Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Wearing Poverty and Illness as Garments (窮衰醜病為衣服)
Date:November.27. 2015
There are two kinds of illnesses, illnesses of the body and illnesses of the mind. Illnesses of the body come from an imbalance of the four elements. What are the [imbalances of] the four elements? First is imbalance in the element of earth. If it is out of balance, we feel as though our body has become heavy. Second is imbalance in the element of water. When it is out of balance, it causes the body to become swollen. Third, an imbalance in the element of fire causes the body to become over-heated. Fourth, an imbalance in the element of air causes the body to become inflexible.
When these four elements are out of balance, we get sick. There are many kinds of illnesses. The element of earth is everything that we can touch in our body, from our skin to our muscles, flesh and bones. These all fall under the “element of earth”.
When this element [is out of balance], [we say,] “I feel pain throughout my body,” or, “My body feels so heavy.” Our skin, muscles, flesh, bones, etc., along with our internal organs, any part that we can see and touch belong to the “element of earth.” Any kind of illness [affecting these] will bring us tremendous suffering.
Two days ago, at our hospital, a homeless person came in from the street. He had a boil on his cheek that had putrefied over time, to the point that it affected his entire face. Nearly two-thirds of his face had putrefied. He put off [seeking treatment] for this illness. This was because he was homeless and had no family or anyone to care for him, no house to live in, etc. He simply wandered through the streets. Though he saw a doctor occasionally, he was unable to get treatment, so his condition worsened until an ambulance brought him to our hospital. We admitted him for treatment and put him in one of the hospital rooms. You can imagine what it smelled like in that room. But our doctors, nurses and also our volunteers did not reject him. Instead, with love, they begged him to eat. They placed the food in front of him, a bowl of steaming hot stew. They tried to help feed him, but he refused to eat.
They did everything they could, alternately being gentle and strict. They came close to him, sitting next to him; they were willing to comfort him, to soothe him and care for him. This is truly admirable. I am deeply moved by them. But [his case] gave us a glimpse of what hell must be like. On his entire face, the only features we could see clearly was a part of his eyes. The remainder was a mess of blood and pus, completely exposed. This suffering must have been truly unbearable. This falls under the “element of earth,” because it was affecting his flesh, his tangible body parts, his outer appearance.
In a story from long ago, Master Wu-da developed a human-faced boil on his leg. This was also due to “imbalance in the element of earth,” but when he washed it with Samadhi-water and repented, he was able to exhaust his karma.
The practice of repentance is not about chanting sutras, but about deeply realizing all the karma we created in our past lives. We must also encounter benefactors to have the chance to repent. Only when we encounter benefactors can we exhaust our karma.
[Next is] “an imbalance in the element of water.” Humans cannot live without water, but if there is an imbalance of water, we may drink but be unable to expel it. Then, our body becomes swollen. Some people’s bodies might be very swollen, yet their hands and feet are shriveled and skinny.We encounter many cases like this in the hospital as well.This happens with “an imbalance in the element of water”.
Next is “an imbalance in the element of fire,” which “causes the body to become over-heated”.We become hot and feverish; heat within spreads to the surface of our body.This happens with “an imbalance in the element of fire”.
We usually refer to this as inflammation.“An imbalance in the element of air causes the body to become inflexible.”When the element of air is out of balance, aside from affecting our breathing, our body keeps shuddering, shuddering very violently, and we find it hard to calm our body down.These are the imbalances of the four elements of the body.
What about the mind?
Illnesses of the mind come from our internal sufferings and afflictions.
Our minds give rise to afflictions, ignorance and delusions, [which lead us to] create karma.
These are all the sufferings and afflictions we hold in our minds.
We fail to understand any kind of principles, so illnesses of the mind are quite prevalent in today’s society.When people do not know that.
What they are doing is wrong; they cause society and the people to feel scared and unsafe.Lack of balance in the mind thus brings out worries, sandiness, sorrow, etc.These are all mental ailments.
Today, there are many recognized mental illnesses, bipolar discredit, depression, schizophrenia, etc.So, the suffering of illness in our lives is indeed unbearable.As unenlightened beings, who among us has no habitual tendencies?Who among us has no psychological issues?We have our own habitual tendencies, our own habits, afflictions, dust-like delusions, delusions of ignorance, etc.These are what make us unenlightened beings; these are all illnesses of the body and mind.
