to destroy societies. In order to damage society, they are willing to destroy their bodies. People’s thinking has gone so far astray.
Recently, from Iraq, Syria and other countries, I have heard about suicide bombers and other forms of attacks. They destroy families and kill people, hurting societies and countries. All this arises from the mind, so it is very frightening.
The sutra text uses the words “shock” and “fear”. How can the Buddha feel fear? He has already attained liberation, but for the sake of world’s sentient beings, because of His compassion, He felt shock and fear on their behalf.
Because of His compassion, He worried about their suffering. He was worried that they would create karma and suffer as a consequence. Saying that He felt shock and fear shows that He worried for them out of compassion. This indicates how compassion led Him to worry about sentient beings.
“The elder had compassion [wherever] He abided”. Out of His compassion, the elder kept sentient beings in his thoughts. In fact, the Tathagate, Sakyamui Buddha, abides in the land of calm illumination. However, He manifested [this worry] that sentient beings were in a state of suffering. The elder had compassion.
He abides in the land of calm illumination, which made his sons’ lack of awareness more obvious. They clung to the Four Inverted Views. “The fire is closing in on them, and suffering and pain threaten them”. They could not easily escape the burning house.
The tranquil and clear state of the land of calm illumination is the state of the Buddha. However, sentient beings in the Three Realms show “[the elder’s] sons’ lack of awareness”. The Buddha Himself is completely enlightened, but ordinary people are still deluded and unaware.
They cling to the Four Inverted Views”; they are still in a state of confusion. “The fire is closing in on them and suffering and pain threaten them. They cannot easily escape the burning house”. They are suffering, but escaping is not an easy matter because they hold the Four Inverted Views. They are still confused and deluded, so for them to accept the Buddha-Dharma, practice according to the teachings, push aside afflictions, and understand everything in the world so well that they can purify themselves is indeed not very easy?
“All his sons are attached to their playing, to lingering all day in comfort and pleasure, without achieving anything.”
In a state of comfort and pleasure, all they want to do is have fun. Regardless of anything else, they just want to enjoy themselves. The people of the present are like this. They are attached to their comfortable environment. All day they do this, or if not, “they spend their time fighting over wealth”. They fight over the objects of their desire.
“Whether they spend their time fighting over wealth or are self-indulgent and undisciplined, they do not realize that their house is on fire, that the flames are pressing in on them and that they are in danger of pain and suffering.”
“Fighting over wealth” means they want more and more assets and wealth. This is the reason that people in the world are unable to earnestly learn what the true principles are. Every day, “they are self-indulgent and undisciplined”. This is their state of mind. Because of their mindset, on the stage of life, and even in play, they want to be at the top and to constantly show off their strength. They feel, “I am the leader in this field” or “I am the leader in everything”. Is this enough? No. how long will their lifetimes last? However long it is, they will strive and grasp. They indulge in pleasure and debauchery, and in the end, they have nothing at all. They are not aware of how the fire is already right next to them.
“They are in danger of pain and suffering” but they still have not noticed it. “Yet they have no sense of aversion or peril, and they do not have any thought of escaping”. This is an example of how limitless sentient beings’ greed is.
This is the greed of sentient beings. They cling to the five desires. They linger on and cling to states that bring them happiness and do not let go of them. They do not realize the danger of being about to fall into the evil realms.
“Yet they have no sense of aversion or peril”. They are still greedy. With this greed, what do they linger on? The five desires. They linger on and cling to many objects of desire. They will never let go of these states. This is what the minds of many ordinary people are like right now. They are not willing to let go of their desires; whether for power, fame and status, etc., they are unwilling to let them go. This causes conflicts between people and creates unrest in their surroundings.So, “They do not realize the danger”.
They do not realize that fighting openly and secretly for power, fame, wealth and so on, is actually very dangerous.They are in a treacherous state, “about to fall into the evil realms”. [Our karma] will not come to an end with this life Will we fall into an evil realm in our next life? Often we only focus on the present without any consideration of the future.
“If I have liquor today, I will get drunk today”. When they attain power, they become drunk with their power and fame.
With this kind of yearning, attachment and greed, they will not let go of anything.
This is truly worrisome. This is a very immature mentality, so these people are also called “His children,” which means they are immature.
In the Chapter on Parables, there is also this sutra passage, “His sons are young and immature, and have no understanding” “They are attached to their playing”.
This is a very immature mindset.We should earnestly practice what the Buddha taught He hoped that we would start with the formless realm, with our thinking. If we are able to attain realizations, gain wisdom and awaken, then none of the forms in the form realm, none of the material and tangible things we experience, will awaken feelings of greed in our minds. This applies to everything. People with wisdom will not be affected by matters and objects. Without being tempted by matters and objects, naturally they will not give rise to desires and ignorance. If we work towards goodness, we start a virtuous cycle, we feel the joy of giving unconditionally. Then we will continue this cycle and create more positive causes, conditions and retributions.We should earnestly accept the Buddha-Dharma and open the door to our minds If our minds are free of greed, free of craving, free of confusion and free of fear, then won’t we be free and at ease outside of the burning house?
To achieve this, we must be mindful This sutra passage [depicts] our state of mind. Whenever it mentions the Three Realms, we should think back to the Three Realms of our minds. The views we cannot see are the formless realm. When we greedily cling to things we see, those things are in the form realm. Our greed gives rise to ignorance, so our minds are filled with desires and ignorance. In sum, there are virtuous and vicious cycles. Goodness crates positive cycles. Evil crates negative cycles. By doing good deeds, we can purify our minds and naturally become one with the universe. With an ocean of enlightened wisdom, we can accept all things. This is what the Buddha taught us. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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