Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Ten Afflictions Drive Our Transmigration (十使驅役 流轉三界)
Date:August.17. 2015
“The Ten Afflictions, greed and the others, drive and control the mind and spirit, causing transmigration in the Three Realms and giving rise to craving and the five desires. With anger, rage and impatience we hatefully go against what is proper. With delusion and ignorance we mistakenly give rise to deviant views.”
A single thought, a right thought, can lead us toward the great Bodhi-path. A single deviant thought can lead us to the hungry ghost or animal realm, where we live in suffering. So, when we learn the Buddha-Dharma, we need to follow the Right Dharma. In the previous few days, I have been explaining the analogies of birds and beasts, goblins and monsters, yaksas and so on. They each have their own way of living. Only we humans have incorporated all these ways of living in our minds.
If we humans practice diligently in this world, we can become Bodhisattvas and attain Buddhahood. However, this world is also very hazardous. Once we give rise to confusion or ignorance, those thoughts can leads us to fall into the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm. This all depends on the karma we create in this world.
[We create karma] because of the Ten Afflictions, which drive and control our mind and spirit. Where do they drive us to go? Through transmigration in the Three Realms, the desire realm, form realm and formless realm.
These three realms reflect three states of mind; they exist in our minds. So, these Three Realms begin with having cravings and the five desires. Then we give rise to greed, anger and impatience. With greed, anger and ignorance, we compete with and take from each other, mutually take issue with one another. People live like this because thoughts of greed arise in them. Then they fight for things, and when they cannot get them they feel impatient, become enraged and depart from the path of proper conduct.
Look at the world right now; there are so many manmade calamities. This is indeed worrisome. Many tiny effects compound and in the end trigger a heavy windstorm.
Just look at the Syrian refugees. Recently our volunteers from Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) went to the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. In Jordan alone, there are already more than 600,000 refugees. Yesterday, this group of TIMA volunteers returned. They gave us a detailed briefing with pictures and explanations. As Dr. Ye recalled his experience in Jordan, he choked up in tears. There were several times that he could not speak. This is because he could not bear their suffering. Even though he was physically back in Taiwan, his heart was still in Jordan.
This shows his compassion. Indeed, just from looking at the pictures, we already felt very sad, to say nothing of the people who actually went there. So many refugees are living in the tent areas, under very crude conditions, in very cold temperatures. During the summer, when the sun shines brightly; it can feel as hot as a furnace. When it is cold, it can be as cold as an icy hell. See, this is how disturbances in a society can negatively impact the lives of so many people, break up their families and destroy their homes. This has affected countless people, and it all arose from [people who], “with anger, rage and impatience, hatefully go against what is proper.”These few words describe foolish and ignorant people who “mistakenly give rise to deviant views.”
They did not have an upright mind and did not practice according to the Right Dharma, so they gave rise to craving and the five desires in the Three Realms, committing actions that led to the loss of their humanity and the destruction of many people’s homes and lives.
Therefore, when a thought arises in our minds, what we end up doing can be truly earth-shattering.These actions are inseparable from “the Ten Afflictions, greed and the others, [which] drive and control the mind and spirit.”
What exactly are the Ten Afflictions?
These refer to ten fundamental afflictions.
The Ten Afflictions:
Also called the ten fundamental afflictions.
1.Greed: cravings of the five desires.
2.Anger: rage and impatience.
3.Ignorance: foolishness and lack of clarity.
4. Arrogance: pride and self-importance.
5. Doubt: suspicion and jealousy.
Of the ten fundamental afflictions, the first is the cravings of the five desires.Greed is the origin of all transgressions, the root of all afflictions.
These all arise from greed.
The second[affliction] is “anger”.Because of anger, we have rage and impatience.Once it is let loose, anger cannot be controlled, and we will continue to commit wrongdoings and do evil things until the very end.
People with anger are described as auras.
Unclear about matters or principles, they just keep losing their temper.On a small scale this damages their relationships; on a large scale this disrupts entire societies.On an even bigger scale, this destroys nations, causing death and the destruction of families.All this starts with “anger”.
