Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Eliminate Deluded Karma to Escape Suffering (滅盡惑業修道離苦)
Date:July.01. 2015
“By learning and practicing the teachings of the Path, we can attain freedom. By understanding suffering, we end causation, the seeds of suffering in the Three Realms. When we eliminate deluded actions, we can practice the Path to free ourselves from suffering. When our resolve meets with the Path, we will reach the ocean of enlightenment.”
This is to remind everyone that as we learn the practice the teachings of the Path, our minds must be at ease. If our minds are not at ease, how can we learn and practice the Path to understand the essence of the teachings?
So, if we resolve to learn the practice the teachings of the Path, we must train our minds to be at ease. We learn the Buddha’s Way for the sake of our minds. If we do a good job of training our minds, we are true practitioners of the Path. If all we do is listen and do not see the Dharma as a part of our lives, if the way we behave and speak is still [driven] by our habitual tendencies, this means the Dharma is not one with our minds.
When we listen, we must take the Dharma to heart. Our minds must be one with the Dharma; only then are we true practitioners of the Path. By learning and practicing these teachings, naturally our minds will be at ease and will abide in the Dharma. What inspires us to engage in spiritual practice? First, we must understand the sufferings of life. The Buddha opened up this path for us, and we must start from the beginning.
To start at the beginning of this path, first, we must learn to understand suffering, to understand the Four Noble Truths. Everyone is already very familiar with these, but even if we are familiar with them, do we really understand them? Though listening to teachings makes them familiar, after we finish listening, when we are dealing with people or matters and challenges arise, we may forget what the Four Noble Truths are. Then our minds give rise to afflictions and create negative affinities. This comes from a lack of understanding.
If we truly understand them, when we are faced with interpersonal conflicts we will think about how taking issue with others leads to suffering and will thus avoid doing it. Then these conflicts will disappear and in our minds there will be no afflictions and ignorance to give rise to delusions. If we are no longer part of any conflicts or disputes between people, haven’t we eliminated this cause of our suffering?
When interpersonal conflicts appear, we can remain disciplined when we understand suffering, we will be self-disciplined. Thus we guard against wrongs and stop evil. When we understand suffering, we know that if we get involved with certain things, we will add to our causes of suffering, which is to be avoided. So, we will promptly put an end to it. If we can do this, “the seeds of suffering in the Three Realms” will disappear. “By understanding suffering, we end causation.” This is how we put an end to the seeds of suffering in the Three Realms.
I always tell everyone that we do not need to think too deeply about the Three Realms. In the dictionary of Buddhist terms, if we look up the Three Realms, they are explained with so many details. The form realm and the formless realm are analyzed in many ways. Actually, we need not talk about those aspects; we just need to apply the idea of the Three Realms to our state of mind.
Have we eliminated the desires in our minds? Are external conditions enticing to our minds? Do discursive thoughts arise in our minds in response to external conditions? After those external conditions are no longer around, our minds may still be attached to the present or the past or they may be thinking about the future. There are so many kinds of afflictions; do we have these attachments and discursive thoughts in our minds?
If our minds are free of discursive thoughts, free if attachment and free of confusion, we will have no more of these formless [afflictions].
So, first we must understand suffering, in order to put an end to causation.In ending causation, all our desires, the [temptations] of forms around us and the [formless] afflictions of ignorance will be eliminated from our minds.Isn’t this very simple?
So, we must “eliminate deluded actions and practice the Path to free ourselves from suffering”.We need to practice the Path to realize the fruit.Only by realizing the fruit can we transcend suffering.
Realizing the fruit means attaining the results of our spiritual practice.We have verified that, in the past we were ignorant afflicted; then after we took the Dharma to heart and engaged in spiritual practice, we were able to sweep aside our afflictions so that every day we are very happy.Every day we feel free and joyful.
This means we have realized the fruit.We have verified that we have eliminated the causes of suffering and have also verified the happy results.
If we think of it this way, practicing the Path and realizing the fruit is not very difficult.
“When our resolve meets with the Path, we will reach the ocean of enlightenment.”We have resolved to engage in spiritual practice so we must connect with this path.
The Buddha paved this path for us, so we must start walking towards it.If our first stop is in the right direction, and we keep walking forward, we will connect with this path; our minds will converge with the truth.So, we must mindfully learn the Path.
There was a venerable one named Upagupta.He lived 100 years after the Buddha.He was engaged in spiritual practice, and everyone respected him very much because he was pure in his thoughts and actions.He shared the Buddha’s teachings with his disciples and everyone else.
But in his mind, he wondered, “This era I’m living in is 100 years removed from the Buddha’s lifetime. What were things actually like at that time?”He knew there was a bhuksuni who was 120 years old.She was alive during the Buddha’s lifetime and had received teachings from Him and followed Him into monastic life.
