Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: With Lax Aspirations, One Wishes to Retreat (初心懈怠半途欲退)
Date: April.27.2017
“When our body and mind become lazy in all spiritual practices, we cannot diligently advance. Hence we retreat from the Great, turn toward the Small and become lax, distrupting our initial aspiration. As our afflictions hinder our great spiritual practice, halfway there we wish to retreat.”
Let us take a look at this passage. In the past few days, we have been talking about this dangerous and difficult road. It is wild, desolate and extremely terrifying. Truly. In the process of spiritual practice, we must be mindful we must contemplate how at the beginning, when we came to the world, it was beyond our control. What we understand about the matters of the world is that they do not meet our expectations and many things are beyond our control. Once we see through this and understand, we choose to engage in spiritual practice. after we engage in spiritual practice for a while, we slowly begin to lose our spiritual aspirations and become lazy about our spiritual practice. truly, regarding our spiritual practice, we slowly begin to feel that it is not anything special, and we lose our earnestness. Then we return to our normal lifestyle that is full of afflictions and discursive thoughts. We live our lives like ordinary people, without any sense of spirituality. We have become lax in our spiritual practice, so we cannot be as diligent as when we formed our initial aspirations.
Our minds have already become lax; we are not able to be diligent. Because of this, we retreat from the great and turn toward the Small. That passions we had at first to work for Buddha’s teachings, for sentient beings, to transform ourselves and at the same time transform others, has already gradually been lost. We go back to thinking that it is enough to just cultivate ourselves, that we just need to take care of ourselves and not worry about others, to carry out this mission “for sentient beings “ is truly a difficult under taking.
We must face all kinds of people. It is truly very complicated and difficult. it would be easier to care only for ourselves. With this [thinking], our minds become lax. Once this thought of indolence arises, it disrupts our initial aspiration. Once disrupted, where is our initial aspiration to be found? If we cannot give rise to that passion to go among people, then afflictions will gradually hinder our great work of spiritual practice. halfway there, we wish to retreat. We must earnestly contemplate our own state of mind. Has the initial aspiration that we formed lasted until today? That aspiration we first began to form back then, years, decades, so long ago, has it still been maintained? We should ask ourselves this question.
It was the same in the era of the Buddha. When the Buddha taught the Dharma at Vulture Peak, there was one person who had already severed his family ties and come to the Buddha’s spiritual ground. He requested of the Buddha, “Venerable Buddha, I would like to engage in spiritual practice”. The Buddha asked him, “Why do you want to engage in spiritual practice?” He said, “In a family, for the sake of my wife and children, I would spend my whole life working busily. It would be so difficult. In family, there are so many ties that go on without and end. I understand now, and I want to walk on the path to Buddhahood. Please let me become a monastic and walk on the path to awakening. If I am able to understand the principles, I can spread the Buddha-Dharma to everyone.” The Buddha then asked, “Do you have a firm aspirations? Are you able to uphold your aspiration? He said to the Buddha firmly, “I have made up my mind”. So, the Buddha his head for him, and he began his spiritual practice. after a while, he told the Buddha that he would like to go to the mountains so that he could be very tranquil, find a cave and earnestly engage in spiritual practice. after the Buddha agreed, he went to Vulture Peak, He had to travel a long path, until he found a cave. In that place, he was truly very diligent. He earnestly contemplated the Buddha’s teachings and the method of observing the phenomena. In that place, he mindfully observed this for a period of three years. After three years had passed, he thought, “Throughout these three years, I have observed the impermanence of this world. The trees, flowers and grass, and so on keep passing like a flowing stream, like water that constantly flows away. Though I am observing all these appearances and understand that everything is impermanent, that this is the law of nature, what can I do? I only know that this is so. I live every day within this state. It has been three years. What else have I attained? It seems like I have not attained anything.” So, he thought to himself again, “Since I am living such a boring life, wouldn’t it be better if I returned home and enjoyed the pleasures of family life? I don’t need to think about the future now.” He made this decision in his mind and began to take action.