It was for this reason that the Buddha came to help us better understand how we can eliminate illness and suffering of the body and mind.So, the Buddha came to the world to “open and reveal” [the Dharma], hoping that we sentient beings would “realize and enter” it.
The Dharma is like wondrous medicine; we must accept it and take this wondrous medicine in order to be cured.If we do not accept the Dharma or take it to heart it is like looking at medicine without taking it.Even if we take medicine, we may not take the right medicine for our illness.Therefore, we must be mindful so that we know how to use this wondrous medicine to treat our own illness and the ailments of other sentient beings.
So, everything we have discussed recently is related to suffering.
The previous passage states, “They often dwell in hell and stroll about as if it were a garden, or in other evil destinies, which they have come to look upon as home.”
Thus, they come and go in hell.They are also born in the animal realm.“Camels, donkeys, pigs and dogs are the forms in which they travel.”People who create karma of suffering often end up in these places.What is the karma that keeps them there?“For slandering this sutra, they face retributions such as these.”
People who slander this sutra slander the principles of the Great Vehicle and deny the law of karma.Their spiritual aspirations are not firm, or perhaps their views and understanding have deviated, so they intentionally damage the Buddha-Dharma.This severs people’s roots of goodness and cuts off their wisdom-life, thus naturally causing turmoil in society.Such karma is tremendous.For this reason, they will constantly go back and forth between the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms.
The following passage states, “Or if they are reborn human, they are deaf, blind or mute, impoverished, with signs of deterioration. They think of themselves as majestic though they are bloated or dried out, or have ringworm, carbuncles or abscesses, these and other diseases are worn like their garments.”
In this world, there are also many kinds of suffering people.Our Bodhisattva [-volunteers] encounter many of them.We see people whose ears cannot hear.As part of the natural course of life, as we age, our Six Sense Organs begin to decline.Our ears cannot hear sounds clearly, and some cannot hear at all.Some people lose their hearing due to illness, not old age.
A sudden accident or imbalance of the four elements can disrupt their sense of hearing.
With these obstructions, they cannot hear.
Blindness refers to obstructed vision.[These are] the eyes and ears.Then, there is muteness.
Some lose their voice due to illness. Some are born this way, while others were in an accident, or fell ill; an imbalance in the four elements caused an illness to manifest. They may also be “impoverished, with signs of deterioration”. Many people we come in contact with are living in such poverty.
Their houses and their furniture all seem like a pile of trash. Everything appears to be deteriorating. This is what “signs of deterioration” refers to. Yet, they think themselves majestic. It is because they denied the law of karma and slandered the truth that they have this appearance.
They things they did in their past lifetimes have resulted in so much karma that they have no choice but to experience this way of life in this world.
The transgression of slandering the Dharma results in spending countless kalpas of suffering in the Three Evil Destinies. If they do manage to attain rebirth as humans, they still face harm and evil. They may be harsh, with garments of evil, an appearance of evil and acts of evil.
Now, how long will this last? The previous passage says they will go to the hell, animal and hungry ghost realms, then return to the human realm to face suffering. Thus, “They spend countless kalpas of suffering the Three Evil Destinies”. As for the suffering people we see now, what did they do in their past life? We have no idea. However, in this life, we see that their way of living, their lifestyle, and so on, is filled with suffering and hardship. Though in the human realm, they live as if they are in hell. “If they do manage to attain rebirth as humans”, they will face much harm and evil, that is, much suffering and hardship. So many evil and harsh situations all befall this one individual. In this way, they face an endless series of hardships. Thus [they wear] “garments of evil”, meaning that no matter how we look at them, they look as though they are suffering. [They have] “an appearance of evil”, which is their physical appearance. Furthermore, some [engage in] “acts of evil”. There are many people like this in the world.
Some may also be “deaf, blind or mute, impoverished, with signs of deterioration”. “Deafness” is a “dysfunction of the ear”. Their hearing is obstructed. “Blindness” is “dysfunction of the eye”. Their eyesight is obstructed. “Muteness” is being unable to hear properly, and, having lost the ability to hear, they are thus unable to speak.
They are incapable of making a sound, or they cannot enunciate clearly. These are obstructions to their language ability. When they make a sound, people do not understand what they are saying. So, those who cannot make others understand them can be called mute.
