Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Diligently Practicing the Teachings of the Path (四種道法精進修習)
Date:March.09. 2016
“Karmic causes and effects never fail; they follow us as a shadow follows a shape. Causes and conditions succeed one another through the endless cyclic of births and deaths. Through spiritual practice we attain fruition; thus it is called a virtuous cause. The Six Perfections, Four All-Embracing Virtues bring the fruits of blessings and virtues.”
As are the causes and conditions, so are the effects and retributions. We all deeply understand the law of karma.
“Karmic causes and effects never fail.” Likewise, whatever kind of seed we plant, the yield will be that kind of fruit. If we create positive conditions, we attain positive effects. If we create negative conditions, we will certainly attain negative effects.
In fact, out of everyone living in this world, who is without causes and conditions? Who is not entangled by their karmic affinities, even on into their future lifetimes? These future lifetimes are limitless in number, so we remain in an endless cyclic of births and deaths.
We all encounter other people every day, each day’s causes and conditions are a continuation of those from the previous day. With good affinities from yesterday, we are happy to see each other again today. Every day we are happy to see each other, yet there will come a day [when we part]; we remain trapped in the cycle of birth and death. In future lifetimes, causes and conditions will continue to follow each other in succession. If there are causes, there will be conditions. Positive and negative conditions will endlessly accumulate life after life.
People who are blessed will encounter and accept the Buddha-Dharma, knowing they must create positives causes. We are all here together and have formed aspirations and made vows. We have planted this seed, this cause, so “Through spiritual practice we attain fruition.” Whether this cause is created now or was created in the past, we must continuously nurture this cause.
It takes time; we cannot plant a seed today and expect it to sprout today. We must wait until tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. This is like our present and future lives; the underlying principle is the same. In summary, this cause has already converged with the [right] conditions, so naturally we have encountered the Dharma.
When it comes to good seeds, we must continuously take good care of them. We must irrigate and water them. The Dharma is like water. This seed, this cause, must be continuously nourished with Dharma-water; this is engaging in spiritual practice. Our spiritual cultivation relies on causes and conditions. After this seed finally sprouts, the “cause” will turn into an “effect”. Then it can produce infinite fruits. “Through spiritual practice we attain fruition.” In this way, “One gives rise to infinity.” Thus, “It is called a virtuous cause.”
One single seed in fact contains an infinite number of seeds. [Whether they reach fruition] depends on how we engage in spiritual practice. “The Six Perfections, Four All-Embracing Virtues bring the fruits,” which are blessings and virtues.
As we engage in spiritual practice, exactly what practices are we cultivating? Small Vehicle practices? Then we would only benefit ourselves! What about Great Vehicle practices? We have to go among the people. To go among people, we need proper methods, so we must practice the Six Perfections and the Four All-Embracing Virtues.
When among people, we must practice giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence, Samadhi and wisdom. These six practices are all ways of benefiting others.
The Four All-Embracing Virtues help us get along with people. We must constantly form good affinities. We must always help people and work together. “You must be very tired. Here, let me take your place for a while. You don’t have enough strength; let me lend you some of mine.” This is also considered charitable giving, the giving of our strength.
Perhaps people are feeling depressed, so we comfort them with words.This is also charitable giving.
So, [after] this is beneficial conduct.It means taking care of each other and mutually helping, loving and caring for each other.“Loving speech” is comforting; it helps people to open up their hearts.It helps their minds be free of afflictions.
Working together in this way is “collaborative work”.These are the Four All-Embracing Virtues.
If we can all practice the Six Perfections and the Four All-Embracing Virtues, this will bear fruits.When we are replete with these fruits, we have blessings and virtues.When things come to fruition, we have blessings and virtues.
As we have said before, the Buddha had likewise accumulated karmic retributions.Over countless kaplas, He had committed both serious and slight evils.
Once He began to engage in spiritual practice, He unceasingly cultivated causes for enlightenment.But in the past He had created negative causes.By creating negative causes, no matter in which lifetime, He would have to patiently endure and accept the negative effects and retributions brought about by those negative causes.So, for many successive lifetimes, He was engaged in ascetic practice.
If you read the Buddha’s Jataka Sutra, He spent many lifetimes repaying [karmic debts], making repayment for negative causes and exhausting their effects.This required spiritual practice.
So, the Buddha wanted us to practice patience.
