Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Negative Effects Come From Deviating Toward Evil (偏邪向惡自受惡果)
Date:November.23. 2015
“The causes for negative retributions are the negative karmic conditions we create ourselves. Defilements of afflictions and delusion result in negative karmic effects. Slandering the Dharma cuts off seeds of goodness thus we attract our own retributions. The five chronic and acute afflictions lead us to deviate towards evil.”
All it takes is just one single thought. In the past, our minds gave rise to discursive thoughts. Once one evil thought arises, a lot of karma is created. So in this lifetime, we wonder, “Why is this person suffering so much?” When one tragedy after another befalls this one family or this one person, we wonder, “Why does this happen to them?” If many things do not go our way and we encounter many negative causes, conditions and effects, all of these stem from our past [karma]. If we understand the past, we will have more insight into the present.
As Buddhist practitioners, this is what we must learn. We must not feel resentful [of our treatment], but rather think about how, in the past, the way we treated them must have created unpleasant conditions for them as well. That is why, in this lifetime, they treat us this way, causing us to feel stressed and pressured, pushing us around, bullying us, inhibiting us, etc. We must also be grateful for the pressure they give us today, because this way we can learn to endure it.
All of you must have heard about how Purna Maitrayani Putra told the Buddha. “Venerable Buddha, I am willing to go to the most distant borderland, where people are most crude and negative and where the Buddha-Dharma is absent, in order to promote the Buddha-Dharma, to guide them to internalize the principles and eliminate afflictions from their minds.”
The Buddha said, “Going there is dangerous!” Purna Maitrayani Putra replied to the Buddha in this way, “It is because [people there] are barbarous and because they do not understand the principles that I am willing to bring these principles to that place right away.”
The Buddha said to them, “If you go there you will encounter many difficulties. They may shout abuses at you.” Purna Maitrayani Putra replied to the Buddha, “Venerable Buddha, do not worry. So what if they yell at me? At least they are not beating me with their fists.” The Buddha said, “What if they were to beat you with their fists?” [He said,] “I will be grateful that they are beating me with their bare hands and not with sticks. That would not do my body [much] harm.” Then the Buddha asked, “What if they beat you with sticks and really injure your body?”
Purna Maitrayani Putra replied, “Venerable Buddha, I would still feel grateful. They are just beating me with sticks, not threatening my life with knives.” The Buddha asked, “And what if they use knives and threaten your life? What will you do then?” Purna Maitrayani Putra replied, “Venerable Buddha, I will be grateful because in the past I must have created this karmic debt by harming them. In a past life, I may have bullied them in this way, such that in this life I have to repay this debt. I will be very grateful to be able to resolve the karmic entanglements we formed in our past lives.”
The Buddha was very moved. “I pray that, when you go there, you will protect yourself well. They may be stubborn and hard to teach, but remember, all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. As long as you treat them with reverence, there is nothing you cannot accomplish. I wish you good fortune.”
So, Purna Maitrayani Putra went with the Buddha’s blessing. His mission took him to the most barbarous places in the south to promote the Buddha-Dharma.
In our daily living, as we interact with the people, matters and things around us, if we encounter someone who has not yet corrected their habitual tendencies, who give us unpleasant looks, or say things that make us unhappy, that is even more reason to think about Purna Maitrayani Putra and his willingness to go to those barbarous places to teach the Dharma.
How does what we face in the world compare?
Inevitably, many people will have not yet fully eliminated their habitual tendencies and afflictions.
When we encounter people like this, we must remind ourselves to be vigilant.For these people with [strong] habits, we must quickly put our palms together and say, “I understand what you mean. I apologize for not noticing this. I will pay closer attention next time.”In this way, after they have lost their temper, they will see us [and realize].“In fact, I am also a spiritual practitioner,. I must pay closer attention too. That person said, ‘I will pay more attention’ and that is something I also need to do.”
Thus we can be a good spiritual friend, as well as heighten our vigilance.If other have these habitual tendencies, isn’t it possible that we do too?Perhaps, we did not eliminate, these afflictions in our past life, so in this lifetime we encounter conditions that aid our spiritual practice.
