Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Defeat the Five Views and Turn to the Right Path (降伏五見心向正道)
Date:August.25.2015
“Ordinary people have afflictions and turbid minds. With the combined attack of the Five Views, they do not seek the Right Path. They do not know how to escape, and so they abide constantly in the Three Realms. Thus, the fire in the desire realm is a metaphor for their willingness to suffer cyclic existence.”
Alas, because sentient beings have afflictions, they give rise to turbidity in their minds. When our minds have even the slightest trace of contamination, with one thought arising, afflictions begin to grow and expand, which results in truly unbearable suffering.
The five chronic afflictions are greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. These all fill our minds with afflictions. In addition to these, there are five kinds of acute afflictions, the view of self, extreme view, deviant views, stubborn views and views of deviant precepts.
Indeed, when these views affect our thinking, our minds become filled with afflictions, but it is when we physical act on them that these afflictions will have consequences. When both chronic and acute afflictions, these two sets of five, come together, they combine forces to attack.
Once our minds give rise to afflictions, they will incite us to take physical action. Whether in daily living or spiritual practice, whether we are lay practitioners or monastics, these afflictions are always in our unenlightened [minds]. If we want to engage in spiritual practice, we must be very vigilant of them. If we do not ordinary learn the Buddha’s Way, how will we know what the five acute afflictions and the five chronic afflictions are?
We will not recognize them. It is because we are learning the Buddha’s Way that we do understand what they are. After we have understood, we must earnestly safeguard our minds. “All things are created only by the mind.” Once the mind becomes turbid, afflictions arise. Since we are engaging in spiritual practice, we must let go of everything to develop our pure and selfless capacity to seek the Great Dharma. This comes from our minds.
To seek the Great Dharma, we must put the Bodhisattva-path into practice; we must aspire to purify our minds and cultivate the Great Dharma by going among people to put it into practice. If we can achieve all of this, we can purify these five kinds of afflictions and help numerous sentient beings.
There is a French organization called Doctors of the World, or Medicines due Monde (MoM). They came to us at the end of 1992 and said that people in Ethiopia were in danger of losing their lives. There was a major crisis. From the material provided in their reports, we learned that Ethiopia had been at war with Somalia for a very long time. These two countries had been in a state of war for many years, so the people suffered from poverty and hardship.
Moreover, they had experienced a lengthy drought. So, the Ethiopians suffered from many disasters. MoM hoped that we could work with them to help the Ethiopians. We could not bear for the Ethiopians to face this tremendous suffering, so we decided to first send people to join MoM in assessing the situation.
From the assessment reports, we saw truly unbearable suffering, so we decided to work with them. From January 1993 to January 1996, over a period of three years, we built two medical centers for them.
At the same time, we unlit 15 medical station and trained 300 medical staff.Over a period of three years, we educated them on sanitation and built 14 water stations in 10 villages because they had no water.
I often say that Ethiopia made a deep impression on me.This was one of the most difficult international disaster relief projects we have worked on.The process was very arduous.What especially struck me was the extent of their suffering.
Every time I talk about Ethiopia, what surfaces in my mind is how difficult their living conditions were, particularly in the area of medicine.
They had no means of getting illnesses treated.
Such was the situation of those who needed care.
We built medical stations for them, and over a period of three years, the French doctors and our doctors took turns going there to treat patients.One doctor in particular made a deep impression on me.Dr. Lin Jian-xi was one of the neurologists in our Internal Medicine Department.At that time, we had just finished constructing one of the medical centers.
Immediately after he arrived, someone came in carrying a woman who was in the midst of a difficult labor.She kept bleeding.What equipment could he use to deliver the baby?
Moreover, as he was a doctor of Internal Medicine, would he know what to do?He still managed to deliver her baby.
In another case, someone whose foot was cut off was brought to that medical station.What could Dr. Lin do about it?He found a way to reattach the foot.Then he elevated the leg with a stick of bamboo.The bamboo was connected to a rope, which was tied to a basket with some rocks.The other end of the rope was tied to this person’s leg.He rigged this contraption.This picture was deeply imprinted in my head.
What made an even deeper impression on me was [the difficulty of] their water situation.Some women lived over 10km away [from water].
They carried buckets on their heads every day.
They would leave their homes early in the morning to collect water from a water hole.
The water they scooped up was standing water, which was very filthy.The water would collect in a low-lying area.There, dogs would drink water, and people would scoop water from there, too.
When their buckets were 80 percent full, they put them on their heads and went home.
