Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Eradicating Delusion with Seeds of Goodness (正諦正信善種滅惑)
Date:November.16. 2015
“Lack of faith in the right truth results in deluded thinking. Thus, we hesitate and cannot understand, lacking the awakening brought about by faith. The Right Dharma contains seeds of goodness. By eradicating deluded karma, we can illuminate the teachings of True Suchness.”
The principles, as we constantly say, are invisible; we cannot see them. However, we must believe that these invisible and intangible true principles actually exist. All principles are like this; when matter converges according to the principles, material things begin to take shape. When our thoughts and afflictions converge, we will engage in the wrong kind of behavior. Behind everything are the workings of principles.
So, we must accurately deduce, examine and understand the true principles. “True” here refers to absolute truth. Correct principles are considered to be “truth,” so we definitely must have faith in the right truth. We must not deviate in our thinking. If our thinking becomes biased, our thoughts will be led astray.
Furthermore, “We hesitate and cannot understand,” for we “lack the awakening brought about by faith.” In our minds, when we believe in the correct principles, we must earnestly hold on to them. This is Right Understanding, Views and Thinking; we must make an effort to abide in these principles of Right Views. Otherwise it becomes easy for us to hesitate and not understand.
Hesitation means we are unable to be certain about matters, things and principles. If we are uncertain when it comes to matters, things and principles, we will find it hard to understand right and wrong. If we have faith, we will not hesitate. I constantly say that having no faith at all is better than having faith in superstitions. If we are superstitious, our delusions will lead our mind in all directions and cause our mind to become confused. When people tell us things, a slight wavering of our mind will result in us being led astray by them. When we are led astray, we will be unable to understand the principles but because we continually want to pursue this, we easily become obsessed.
Do you remember this story that I have told? Many years ago, there was a mother whose child was soon going to take university entrance exams. She worried about her child’s ability to score well enough to get into his university of choice. She was constantly worried, so she sought help and answers from the spirits. In doing so, she spent quite a bit of money.
One time, someone suggested to her, “Rather than just praying, why don’t you ask for answers?” He took her to a place where she could consult the spirits through a medium. Just like that, she ended up going there every day. Enticed by this spirit medium, she spent a lot of money.
By that time she had already lost control. It was as if she was possessed. Furthermore, she saw and heard illusory things. One day, while her husband was driving along a mountain road, she suddenly told her husband to stop the car. He asked, “What is it?” He stopped the car and she got out. Then she began clawing at her eyes.
He exclaimed, “What’s going on?” He immediately rushed her to the hospital, but she had already lost her vision. Later, he asked her, “What happened?” She said that she had heard someone tell her, “You have to stop the car right away.” That was why she told her husband to stop the car. After she got out, she heard, “You have to dig out your eyes to prevent your child from coming to harm.”
Around that time, she came to the Abode, accompanied by her daughter.Her daughter told me this story, and Tzu Chi volunteers promptly went to care for her and provided a lot of counseling.
This woman recognized that [going to that place] was wrong and that it led her to injure herself.
But she still found it hard to let it go.
As I spoke with her, I realized more deeply that if a mind is filled with desires and is lacking in direction, unable to recognized true principles, that is truly very dangerous.A person like this can easily become possessed and hallucinate voices, images and so on.Was her mind actually invaded by evil spirits?Of course not.
The beliefs instilled in her were deviant.They distorted her thinking, so she had no control over her actions.This is what is meant by being possessed.
This is why our faith must be Right Faith, not faith in superstition.If our faith becomes misguided and we develop deviant understanding, views and faith, that will be very dangerous.Thus it says, “We hesitate and cannot understand.”This comes from not having correct beliefs.
Are there really these kinds of principles do these principles not exist?We half-believe and half-doubt.As I constantly tell everyone, principles exist.Every single principle, however simple, exists in this world forever.Through eons it will remain unchanging.
One of the simplest principles is that humans go through birth, aging, illness and death.
This is a principle.After we are born, we grow up and pass through middle age and old age.As we go through our lives, why does our body go through these changes?We cannot comprehend what these principles look like, but we can see the principles of life at work as new cells continuously replace the old.In this way, we grow from infancy to childhood, youth and adolescence; this is the constant process of growth.This happens because of the principles of life.
These principles are constantly at work, yet we are not aware of these infinitesimal changes.
However, [this process] still occurs.If we want to examine the principle behind it, we should listen to the Buddha-Dharma and study it to be able to understand.