He left the cave and went down the mountain. The Buddha knew about this and also leisurely left Vulture Peak. He also walked toward the mountain path where this spiritual practitioner was. One was walking down the mountain, the other was heading toward the mountain. The Buddha saw this bhiksu from afar, saw him walking down [the mountain]. The Buddha then transformed Himself into an ordinary sramana. Using His spiritual powers, He transformed His appearance to be just like an ordinary monastic. So, when the two met, this sramana asked the bhiksu who just came down the mountain. “Where are you going? I would like to ask you for directions. I am about to go up the mountain, but I am already tired getting this far. I do not know how long I will have to walk on this mountain path. Why don’t we sit here and talk?” They sat down, and as they begin to talk, suddenly, an old monkey, who looked very old, came down the mountain to the plains. The two shifted their topic. The sramana said the bhiksu, “That is strange. This monkey lives in the mountains. This mountain should be his home. Why did he come out to the plains?” The bhiksu then replied, “I understand this old monkey. For the past three years, I have observed his way of life. He is a member of a group of monkeys. His spouse and offspring are all there. This old monkey has to work hard every day, going to places with fruit trees to constantly collect fruits and get water in order to provide for his family. I see how he has to climb up and down trees. The skin on his hands and feet is already peeling off. Perhaps this monkey has to work too hard. Just for the sake of his family, he is always so busy. The skin on his hands is peeling off, for nothing meaningful. So, he probably came down the mountain to seek a moment of peace.” Not long after he said this, the monkey once again left the plains and went back to the mountains. The sramana then said to the bhiksu, “Strange, he already left the mountains. Why would he go back up again? Maybe he could not bear leaving his family. His mind was still attached. This is why he returned.” So, after the sramana heard the story, he slowly began to speak to the bhiksu. The bhiksu saw how this sramana was very calm when he spoke. The sound of his voice consistently sounded very dignified and gentle. He watched closely as the sramana turned back into the Buddha. When the bhiksu saw the light emitted by the sramana’s body, he gave rise to a sense of remorse and repentance. He knew that because the Buddha had known that he had retreated in is aspirations, the Buddha had left Vulture Peak and transformed His appearance. He came to the mountain [to teach him] with this appearance. “He knew that along the way I had retreated in my will to practice.” So, he prostrated to the Buddha and repented in from of Him.
The Buddha then said, “All thoughts of the mind flow.” Everything is merely the thoughts of our mind flowing just like the water in a river. “With each passing day, we draw closer to death. The water that we see in the river now is not the same as what we have just seen. The water we saw has already passed. Our minds are also like this. What has passed is like this, gone. It is just like the water that flows by. In your mind, your initial aspirations are gone. Like the water in the river, it has already passed. Everything remains within the cyclic existence of the Six Realms,” and “the entanglements of love is like vines. The human mind craves love. The entanglements of love are like vines that entangle the branches of a tree. If your cravings are not eliminated, your afflictions will not be eliminated. If your afflictions are not eliminated and your desires are not eliminated, all of these will entangle you like the vines. Only with wisdom can you differentiate. Only wisdom can do this. You must use wisdom to differentiate. Otherwise, even if you use three years to observe impermanence, you will not attain anything. It is because you have not awakened your wisdom. In your stillness, you changed. So, this was because you used your own thinking. These thoughts are constantly following your environment as you live your life. You did not remind yourself of the true meanings of impermanence, so you were still bound by your cravings. You have the desire to go back to your family, to enjoy the pleasures of family life. This is because you have not eliminated cravings. Your wisdom-life and wisdom have not grown. If you are able to use your wisdom to observe the conditions of impermanence, naturally you will awaken your wisdom and wisdom-life. It is because you have not yet eliminated your thoughts and cravings that your wisdom has not grown. Only with wisdom can we discern our external conditions and sever the roots of desire. Only with wisdom can we eliminate the roots of desire”.