According to what local people told us, a woman would spend an entire day collecting this one bucket of water.By the time they arrived there, it would be noon.They would leave in the morning to arrive at noon.By the time they got back home with the water, it was already dark.They did all of this for one bucket of water.Most people there lived in this way.
I also saw images of a man lying on his stomach next to the water hole, drinking water directly [from the water hole].Because he braced himself on the ground with his hands, when he stood up, his hands were dirty.So,he spit the water from his mouth to wash them, and that water ended up back in that pool of standing water, so the water was very filthy.
The sight of this was very frightening.
I still remember how, at that time many years ago, I said, “My greatest fear is that, if I close my eyes, I may reopen them and find myself in Ethiopia.”In the past, this was something I often said.Clearly the tremendous suffering in those images made a deep impression on me.
But, in those three years, as we trained the locals in Ethiopia, we saw people’s lives gradually stabilize and the quality of life improve.Our water stations used plastic pipes to divert water all the way down from water sources high up in the mountains.We saw that now when they collected water, it was just like pouring water from a tap.They were truly very happy.
In Ethiopia, didn’t sentient beings’ sufferings arise from the turbidity of afflictions?The turbidity of afflictions gave rise to the people’s great suffering, with natural disasters added on top.This is the “combined attack of the Five Views”.
The afflictions in people’s minds led their bodies to take action, causing widespread chaos so that the population could not sustain their livelihood.This is “the combined attack of the Five Views,” which makes people “one seek the Right Path”.
As Buddhist practitioners, we must put our hearts into earnestly transforming ourselves and taking the Dharma to heart.
The world cannot wait;people’s minds need to be purified.We must promptly share the Dharm we understand with everyone and seize this moment to help guide everyone’s mind onto the right course onto the Bodhi-path. We must do this right away.
To learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must fulfill our basic responsibilities. Our responsibility is to learn the Buddha Dharma, and with the Dharma, swiftly dedicate our merits to all beings. This means we must seek the Dharma to transform ourselves and then quickly dedicate ourselves to transforming others. Then we will truly fulfill our basic duties of learning and practicing [the Dharma].
What does it mean to dedicate our merits? It means to absorb the Dharma and then apply it. This is our fundamental duty. This is how we truly dedicate merits and engage in spiritual practice. But we “do not know how to escape”. We do not understand how we can transcend the afflictions in our minds. We “do not know how to escape so [we] abide constantly in the Three Realms”, so in our practice, we must first purify our minds. We must give of ourselves of others so that there can be peace in the world and harmony in society. These are things we are able to do right now.
We must not be like that, willing to stay [trapped] within cyclic existence. The fire in the desire realm is scorching us. The afflictions of the Three Realms have been described with many analogies. The sufferings in the human realm alone cannot be described in full. Indeed, worldly matters cause much suffering, so we must seize the moment and fulfill our fundamental duties toward the world.
The previous sutra passage states, “With ghosts and spirits crying out loud in raised voices, eagles, vultures and all kinds of birds, kumbhanda and the like, the obstacles all around were terrifying. They could not escape by themselves.”
These are all analogies for how, in our minds, our many afflictions are leading us all over the place. Terrified, we cannot manage to escape; thus our minds cannot settle down. Because of these many afflictions, “The obstacles all around were terrifying”. “We could not escape by ourselves”. Just thinking about this is exhausting.
Next it states, “Vicious beasts and poisonous creatures were hiding and scurrying inside holes and dens, and the pisaca demons were living inside as well. Because their blessings were meager, they were hard-pressed by the fire.”
“The vicious beasts and poisonous creatures” are what everyone knows about. They are “hiding and scurrying inside holes and dens”. This represents being stored up. “Hiding” refers to accumulating and aggregating; it means so much has already been stored up. Good and evil phenomena have gathered here.
In the Three Realms, there are both good and evil phenomena. The Buddha came to “open and reveal”, to analyze the different states of mind we have, the different kinds of evil deeds we commit and the kinds of good deeds we should cultivate. So, we must do all good deeds and refrain from all evils.
“Scurrying” refers to fleeing in secret. These creatures may hide in one place or scurry and keep moving around. This is just like how afflictions are stored in our minds. They may be concealed in our minds, but they may still escape and find their way out.
So, to “hide and scurry” also means to run away. This is like what happens with creatures that live in “holes and dens”. This is called “hiding inside holes and dens”.
