Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Our Retributions Follow Us Like Our Shadows (八識藏業隨形受報)
Date:July.23. 2015
“Sentient beings face both circumstantial and direct retributions. The karma they create is stored in their eighth consciousness. Their retributions follow them closely like their shadows; the burning house of the Three Realms is created only by their minds.”
This helps us better answer the question, what is stored in the karmic consciousness of our minds? Everything we have done in our past lifetimes. Can our brains recall the things that happened yesterday? We remember them. Can we recall what happened the day before that? We still remember those things clearly. What about the things that happened last year, two years ago, ten years ago? In particular, [do we remember] our interactions with people? In our interactions with others, when people are good to us, if we are kindhearted, we will not forget to repay their grace.
We always remember those who treated us well. “When we drink water, we think of the source.” As for those who did not treat us well, no matter what bad thing they did to us, whether they bullied us or caused us harm or so on, we remember what they did even more clearly. We will never forget these particular people. They are stored in our memory. If we were to physical open up our head, we could not see these memories. But although they are not physical tangible, scene after scene of things that happened a long time ago are stored in our mind forever. It is like this in our present life.
We often hear the saying, “We cannot take anything with us when we die; only our karma follows us into our next life.” All the karma we create is collected in our “storehouse [consciousness],” in the field of our eighth consciousness. It is in our eighth consciousness that we ordinary people store all the karma we have created in the past. Good or evil, all our karma is stored there, so we call this our “karmic consciousness.”
We bring our karmic consciousness with us as we leave this life and go into the next or when we left our previous life to come to this one. This karmic consciousness that we bring with us leads us to our circumstantial retributions and our direct retributions.
I remember many years ago, we provided aid to Ethiopia. The volunteers filmed and took pictures of what life in Ethiopia was like. The kind of life they lived was terrifying and gut-wrenching. We saw how people in Ethiopia drank water. The water they drank flowed downstream from a place of high elevation down to a place much lower in elevation, then into a depression, where it became stagnant. Who knows how long it had been sitting there? The water was dirty and there were worms in it. The water was the same color as the dirt. But we saw a man drop to all fours to slurp at the water. Then the man spat the water onto his hands to wash them. Images like this were engraved on our minds.
So at that time, when we went to Ethiopia we did not just help to build medical stations and provide medication. At their various medical centers and medical stations, we helped train, in total, more than 300 medical staff. We not only trained them in how to dress a wound and how to apply medicine, we also helped build water stations. The water was guided down the mountain through plastic tubes. We connected tube after tube until the water reached them. This gave them a source of clean water.
We could see the smiles on the faces of the women there.They collected the water in buckets, and, balancing them on their heads, they happily went home.These images are also often in my head.
We often say that we leave this life for the next.
If we were born into those kinds of conditions, in a place like that, what could we do?This is very worrisome.
So, I truly believe in circumstantial and direct retributions.In the end, where will the things that we do now lead us?We do not know.
In the city of Malacca in Malaysia, there is a young Bodhisattva, a child named [Fan] Yuan-en.Yuan-en’s father, [Fan Yun-qiang,] used to sell meat products.But in the year 2010, he installed the Da Ai TV channel at home.He started watching our programs, listening to my lectures on “Wisdom at Dawn” and watching my program “Life Wisdom”.
By watching the Da Ai TV channel, Yuan-en’s father, Mr. Fan, came to see how we create good and bad karma in life.He realized that through his livelihood he enabled people to consume countless living beings.These animals were all killed to satisfy people’s cravings.
So, he recognized that the business he ran was creating the karma of killing.Thus he changed his ways, and now he sells vegetarian food.
When he and his wife had time after work, they started watching the Da Ai TV chinned.Their daughter, at that time, was six months old.
Whenever they watched TV, they would put her in the baby walker.She would also watch quietly and listen to what I was saying.She was so intent that she kept scooting forward.The baby walker kept moving forward and forward.
Every day, she started out close to her parents.
But whenever she was listening intently, she would move closer and closer to the TV.She listened earnestly and smiled a great deal.