The third [affliction] is ignorance.Once we are in a state of ignorance, we will not understand the principles.This is foolishness and lack of clarity.
Are we going in the right direction or not?We do not know which road is the one we really want to take, so we keep getting lost.
We are like the foolish and ignorant children in the burning house of the Three Realms.They thought it was fun to play with fire because they did not know what was good or bad for them.
This is an example of ignorance, which is also lack of clarity.
The next [affliction] is arrogance.We often say that arrogance is pride.Pride gives wise to arrogance, to the seven kinds of arrogance and eight kinds of pride.These many kinds of arrogance lead to severe afflictions.
The fifth [affliction] is doubt.When people want to approach us, we may be suspicious.
“How will this person treat me? Will they benefit me or cause me harm?”Because our suspicions create imaginary fears, our minds will always be filled with darkness, and we will have trouble seeing the light around us.
So, when dealing with people, we are filled with doubts and suspicions.
At the beginning of March, over ten days ago, [there was an incident] at Kunming Railway Station.A group of masked people entered the train station and attacked civilians for no reason.Many people died on the scene, and over 100 people were injured.
People were not only injured, but very scared.
People were physically harmed, and their minds were also full of fear. Their family members were especially worried.Therefore, the hospital asked for volunteers to provide comfort to the survivors.
They selected three groups of volunteers.One was college students majoring in social work, they hoped that these young people would be able to provide social services in the future, so they let them go among the survivors to learn to provide emotional support and comfort.
The second group asked to work with survivors was psychotherapists.
Lastly, the hospital also hoped that Tzu Chi volunteers could be involved.Tzu Chi Bodhisattvas willingly accepted their invitation and began to exercise the most sincere love and feeling of great empathy to keep the survivors company. They took care of each family’s mental wellbeing and the mental wellbeing of each survivor.
Among the survivors was an elderly grandmother. She was among those attacked. The attackers slashed at her throat, and her larynx was ruptured; this was a very serious injury. She was sent to First People’s Hospital and stayed in the Intensive Care Unit until very recently, when her throat had healed enough for her to be in a regular hospital ward.
This elderly woman was very scared. Whenever she saw people, she felt terrified and would not allow people to go near her. This was how fearful she was. The relatives of this elderly woman came to Tzu Chi volunteers for help. “Can you help my mother? Can you help comfort my mother so that she will not be so afraid?”
Tzu Chi volunteers began to show her their genuine love and gentleness so that she felt safe with the volunteers. She let them get closer, allowed them to hold her hand, caress her forehead and so on.
Eventually, the elderly woman smiled. In their time with her, Tzu Chi volunteers also gave her something useful. They gave her a decorative charm that said “peace” like the ones we pass out during Chinese New Year. They also gave her red envelope from our Year-end Blessing Ceremony.
At that moment, the head of one of the departments happened to visit her as part of his rounds. When he saw the grandma at peace with a smile on her face, he felt that Tzu Chi volunteers made a very big difference in those ten-plus days.
Of course, the Tzu Chi volunteers worked with many people over the course of every day at the hospital. This is just one story.
Some people are suspicious when they meet others because they have suffered tragedies like this. This grandmother was about to get on a train or perhaps get off a train, we do not know, but suddenly, these masked people [attacked] and her throat was nearly severed. Her larynx was cut open; it was very terrifying. It is not surprising that after almost dying, she became very fearful at the sight of people. However, she was approached by Living Bodhisattvas so she can now find peace in both and mind. If she had continued to be plagued by doubt and suspicion, even if she recovered physically and went home, the shadow [of trauma] would follow her for the rest of her life and she would be suspicious of everyone. That would be very troublesome.
Fortunately, she had this affinity [with Tzu Chi]. How could she get rid of her suspicions? With the help of Living Bodhisattvas.
How can we eliminate our greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt? Only by walking the Right Path, following Right Understanding and Right Views.
6. Views of Self: attachment to the body of the Five Aggregates.
7. Extreme Views: attachment to the two views of eternalism and nihilism.
8. Deviant Views: slander and denial of the law of cause and effect; the ruin of all good things.
9. Stubborn View: taking what is not the effect as the effect.
10. View of Deviant Precepts: attachment to incorrect precepts.
The sixth [affliction] is “view of self”. Our sense of “self” comes from having this body. We often say that the greatest liability in life is having this body; all the karma we create comes from the actions of this body. Greed by itself only exists in the mind.
