Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: In Suffering We Purify and Liberate Our Minds (現受眾苦淨心得離)
Date:June.15. 2015
“Compassion is the root of giving and transforming others. We cannot bear to let sentient beings in the Five Realms suffer. Great loving-kindness and compassion are without regrets or resentment. Great joy and equanimity are without worry or attachment to expectations.”
I hope that our spiritual practice will awaken the compassion in our hearts. All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have great compassion, so they cannot bear for sentient beings to suffer. This is why they come to save and transform al sentient beings. To do that they have to be in the Five Realms and have compassion and patience as their foundations. With compassion they can engage in giving and teach and transform all beings. With the power of patience they are able to endure the Five Realms and repeatedly come back to this evil world. In transforming others, “Great loving-kindness and compassion are without regrets,” and the Bodhisattva-path is “without resentment.” This is how Bodhisattvas give and how they tirelessly come and go for the sake of beings of the Five Realms; they feel no resentment at all.
“Great joy and equanimity are without worry or attachment to expectations.” When they give, they never feel worried, because when they see sentient beings helped and transformed, they feel happy. This is the result of their giving. So, they give without worries and without regard for themselves. They do not crave benefits for themselves. This is how Bodhisattvas are.
In a certain era, there was an elder who was a devout Buddhist. Over a period of time, he discovered that there were two big temples without any spiritual practitioners inside. There were many temples on this mountain, but coincidentally these two temples stood opposite each other. They had been rundown for a long time. No one lived in them, and they were already very dirty.
The elder said, “In there anyone willing to take responsibility for these temples and fix them up so they are like new?” It happened that there was a group of young men who were very talented at drawing and painting. They approached the elder and told him, “Entrust this temple to us.” The elder was very happy.
“If you need anything, just ask.” The group of young men asked for a lot. They asked for all kinds of colors of paint and many tools. The elder always met their needs.
For the other temple, there was also a group of young men, a group of young and accomplished monastics. These practitioners came to tell the elder, “We will take responsibility for this temple.”
The elder was very happy that there were monastics willing to take responsibility. “Very good. What do you need? I am willing to give you anything.” This group of young practitioners told him, “The only thing we need are buckets and rags. That’s enough for us.” The elder then gave them what they asked for.
Then, both groups got to work. Three days later, after the young artists painted the temple, it looked like new. It was brightly-colored and beautifully painted. At the other temple, the practitioners filled the buckets with water and then used the rags to clean thoroughly.
They repeatedly swept, repeatedly washed and repeatedly scrubbed.Three days later, after the same period of time, this temple had become very clean.
With their constant scrubbing, all the glass was clear again.All the wooden surfaces of the structure had been constantly scrubbed and polished.Not only did the dirt disappear, the wood actually became very glossy.
To the elder, it was so beautiful.The brilliant colors at the other temple were indeed painted very well and looked beautiful but the other temple was simple, clean and bright.
Moreover, if a person looked even closer, al the glass and building materials shone brilliantly.All the colors from the other temple were reflected in this one.The glass of this temple mirrored the sight of the temple in front of it so the other one became part of the simple temple.
Moreover, there was blue sky and white clouds.In all these mirror-like surfaces on all the building materials, the elder could see a hit of blue sky and white clouds.
There was nothing more wondrous than this.
When these two temples were compared, people most appreciated the temple of the spiritual practitioners.
This story tells us that, if our minds are pure and free of dust, the perfect mirror in our minds can reflect the universe.The minds of spiritual practitioners, the place where we engage in spiritual practice, do not need material objects or many colors to adorn them.The place of practice in our minds is where we must make an effort to sweep away our own afflictions so that there is no dust in our minds.Then the perfect mirror [of our minds] will be able to display the universe.The colorful images of all things will be in our minds.
The mountains, rivers and land will all be encompassed within it.
Thus, “The mind encompasses the universe and embraces the boundless worlds within it.”The place of practice in the mind does not need to be colorful to be magnificent.What is most magnificent is a pure mind.
Compassion is the foundation for giving teachings to sentient beings.
