Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Learn the Law of Karma and the Four Noble Truths (明因緣修四諦)
Date: May.04. 2015
“All four forms of birth arise from causes and conditions. Every arising thought creates positive or negative karma. Uncontrollably we bring seeds of karma with us. Ignorance, volition and consciousness give rise to birth and death.”
All living beings are born through the four forms of birth. The four forms of birth are egg-, womb-, moisture- and transformation-born. Apart from we human beings, there are many kinds of living, moving beings. They all go through the four forms of birth.
We all know about the womb-born. We humans and other mammals are womb-born. Cows are like this; they are born very naturally from their mothers’ womb. Sheep are also womb-born. Once a ewe gives birth to a lamb, lambs are known for then kneeling to drink the ewe’s milk. It is very natural for the lamb to do this. There are many other womb-born creatures. Other than womb-born animals, there are many animals which are born in eggs, chicken, ducks, birds and so on. Animals which fly are egg-born. Some fish give birth to many egg at once.
In this world, no matter where they live, all living beings come from one of the four kinds of birth, egg-, womb-, moisture- and transformation-born. All creatures come into being through one of these four forms. These four forms all have their own causes and conditions; they arise from karmic cause and effect.
The Buddha said, “All living, moving beings have Buddha-nature.” These four kinds of beings all have Buddha-nature, just like us humans. Whether they are cows, dogs, pigs, sheep or any other animal, they all have Buddha-nature. We have seen [video] of an old female chimpanzee. When she saw her owner doing chores, she copies him. She did the same chores her owner did, in the exact same way. She wrung the cloth, washed the windows and swept the floor. Whatever her owner could do, the chimp could do the same. Do you think she is an animal or a human? She could pretty much do what humans could do.
In circuses, monkeys can ride bikes and go around buckets and hoops. Their tricks are just as good as human tricks. Many different kinds of creatures can be trained in the same way. Dogs can guide their blind owners to safely go where they need to go. The dogs stay with their owners and guide them along a safe route. Think about this. Isn’t their nature close to human nature? If so, then their nature is close to Buddha-nature. There are many stories like this regarding animals. We can clearly see that all living beings have Buddha-nature. How did we come to be born human? How did animals come to be born in the animal realm, to be slaughtered at the whim of humans?
The environment they live in is so very different from that of humans. What is the ultimate cause behind this? Causes and conditions. We often talk about causes and conditions in relation to the Six Realms. People who do good are born in the heaven realm or in heaven on earth. Even if you cannot see heaven realm, there is heaven on earth. Many people enjoy great comfort and luxury.They are born with a silver spoon in their mouths.In this world, they are born to a good family that is well-off.
They grow up in that environment and are nurtured with care.The environment they live in feels like heaven.
If they have a love for cars, they will have many cars six to seven, maybe more than ten vehicles.They are willing to polish the cars all day and cannot be to let other people touch them.They are attached to these cars.
One of our Honorary Board Members used to live like this.
After joining Tzu Chi he knew did not need to be a slave to his cars.Every day he was polishing his vehicles.Every day he worked on a different car.Sometimes he went for a drive.He had no purpose except to drive.After driving it, he did maintenance on the car once he was home.The next day, he switched to another car.
I asked him, “How many cars do you have?”He replied, “There are seven days in a week. I drive a different car every day.”“So, you have to polish seven cars in one day?”
He said “I enjoy polishing the cars”“How much is a car worth?”“Almost NT$7 million.”“That is one of the cheaper ones. If almost NT$7 million is one of cheaper ones, what about the most expensive?”“Over NT$ 20 million.”
“Doesn’t this take a lot of work?”After a while, he told me, “Master, now I understand what you were telling me. I’m going to sell all my cars. I’ll just keep one.”
One day I asked him, “What are you going to do with the money?”“I will donate to international relief or some of our other missions.”I said, “This creates countless merits.”
There is another Tzu Chi volunteer like him.He greatly enjoys fine cuisine.He said that I can name any creature that flies, swims or runs, and he would have already eaten it and he would have already eaten it.
One time, upon hearing about a famous dish somewhere, he got on a plane to go there and eat it.After living that way, now he is a vegetarian and often shares his story with other people his life changed.