The vicious beasts and poisonous creatures were hiding inside holes and dens: This refers to the process of accumulation. All good and evil phenomena can gather, and with the process of accumulation, this is called hiding. They go into hiding by concealing themselves inside holes or dens. Thus it says they were hiding inside holes and dens.
In addition to this, “The pisaca demons were living inside as well. “The pisaca” is a type of demon which feeds on people’s blood and vitality. “Why does this person seem to be in low spirits? It looks as if he is in a daze”. That is because he has this kind of affliction.
If people’s minds were free of afflictions, they would not be so listless and in low spirits. They even “suck the vitality of the five grains”. Farmers work hard to cultivate rice. If the crop is suddenly infested with disease o insects, the stalks of rice will wither as if their vitality had been sucked out by the pisaca. When the weather is abnormal and temperatures are extreme, the rice stalks suffer. This also happens because the karma created by sentient beings has caused an imbalance in the weather. People continue to use external means of suppressing the problem, by using pesticides and so on. These means are even more harmful to the crop. These kinds of problems also represent the afflictions in our minds.
“Many heretical practitioners renounce the desire realm and through the practice of meditation seek to enter the form and formless realms.”
Some heretical teachings explain that the desire realm is exhausting, and we will indeed transmigrate. They believe this, so they engage in spiritual practice. They want to cultivate themselves, but they are attached to deviant teachings. So, they say they want to enter Samadhi in the form and formless realm’s. Thus, they may easily go astray. Sometimes they slander the Right Dharma, Sometimes they slander the Right Dharma, disturb people’s spirits and so on.
The pisaca demons are described as doing the same. They disturb people’s spirits so that their spiritual cultivation takes them to a state where they seem to be possessed. This is what happens to them .
The pisaca demons were living inside as well: The pisaca demons feed on people’s vitality and also suck the vitality of the five grains. Many heretical practitioners renounce the desire realm and through the practice of meditation seek to enter the form and formless realms.
“Because their blessings were meager, they were hard-pressed by the fire.” Right now, this world’s “blessings are meager.” We are not creating many blessings, particularly as we are “without roots of goodness from previous lives.” In our previous lives, we did not cultivate roots of goodness, so we experience much suffering and little joy.
This is because our blessings are meager. If we are rich in blessing and give without any expectations, we will never use up our spiritual wealth. There are people who say, “I am willing to do this, but they are attached to how much they give.” They compare and calculate, so their virtues and blessings are meager. “They are unable to engage in spiritual practice surrounded by goodness.” People like this are “hard-pressed by the fire.”
Their blessings in this life are meager. Without roots of goodness from previous lives, they experience much suffering and little joy. Because their blessings are meager, they are unable to engage in spiritual practice surrounded by goodness, so they are said to be hard-pressed by the fire.
As we live within the Three Realms, many afflictions are still hidden in our minds Hence, “They were hiding and scurrying inside holes and dens.” Although the fire is not raging, it is hidden inside and burning slowly. Afflictions are stewing in our own minds. We still have these fiery afflictions.
[So, we strive to reach] the four Dhyana heavens which are free of the crude evils of the desire realm. In the desire realm there are obvious evils, but though they want to practice, these heretical practitioners are only seeking that kind of joy, so there are still these desires and cravings, and they still feel traces of suffering.This is [what they] practice. They say they work to reach the four Dhyana heavens, which are in the form realm. Which the four Dhyana heavens, there are still traces of cravings and desires, like seeking Samadhi. In the formless realm state of neither thought nor absence of thought, they are still subtly pressed by a slow fire they are still subtly pressed by a slow fire.
Although these are not as obvious as [the afflictions] in the desire realm, there are still subtle desires and cravings.
They were hiding inside holes and dens: Though not in the raging fire, they are still vexed by the heat.
This is an analogy for the four Dhyana heavens. Though beyond the crude evil of the desire realm, they still [seek] joy, delight and so on, and have subtle sufferings of cravings, thus they are pressed by the fire.
In summary, as we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must be mindful. We are down to the subtlest afflictions. But if subtle afflictions are not eliminated, the obvious afflictions will arise again. A single spark can start a prairie fire. As long as we have a trace of afflictions in our minds, it may expand into severe and obvious afflictions, like the situation in Ethiopia we just spoke of. We have since been involved in many international [relief missions]. Tzu Chi volunteers promptly manifest their ability to relieve many sentient beings from hardship. There is so much suffering in this world!
Therefore, we must be cautious and make use of the Dharma to settle people’s minds so their society and their lives can be peaceful. All this depends on whether each of us is willing to always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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