Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings (五濁八苦四面火起)
Date:August.20. 2015
“Space has a name, but no true substance. People are far from a flawless state and lose their precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. We should contemplate the objects of mindfulness and how the body is subject to constant change, lest we give rise to the Four Inverted Views, the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings.”
Space has a name, but no true substance, thus it is very open and spacious. Only when a space is wide open can it encompass all things in the universe. This is what it means to be open and spacious. As Buddhist practitioners, we must also learn to open up and broaden our hearts. The power of the heart is just like that of space; it is boundless. Boundless “space” is called as such because it has no true substance; it cannot be measured. So, we use the name “space” to represent this.
It is like when we say, “Always be mindful.” Where is the mind we are referring to? Can we be more full of our mind? How? Our mind is boundless; the Three Realms are created by the mind. This means that our mind can be so open it is boundless, or so closed that it is the size of a pinhole. This is reflected in our perspectives and thinking.
Right now, as Buddhist practitioners, we know and understand the principles; [we know] precepts, Samadhi and wisdom are goals of our spiritual practice. However, we ordinary people are far removed from existing in a flawless state. Precepts, Samadhi and wisdom are the Three Flawless Studies. If we learn the precepts, we must uphold them. We must not violate them, nor should we do anything that is not right.
We must guard against wrongs and stop evil. We must prevent discursive thoughts from arising and keep our minds from deviating and going the wrong way. These are precepts; they guard against wrongs and stop evil. We must also practice “Samadhi”. When it comes to the direction of our lives, how should we decide our course? It is up to us.
In spiritual practice, personal recognition, wealth and status must all be put aside. Then our minds can achieve a state of Samadhi. When we engage in spiritual practice, we must focus. The monastery is our greater family. We should carefully uphold its rules for the sake of the family of this monastery. And this family of the monastery must, for the sake of all sentient beings in the world, earnestly engage in spiritual practice.
“The green mountain has no conflict with anything.” We should use our pure minds to cultivate fields of blessings for the sake of all sentient beings. So, we must practice precepts and Samadhi. Once we have made this decision, we should settle our minds so that we can focus on attaining “wisdom”.
Wisdom is pure and impartial. Free from desires and distinctions based academic attainment, we enter this spiritual practice center to be one in listening to the Dharma and engaging in spiritual practice. How can we experience the principles? How can we eliminate afflictions? To do these things we must listen to the Dharma in a state of Samadhi so that we can understand that the world is impermanent and that there is no permanent self.
Regarding “permanence, joy, self and purity,” our [distorted views about them] must be eliminated entirely. The Three Flawless Studies are precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. We must practice them and take them to heart. We must remain focused on our mission. We must earnestly stabilize our minds and mission. We humans must truly, “uphold our mission and follow the Path, then our Path will be great.” So, we must put our heart into this path we walk. Thus we should “contemplate the objects of mindfulness and how our body is subject to constant change.”
The Fourfold Mindfulness is contemplating the body as impure, contemplating all feelings as suffering, contemplating the mind as impermanent and contemplating all things as being without a self.
Indeed, the body is impure.There are 36 kinds of impurities.Although the body is impure, when we are healthy and capable, we must take the Dharma to heart and put it into practice.There are so many things in this world which can help us see, help us understand and help us get involved, etc.As for the Bodhisattva-path, we must have this body in order to implement it.
The body is our vessel for spiritual practice.
Although our body is impure, it can transport us along this path.We seek the Dharma to transform ourselves.After we understand, we must then transform others.
We should go among the people to purify them while preventing our minds form being contaminated.Our minds are impermanent; that is how our minds are.Our impermanent mind cannot settle down.If our minds are not settled, though we want to engage in spiritual practice, when we come up against an obstacle, we say, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”But we do not think about how time keeps passing.
As each year passes, we grow a year older.
How much time do we actually have left to make use of our body and go among people to give of ourselves?If we are always afflicted by personal matters, then our minds will remain in a state of impermanence.We will find it hard to decide our course of life and have no idea that life is impermanent and painfully short.
So, living in this kind of environment, we must seize [the present moment], because “Our body is subject to constant change.”
What our body is subject to is inspirable from these infinitesimal changes, especially when it comes to feelings.We say, “I’m afflicted [because] I love this and I want it, but I can’t obtain it, so I feel unhappy and uncomfortable.
“Moreover I feel very depressed,” and so on.
These feelings arise because our minds lack Samadhi and our wisdom is insufficient.
So, when we are surrounded by an endless [sea] there is nothing for us to rely on, we will indeed experience great suffering.Actually, as for our feelings, once we understand the principles, we can naturally turn these feelings around.
A feeling can be, “Right now, I feel very cold.”