This is incredible.
When she was three years old, she attended group studies with her parents.She would remain quiet and bow to the Buddha and listen to the teachings.Even now she is still very earnest.This is really incredible.
This began when she was six months old, and now she is three or four years old.She is only in kindergarten, but she knows she should do good deeds.We go through this kind of process in life.
In the beginning, we are born.Due to our karmic affinities with our parents and with this place, we come here.After we are born, we can choose whether we want to be in a wholesome or unwholesome environment.This choice also depends on our past affinities.
Our good and bad affinities affect us now.If we created negative causes in the past, committed wrongdoings and created bad affinities bad people can easily influence us and entice us to go astray.
So, causes, conditions, effects and retributions play out circumstantially or directly.Our circumstantial and direct retributions are based on the karma we have created.Karma is stored in our karmic consciousness, in the field of our eighth consciousness.Therefore, we must believe that “Their retributions follow them closely like their shadow.”This is the way life works.
How we come into this life depends on the karma we created in the past.Then, following the [karma] created in this life, we go into the next.So, “The burning house of the Three Realms is created only by their minds.”
Our minds create everything.Our afflictions cause us to become confused about many matters.Our pure Tathagata-garbha has been obscured by our ignorance.Thus we become confused and cannot tell right from wrong.
So, I hope that we will all be vigilant and earnestly guard against wrongs and stop evil.
Now we know we have Tathagata-garbha consciousness.We must quickly wash away our impurities to allow our pure Tathagata-garbha consciousness to quickly manifest its purity and illuminate [everything].I hope everyone will be mindful of this.
The previous sutra passage states, “The Buddha, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke the following verses.
The Buddha, wishing to restate His meaning, spoke the following verses.
This is the parable of an elder who had a large house.
Previously we described how the elder of this burning house saw children playing inside, unaware that the house was deteriorating and that fires had already started on all sides. Foolishly, these children remained inside. The elder set up three kinds of carts outside to give to the children when they came out. In the end, the elder felt, “I have so much wealth, I should give it all to the children in equal and plentiful amounts. I should distribute it among them”.
So, he encouraged everyone to accept the cart drawn by the great white ox. This is the summary of the lengthy text that we have discussed so far.
Now the Buddha, “wishing to restate His meaning, spoke the following verses”. He restated His words because there were still things left to be said He wanted to reinforce people’s understanding. So, He described everything again.
The elder is an analogy for Sakyamuni Buddha, and the large house is the Three Realms. The Three Realms are compared to a burning house. Why are the Three Realms, the desire realm, form realm and formless realms, called a “burning house”? The following text reinforced this description. The next sutra passage states,
“As this house was old, it was collapsing. The halls and the quarters were high and precarious. The bases of the pillars were brittle and fragile. The girders and beams were all aslant. The foundations and stair were falling apart”.
“This house” refers to the [burning] house. “Old” describes how it was rundown. It was on the verge of falling over. “Collapsing” describes the bad shape it was in. “The halls and the quarters were high and precarious”. This house was built up very high, which made it more dangerous. A large house built this high is very dangerous, especially as it is old.
As this house was old, it was collapsing. The halls and the quarters were high and precarious: A house is a place that provides a shelter for us. This house had not been repaired for many years so it was collapsing. There were halls and rooms inside the house.
A house is something we cannot do without in our everyday living. The basic necessities of our life are clothing, food, housing and transportation. We need to have food to eat and a place to stay to be able to live a safe and peaceful life. So, housing is very important.
It is “a place that provides shelter for us”. A house can protect our body. We can rely on the house to shield us from the wind and the rain. A place that keeps the elements out will be a safe and stable place for us to live in. Such a place is a “house”. But this house had not been repaired for years. It was on the verge of “collapsing”. It was in very bad shape and had become a very dangerous place.
“There were halls and rooms inside the house”. Every house has halls and rooms. There may be lounges, bedrooms, kitchens and so on; we can distinguish many different halls and rooms. A house can also be an analogy for our circumstantial retributions.