So, when we suffer the fruits of our evil karma, we must accept them.When we live among people, we must bring peace to ourselves and others.We must happily train ourselves and happily accept [whatever happens].If we can happily accept our circumstances, we can exhaust our karmic retributions.Then our conflicts with people can also be eased.
We must also know the principles and quickly promote the Right Dharma and a correct direction.
So first, as we listen to the Dharma, we must listen to it mindfully.After we take it in, we must develop the correct understanding.We must not hear or transmit it in error; this we cannot do.
When we seek the Dharma, we must seek what is true.This is the first thing we must remember.
Even more important is that we must not intentionally slander the Dharma.
This severs our roots of goodness in this world and our wisdom-life transcending this world.
In this world, if we cut off seeds of goodness and sever our wisdom-life, true principles will not abide in the world, and the world will be filled with evil.This is truly worrisome.
Thus we want to discuss “the five chronic and acute afflictions”.There are five acute afflictions and five chronic afflictions, which easily cause us to deviate.If we intentionally slander the Dharma and quite others down a deviant path, we ourselves are heading down an evil path.
This is why we must be very cautions.
The previous sutra passage states, “They are reborn as jackals and enter the villages. Their bodies are covered in scabs and sores, and they are missing an eye. They are beaten and thrown about by children, thus undergoing many sufferings, even to the point of death.”
They face so many negative retributions.After being in hell, they are reborn in the animal realm, where they face all kinds of retributions.Being an animal already brings much suffering, but they may suffer physical illnesses as well, from skin disease to disabilities, such as missing limbs or eyes.When children see them, they mistreat them, beat them, etc.Whether they use stones or sticks this is indeed unbearable suffering; these animals face such painful retributions.
So, “After death in that life,” for example, if they were hacked to death, “Some are reborn in the bodies of pythons.”
In the next life, they have not yet transcended the animal realm.They are still beasts, still creatures, “with immense bodies as long as 500 yojanas”.They are very long and massive.
“They are deaf, stupid and have no feet. Crawling about on their bellies, they are bitten and fed upon by many small insects.”
This is a state of great suffering!After facing all kinds of suffering and torment, some are then reborn as great pythons, as a kind of snake.
This kind of snake is very long.However, they are not venomous, and their bodies crawl across the ground.
How long is the body of such a snake? The sutra says it may be up to “500 yojanas”.
How long is a yojana? About [13 kilometers]. So, how long is 500 yojanas? A snake of that size is unimaginable. However, we do not need to discuss whether such a large snake actually exists. We know this is just a metaphor for a very long, very big snake. “They are deaf, stupid and without feet, crawling about on their bellies”. Sometimes a huge snake like this cannot see with his eyes. “Stupid” means foolish, with dull capabilities. “Deaf” means their sense of hearing is dull; they are unable to hear clearly. Moreover, they are slow to react and ignorant [of their surroundings]. In this way, because their reaction rate is slow, many small creatures take advantage and slowly such their [blood], wantonly biting and feeding upon their bodies.
This indeed causes tremendous suffering.When can they escape this kind of life? They experience this pain, “night and day, suffering without respite. Because they slander this sutra, this is the retribution for their transgressions”.
Therefore, night and day they face being fed upon by insects. This goes on without a moment’s rest. Suffering like this is truly unbearable.
I have told everyone before that, around 40, 50 years ago, when we started Tzu Chi, I personally went on case visits. I personally went on case visits. What I saw was a man who was just lying there. There was a rat by his foot that was about this fat. He was by the man’s foot, gnawing at it.
I said, “There is a rat at your feet! Can’t you see? Don’t you realize this?” He said, “I had no idea. I have no feeling in my body. I can only move my mouth. My mind is clear, but I have no feeling in the rest of my body”.
This man’s job was to lift heavy things. He was traveling with a truck that hauled logs. The logs were stacked on the truck, but they were not secured tightly. When the log on top rolled off, he did not move in time and was crushed under the weight of the entire log. This damaged his spine, and he became paralyzed for life.
He had four children and a wife. This family of six now relied on his wife doing odd jobs. They were two, three, five and six years old. Looking at them, my sadness was indescribable. We had to provide long-term care for this family, giving the children an opportunity to go to school. By now, there four children must be in their 50s or 60s. Then, they were five or six years old. Think about it. Some people end up with a life like that, just as some animals experience such suffering. Why does this happen?