Why did it change?Because he understood the principles, that the form of birth we experience depends on our causes and conditions.We cannot simply choose for ourselves.It depends on the thoughts that arise in our minds and the positive and negative karmic conditions which we create.After letting go of this body where will we be born in our next life?Will we be womb-born?Will we be egg-born?Will we be moisture-born, transformation-born?
We do not know, and it is beyond our control.All we can do is take good care of our minds.
When thoughts arise in our minds, will we do good deeds, or will we benefit others?We may do good deeds and create blessed karmic conditions.But what if we commit evil deeds?That creates negative karmic conditions.In the unwholesome environment thus created, if we commit evils, then with those negative karmic conditions, the power of this karma will naturally drag us into the evil realms.
We can end up in this world, in the animal realm.We can see all kinds of animals in our world.What if we want to see hungry ghosts?Nowadays, information is easily accessible.So many sentient beings are starving, starving to the point of beings skin and bones.They have no muscles.On Da Ai TV, we often see images of sentient beings who suffer from starvation.
In the hell realm, there is the hell of iron beds.If we are financially stable and have good karmic conditions, when we are sick we can go to the hospital so that people can take care of us.But some illness, no matter how much care we receive, are still impossible to diagnose, and even if a cause is found, there may be no way to treat it.The patients feel like they are on an iron bed.
“My suffering is the worst. I have no sense of the suffering experienced by the patient next to me.”It is as if they are in the hell of iron beds.
In particular, people who have had their feet or hands amputated, or tongues removed, or were burnt by fire and so on, don’t they feel like they are in hell on earth?This is a result of bad karma.We follow our karmic conditions; it is beyond our control.
See, in this world there are people who are so wealthy they are like heavenly beings.In this world, there are people so tormented by suffering it is as if they are in hell.
With these good and evil realms, we do not need to talk about evil realms beyond this world; we can already see them in this world.So, we must understand the principles.
When we are born, “Uncontrollably we bring seeds of karma with us.”
When we see people living in luxury, we may think, “If I’d known, I would have been born in that family.”Is that possible?Even if we knew, it is still impossible, because even if we knew, we would have had to create good karma in our past lives and not evil. This had to be done in our past lives.
“Uncontrollably we bring seeds of karma with us”. We bring good and bad karma with us; we have no choice about this. We have already brought it with us to this life. Since we have brought karma with us already now that we have the chance to hear the Dharma, we must change our life. When will we change our life? If we change now, we will reap the results in our future life. If we do not find this life ideal, we should be motivated to change it. If we enjoy this life. We should remain vigilant and not deplete our blessings. No matter how much money we have in the bank, eventually we will spend it all. So, we must create blessings for our future lifetimes right now.
What happens in this life is beyond our control. Since we are born human, we are still very blessed, so we should always be grateful. Born human in this lifetime, we are able to hear the Buddha-Dharma and live in Taiwan, which is a great place. We should feel grateful every day.
For ordinary people like us, “Ignorance, volition and consciousness give rise to birth and death”. We have talked about how the Buddha came to this world to share with everyone that they have the potential to attain Buddhahood. But to achieve this state of mind, we must fulfill certain conditions like purifying our minds. Our minds can be purified if we mindfully engage in spiritual practice. Sakyamuni Buddha was not born enlightened. It took Him five years of traveling and six years of ascetic practice in order to realize the truths of the universe.
So, this was the process of spiritual practice that He underwent and the life that He lived. He manifested an example for us, teaching us how to engage in spiritual practice. But actually, He had spent lifetimes over countless kalpas engaging in spiritual practice. He had already attained enlightenment and His state of mind is as clear as crystal, very pure, tranquil and clear. It is one with the universe. But there was no way for Him to share this state of mind with everyone. So, He had to devise various skillful means according to sentient beings’ capabilities. Thus He taught the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Existence.
The previous sutra passage states, “The father knew his children, that each had his or her own preferences for all kinds of precious toys or unusual objects, which would surely bring them joy.”
He had already understood, so He gave them suitable teachings. Only people who willingly draw near the Dharma and listen to it can realize the Buddha’s teachings.
The next passage in the sutra states, “So, he told them, These toys for you to play with are rare and difficult to obtain. If you do not come take them, you will regret it later.”