To learn more, Upagupta went to visit her.When this elderly bhiksuni knew that Upagupta was coming, she hung up a bowl of sesame oil behind the door.The door was closed, and whoever wanted to come in had to open it.
When Upagupta knocked on the door, the bhiksuni responded by saying, “Please, come in.”He gently opened the door and came in.
The elderly bhiksuni saw that oil had spilled out of its bowl and onto the ground.When Upagupta saw the old bhiksuni, he greeted her respectfully and asked her for teachings.
He asked, “During the Buddha’s lifetime, what were the demeanors of the monastics?”
The bhiksuni said, “During that time, among the monastics there was a ground of evil-natured bhiksus. They did not follow the Buddha’s teachings, and they constantly did vile and wicked things. But their demeanors were still better than yours.”
In this mind, Upagupta wondered, “How could an evil-natured bhiksu have a better demeanor than mine?”
The bhiksuni then said, “Venerable One, when you came in you caused this bowl of oil to spill a little. It had overflowed onto the ground. Did you see it?”
He felt ashamed.
The bhiksuni explained to him, “Even if the evil-natured bhiksus put a full bowl of oil on top of their heads and walked around, none of the oil would spill. Think about that. Aren’t their demeanors in walking, standing, sitting and lying own much better than yours?”
Upagupta felt a sense of shame from deep within his heart.He felt gratitude toward the elderly bhiksuni.
“I should work to improve my Four Demeanors, how I walk, stand, sit and lie down. I should be more cautious in my actions.”Then he bade her farewell.
The Four Demeanors of a spiritual practitioner 100 years after the Buddha could not compare to the evil-natured bhiksus of the Buddha’s time.How much further away are we, now more than 2000 years removed from Him?So, we must be even more vigilant.
“Our resolve [must] meet with the Path.”Now that we have resolved to engage in spiritual practice,we must find a way to connect with the Path. We must have the Dharma in our hearts in order to awaken our enlightened nature. Then we will be able develop our wisdom. This is how we complete the Path. This is why we should be mindful and cautious.
The previous sutra text states, “You must simply practice diligently. The Tathagata used these skillful means to entice sentient beings. “Then I said, You should know that the Three Vehicles are all praised by the noble beings”.
The Buddha, out of compassion, used the Three Vehicles to entice us to walk this path. He felt that sentient beings needed more reinforcements and reminders. So, “Then [He] said, You should know that the Three Vehicles are all praised by the noble are all praised by the noble beings”.
We should understand that, at that moment, the Buddha was preparing everyone for the future. He had already opened up the provisional and was about to reveal the true. “The provisional” refers to the Three Vehicles. The Buddha already said, “These are skillful means. The true teachings are the Dharma of the One Reality”.
But here, the Buddha said, “The Three Vehicles are all praised by the noble beings”. He was telling everyone that we must not look down on the Three Vehicles. He was saying this for the future, for those of us here right now. It was as if He was handing this down to us.
Since the Buddha established these teachings, we cannot take them lightly. T
his next passage states, “They allow us to be free, with no ties.” You should know that the Three Vehicles “were praised by all the noble beings. They allow us to be free, with no ties, with nothing that we learn on or seek”.
Returning to the Dharma itself, the Three Vehicles can teach us how to become free in body and mind. First, we can be free, with no ties, with nothing that we learn on or seek, which is to free ourselves from ignorance and deluded actions.
How can we be free? Freedom comes from learning and practicing the teachings of the Path. This is the only way to free our minds. If we do not earnestly learn and if we do not take the Dharma to heart, how can we be free? Even with just the Three Vehicle teachings, Hearers enter [the Path] by taking in the sound of the Dharma. Solitary Realizers deeply contemplate the Dharma. They think about the principles of impermanence, suffering, emptiness and no-self in this world. This is all part of the Dharma. This Dharma was praised by all past Buddhas. Not only did the Buddhas of the past praise it, our present Buddha, Sakyamuni, and all Buddhas of the future, Maitreya and so on, all Buddhas of the Three Periods, teach it.
Since the distant past, countless Buddhas have followed this sequence of establishing teachings to transform all beings. So, when we practice and learn, we must practice mindfully. “By understanding suffering, we end causation”. In this way, we can eliminate desires, forms and [formless] afflictions, delusions and ignorance from our minds. Delusions and ignorance from our minds. Only then can we be free, with no ties and nothing that we learn on or seek. We can free ourselves from ignorance and from the delusions caused by ignorance.