After the bhiksu heard this, he thought, “Yes, it was my mind. I was peaceful every day in this environment. I observed flowers bloom and wither. I saw spring, summer, autumn and winter, and I understood that everything is impermanent. I saw the river flowing, and I understood that when water flows, it cannot reverse course to flow upstream. I only understood that water flows away. I did not realize that the lives of human beings follow the passing of time, just as the water in the river also flows past. Once it flows downstream, the water cannot flow back up. I did not mindfully understand this. Our lives pass by like the water and likewise do not come back. So, with the entanglements of love, I gave rise to the thought to return home. With such thoughts, this entanglement of love, like vines, bound and trapped me. This is the ignorance and affliction of the mind. So, I am grateful that along the way, the Buddha pointed out the wrong path that I was on. In that temporary confusion and indolence, I gave rise to the thought of retreating from the Great to the Small. I wanted to practice the Small Vehicle Dharma. Originally, I had planned that if I had some success in my spiritual practice, I would transform sentient beings. But my thought to transform sentient beings has already been lost. I wanted to go back to enjoy the pleasures of family life. This was wrong”. So, he repented to the Buddha.
The Buddha was very happy that he could reach this understanding. He asked him to return to the Sangha and earnestly engage in spiritual practice there. So, he returned to the Sangha with the Buddha. This story is from the Buddha’s time. The Buddha was very compassionate. Whatever His disciples were thinking, the Buddha would know. Thus He could meet them along the way in time and call them back again. These are the minds of ordinary people, who constantly have discursive thoughts. If we do not earnestly take care of our minds, “We retreat from the Great, turn toward the Small and become lax. As our afflictions hinder our great spiritual practice, halfway there we wish to retreat”. This is a story from the sutra.
So, we must put effort into being mindful. “Halfway there” is something we have talked about before. Once we reach halfway, we want to retreat. Actually, this is a kind of analogy. When we first formed our aspirations, we are starting our first few steps forward. With our initial aspiration to engage in practice, we have begun to walk forward. With that thought of attaining Buddhahood as our end goal, we start to head toward our destination. But before we have reached the goal, when we are only halfway there, we give rise to the thought of retreating.
Along the way: whether or not halfway, when taking forming aspirations as the start and attaining Buddhahood as the goal, it is in between the two that they give rise to the thought of retreating from the Great. It therefore says, “Along the way [they] become lax and retreat”. This means they had intended to go toward the great Bodhi-path.
When we engage in spiritual practice, it is easy for us to form aspirations, and these aspirations are often great aspirations; we are determined to reach the state of Buddhahood. But we cannot withstand the challenges of interpersonal conflicts. After a few years, we will get stuck and will give rise to the thought of retreating. This is “along the way”. At first they followed the guiding teacher; in this lost and confused life, there was a guiding teacher to show them the way. But along the way they wished to retreat and wanted to return to their former path. “It is in between the two that they give rise to the thought of retreating from the Great”. So, “Along the way [they] become lax and retreat”. As we head toward the great Bodhi-path, along the way we give rise to the thought of retreating. This is called “along the way”. We have only traveled halfway and have not yet reached our goals, but along the way we want to retreat.
The previous sutra passage states, “There is a guiding teacher, intelligent, wise and with a clear understanding. He knows well passable and obstructed features of this dangerous road and will lead a group of people who wish to pass through these hardships. But the people he leads along the way become lax and retreat”.
But the people he leads along the way become lax and retreat”. This refers to the Two Vehicle practitioners, They have formed aspirations to engage in spiritual practice, but their capabilities are limited. So, according to their capabilities, the Buddha began to teach the Dharma they needed, the Dharma that they were able to take in. So, Hearers lingered as Hearers, and Solitary Realizers lingered as Solitary Realizers. They were halfway, not wanting to go forward, not wanting to reach the state of Buddhahood. This is the previous sutra passage.
The next sutra passage states, “They speak to the guiding teacher”. Those who wanted to retreat from the Path began to speak to their teacher like this. “We are extremely exhausted and also afraid. We cannot advance further. The road ahead seems long. We now wish to retreat and go back”.