Patience is needed to repeatedly come back for the sake of the beings of the Five Realms.
With great loving-kindness and compassion, we can definitely walk this Bodhi-path without regrets or resentment.
With great joy and equanimity we will have absolutely no afflictions or worries.We will have eliminated all afflictions.
Seeing sentient beings able to be saved and accept the teachings, we are free of attachments and expectations.This is how Buddhas and Bodhisattvas repeatedly return to this world for the sake of all beings.As Buddhist practitioners, isn’t this what we should emulate?This is the state of mind of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.This undefiled spiritual universe [reflected] in great perfect mirror wisdom is what all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have in their minds.
So, every one of us ordinary people has an intrinsic nature equal to the Buddha’s.Therefore, we must work hard.Like that group of spiritual practitioners, we must put in effort; it is that simple.All we need is clean water and a rag.When we put our hearts into endlessly scrubbing, endlessly sweeping and endlessly rinsing, then naturally, our minds will be pure.
So, “The Dharma is like water.”It can cleanse the defilements from our minds so the mirror of our minds is clean.
The following sutra passage states that all Buddhas and Bodhsiattvas “see sentient beings, because of birth, aging, illness and death, worry and sorrow, suffering and afflictions, are being burned, how, because of their pursuit of the five desires and wealth and advantage, they face various kinds of suffering and how, because of greed, attachment and pursuit, they now face many kinds of suffering.”
This passage is still describing the problems in our state of mind.We feel pressed, mentally and physically.
Like what it says above, “The fire that was seen arose from all four sides. The five desires are like honey on a knife blade. Wealth and advantage are like floating clouds.”
In the previous sutra passage, from the outside the elder saw that this house was on fire.In the world all around us, already the four elements have become unbalanced.
Now it says that the five desires are like honey on a knife blade, and wealth and advantage are like floating clouds. If we are greedy, we are as oblivious as children. This knife blade is very sharp, and honey is smeared on it. Greedy children will use their tongue to lick up the honey. Thus, the knife will likely cut their tongue, maybe even cut it off.
In this way, worldly fame and fortune and the five desires are like honey on a knife blade. They are very dangerous. Whether we use our hands to grab the honey or use our tongues to lick it off, it is very easy for us to get hurt.
What about wealth and advantage? They are like the floating clouds in the sky. As we lock at the sky, we see white clouds. In fact, clouds are just vapor. They are not solid at all. Nonetheless, we can see them against the blue sky.
Wealth and advantage are just like these clouds. In our eyes, they are very attractive. But they are actually far away and do not really exist. So, they disrupt the minds of sentient beings. Sentient beings are in the darkness of ignorance.
“In the darkness of ignorance, sentient beings pursue their desires as if there is no day and no night. The flames of the Five Turbidities and Eight Sufferings burn them day and night. Thus they face various kinds of suffering”.
Our state of mind is in the darkness of ignorance. The things we greedily pursue are ultimately empty. However, humans continuously pursue them without regard for day or night, creating karma that cause our body and mind to suffer. Then we have no choice but to face much suffering. This is result of “the flames of the Five Turbidities and Eight Sufferings”.
Desire for material things, recognition, wealth, status and so on, triggers a sense of greed, which leads us to [act out of] ignorance and create all kinds of karma. This causes us to be pressed by the Five Turbidities and Eight Sufferings. So, day and night, we simply work for these [objects of desire]. Therefore, day and night we face so many difficulties. So, it says that we “face various kinds of suffering”.
When we desire something and cannot get it, we will certainly experience suffering. We may bring this suffering with us to hell; we may be in hell or in the human realm. Even if we are born in heaven, we created that good karma with expectations. So, though we may do many good deeds, once we exhaust our blessings, we will still fall [into an evil realm]. Whether people are in the human, hell or heaven realm, they cannot escape the suffering of the raging Five Skandhas.
“Greed and pursuit bring the suffering of not getting hat one wants. In the hell, human and heaven realms, all beings face [the suffering of] the raging Five Skandhas”.