Does this mean that we feel cold every single day?When we feel cold, we must put on more clothes.If we feel hot and are sweaty in this moment, does it mean we feel hot every day?
Not necessarily.If I have a headache right now, does it mean I constantly have a headache?
With these feelings, once we change our thinking, [we know] they ultimately will pass.
They “pass” due to “constant change”.There are no fixed phenomena; there is nothing that remains unchanging.
Yet our minds are as open and expansive as space, which has a name, but no true substance.We need to understand that it is because the mind has this kind of spaciousness that it can encompass everything.It is only because we have this spaciousness that we can decide to [practice] this flawless Dharma, to “comprehend the great path and form the supreme aspiration.”
We can form very great aspirations, but we cannot just talk about them.It is no use just to express our aspirations; we must immediately devote ourselves [with action].This cannot wait; there is no time for us to wait because time is also a process of constant change.
Is there anything in this world that does not undergo these infinitesimal changes?
Everything will pass, so “infinitesimal changes” expresses impermanence.Space expresses true permanence, because there is nothing in space itself to undergo these infinitesimal changes.It is a true principle, which is everlasting.No matter how this world changes, space remains forever unchanged.
So, we cultivate our minds so that we can achieve a state of “true emptiness.”However, what we need to do now is comprehend this “wondrous existence”.
Wondrous existence is all around us; we cannot find it by looking far away.If we can experience this, we will naturally be able to return to our intrinsic nature of True Suchness.So, we must make an effort to be mindful, or else, throughout our lifetime, we will “give rise to the Four Inverted Views” and be completely [immersed in them].
Throughout this lifetime, we will absolutely be immersed in the Four Inverted Views as well as the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings.
No matter how we engage in spiritual practice, we are still replete with the Four Inverted Views, the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings.
We ordinary people will always be immersed in the Four Inverted Views.
Amidst impermanence, we regard everything as permanent.As we experience birth, aging, illness and death, aren’t we also undergoing infinitesimal changes?But we are not aware of them.We believe that we will always have this body.We believe that because we are still young, we still have a lot of time.
Because our minds are not focused, we seek out all kinds of things around us.
We claim an unhappy life is a happy one, but this happiness is temporary. Along with [misconceptions of] permanence and joy, we also have a sense of self. We exaggerate that into a sense of self-importance. These views on “permanence, joy, self and purity” also means we see the impure as pure. These are our inverted views. Because of them, our lives are filled with the Five Turbidities.We often talk about the Five Turbidities.Once our views and understanding go astray, we become tainted and will inevitably enter the Eight Sufferings, the suffering of birth, aging, illness and death, the suffering of parting with loved ones, the suffering of meeting those we hate, the suffering of not getting what we want and the suffering of the raging Five Aggregates. The Eight Sufferings are all around us.
When we engage in spiritual practice, shouldn’t we take everything around us and use all of it to understand the Dharma? This is the right thing to do. If we look outside of our minds for the Dharma, there is actually nothing to be found. Space has a name, but no true substance. I hope everyone will mindfully realize this.
When it comes to the Three Realms, [this house] is rotted and old; it has already deteriorated. This home “belonged to one man”.
The Buddha came to this world for one great cause. He wholeheartedly regarded all sentient beings as His children, so He was both a teacher and a father. He was the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and kind father of the kinds of beings.
However, when He came to the world, He only manifested here for 80 years. A period of 80years indeed very short. But He lived this [short life] to alert everyone about how little time they have. Our time in the Saha World is incredibly short. This is what our human lifespans are like. So it says, “This owner was going out”.
The owner of this large house was going away shortly. “Before long” means in a short while. After the owner leaves this great house, there will be no head of the household. Before long, something will happen “in this abode”.
The following sutra passage states, “This owner was going out, when before long, in this abode, a fire suddenly broke out. In an instant, it spread to all four sides and the flames raged fiercely”.
Before long, this abode, this large house, “suddenly”, in a short amount of time, experienced disasters on all sides when “a fire broke out”. Fire is an analogy for something oppressive. It is actually the imbalance of the four elements which will quickly and constantly press in on us. So, “In an instant, it spread to all four sides”. It could be seen in all directions. Don’t we talk about matters of the world every day? Alas, there has been another earthquake. [Disasters like this arise from] the imbalance of air, water, etc. We constantly hear about the imbalance of the four elements. This is happening unceasingly all over the world, in countries in the east, west, south and north. So, “In an instant, it spread to all four sides”.
“In an instant” means at nearly the same time. Right now we are in the era of the evil world of Five Turbidities, where “the flame rages fiercely”. This is an unbearable state.