When among people, we must patiently endure.In the past, when we interacted with people, we might have taken advantage of them in many ways or taken from them.Now, when we encounter them in this life, we know, “This is because of causes and conditions. Perhaps in this life. I have not yet fully repaid my karmic debts. They haven’t forgiven me yet.”This means we have not fully repaid our debts.If we do not settle our debts, we have to continue repaying them in future lives until they are paid in full.“This is enough; you have repaid me. You have paid off everything you owed me.”
So, this is to say, repaying these debts is not that easy.We may not repay them all in one lifetime.There are also negative causes that do not come to fruition in this lifetime.If we do not encounter them, they have not come to collect what we own them.So, we must wait until the next lifetime.When we encounter them again we must repay them.This is because our lifetimes endlessly follow one after the other; we physically experience fragmentary samara, one distinct lifetime after another.Yet, in truth our life should be everlasting.This is why we must always be vigilant.
Yesterday we mentioned that the Buddha faceda the Nine Ordeals, nine kinds of karmic retributions.
The first had to do with His spiritual practice.
He spends six years in ascetic practice.
The Nine Ordeals:
1）Six years of ascetic practice.
2）Slander by Sundari.
3）The wooden spear.
4）Horse fodder.
5）King Virudhaka’s massacre of the Sakya clan.
6）The empty bowl after begging.
7）Slander by Cincamanavika.
8）Devadatta’s boulder injuring His foot.
9）Searching for robes to block the cold wind.
Those six years of ascetic practice, when He faced much torment and suffering, came from that single thought; just harsh speech and disrespect alone led to six years of ascetic practice.
The second was being slandered by Sundari.
Of course there is a story behind this.In the Sangha, there were many trials and hardships like this one, as well as many obstacles.
The Buddha Himself experienced an injured foot; there are causes and conditions behind that too.
There was also [the ordeal of] “horse fodder”.
One time, when He asked for alms, He was given horse fodder to eat.Another ordeal was King Virudhaka’s massacre of the Sakya clan.
All these were due to the law of cause and effect.
There was also “the empty bowl after begging”.
When He and members of His Sangha begged for alms, everyone closed their doors to them, unwilling to make offerings.He experienced this kind of ordeal, too.
The seventh is slander by Cincamanavika; she slandered the Sangha.He experienced this kind of ordeal, too.
There were also ordeals caused by Devadatta, who tried to sabotage Sakyamuni in many ways. The Buddha also experienced freezing cold. He did not have [warm] clothes to wear, so He and to ask people for clothes. There is a story behind each ordeal. These stories came about due to negative conditions created over countless kalpas. Because there were negative causes, even after He attained Buddhahood. He faced these negative retributions. This is what brought about the Buddha experiencing these nine kinds of afflictions in His lifetime.
So, these are called the Nine Ordeals; they are nine misfortunes He encountered in this world after attaining enlightenment.
This means that even one who attained Buddhahood had not completely exhausted His retributions, to say nothing of we ordinary people. Sometimes when I hear different kinds of comments, whether slander or other kinds of hindrances, the way I think about it is, “In the past, I might have hindered those people. I might have carelessly harmed them. So, I should willingly accept the obstacles I face now”.
If we know the karmic law of cause and effect, our minds will be more open and expansive. When we willingly face everything, there will be no afflictions we can transform bitterness into sweetness.
The next passage of the sutra states, “[The elder] said to all the laborers, Work diligently; do not be lazy! He used this as skillful means with which to approach his son”.
Everyone must work hard. Everyone must be earnest and not indolent. In order to skillfully approach his son, the elder removed his expensive clothing and smeared dirt and filth all over his body. He also held tools for clearing manure so that he looked just like everyone else.
He approached and encouraged them, “Everyone, we must work earnestly. We cannot be lazy. We must make an effort to work hard”. This is “beneficial conduct” and using “loving speech” to transform them by “working together”. These are the Buddha’s skillful means, which He can use to approach people.
“[The elder] said to all the laborers” is an analogy for the Buddha speaking to everyone, “to all of His disciples. All of you, my disciples, must first practice the Fourfold Mindfulness”. This is the best tool for eliminating afflictions.
If we want to cut through thicker tree roots, then we must use a hatchet to hack away at them. For thinner roots, we can use a knife to cut them or dig them up with a hoe. So, we must use of different kinds of tools.
In the same way, we engage in spiritual practice [to clear away] our afflictions and ignorance. We know that life is filled with suffering; the Four Noble Truths tell us that because we have these bodies, they will connect with external conditions. When they connect with external conditions, thoughts arise in our minds. When these thoughts arise in us, we begin to behave in certain ways. This happens because of our body.