So, these people did not want to go forward. This is an analogy of when the Buddha began to expound the Lotus Sutra. the Lotus Sutra is the path to attain Buddhahood. The Buddha hoped everyone could move forward to form great aspirations make great vows and walk on the Bodhisattva-path. We must walk on the Bodhisattva-path in order to reach the state of Buddhahood. The Buddha began to teach this to everyone, but the Two Vehicle practitioners were afraid that this practice would be very difficult. After much difficulty they had finally begun to eliminate their ignorance and afflictions. Now if they were told to go among people and walk the Bodhisattva-path, they would be afraid. So, they were unwilling to advance further to seek the Great Vehicle Dharma. The road in front of them was still long. If they were to walk the Bodhisattva-path it seemed they still had far to go. [They worried that] if they were defiled by turbidities again, they would regress. They had already gone to great lengths to eliminate afflictions. So, seeing that the road ahead was long, they are afraid of going forward. Thus, they wished to retreat. This is the process of walking on a path and the process of spiritual practice. walking on the path is like spiritual practice. The process of spiritual practice is very taxing, and it requires a very long time. So, this is very difficult.
There are actually four kinds of guiding teachers. There are four kinds of guiding teachers: the compassionate guiding teacher who understand the path. The guiding teacher who forms affinities. The guiding teacher who uses provisional wisdom. the guiding teacher who uses true wisdom.
The first is “the compassionate guiding teacher who understands the path”. He understands how to come and go on this path. His is very familiar with the path. With this kind of teacher, it is very safe to have him guide us on the path, because he is very familiar with it this is like the guides we have now for hikers. They are like guiding teachers. They guide people through the mountains so they will not become lost. In the same way, this teacher guides people on this treacherous path. With this teacher going back and forth, people can travel safely under his guidance not only does he thoroughly understand the path, he also “thoroughly understands people’s minds”. This is the guiding teacher. Not only does he know path, but he also understands people’s minds. This kind of teacher can guide us onto the right path.
In the sutra passage, “This is the guiding teacher who leads a group of people”. He thoroughly understands the path as well as the minds of the people.
The compassionate guiding teacher who understands the path: He understands other people’s minds and guides them to the right path. In the sutra passage, this is the guiding teacher who leads a group pf people. The guiding teacher who forms affinities: The teacher they follow. In the sutra passage, this is the guiding teacher to whom the people speak.
Next, we have “the guiding teacher who forms affinities”. This teacher will lead us halfway. “The teacher they follow has this limitation of a single lifetime for a single period of our lifetime. This is like how in primary school, we have primary school teachers, in secondary school, we have secondary teachers and in university, we have university professors after we graduate, we do not need these teachers. It is like that; teachers who appear in certain periods of our life str “the guiding [teachers] who forms affinities”. These are teachers who form affinities with us in certain periods of time. In the text it says “The people he leads … speak to the guiding teacher”. This refers to the teacher who will guiding them. But after he guides them for a period of time, they say to the guiding teacher, “I am afraid, I want to stop here “. Usually, when we graduate from primary school, we will go to secondary school. That is the end of primary school. Likewise, we say goodbye to our teachers and move on to the next period of our lives. Or [we may feel], “Going to school is too hard; I will just stop here. I have graduated; I will stop where I am now. It is the same for those leading others in life, the guiding teachers who form affinities.
The thirds is the guiding teacher who uses provisional wisdom. the guiding teacher who uses provisional wisdom ”teaches the Small according to capabilities”. in the sutra passage, “This is the guiding teacher who applies many skillful means.
