Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: The Four Elements Depend on Our Minds (四大由心善惡一念)
Date:September.01. 2015
“The mind’s house of the Three Realms will be safe or dangerous depending on our minds. The four elements also depend on our minds, so we keep our minds broad and pure. Good and evil, deviated and proper, are decided in the space of a single thought. The acute and the chronic afflictions interact and combine to attack us.”
“The mind’s house of the Three Realms” means that the Three Realms are also found within our minds. Objects of desire in our surroundings can tempt our minds and cause us to give rise to much delusion and karma. This is because the “forms” in our surroundings cause thoughts of desire to arise in our minds. So, this all begins with the desire realm.
All the disasters that we see today in our society and the world are all produced from the desires that arise from delusions and ignorance. The various troubles of the desire realm all begin with the mind.
So, though we know that the desire realm is indeed troublesome and is the source of many disasters and much karma, and form this have begun to understand, even if we do not act on these desires, our minds are still filled with afflictions. Even if we do not create any more karma, our discursive thoughts and afflictions still have not been eliminated. So, though we know that the form realm causes us to give rise to many afflictions, even if we do not act on them to create karma, we still have discursive thoughts and afflictions. Ah, this is not right; we must eliminate them discursive thoughts and afflictions and earnestly engage in spiritual practice.
Yet, while we are unable to open up our minds, we will still have selfish thoughts. We only care about benefiting ourselves and disregard other beings, matters and objects. This all takes place in the Three Realms in our minds; in our minds’ house. The Three Realms can also exist outside our minds. The desire, form and formless realms are the Six Heavens of Desire, the Sixteen Heavens of the Form Realm and the Four Dhyana Heavens. These are not connected at all with our current [way of] living. So, I hope everybody, when trying to [understand] the Three Realms, will begin with the mind.
So, [the minds’ house is “safe or dangerous depending on our minds”]. We should earnestly adjust our minds so that we understand that we only need to possess material things in order to help sustain our lives. In the winter, we have clothes to protect us from the cold, cotton quilts to keep us warm, shelter that protects us from the wind and rain and so on. All we need is clothing, food and a dwelling. These material things can support our living. For things to go smoothly for us, we must do the things that fulfill our fundamental duties. If we can do that, we will treat material things in this world simply as tools for living.
If we feel this way, we will easily feel content. Only people who are content will feel grateful. If we are content and grateful, what more would we want in life?
Then naturally, we will not have many afflictions. When we see material things, we will simply feel a sense of gratitude. With favorable weather comes an abundant harvest. When we see this abundance we are grateful; we will not try to take everything for ourselves. Then won’t our hearts be at peace?
When we live in harmony with the world and with other people, we will feel content and grateful. If we do not, [we think,] “I want everything in the world.” Saying, “I love this person, I dislike that person” and so on, we make distinctions and feel possessive.
We desire to have everything,fame,wealth,
status and material things. With this mindset of insatiable greed, we are in a very dangerous state, beacause in order to possess everything, we will create a great deal of karma and enter into confronation with others.
So, whether " the mind's house of the Three Realm" will be peaceful or hazardous all depends on our minds. "
The four elements also depend on our minds " The most basic four elements of the world are earth, wather, fire and air. In addition, the four elements of life are also the four Skandhas, the four aggregates from, feeling, perception and action. These are the worlkings of the mind. The four elements of the body refer to the physical composition of the body, which is form. In addition to our bodies, everything that we can see with our eyes is created by the union of the four elements. The [ goes beyond just ] the human body. Beacause of this body we experience birth, aging, illness and death, and this will trouble us constantly throughout our entire life.
Whether we are safe or in daner depends on our minds. If our minds are too complicated, we are in danger. If we are greedy, we will never be at peace. If our minds are peaceful and stable, once we have eliminated our thoughts of greed we will feel wealthy and think we have more than enough to help others.
For instance, Lesotho is a nation in the middle of Soth Africa. The majority of Lesotho's population is poor. Therefore, Tzu Chi volunteers have distributed rice and corn flour in Lesotho for a long time. Everybody there knows that this rice comes from the love of people in Taiwan. So, the people there are very grateful.