When we experience something in our external conditions and then try to grasp it, its appearance will be imprinted in our minds. People, matters and objects that are on our minds lead us to give rise to delusion and crate karma. We are not consciously aware of this aggregate of tiny changes in our lives. The cycle of birth, aging, illness and death is constantly occurring in our body as it continues to fade way. Thus we create karma.
The suffering we face right now includes suffering from parting with love ones, meeting those we hate, not getting what we want, in addition to the suffering of birth, aging, illness and death. These sufferings have come together. We have the part from people we want to be with. Sadly, we may separated from our loved ones in life or in death. Sadly, every day we may be with people we dislike; whenever we see them, a sense of rage and anger arises in us. In this way, meeting with enemies causes great suffering.
These are the sufferings in our present life.Having created various karma in our past lives, we face various sufferings in this life. And “because of the five desires”, we “face various kinds of suffering”. The five desires, as previously mentioned, are form, sound, smell, taste ad touch. The Five Roots come into contact with the Five Dusts in our surroundings, giving rise to these five desires. Then we cling to those pleasures.
Thus it is said, “Without wealth and advantage, one cannot satisfy oneself with these pleasures”.
If we have no wealth or advantage, no matter what sense objects we encounter, we will not feel happy because we want to possess everything we come across. Wealth, advantage and the five desires are what everyone wants. When we cannot attain them, we suffer. Unenlightened beings pursue things out of greed, so they “face various kinds of suffering”.
Unenlightened beings mistakenly think pursuing the pleasures of the five desires will allow them to attain the joy they seek. Thus they have greed and attachment when they cannot satisfy their greed, they do everything possible to pursue it. When they cannot obtain it with force, they suffer.
In this way, unenlightened beings “mistakenly [plan on] the five desires. They think the five desires are everlasting. They have the wrong perspective, so they spend a lot of effort calculating, “I want this, want that, “and this is what I need to do to get it.” No matter how carefully we make these plans, in the end, we cannot attain what we crave. So, we deliberately keep pursuing it, which leads us to create karma.
We may know for sure that we will not be able to obtain something, and it is not something we need, but we still greedily pursue it. That is because our minds stir “due to deluded thinking.”
People’s deluded thinking stir the desires of their body and mind. When the things they receive are not fully to their satisfaction or, after a while, they get tired of them, they will suffer. We take delight in the new and discard the old. Actually, this still brings suffering, but in our deluded thinking, we think it beings joy.
Therefore, “Deluded thinking stir the desires of [our] body and mind.” my body needs this. My mind wants that. Thinking this way leads to tremendous suffering. With all the things that we want, even if we obtain them and get to experience them, they may not necessarily satisfy us. Once we obtain them, we treat them liked a damaged straw sandal, something completely worthless. This discarding the old for the new [is often seen in people’s relationships.]
It also applies to material objects. People see something and say, “This is very good, I want it. But after a short period of time, they see something better then what they have, so they like that even better. There is no end to these desires.
For this reason, we suffer tremendously in body and mind. In fact, pursuing and attaining things leads to suffering. However, ordinary beings have distorted thinking. Out of deluded thinking, they purse things because they think those things lead to pleasure. But everything is illusory. All suffering comes from the impermanence of life.
Life is impermanent and a cesspool of various sufferings. And these constantly changing painful matters all resulted from painful pursuit. Thus, as we face each kind of suffering, we continue to add more suffering. Therefore, it says we now face all kinds of sufferings.
Life is impermanent, but we do not recognize that, so we think everything is permanent. When all suffering is gathered together, it is a cesspool of all suffering; it is a complicated mess. Everything we do creates karma, and this karma creates a complicated mix of seeds that are stored in our karmic consciousness. All of these are “constantly changing painful matters.”
As our Roots interact with the Dusts, the image of what we want is constantly being replaced. The new replaces the old. The old is phased out and the new takes its place. In this way, we suffer tremendously. Everyone, this is very taxing. When we talk about suffering it is also taxing because there are so many kinds of suffering.
Actually things are very simples; it is all about the mind. if our minds are pure and undefiled, they will be free of suffering; it is that simple. So everyone, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)