If we can be free from delusions and ignorance, we will not create any more bad karma. We will only create good karma and blessings. We will not commit evils, create afflictions or give rise to more ignorance. This is how we can free ourselves from the karma of delusions and ignorance. Then, “we can attain freedom and have no ties and not be bound by birth and death”.
They allow us to be free, with no ties, with nothing that we learn on or seek:
Free from the karma of ignorance and delusion, we can attain freedom and have no ties and not be bound by birth and death. Imperfect Dharma means we learn on or seek something.
If we can eliminate delusions and ignorance, then our minds will naturally be free. We are no longer bound by those ropes, so we are free. If we are no longer bound by the ropes of birth and death, we are liberated.
I always say, “Through spiritual practice we attain liberation”. To attain liberation means that we are no longer bound by ropes. We have broken free. As Buddhist practitioners, we need [to follow] the Dharma. If we do not take the Dharma to heart, what we have learned is imperfect Dharma. It is as if we are still bound by ropes, because our precepts, Samadhi and wisdom are lost even as we cultivate them; they leak away. Although we are always listening to the Dharma, it goes in one ear and out the other.
If the Dharma keeps leaking from our minds, no matter how much dharma we hear, we will not be able to take it to heart.
So, “Imperfect dharma means we lean on our seek something”.
We are still seeking something to rely on. “Please teach me something. Please help me avoid disaster. I pray to the Buddha, worship the Buddha, consult spirits and do good deeds all in order to attain blessings”. All of this is a result of not having taken the Dharma to heart.Even if we listen to teachings, they still leak out of our minds.
To sum this up, we must take the Dharma to heart and apply it. If we do not earnestly take the Dharma to heart, with the many things and principles in the world, we will never be able to study them all and will never be able to learn them.
In conclusion, “By grasping one truth, we understand all truths.” If we can truly take the Dharma to heart, when we really understand this, our understanding of that will not be flawed. The most important thing is for us to have “nothing that we lean on or seek.” To attain a state where we do not lean on or seek anything, we need to realize the truth of cessation. We must eliminate the afflictions of causation.
With nothing that we lean on or seek:
If we realize the truth of cessation, then once this life is over, we will have no further existence.Thus there is nothing to learn on or to seek.
Our minds will be free of attachments. No matter how other people treat us, we feel that by willingly repaying our karmic debts, we will no longer be karmically entangled.
Thus, “If we realize the truth of cessation, then once this life is over, we will have no further existence.” “Thus there is nothing to lean on or to seek.” If we have realized the truth of cessation, we have witnessed how we can eliminate mutual entanglements of kindness and resentment. When we let go of these cycles of gratitude and grudges, we will have eliminated the causes of suffering. Once we eliminate our accumulated causes, we will be free of suffering.
So, “If we realize the truth of cessation, then once this life is over….” When we do not give rise to discursive thoughts, our attachment to birth and death is no longer in our minds. So, “We will have no further existence.” If, in this lifetime, we put end to these afflictive emotions, in our future lives we will not. Then there is nothing that we lean on or seek. What is it that we are still looking for? Do you still need to pray to spirits? Do you still need to cast lots? Do you still need to pick an auspicious date? There is no need.
Our minds will be in a state of freedom, and every day we will feel at ease. Freedom comes from ending causation. Only by ending causation can we realize the truth of cessation. When we put an end to causation, we will not suffer “the ties of the Three Realms.”
To “be free, with no ties,” is great freedom.
Free:
If we can end causation, then we will not have the causes of suffering of the ties of the Three Realms. Thus we can be free, with no ties.
The Three Realms, as I keep emphasizing to you, are in our minds; they are the Three Realms of our minds. Right now, we are in an unenlightened state. We must quickly transcend the Three Realms of our minds and not continue to create interpersonal conflicts, give rise to cravings for material things, etc..
If we let go of these things, every day we will be at peace, seeking nothing, relying on nothing. Then we will no longer be attached to or afflicted by anything. Realizing the truth of cessation, we put an end to delusions Delusion is ignorance. If we can put an end to all delusions, the conditions that produce afflictions and karma will not entangle us. We must put an end to these.
By putting an end to afflictions, these delusions will disapper. If we are free of afflictions, the conditions for crating karma will no longer pull us along. Then there is “nothing that we lean on or seek.”
Realizing the truth of cessation:
When we end delusion, the conditions that produce afflictions or karma will not entangle us. Thus, there is nothing that we lean on or seek.
“Once who seeks nothing has the noblest character.” There is no need to constantly be seeking; what we must do is figure out how to help others That should be our aim in life.
Dear Bodhisattvas, we must be mindful as we learn the Buddha’s Way. The Buddha must be in our hearts, and the Dharma must be in our actions. We must do everything according to the Dharma. To achieve this, we must always be cautious and mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
首頁 