[ Tzu Chi] has been promoting a campaingn to, " Eat till you are 80 percent full and use the other 20 percent to help others ". Once the people in Lesotho learned about this, they also began to promote this practice. They were very poor to begin with, but they still wanted to support this campaign. They could not give money help other people put they were willing to eat a little less so that they had something to give.
In the beginning, eight villages participated. With the corn and sorghum they were able to save, they could donate 1000 kg of these to help the people in greater need. At the same time, these same people also collectes US$30. What they havested was corn, so it was collected and stored in bundles. But it had to be griund before being distributed and this would cost money. To convert corn into corn flour and sorgmum into sorghum flour,the crops must go through this addtional process.
Therefore, they saved up US$30 to gring the crops into flour on behalf of Tzu Chi to be distributed to the people in greater need.
After hearing this story, I was very touched. Though poor, they willingly give to others. See, aren't their minds broad and pure?
Their minds are broad and free from greed. Futhermore, living in povety, they still aspired to help others. They had mindfully taken the Dharma to heart beacause they have constantly heard me say, " We need to benefit others [ beacause of ] the karmic law of cause and effect . People experence proverty in this lifetime beacause they did not create positive karmic conditions in their past lives". Because they understand this, they were content with what they had.With pure minds, they ate a little bit less so they could help others.
Even though their lives were hard, their minds were broad and pure. Beause their thoughts were pure, they could take the Buddha-Dharma to heart. Because their minds were broad, they were willing to help others. The way they saved up small bits of their crops is truly ending. These people are truly rich in their hearts ; they are rich in spiritual wealth. They have earned people's respect and love.
Indeed, poor people who help the poor are very precious. Therefore, we say that no one can say they are unable to help others. Everybody has the ability to help others. When we speak of the Four Aggregatsd.
In addition to our physical form, “feelings” can be the good feeling we get from helping others. With this kind of thinking and action, the workings of the Four Aggregates, the Four Skandhas, can be transformed to develop goodness and abundance so that we can benefit other people.
“The four elements also depend on our minds, so we keep our minds broad and pure. Good and evil, deviated and proper, are decided in the space of a single thought”. Are we going to good or evil? If we want to do good deeds, it is very easy. If we want to commit evils, it can also happen in the space of a thought. So, at all times we need to earnestly take good care of our minds. If our thoughts are proper, we will benefit others. If our thoughts deviate, we will disrupt society. This happens when “The acute and the chronic afflictions interact and combine to attack us”.
If we have a single negative thought of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance or doubt, this will lead our body to do things that will derail [our practice]. Once we stray from our course, this slight deviation from our course will lead us thousands of miles astray. This is why we need to be careful and mindful.
Our thoughts and actions work in concert. The five chronic and five acute afflictions also work in conjunction with each other. Do we want to do good deeds or commit evils? If we turn away from the Ten Afflictions, the five [acute] and the five [chronic], if we turn away from them, everything we do will be good and create blessings. Every thought will help us to cultivate purity.
In summary, it all depends on our minds. “The mind’s house of the Three Realm will be safe or dangerous depending on our minds”.
Previously, we mentioned, “The kumbhanda demon was chasing and grabbing them to eat. There were many hungry ghosts with the tops of their heads aflame. They were afflicted by hunger, thirst and heat and ran about in terror and distress”.
“The kumbhanda demon” and the like are ghosts that come and go without a trace. This actually describes how our thoughts arise in a flash; like ghosts and spirits, they move very quickly. If an evil thought arises, we will be “chasing and grabbing [things] to eat. Ghosts and spirits are metaphors for our thoughts. Our minds are filled with greed and afflictions. As a result, we have created many obstacles in our lives. Because we obstruct ourselves, we cause ourselves to face suffering and hardships. So, we must be mindful.
The following sutra passage states, “This house is like this; it is deeply terrifying. In this toxic and harmful burning fire, the difficulties are many, not one”.
The “house” is the Three Realms. The Three Realms are like a burning house. This is the space we live in; as you see, the macrocosm of the world suffer disasters while the microcosms of individuals face tragedies. This is “deeply terrifying”; it is indeed scary.