See, spring has arrived. Summer is coming soon. Last summer, the temperature in some countries reached 51 or 52 degrees Celsius. How do people live in those conditions? It is hard to survive [under those temperatures]. Some people even died from the heat.
This year, following Chinese New Year, we moved from winter into spring. Yesterday, we saw that in the United States, it is still snowing heavily; this is abnormal. Many people froze to death.
In sum, when the four elements are not in balance, it may be so cold that people freeze to death, or it may be so hot that people die from the heat. When there is an imbalance of earth, water, fire and air, natural disasters occur. Think about this. Life is truly impermanent. At this present moment, we must heighten our vigilance. The earlier section was in prose. What we are discussing now are the verses, where the teachings are restated. In the prose section, there is a similar sutra passage that states,
“All at once, throughout the area, a fire broke out, setting the house ablaze”.
This was in the prose section. So, these verses restated what was in the earlier prose section, restated what was in the earlier prose section, because what this passage contains is essential. In this world, right now, we must heighten our vigilance. Therefore, the Buddha repeated the teachings in order to help us understand.
So, it says, “setting the house ablaze” because this fire has already broken out. This means that disasters in the world are already pressing in on us. The “four sides” are form, feeling, perception and action, the workings of the mind.
“The “four sides” are form, feeling, perception and action, the workings of the mind. The Four Inverted Views, the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings all arise from these. Thus it says, “It spread to all four sides”.
Form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness are the Five Aggregates. Within this “consciousness” is [the karma created from] our actions. Through this impure body, we come in contact with objects of desire such as personal recognition, wealth, status and so on. Once we connect with them and have a feeling, our perceptions let our imaginations run wild, and we take actions that create karma. All these actions begin with our body; then our mind “feels” that we are tempted by the objects of desire around us.
Once it has “perceptions,” many afflictions arise. Thus we began to take “action.” This is “the workings of the mind.” [The karma] that results from our actions is collected in our “consciousness.”
So, “consciousness” itself does not act. It is through the body, feeling, perception and the action that we take that we give rise to delusions and karma while in a state of delusion. After this karma is created, it is stored in our consciousness.
So, the “four sides” on which disasters arise are form, feeling, perception and action. With these fore, we create delusions and karma. Only after we take action will the seeds of karma enter our consciousness. Thus this part of the teachings is not talking about the Five Aggregates, but the “four sides.”
The Five Aggregates are form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. These are the Five Aggregates because “consciousness” is included. When “consciousness” is not included, we talk about the “four sides.” The “four sides” lead the body to create karma. In fact, if our body does not connect to our surroundings, if our eyes, ears, nose and tongue do not come in contact with these objects and give rise to feelings, why would we ever create any karma? It is because the eye-root connects with our external conditions, because the Six Roots connect with the Six Dusts, that we begin to think about how to take possession of things, etc.. After thinking, we starts plotting, and then our state of mind begins to be reflected in our actions.
So, all the karma we create in this world becomes karmic seeds, which then enter our eighth consciousness. Everyone should comprehend this clearly.
“The Four Inverted Views, the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings all arise from these.” Because we have this body that takes actions, we give rise to these inverted views, produce these turbidities and experience these eight kinds of suffering.
So it “The flames raged fiercely.” This is because “causal factors develop gradually and continuously.”
“A seeds contains an ocean of fruits.” After a cause is created, it will develop gradually and continuously.
It is often said one gives rise to infinity, and infinity arises from one. When we give rise to a thought, it may create many causes for afflictions and suffering, which will then continue to [reproduce]. If we have thoughts of seeking something, but cannot get what we want, we are already creating afflictions. Once afflictions arise, that is ignorance.So, “The flame raged fiercely;” they will continuously arise.
“Their grievous moans are called explosive sounds.” These are very fierce.
Sentient beings are oppressed by their suffering. Their grievous moans are called explosive sounds. Their roots are destroyed; this is called quaked and splintered. Their vitality is ended, their bones disintegrated.
In life, these things have fermented for a long time. This continues until the pressure is too great, until we explode. This kind of life is truly suffering. All roots are destroyed, they have quaked and splintered. Vitality is ended and bones disintegrated.
So, dear Bodhisattvas, in learning the Buddha’s Way, we should not become depressed and frustrated. We should learn to be happy, and our minds must be as open and spacious as the endless void. Also, we must often contemplate the Fourfold Mindfulness, by contemplating the body as impure and so on. We must not remain in the state of unenlightened beings and give rise to the Four Inverted Views, the Five Turbidities and the Eight Sufferings. With that state of mind, we will never attain liberation and all our spiritual practice will have been in vain. So, when we engage in spiritual practice, we must resolve to transcend our afflictions. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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