What is the method we should use to observe the body and eliminate the afflictions it brings? The Buddha said to use the Fourfold Mindfulness.
“Contemplate the body as impure”. Our bodies are truly impure. If we go to the hospital, when people pass away, sometimes no one will notice. “Where is this terrible smell coming from?” It travels far; everyone can smell it. Actually, even before we die, every day we must “contemplate the body as impure”. We must know that “The nine orifices constantly discharge impurities”. Isn’t this just how our bodies are?
In society, we often see how, when people cannot obtain the object of their desire, murderous thoughts arise and they do all kinds of shocking things. All this is because of the body. After we take action with our bodies, what is the feeling we experience? Can we say we are actually very happy? The happiness we create lasts for only a short period of time. But once we create that karma, we will face suffering for a long time. Thus, we “contemplate all feelings as suffering”.
Life is impermanent. As it is impermanent, can’t we see through things? If we truly cannot see though things, we will be unable to realize that “All things are without self.” Having truly understood the Dharma, what am “I”? “I” is how people refer to their “self.” Each of us refers to ourselves as “me.” But when I start talking about you, “Clearly, you said this thing.” “No! You said it!” This is because of [attachment] to “you” and “me.” “This is what I said” “No, that’s not what you said”. Just between “you” and “me”, even one sentence can provoke a dispute. The same principle applies here.
If we cannot see though this and still cling to our idea of “self”, this will produce tremendous afflictions. So, to apply the Fourfold Mindfulness, we must be very mindful .
Exercising the Fourfold Mindfulness takes wisdom We must apply wisdom. If we apply the Fourfold Mindfulness, naturally, by contemplating them in detail, we will develop wisdom, our wisdom will manifest. If we remain unenlightened and cling to “me, me, me” and the feeling of the “self,” afflictions will constantly arise.
In our spiritual practice, the Buddha taught us to practice the Fourfold Mindfulness. This has “discerning wisdom as the essence” and uses “impartial contemplation as the power.”
Because there is both discerning wisdom as well as impartial wisdom, we have “discerning wisdom as the essence” and “impartial contemplation as the power.” Only in this way will we be able to break through our afflictions so that the mind abides securely in the teachings of the Path. Then we “remain upright and do not deviate.”
If we have the Dharma of the Fourfold Mindfulness in our minds and mindfully contemplate it in detail, naturally the only thought that will arise is to diligently practice. So, we need to use “the tools for clearing manure.” This means applying the Dharma and taking it to heart. This refers to “all those who have yet to reach the stage of the wisdom of listening.” Right outside, there are people who are not [monastic] practitioners. However, they are “white-robed Bodhisattvas, meaning they are lay practitioners.” They have also decided, “I want to take in the fragrance of the Dharma.” They leave their house before dawn.
Though they are lay practitioners, they still mindfully listen to the Dharma. Regular people are listening to the Dharma, not to mention those of us who are monastic practitioners.
So, “Work diligently, do not be lazy!” “He used this as skillful means with which to approach his son.”
The Buddha used all kinds of methods to entice and guide us. He gradually guided us along and led us to apply the Four Noble Truths, the Fourfold Mindfulness and also the Four Right Efforts.
The Four Right Efforts: Eliminate any evil that has already arisen Prevent from arising any evil that has not arisen. Quickly give rise to goodness not yet arisen. Nurture any goodness that has already arisen.
The Four Right Efforts include “eliminating any evil that has already arisen.” We must quickly eliminate [evil] and eradicate it. “Prevent for arising evil that has not arisen.” We are already diligently advancing, so we must not allow evil to arise so we must not allow evil to arise. As for evil that has already arisen, those of us who are being indolent must quickly cut this off. When it comes to unwholesome habitual tendencies we already have, we must quickly eliminate them. As for negative tendencies we do not have, we must not be influenced by others to develop them. “Quickly give rise to goodness not yet arisen.”
If we do not have good habitual tendencies, if we have not taken wholesome actions, we must promptly learn to “quickly give rise to goodness not yet arisen.”
If we have not yet done good things, we must promptly do them. As for “nurturing any goodness that has already arisen”, since we are being diligent and we are giving rise to goodness, we must move more quickly and simply keep advancing in the proper direction. When it comes to doing the right thing, we should just do it. These are the Four Right Efforts.
The Fourfold Mindfulness and Four Right Efforts are both practices of diligence. We must be diligent and earnest in the practice of these four kinds of teachings, so they are called the Four Right Efforts, which spur us to eradicate all evil and give rise to goodness in body, speech and mind.
The means we must truly always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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