Actually, the fierce fire and poisonous snakes in our surroundings are not terrifying. What is most terrifying is the human mind. So, “It is deeply terrifying. In this toxic and harmful burning fire” refers to the poison inside our minds. The five chronic afflictions and the five acute afflictions constitute the Ten Afflictions that drive our thoughts. Indeed, once our minds deviate, [the Five] Poisons will arise.
“In this toxic and harmful burning fire, the difficulties are many, not one”. We will cause many disasters. “This house is like this, it is deeply terrifying”. This means we are being “burned by the karma of the Ten Afflictions”. It is burning those in the Three Realms. The Three Realms are also states of mind. With everything our body comes in contact with, all the many kinds of forms and objects, all the disasters we encounter, the suffering we experience and so on, all of these “feelings” are found within us. So, when our volunteers go among the suffering to offer them comfort they say, “Since this thing has already happened, we just need to accept it, or “Since this thing is already in the past, just let it go”. Doesn’t [our reaction] depend on our minds? If we think too much about what happened, our thoughts will be very painful. Isn’t this the workings of the aggregate of “perception”? After experiencing feelings of affliction, we recall these feelings with every thought; we constantly keep that “appearance” in our minds. So, when we comfort people, we tell them not to keep thinking about the past. It has passed, so let it go.
Unfortunately, people cannot let it go. We worry and keep thinking about it, holding onto that “appearance” in our minds.
In this way, afflictions remain in our thinking, when we burden our minds with appearances, when we burden our minds with appearances, we cannot let go of them. Though we experience infinitesimal changes daily even as time passes by continuously, our afflictions still remain, causing unspeakable suffering.
“ The fire of the Ten Afflictions” is constantly burning In this state of mind, a burning fire is raging, causing unbearable suffering. This happens when we are in the Three Realms. The Five Destinies, as everybody knows, are the heaven, human, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms.
In the Three Realms, in the Five Destinies, we face “boundless suffering,” which is unbearable.
“This house is like this, it is deeply terrifying.”
Furthermore, “In this toxic and harmful burning fire, the difficulties are many, not one” Within this vast space, the climate originally consisted of four distinct seasons and was in harmony with the earth. But we humans are terrifying, combined, our Ten Afflictions let us to create karma. The power of this karma has already shaken up the macrocosm of the world, causing an imbalance in the four elements. This resulted from the collective karma created by sentient beings.
These days, we constantly talk about pollution. Because of the pollution, the air is contaminated. This affects the four elements, resulting in natural disasters. There can be natural disasters of earth, water, fire or air. The land has already been impacted by humans who endlessly create karma out of confusion and delusion. We still continue to create karma because we have not yet awakened. Furthermore, the human population is increasing [at a rapid rate]. This also increases the pollution in the air.
Therefore, we should be mindful, vigilant and reverent. We must mindfully. contemplate and very carefully think about the Dharma,so that we can experience it and take it to heart. Otherwise, “sprouting from one evil thought, when people give rise to thoughts of evil, what results is disaster.” “Manmade calamities trigger so many disasters.” With all this, the natural disasters, the imbalance of the four elements, mountains and rivers suddenly change form, and life changes in an instant. This all beings with a single thought. In the space of thought, and these manmade calamities will bring about many disasters. “It would be hard to speak of them all.” Thus it says “The difficulties are many, not one.” Alas, there is so much suffering!
Natural disasters result from the imbalance of the four elements. Mountains and rivers change in form; life changes in an instant Sprouting from one evil thought, manmade calamities trigger so many disasters it would be hard to speak of them all. Thus it says the difficulties are many, not one.
Think about how this is explained in the sutras. There is a vast space, the macrocosm, as well as a small space, the microcosm.Currently in both the macro-and microcosms, disasters are constantly arising, and we continue to crate suffering and karma. Thus the Buddha comes to the world for His one great cause, to bring harmony to people’s minds. But how many people can truly take the Dharma to heart?How many can actually use the Dharma-water to wash away their afflictions?
So, we must form great aspirations and take the Dharma to heart to transform ourselves. As the same time, with the Dharma we understand we can then transform others I hope we can all adjust our minds. The more goodness there is, the less evil there will be. Everybody has this ability. There is nothing that we cannot achieve. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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