Ignorance also only exists in the mind. The greed, anger and ignorance in our minds can only manifest through the actions of this body. So, by having this body, we get attached to the body of the Five Aggregates.
Does everyone know the Five Aggregates? Form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. These are the Five Aggregates. We are clearly living in a state of impermanence, going through birth, aging, illness and death, day after day, second after second. With the aggregate of action, we are in a state of constant change, but we do not understand this, so we constantly cling to our form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. “I saw this thing and I love it. I want to do this, so I must fight for it to happen” and so on.
We think that we will always be the same. We do not understand birth, aging, illness and death, formation, existence, decay and disappearance. We also do not understand arising, abiding, changing and ceasing. Because we do not understand these principles, we develop “the view of self.” “As long as it makes me happy, why not do it? People who think this way have the “view of self.”
Those with “extreme views” do not follow the right course and deliberately go astray on a deviant path. They are “attached to the views of eternalism and nihilism.”
For the last two days we have talked about eternalism and nihilism. People who believe in eternalism do not recognize the impermanence of life. People who believe in nihilism believe that after this one lifetime, there are no subsequent ones. They do not believe in the law of karma so they act recklessly, fearing nothing, not worried about consequences. This comes from believing in nihilism.
The eighth [Affliction] is “deviant views,” they slander and denial of the law of karma. Not only do they not believe in it, they also slander the law of cause and effect. If people want to do something good, they will prevent them from doing it by saying it is wrong to do those kinds of things. All these actions are caused by “deviant views.”
Deviant views cause us to go astray and make one mistake after another. Unable to take joy in others’ goodness, we instead prevent others from doing good.
The ninth [affliction] is “stubborn views.” When people abandon reasonable principles, it is truly quite sad.
The tenth is “view of deviant precepts,” which refers to deviant spiritual practices. A few days age, we talked about how people go astray spiritual cultivation and engage in practices using fire, or practice by living as a cow, dog, etc.. They believe that [to eliminate] the karma they created in the past, in this lifetime they must take on all kinds of physical suffering and endure them all; this is what they consider as spiritual practice.
So, they burn themselves with fire or live in very filthy conditions, living like cows and dogs and eating what cows and dogs eat. They believe this is spiritual practice.
So, people ‘s various afflictions can be summarized as these Ten Afflictions, which are the fundamental afflictions.
The Ten Afflictions is another name for the Ten Agents. Delusions about principles are the “acute afflictions.” Delusions about matters are the “chronic afflictions.”
Greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt are the five chronic afflictions. When we see objects, thoughts arise in our mind. once our mind gives rise to these thoughts, even after the matter has passes, thoughts about it continue to arise. These are called “the five chronic afflictions.”
The view of self, extreme views, etc. are the five acute afflictions. They all lead the body to take action. When we think about doing something, with physical body we very quickly move and take action, causing all kinds of tragedies.
If we have thoughts without taking action, those [afflictions] are considered “chronic.” If we have these states of mind and then take action, when these come together [disasters] immediately result. Such afflictions and ignorance will lead us to create delusions and karma. Recently, I have been telling everyone to develop a deep understanding of “delusions.” “Delusions” are the formerly mentioned greed, anger ignorance, arrogance and doubt. “Karma” is what the view of self, extreme views, etc, drive us to do, such that we create karma. We have this body, so we create karma.
For so many days, you have listened to the teachings about birds beasts, goblins and minsters and so on. I hope they can help you all quickly understand more clearly the Ten Afflictions. I spent a long time in explaining them so that. Actually, there is more to say on this.
There are so many people in this world, so there are countless afflictions. Therefore, we must constantly listen to teachings. Although some say, “I have already heard them, still, after expounding the teachings in prose, the Buddha repeated them in verses to help everybody gain a better understanding. The sutras constantly repeat themselves, to help everybody heighten their vigilance. So, we must constantly contemplate carefully and always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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