The previous sutra passage used all kinds of skillful means so that we would not be afraid to go forward. The path we walked on in the past was treacherous, but we have already finished that section of path. This is skillful means. For the Hearers and Solitary Realizers among the Buddha’s disciples, the Buddha used teachings they would like, so the Dharma that was taught would be something they could accept. They this could accept the Buddha’s teachings. The sound [of His voice] entered their hearts. To eliminate all afflictions. Solitary Realizers took the Buddha’s guidance, “See how the world is impermanent. The Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence and the origin of cyclic existence are things you must clearly understand. Solitary Realizers were clear and, by connecting to these conditions, understood that cyclic existence is endless. They clearly understood the principles. These are the skillful means that were used,
Fourth is “the guiding teacher who uses true wisdom”. The guiding teacher who uses true wisdom “opens up the provisional”. By this point, all their afflictions should have been eliminated. The entanglements should have been resolved, so they should once again move forward. They must take the Dharma to heart. They must work hard to understand the principles, then go and transform others. So, the phrase “crossing into extinction” is referring to “Nirvana” “Nirvana” is “crossing into extinction”. To “crossing into extinction” is to extinguish our afflictions and allow the Dharma to cross into our heart to then be able to help others cross. This is “Nirvana” Small Nirvana is the state of Solitary Realizers and Hearers. They have all eliminated afflictions. Great Nirvana is when we take the [Dharma] to heart, get involved with people to help all sentient beings to cross over without letting our minds be shaken. We must continue to walk on this path. This is how the Buddha used these four different stages to patiently guide [sentient beings]. Though these stages and directions can be divided into four periods of guidance, they are all the same person.
They are different times, but the same person. Time is constantly passing. It had been over 40 years, and these people were constantly engaging in practice. The process is like this. We should not linger [in one place]. We must quickly go forward. Actually, everyone is a child of the Buddha. We are all the princes of the Dharma-king; we are all Buddha-children. We should not stop halfway, but shoulder the Buddha’s mission and the Tathagata’s family business, which is to go among people and transform sentient beings. So, “as for those who now speak,” these people had begun to feel tired.
As for those who now speak, they are speaking to the guiding teacher who forms affinities. They retreat from the Great, so those in the Great are gone, while they accept the Small, so those in the Small grow. With each arising and ceasing, they respond to the call of the Dharmakaya; this is to “speak” The [16th] prince knows that they retreated from the Great. This means he hears what they speak.
They speak to the teacher who forms affinities. “They retreat from the Great, so those in the Great are gone”. Another way to talk about this is that when we graduate from primary school, we say goodbye to our primary school. When we graduate secondary school, we also say goodbye. This occurs with each period. Of course, we must still continue to go on to the university, graduate and PhD level. We must advance forward stage by stage. If we retreat, this means that we did not graduate. If we graduate from primary school and do not want to continue on to secondary school, we are only forming an affinity, nothing more. If we go past this stage and then keep advancing forward, we can finish graduate school and become a professor. This is the same principle. With the direction of our spiritual practice, after this life, we will bring this seed to our next life and continue to engage in spiritual practice for very long time.
The beginning of the Chapter on the Parable of the Conjured City mentioned that since Beginningless Time, dust-inked kalpas ago, life after life we have carried this thought. With each fragment of samsara, that is with each arising and ceasing, we respond to the call of the Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya is always there. The Dharma follows us life after life, as does the guiding teacher who forms affinities. Life after life, fragment after fragment, this continues on through fragmentary samsara. In each fragment we have a guiding teacher who forms affinities. He is constantly guiding us. This path is very long. We experience fragmentary samsara, and in each fragment, there is the Dharmakaya. [We have] this aspiration, life after life. We often hear, “remain on the Bodhi-path, life after life”. This is the principle. Luckily, we have guiding teachers. The Buddha would not abandon sentient beings. In each fragment, life after life, if we have not yet attained Buddhahood, we continue to rely on the guiding teachers to guide us life after life. “They respond to the call of the Dharmakaya; this is to ‘speak’”. This is to call for the guiding teachers.
“The [16th] prince knows that” “they retreated from the Great”. This is the son of the Dharma-king. We must have virtuous friends who know that we retreated from the Great. If our virtuous friends know that we have retreated from the Great, they will appeal to us and encourage us to advance forward. So, “This means he hears what they speak”. As we [walk on the path] together, we must have virtuous friends to accompany us. “[He] will lead a group of people”. He is not only guiding one person, [the Buddha] is guiding many people. Among these many people, some want to retreat. But, there will be people who can counsel them. They know this, so they call out for them. Thus, “We are extremely exhausted and also afraid”.