Knowing what these children needed and what would bring them joy, the elder called to them loudly. These children were still inside the burning house, not realizing they had to get out. No matter how he yelled, they merely watched him, not realizing they had to get out. The elder had to devise other skillful means. Knowing what these children liked and what made them happy, he called out to them, “Come here. Let me tell you something. These toys for you to play with are rare and difficult to obtain. If you do not come take them, you will regret it late.” He said, “Come quickly, because out here, there many more fun things than there are inside. If you do not quickly leave the house, you will miss out on getting your hands on these very rare and precious things. Then you will regret it.” This was how he called out to his children. He yelled to them loudly in hopes that they could quickly escape the place that was catching fire. This is why he yelled. This is like how “[The Buddha] urged them to practice and uphold the teachings of the Four Noble Truths”
“What the Buddha told them: He urged them to practice and uphold the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, stating; This is suffering: you should recognize it. This is causation: you should eradicate it. This is cessation: you should attain it. This is the Path: you should practice it”.
The Buddha teaches the Four Noble Truths, the truth of suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. From the beginning, the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths. Do you know about the different kinds of suffering sentient beings experience in this world? “This is suffering: you should recognize it”. This world is a place full of suffering. Everyone in the human realm faces suffering. How much suffering is there? Everyone experiences some sufferings equally, such as birth, aging, illness and death. After we are born, we slowly grow up and mature. Then we become old. As we age from adolescence, young adulthood to middle-age, we each live in different environments.
Some suffering because of their living situation. Some suffering because of their ignorance. Children who are spoiled grow up to be playboys; they do not understand the principles of the world so they think others always treat them wrongly. People like this crave many things. If they cannot attain those things, they give rise to afflictions, hate and so on. This is also suffering.
What happens when it comes to relationships? If a man loves a woman, he will keep pursuing her by any means possible. During that process, he suffers from not getting what he wants or not being loved by the person he loves. So, [we suffer from] not getting what we want, from parting with those we love and even from meeting those we hate.
Therefore, Buddha said “This is suffering; you should recognize it.” Everyone should know that life is suffering. Contemplate this meticulously, think about this calmly. Is there anything that can make us happy forever? There is not one thing that can make us happy forever. Things are impermanent and constantly changing, moreover, there are many sudden accidents and unexpected disasters. These cause unbearable suffering. We must understand this.
The Buddha said “This is suffering; you should recognize it. “This is causation; you should eradicate it.” Suffering arises due to our attachments. It is because we have attachments that, when in these situations, we take issue over things and. When we see something good, we fight for it and want to take it.
Oftentimes, when people see jewelry they want to steal and snatch it. How much damage has acquiring these treasures caused our natural environment? We know that to find these gems people blow up mountains and caves. That is how they discover these precious stones. This is “causation.”
Accumulating these causes in the world has led to an imbalance of the four elements. The destruction caused to the earth happens because of people’s minds. This leads to the creation and accumulation of karma. We must put an end to this causation, otherwise, if we keep accumulation karma, we will create endless suffering for people in the future.
Who knows where we will end up in our next life? We have no idea.So, “This is causation; you should eradicate it.” We must not only eradicate them, we must reach a state of “cessation.” In this life, we cannot be greedy any more. At the same time, we cultivate purifying practices in order to understand these principles. This is the state of cessation; our greed and desire must cease. Not only must we refrain from acting on them, even our minds must be cleansed of them.
So, “This is cessation; you should attain it. This is the Path; you should practice it.” This is the Path; we must earnestly practice it. The Buddha told us about these principles and paved a road for us to walk on. The Four Noble Truths help us understand how we came to this world. In coming, what factors did we accumulate that led us to be born human? This teaching was followed by the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths so that everyone can hear and understand the law of karma, etc. He used skillful means and analogies in order to teach the Four Noble Truths. Many principles and many truths about the law of karma can be found in the teachings of the Four Noble Truths.
But to realize how we came to be human, we need to understand. Everyone, the Four Noble Truths can help us understand many things. Explaining the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. So, I ask all of you to, at this time, understand the Four Noble Truths first. Then I will explain the sequence of the Twelve Links. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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