We can understand that the place where our physical body is born into can be likened to the location where this house was built. The different types of houses are like the different forms our body can take. We may be a human, a pig, a dog or so on. Everyone’s body can be considered a microcosm. Each microcosm is like house. The location of the house and the type of house correspond to what we are born into.
Some people naturally look very dignified.Some people are very unsatisfied with the body they are born with. After we come to the human realm, what is especially important, beside this body, is our environment. What kind of environment do we live in? This completely depends on our karmic causes and conditions, which decide where we will be born. But everything is “within the burning house of the Three Realms”. We remain within the Three Realms.
This is likened to circumstantial retributions, all within the house of the Three Realms. The Three Realms have existed since Beginningless Time. They were not created now. Impermanence subtly leads to collapse. The halls and rooms represent the Three Realms. The halls represent the two upper realms while the rooms represent the desire realm.
We are still on this planet, under this sky and on top of this earth, regardless of where we are born. So, everything is “within the house of the Three Realms. The Three Realms have existed since Beginningless Time”. No one knows how long they have existed. Perhaps hundreds of millions of years. How long has the Earth existed? We still do not know. Nonetheless, we are constantly within this vast space. It was not established just recently. It has existed for long time. So, we say “The [Realms] were not created now.” They came into being a very long time ago, so they are something old, not new. This is the [burning] house. “Impermanence” is talking about insignificance. We are, in fact, insignificantly small.
However, we tend to think highly of ourselves; we have this sense of self-important. In fact, we live in this place that we call the Three Realms, on this planet called Earth. Actually, in the universe, Earth is just like an ant at this foot of Mt. Sumeru. I often say that, in this universe, there are countless solar systems. The human realm is so insignificantly small. It is also impermanent and will go through formation, existence, decay and disappearance.
But we human s do not understand this principle. We do not recognize that impermanence is so subtly leading to collapse.
“The halls and rooms” represent the Three Realms. In the Three Realms, there are “the two upper realms. The two upper realms are the form realm and formless realms. Our daily living takes place in the desire realm. Can we go a day without pursuing some desire? Many people, in pursuit of their desires, endlessly create karma. Living in this desire realm, they never stop creating karma.
So, “The bases of the pillars were brittle and fragile. The girders and beams were all aslant. The foundations and stairs were falling apart.” This house is already in [bad] shape.
The quarters: where our bodies take shelter. The supports against the walls are pillars. Horizontal supports are girders, vertical ones are beams. The base of the room is the foundation. Steps up and down are called stairs. To the east and west and to the front and back are the walls.
The quarters are “where our bodies take shelter.” This is our living area. Then there are “the supports against the walls. The exterior structure of a house is considered a wall. Within the walls are pillars. Horizontal supports are girders, vertical ones are pillars and beams.
A house has girders and beams, both horizontal and vertical supports. Under the roof, there are walls and pillars. This is the basic structure of a house. These pillars, roofs and walls must have a foundation. The foundation is raised, with steps going up. These are called stairs. Within the house, the halls, when raised, [will have stairs]. These are the basic parts of a house.
To the east and west are walls; there are walls on the outside of the house. To the front and back there are also walls. The halls and quarters are also analogies in the Buddha-Dharma. This house represents our body, our consciousness and our mind.
Halls and quarters denote the aggregate of form. The pillars represent the aggregate of action. Girders and beams are the aggregate of feeling. “Foundation and stairs” are what halls and quarters are built on. This is an analogy for the basis of life and the seeds of our thinking.
Where will our next life be? Will we lead a life of nobility or a life of poverty? Actually, all life is equal. It is our karma that determines where we are born and the kind of family we will be born into. Will it be a royal family? A government official’s family? A wealthy family? Or a poor family? All of these conditions depend on the karmic consciousness we bring, on our circumstantial and direct retributions. So, where we will be born is closely related to our behavior and thinking. These verses are actually more profound than the prose.
I hope we can be deeply reverent as we look into the burning house. What is it actually trying to tell us? We must carefully contemplate this with great meticulousness. We must constantly listen to the teachings and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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