“Impoverished” people lack material things. Their life is very difficult, very lacking. These people suffering from poverty are “impoverished, with signs of deterioration”.
Impoverished, with signs of deterioration, expresses that, simply by looking at them others know that they have physical disabilities and that their lives are impoverished and that their sense organs are debilitated.
We are constantly receiving such cases and providing help to them. Indeed, they are suffering!
Though they have the appearance of suffering and they have impaired sense organs, they think of themselves as majestic. Their body is suffering the effects of their negative karmic retributions, but they are unaware of their ugly appearance. There are many people who are unaware of their physical appearance; they are also unable to engage in self-reflection.
There are many people like this. They do not realize that they need to repent and do not know how all this came about. They are just focused on complaining, complaining that people are looking down on them and that people are treating them unfairly. Even with a body like this, they do not know to repent, because they fail to recognize true principles. There are also other kinds of appearances, “bloated or dried out”, with “ringworm, carbuncles or abscesses”.
They are bloated because their body retains water. Of course, this will lead to illness. When we see them, their head, face, hands and feet are slim, nothing but skin and bones, yet, their stomach is distended. There are people whose entire body is bloated, even their hands, feet and face. There is bloating all over their body.
This kind of illness cause physical abnormalities. This is due to an imbalance in the four elements.
Ringworm is a kind of skin disease. Skin disease are quite frightening. There is a kind of skin ailment called ringworm, which is an infectious disease like scabies. Then, there are also abscesses, which fall under “ringworm, carbuncles or boils.” They may be large and light red and so on this is the appearance of a poisonous abscess. Today, we may call it cancer, but here it is called a “carbuncle” which is very difficult to treat.
Abscesses are on the inside and cannot be seen. Carbuncles are visibly swollen. Their whole body, inside and out, is totally out of balance. These change lead them to develop physical abnormalities. These kinds of diseases are extremely difficult to treat; they are truly unbearable suffering.
“These and other disease are worn like garments.” These illness are very difficult to treat. “Worm like garments” means they are untreatable and cannot be removed from the body.
This is like wearing clothing. We can see the clothing people wear and their appearance. With this kind of illness, people can identify their illness in a single glance.
So, it says they are “worn like garments.” And “They will never be removed from the body.” “Those who practice goodness wear good karma for their garments.” If people practice goodness, others see them and feel very close to them. If people practice evil, “They wear negative karma as their garments, and thus they may be impoverished”, with signs of deterioration.
They are not just poor in worldly goods; they do not have any wealth of Dharma as well. They do not know the principles, and they lack the basic demeanor of being a good person. Thus, They are impoverished, with signs of deterioration. “When they emerge from the Three Evil Destinies, “[they] are born as human.”
When they emerge from the Three Evil Destinies and are born as humans, they are blind, deaf and so on. They think themselves to be majestic, not recognizing their ugliness, and wear their bloating and so on like garments, which will never be removed from their body.
People who suffer like this might have spent their past lives in the Three Evil Destinies before returning to the human realm to face painful retributions. In the human realm, if they do have not have the karmic conditions to encounter a benefactor, no one can save them. Not only is there no one to relieve their physical suffering, but no one will give them the chance to do good deeds.
Therefore, they will certainly remain in the Three Evil Destinies. “When they emerge from the Three Evil Destinies, [they] are born as humans. They may be blind, deaf or mute but think themselves majestic. This is the life they lead. This is the appearance they have.
So, “They do not recognize their ugliness.” Not only are they not self-aware, not only do they not recognize that they brought the karma that resulted in these retributions, they blame and resent others and constantly give rise to negative thoughts, jealousy, resentment, hatred, etc. in this way, they have no chance [to do good].
Thus, “They wear their bloating like garments.” Their body takes on this appearance. It “will never be removed from their bodies.”
When “disability, illness, poverty, external ugliness and filth” are concentrated in one person, it is immediately visible in their appearance. Moreover, the Three Poisons, greed, anger and ignorance, give rise to “internal evil actions. The transgressions they committed were severe and lead to deep hindrances.
With their minds filled with afflictions and delusions of ignorance, they have no chance to accept the principles and cleanse the defilements from their minds.Thus, they face much suffering.
If we unceasingly create karma, layer after layer, never stopping, we have no choice to face those retributions.So, now that we have been born human and have heard the Dharma, we must make the most of every moment. We must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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