Once I understand, I can share it with you; I tell you what I know.This comes out of my mouth and enters your ears, and you listen and take it in.I will tell you my views and understanding, but when my words enter your ears, you may not necessarily have the same views and understanding.This depends on whether your capacities are deep or shallow.
Those with deep capacities [can take in more].
My views and understanding may be superficial, so when I share with you and your capabilities are greater than mine, perhaps you understand.
What I said ten times better than I do and can stick even more closely to the true principles of the Buddha’s teachings.This may also be the case.This depends on our own individual realizations.
With faith, we must not “hesitate and [be unable to] understand”.If something is not in accord with the Dharma, we must not believe it.We must prevent anything that is not the Dharma from entering our mind.When it is Right Dharma, we must be certain of it and then accept it.When we take this Dharma to heart, we must not allow it to leak out.
When we take Right Dharma to heart, we refrain from that which we should refrain from we concentrate our mind and give rise to proper wisdom.These are the Flawless [Studies].
So, we must have “faith in the right truth”.We must not allow it to leak out or else “We hesitate and cannot understand.”
If we “hesitate and cannot understand” opportunities will slip by in a flash.In the time you say, “Let me think about it,” the moment has passed and the opportunity has slipped away.
Once you finally make a decision, it is too late.
Therefore, we must exercise our wisdom as we deal with causes and conditions to promptly discern right from wrong.So, we must not “hesitate and [not] understand”.
If we lack firm faith we will remain unawakened.
We will be unable to attain realization.This is what makes us unenlightened beings.
However, “The Right Dharma contains seeds of goodness.”Within the Right Dharma, there are seeds of goodness.The causes and conditions I just spoke of all contain seeds within them, and these causes and conditions are also Dharma.
Therefore, we have to take the Dharma to heart in order to manifest our nature of True Suchness.
So, “By eradicating deluded karma, we can illuminate the teachings of True Suchness.”
When all of our desires, afflictions and dust-like delusions, all this ignorance, are completely eradicated, our nature of True Suchness will manifest. This is like when the Buddha saw the morning star and awakened to the truth of all things in the universe.
With the Dharma, His nature of True Suchness became one with the universe, and He could thus penetrate many principles. Therefore, as we learn the Buddha’s teachings, this is what we strive to do.
The previous sutra passage states, “If people do not believe in and instead slander this sutra, they cut off all the worldly [seeds] and seeds of Buddhahood”.
In listening to teachings, we must hear correctly and penetrate precisely. We must take the absolute truth and Right Dharma to heart.
If we “lack the awakening brought about by faith, our mind will become lost in deluded thinking. People like this will not believe; it is the same as not having faith in Right Dharma. So, what do they have faith in? A deviant path that leads them astray. Thus they will “instead slander this sutra”. Thus they will “instead slander this sutra”. If we have deviated in transmitting the Dharma, and those listening are also not mindful, the Dharma will be transmitted incorrectly. People who have deviant views and thinking will take the Dharma we expounded and intentionally offer an erroneous explanation. By giving the wrong explanation, they are slandering this sutra.
The principles contained in this sutra are [twisted by] their deviant views and thinking and taken for their own use. They have completely strayed from the principles of this sutra. This is also a form of slander. They slander the true principles and with evil intentions put a stop to [the spreading of] the Dharma in this sutra. This is cutting off all worldly [seeds] and seeds of Buddhahood. This means that when we transmit true principles, if we are not careful, they can be misused. Others can use the Dharma to attack the Dharma; this is a form of slander.
The next sutra passage continues with,
“They may scowl with knitted brows as they harbor doubts inside. Now listen to the retributions these people receive for their transgressions. Whether while a Buddha is in the world, or after He has crossed into extinction, those who slander this sutra.”
When teaching the Dharma to others, we teach according to capabilities. We observe their attitude and facial expression as they listen.
“Scowl with knitted brows: They may have worries upon hearing this sutra and scowl and knit their brows in unhappiness. Upon seeing this sutra, if hesitancy arises and they harbor doubts inside, they will scowl and knit their brows.”
We observe them to see if, as we are speaking to them, they are not very reverent in their attitude. We observe their facial expression. If they scowl with knitted brows, that expression shows that they are not happily accepting teachings. the majority of the people who react like this are harboring doubts in their minds, so they do not understand yet. Thus a scowl is an obvious expression that we must be aware of. “Upon seeing this sutra.” When people like this read this sutra, or when they hear teachings from this sutra, they are harboring doubts. This is why they scowl.