We are extremely exhausted and also afraid: We who have limited capabilities are exhausted and extremely tired and, when facing the Great, give rise to thoughts of fear. Extremely exhausted: Their roots of goodness are thin and weak, and they are covered by ignorance. Thus they cannot advance. Afraid: They have renounced samsara, so they anxiously desire to retreat. Therefore, they need a place to rest.
They begin to ask the guiding teacher for help because they are starting to feel exhausted. They speak to the guiding teacher for help. This is to “speak to the Buddha. We who have limited capabilities are exhausted and extremely tired. Having made it to this point, I am already exhausted. This spiritual practice has made me tired. If I again form great aspirations now. I will still have a long way to go. When facing the Great, we give rise to thoughts of fear,” because the goal is still so far away. For us ordinary people, life after life, it is inevitable we face things beyond our control. At this time, we still have this seed; we can still encounter virtuous friend. We have guiding teachers to guide us, but still become “extremely exhausted” in samsara.
“Their roots of goodness are thin and weak,” so they will feel extremely exhausted. “They are covered by ignorance. Thus they cannot advance”. This is like cataracts; things look blurry to us. This is called a cataract in the eye; everything is blurry. Because of this, the road ahead will seem far. We will be afraid and not dare to go forward. So, to be “afraid “is to renounce samsara. We followed the Small Vehicle and finally were able to eliminate afflictions. We could extinguish samsara, so why would we enter samsara again to go among people? Thus, we renounce and are afraid of the suffering of samsara. “So they anxiously desire to retreat”. They really want to retreat from their aspiration and rest. They want to find a place to rest. Now, they only want to find a place to rest. They do not want to advance further.
So, “We cannot advance further”. Looking before us, it is still very far away; So, because they do not know just how far it is, “They give rise to weariness and fatigue. That cannot give rise to the diligence to advance in their practice”. Therefore, ”They cannot advance further toward the great path”. They do not want to advance further. They only want to find a place to rest. So, “They cannot give rise to the diligence to advance in their practice”. They do not want to advance further, no matter how great the path is. They only want to rest. So, “The road ahead seems long. We now wish to retreat and go back”. They want to rest, retreat and return. They do not want to advance further. They are satisfied here, as long as they do not face transmigration. “Ordinary people look at the Buddha in ignorance”. Ordinary people are ignorant; they just look at Buddha, but from “across the distance of the Five Realms”. What they see is very far away. Where exactly is it? The Buddha is on other side of the Five Realms. We ordinary people are among the Five Realms. To see the Buddha, we must transcend the Five Realms. Everyone should know about “the Five Realms”. We must engage in spiritual practice on the path until we can transcend [the Five Realms]. This will require a very long time.
Ordinary people are ignorant; we look at the Buddha but cannot see clearly . We are far apart from the Buddha. So, it is “still far-off”. “They fear it is beyond their reach”. They felt that they did not have any strength left and were unable to advance forward. People in the Small Vehicle always feel that spiritual practice is only for eliminating afflictions and samsara. This is because samsara is terrifying. The world is complicated and dangerous. With a moment of carelessness, we regress into the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm and be unable to liberate ourselves. We are constantly in fear and do not dare to advance forward proudly. So, we remain at the same place. We think, “This is beyond our reach”. With [our understanding] of the Dharma, we do not dare to think about transforming others. “They fear it is beyond their reach”. So, “They now wish to retreat and go back”.
The road ahead seems long. We now wish to retreat and go back: Ordinary people look at the Buddha in ignorance across the distance of the Five Realms. Thus it says the road seems long. They think that their own strength is insufficient, so they now wish to retreat and go back.
As Buddhist practitioners ,we must be mindful. Though we may feel tired every day in both body and mind, we still must do what we need to do every day. This is the mission of our initial aspiration, “for Buddha’s teachings, for sentient beings”. A day does not go by when we are not tired. But every day we must face the myriads of sentient beings, and we must continue to go forward. As the days pass by, our lives grow shorter. We must form affinities with sentient beings, form good affinities and create karma of blessings. This is our aspiration that we should carry out in our lifetime. We must sustain our original aspiration; then we can surely attain Buddhahood. So, we must always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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