It must stem from a past life. Whether they had already been through hell or experienced the animal realm, even though they have come to the human realm, they continue to face unbearable suffering. This is “because they slandered this sutra”, thus severing people’s roots of goodness and slandering the true principles. This kind of karma is very severe. “This is the retribution for their transgressions”. This kind of suffering, day and night, is truly unbearable.
“If there is doubt of the Buddha-Dharma, one may engage in base actions. For slandering the Great Vehicle Dharma, retribution is not limited to rebirth as animals. They face retributions according to karma, and each are different.”
When it comes to the Buddha-Dharma, we must not have doubts. We must listen very carefully. If we did not hear it clearly, doubts may arise in our minds, and we may look down on the Dharma. When we view the sutras with contempt and devalue them, or even intentionally slander the Great Vehicle, we will be reborn as animals. Not all animals are the same. There is not just one kind; there are oxen, sheep, horses, pigs, etc., as well as dogs, cats, animals that fly, beasts that walk and insects and snakes that crawl on the ground, etc. We can be born as any one of many kinds of animals.
“[We] face retributions according to karma”. Following our karma, we may end up as one of many kinds of animals, whether domesticated or wild. The animal we are born as depends on the karma we created in this world and the retributions we have to experience. This is different for each person.
This following passage states, “If born as humans, their capacities are dull and sluggish. They may be stunted, ugly, deformed or crippled, blind, deaf or hunchbacked. No matter what they say, no one trusts them. Their breath is perpetually foul-smelling, and demons cling to them.
How painful! Even if they are born human, “Their capacities are dull and sluggish. We often see people like this. They may be born into a poor family or born with physical disabilities. Perhaps they were injured in an accident, and their bodies became crippled or disabled, etc.
All this is due to karmic retributions.Since we have been born human,we should open the door to our minds and recognize that the karmic causes we creatd in our past lives have resulted in the karmic retributions we face in this life.
In this world, there are many things that are beyond our control.Not only are some people born short, they may also be “deformed.” Their hands and feet may not grow normally. “They may be stunted, ugly, deformed or crippled, like those with brittle bone disease. There are also people who are blind, deaf or hunchbacked. They cannot see with their eyes or hear with their ears, and they are hunchbacked, etc. This indeed brings great suffering.
“No matter what they say, no one trusts them.” Some people look very proper, yet when they speak, no one believes them. Because they formed bad affinities and have bad habitual tendencies in this one, they have terrible relationships with people. Even though their body is healthy, their relationships are not.
Some people have very bad breath. Others dislike it, and when they speak, other people detest them. Other detest them, yet demons will cling to them. Demons enjoy this scent.
Aside from this, the following sutra passages states, “Poor and lowly, at the mercy of others, they are often sick, dehydrated and gaunt and have no one to rely upon. ”
They are born into the human realm after departing that animal form.So, when they return as a human, they are first born into a life of poverty. This does not necessarily mean they are born in Africa. In our own lives, in this country right here, there are also many impoverished people. Otherwise, why would there be a need for humanitarian organizations? There would be no need for the Buddha to teach the Bodhisattva Way, which He did to save sentient beings.
Because sentient beings bring this kind of karma into the human realm, there must be Bodhisattvas in this world to help the impoverished and suffering.
So, after experiencing life in the Three Realms, those people still have to come to the human realm to experience being poor and lowly. Their lives are controlled by others; they are not free to do what they want.
They are also often “sick, dehydrated and gaunt.”They often drive themselves to become ill, making it hard for them to move around freely. In particular, there are some who, once born, are immediately orphaned. They do not have parents to rely on. They do not have elders to rely on. They do not have siblings rely on. People like this “have no one to rely on.”
So, think about it; there is so much suffering in human life, not to mention in the life of an animal! The state of animals’ lives is indeed filled with unbearable suffering. Everything that happens comes about because in our past lives, we created the causes for negative karmic retributions. The causes of negative retributions is the negative affinities we created ourselves.
We have created many negative affinities in the past. In the past, we were also contaminated by many afflictions and dust-like delusions, and we still have not fully eliminated our habitual tendencies so we suffer the effects of our negative karma. Thus, we must constantly make and effort to be vigilant and to always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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