The more they read, the more bothered they feel. The more they hear, the more unhappy they are. When it comes to people like this, we do not need to teach them this sutra. So, this passage states, “Now listen to the retributions these people receive for their transgressions”.
“Now listen to the retributions these people receive for their transgressions: They are deluded by the shapes and forms of the outside world and do not contemplate or observe impermanence. Attached to heretical practices, they cannot yet faithfully accept the true teaching of the One Vehicle Right Dharma. Thus they harbor doubts and delusion and cannot faithfully accept the teachings.”
In our daily living, as we deal with our environment, we must be mindful of our actions and our thinking. Our mind must be focused so we can earnestly contemplate true principles with very meticulous thinking. Otherwise, we will become deluded. If we do not engage in contemplation, we will still have attachments. When we earnestly engage in contemplation, we realize that Buddhist sutra are constantly reminding us of the impermanence of life. We must make an effort to seize the opportunities that come up each day. If we engage in Right Thinking and seize these causes and conditions, we can move forward in the correct direction. If we hesitate and cannot decide, if we are not clear in our thinking, we are not being mindful of impermanence.
In particular, some people err in their faith and understanding, so they become attached to a deviant path and then are unable to faithfully accept Right Dharma, to teachings of the One Vehicle. This is due to doubt.
If we cannot faithfully accept it, this will result in erroneous understanding. Even if we faithfully accept it, if we mistakenly or intentionally and err in our understanding and thus give the wrong explanation, this too is slandering the sutra. If people have already slandered the sutra, they then spend all their time, day and night, thinking about how to destroy the Right Dharma.
Erring in their understanding, they have already slandered the Dharma. Day and night they desire to exterminate the correct teaching and arrogantly disparage those who expound the One Vehicle.
See how these heretical practitioners were constantly thinking of how to cause harm to Sakyamuni Buddha. Devadatta even got an elephant drunk in his efforts to kill the Buddha. Not only did he disparage Him, he wanted to destroy Him. Not only did he want to destroy Right Dharma, he also wanted to ruin the Sangha and even harm the Buddha. These things were happing even during the Buddha’s lifetime.
Then the sutra states, “Whether a Buddha is in the world, are after has crossed into extinction, those who slander this sutra.” This again describes that they were listening to the sutra of the True Dharma of the One Vehicle. “If people do not believe and instead slander this sutra, they cut off all the worldly [seeds] and seeds of Buddhahood.”
There are people who directly heard the Buddha give teachings, and not only did they not believe this sutra, they misunderstood and wanted to slander it. This is what is referred to by cutting off all the worldly [seeds] and seeds of Buddhahood.
They directly heard the teachings at the Buddha’s Dharma-assembly but they were unable to truly realize them. So, when they shared the Dharma with others, they passed in their erroneous understanding. When others listened to them, though these people had clearly directly heard the Buddha teach the Dharma, their explanation made no sense. Thus those people would not believe and accept [the Buddha’s teachings]. This cut off the seeds of Buddhahood.
See, as the Buddha began to give the Lotus teachings, 5000 people left. However, the Buddha was very happy. It was better that those 5000 people left. If people did not have faith, He did want them to stay and listen. Their leaving was a good thing. This prevented them from not understanding and this giving rise to slander. So, it was better that these 5000 left.
The Buddha, in His compassion, did not want them to misunderstand and thus create more karma.
So, “Because they do not believe this sutra, they give rise to the Threefold Evil karma.”
What is the Threefold Evil Karma? If some are unhappy hearing such wonderful Dharma, they will look concerned. It is obvious from their body language that listening to the Dharma makes them unhappy. You can tell this from their facial expression.
Secondly, doubt arises in their minds. They are suspicious, so they do not have faith. This doubt is an evil of the mind.
The third is slander. Not only do they have unhappy expressions and harbor doubts in their minds, they commit slander through their speech. They open their mouths to slander the Dharma. This is the Threefold Evil of body, speech and mind.
So, as Buddhist practitioners we must be mindful. Without faith in the right truth, our thinking will be deluded. If we hesitate and cannot understand, we will lack the awakening brought about by faith. The Buddha cannot bear for us to be like this, for we will unintentionally create karma.
So, we must make an effort to be mindful. The Right Dharma contains the deeds of goodness. Although we cannot see them, we must apply our wisdom to accept them. The seeds of goodness are contained in Right Dharma. To accept these deeds of goodness, we must eradicate deluded karma and afflictions. Then naturally the darkness will be dispelled, and light will appear. Therefore, we must always be midful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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